GOODBYE AND HELLO

Goodbye and Hello is a much stronger output than its predecessor. This is even clearer when, like me, you get to hear them one immediately after the other: the edition I'm reviewing comes with Tim's self-titled debut album in the same disc. The booklet, while not vast, includes complete artwork and credits for the albums, as well as a critical review of the period in Tim's career when they were recorded.

In contrast to the songs on the previous album, the opener No Man Can Find The War is quite a change, introducing some sounds effect emulating explosions, featuring some great harpsichord ant Tim's vocals toned down (less dramatic, but much more melancholic). Carnival Song perfectly conveys the sense of a fair, with the circus- like atmosphere music being once more delivered by the keyboards and sound effects. A lovely piano tune opens Pleasant Street, accompanied by the again beautiful harpsichord and electric guitar strumming, in a delicate tapestry of sounds, before the outburst of the chorus. Tim's vocals are very "feminine" in this track. Hallucinations has a certain British Isles folk feel to it, again featuring some interesting use of eerie sound effects and percussion. I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain is a return to the vocal style and melody of the first album, but the ending is wilder than anything on Tim Buckley. Once I Was sounds like an old country western ballad. Phantasmagoria In Two follows in the same mood, again appearing to cross the Atlantic towards the electrified medieval troubadorism of Albion, a strategy repeated for the slightly cheesy but fortunately short Knight-Errant. The epic Goodbye And Hello mixes much of the styles that have been presented throughout the album, with the added benefit of the presence of a backing orchestra. It is more a collage of different tunes than a proper epic construction over the same base tune, but it works excellently. Morning Glory wraps up the album, another short and sweat ballad.

If you wish to find out why Tim Buckley is listed in ProgArchives, the first few albums are not the place to look. However, Goodbye and Hello is a much more varied and interesting album than Tim's debut, with longer and more complex compositions, featuring some great folk-pop tunes, with occasional glimpses of 60's early American psychedelia. Buckley's voice is still an acquired taste (and if you arrive unprepared, sometimes you will swear it's a woman singing), but if you can take it, this album might be a good place to start looking for the roots of the eclectic experimentalism that will be heard in his later works.

Share this TIM BUCKLEY review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Kotro
• Report this review (#272691)
• Buy TIM BUCKLEY music online with PA partners
• Show all TIM BUCKLEY MP3/Stream
• Go to TIM BUCKLEY page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Goodbye and Hello page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for TIM BUCKLEY related discussions