GREETINGS FROM L.A.

Facing bankruptcy and being stripped of everything he owned (two wives and kids having precedence), Tim reluctantly accepted to abandon his counter-culture artiste career and let his management save whatever was possible of his mainstream commercial career. Leaving Starsailor behind, with a completely new group behind him, he embarked into the studio with some reluctance, but managed to pull an excellent album that didn't completely reneg his art. Refusing to embark on the singer/songwriter path his management hoped for, Greetings From LA is a wild funk-rock album that had many things to go for itself, including listener-friendly songs and passages showing Buckley's artistic brilliance with his voice. For some reasons, this album barely missed the Billboard charts, but let's face it, Tim was not completely stranger to this fact. First the positive album title being offset by a depressive picture of a smogged-up LA with Tim wearing a gas mask on the inner sleeve (let alone his funny fake postcard to his manager claiming he had a sale for 50 albums in a massage parlor), throwing most LA critics a bit astride. Some of the tracks on the album had explicit sexual lyrics (Get On Top, Sweet Surrender) that made radio-airplay difficult for censorship reasons and more (like four tracks around the 7 minutes mark).

Starting with the weakest song on the album (Move With Me) is probably not the smartest idea either, but obviously the message had to pass clearly: a different Tim was here, even accepting female backing singers (Oooohhh, Tim I hurt for you!!!!....) and even a brass section (Oooohh, Buzz & Bunk, I hurt for thee) into a bluesy track. Fortunately the sexy funked-out bass-led Get On Top makes you forget the previous horror, and Tim appears his old dangerous self, with his prowling voice ready pounce and unleash a few primal scream. Over the very cool conga-accompnied funk, this is the Starsailing Tim saying that he's still around and there is great organ to underline the tension Tim is putting into his words. Good thing about it is that this song is two minutes longer than its preceding disaster. Equally as long is the delightful string-filled funk piece Sweet Surrender (explaining why being faithful is impossible) that could with Papa Was A Rolling Stone, but Tim's voice enhances the style even further, than you can hear some Lorca traits into the lines. No Herb, Tim is not doing that "yodelling crap" that you forbade him, but he's still putting up a ten foot pole up your arse. While the shorter Nighthawkin' returns to the opening track (with those awful female back-up singers), the track doesn't overstay its welcome the way the opener did.

Opening the flipside, Devil Eyes is another killer funk track much in the mould of Get On Top, complete with Tim's duel with the drummer and percussionist, while the wild bass pulls a brilliant performance, and the returning organ underline Tim's few wails and yels (but not "yodelling crap", Herb) >> awesome stuff, and somehow Starsailor is in the vicinity!! Hong Kong Bar is an oddity on the album, being the only mainly acoustic track, a lengthy blues made for southbound train looking for the crossroad and the cheating wife at the bottom of a whiskey bottle in a New Orleans bar. It looked likev the ideal track for Tim to get loose, but I bet Herb was listening to it and Tim knew it. The closing fiery Make It Right is a superb string-laden track that would've been Sweet Surrender's alter ego, but Tim chose to drive it into the skies. Just why the radios didn't pick it up while it was there (in the air) is a complete mystery, because this was obcviously the right track for it: the hit-single that should've broken the market: well Tim can't help himself in there, with his blood curdling wails up to the end of the track.

Hearing about Tim's new directions, the crowds started to return to his concerts, which in turn became more frequent, so everything was looking upwards with Tim's potential mainstream career, but the artiste inside was sinking lower into depression and drug abuse while he was not touring - this was strangely in control when he was far away from management >> see the problem??? Greetings is an excellent album that does not renege Starsailor, but unlike its predecessor, Greetings is listener- friendly and accessible, something that might not jave been Tim's primary concerns in his recent career. CVery much worth investigating, I'm sure most experimental Buckley fans will see enough into Greetings to actually I acquire it. Hell, I did!!!!