For a long time, some people had it that the only surviving live footage of Tim Buckley was his Old Grey Whistle Test performance of Dolphins. An excellent live clip in its own right, it’s now just one of many great recordings from throughout Buckley’s entire career, gathered together here largely from American sources.
The live intensity on display from Starsailor-era performances, I Woke Up and Come Here Woman is are the standouts. If it barely sounded humanly possible to create such music in the studio, live the interlocking band members – each seemingly playing to different tunes – is mightily impressive. Of course, there’s also solo Tim (the famed Monkees TV appearance of Song To A Siren) and some of the later R&B-driven performances, along with rare footage of Buckley as an interviewee on chat shows. In between, the likes of Buckley’s guitarist Lee Underwood, colyricist Larry Beckett and biographer David Browne fill in the history, making sure you’re not lost in a sea of footage. It somewhat detracts from the whole, however, with editing making for a slightly clunky, disjointed viewing overall. Individual moments are great, but as a whole this can be a bit of a chore.
