Tim Buckley’s debut album appeared on Elektra at the close of 1966, sandwiched between Love’s brash debut and The Doors’ game-changing first LP. Elektra boss Jac Holzman saw Tim Buckley as a way of unveiling his latest singer-songwriter and an opportunity for Buckley to learn the ropes in the studio.
Listening to this two-disc release, it’s clear from the scrappy nature of the demos that Tim Buckley substantially raised his game. This was, perhaps, to be expected given producer Paul Rothchild’s safe hands, Jack Nitzche’s stirring strings and, most of all, Lee Underwood’s jazz-inflected guitar work. Tim Buckley is a much underrated album with beautiful songs such as Wings and I Can’t See You, where that enthralling tenor voice was heard for the first time; not quite a counter tenor, wrote Robert Shelton, but a tenor to counter with.
The outstanding track is Song Slowly Song, anticipating the breathtaking, spaced-out feel of 1969’s Happy Sad. It’s by far the best of the demo recordings: brave and challenging and befitting Buckley’s precocious talent. It seems churlish to dismiss bonus material that fans (RC included) have long craved to hear – 22 unreleased tracks including some with early group The Bohemians – but they really are of little more than passing interest.
