About 20 years ago I borrowed a vinyl copy of Tim Buckley’s 1970 album ‘Starsailor’ from the local library. I’d liked to say I was immediately impressed by his avant garde/ free jazz approach to song structures but at that time I didn’t get it. Apart from the relatively conventional ‘Song to the Siren’ I returned it without committing it to cassette.
The fact that this album is currently not available on CD might lead to the conclusion that I, together with the critics who slammed it and other listeners who shunned it, were right BUT seeing the electric footage of songs performed from this album on the excellent DVD ‘My Fleeting House’ I can see now that Buckley was ahead of the game.
It’s time to acknowledge Starsailor for its boldness, daring and innovation.
The versions of ‘I woke up’ and ‘Come here woman’ on the DVD are quite stunning and indicate that the recorded version was only a hint of Buckley’s true ambitions. Unfortunately the album’s commerical failure forced a retreat but at least we now have a collection that does justice to this great singer.
‘My Fleeting House’ is highly recommended as it is a vivid portrait of an artist committed to experimenting with sound in a way that demands you listen with the same spirit of openness .
It’s taken some time but NOW I get it!
