Weights

Truth:  I slept in this morning.

However, I did manage to make a a stop at the gym after work for a quick and dirty 45 minute session with the weights and this ‘Goodbye and Hello‘ album by Tim Buckley.

While this might appear to be a  initially rather odd choice for a muscly He-man weights workout, there is a bit of a story to this particular album.

Somewhere down the line I used to own this record.  I didn’t have a reliable record player at the time so I more or less looked at it at a lot and when I did look at it, I don’t think I thought very much about it all.

Anyway, somewhere in the back of lizard brain I had decided that some hippie looking dude against a bright yellow backdrop with what I thought was a flower in right eye (took you I didn’t look at it very much) didn’t interest me and at some point I let it pass from my collection.  Whether I left it behind somewhere, or discarded it altogether I do not remember but I remember remember not giving two fig newtons about the fact that it was there.

Fast forward another 15 years or so and I’m reading Patti Smith’s ‘Just Kids‘ and low and behold, but who should be mentioned as one of her early influences?

Tim fucking Buckley …

… and it’s an album from 1967 no less.

Shit.

Welp, that one sure slipped under my radar.

So I’m righting that grievous error this afternoon with the heavy iron and, well … that’s my story I guess.

As it turns out, this record is often cited as the ultimate Tim Buckley statement, and is indeed a fabulous album.

Recorded in the middle of the infamous “Summer of Love” (in the afterglow of ‘Sgt. Pepper‘), this album is clearly inspired by ‘Pepper‘s exploratory spirit. More often than not, this helps to bring Buckley’s awesome musical vision home.

The finest songs on the album were written by him alone, particularly ‘Once I Was‘ and ‘Pleasant Street’. Buoyed by Jerry Yester’s excellent production, these tracks are easily among the finest example of Buckley’s psychedelic/folk vision.  A few tracks, namely the title cut and ‘No Man Can Find the War‘, were co-written by poet Larry Beckett.

Showcasing his stunning vocal range, thoughtful lyrics and a penchant for imbuing songs with surprisingly soulful, these were intended as serious non-blue-eyed grooves and infectious jangle-pop melodies. This, his second album (recorded when he was only 20), runs the gamut and absolutely leaves the door was wide opened for a stunning, if tragically too soon cut short, incomparable career.

Thing is though, besides being from the best year in music, like, ever … the rest of it is kinda shitty.

I mean, not completely Shit List crappy, but still … for a 1967 record, it is pretty lame and my collection is certainly no worse off for me no longer having it anymore.  In hindsight, maybe my self-consciousness knew something when it decided to let it go.

(Sorry, Patti)