Happy Sad
by Tim Buckley

From mdbaxter TOP 100 COMMENTER 10/15/2019 20:10 | #243787 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

From the first few seconds, the jazz influence can be heard through the melody of "Strange Feelin'" which is lifted from Miles Davis' "All Blues". The jazz tendencies continue throughout the album and make for a great departure from his previously folk-inflected albums. Not only does the musical style undergo a change but Buckley's vocals also feature a marked shift from his previous material. He is able to sing high, low, slow, fast, quiet and loud all on the same album and even within the same songs. His songwriting is much more polished than it was on Hello/Goodbye. The only song that I didn't think was great was "Dream Letter". While it fits the tone of the album to that point, the writing is clunkier than any other song. I'm a little surprised that "Buzzin' Fly" isn't more famous. It sounds like it should've been a hit. "Gypsy Woman" is the most impressive song, in my opinion. The stark arrangement in "Love Letter" is reminiscent of the style of his masterpiece, Lorca. (Edited)

From Mercury TOP 100 COMMENTER 10/19/2017 20:23 | #199794 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Tim Buckley...wowzers. He was really a super mercurial musician. He constantly was just switching shit up. His relatively straight forward folk debut gave way within a year to his break out master piece of intense and epic (god I have a love/hate relationship with that four letter word) almost indescribable Goodbye and Hello. Then a couple years later he releases 2 classic albums which zig all over the map, starting with this brooding, jazz folk album "Happy Sad".

This album is really like a strange free-form folk. With loping bass lines, and its guitars coming in for a little prettiness and receding into the darkness. The xylophone (? i think thats what they are called) doing similar ornamental work, adding gorgeous splashes of texture to these long jams. But of course, the star of the show is Buckley's voice. His voice is velvety, otherworldly, sexual, intimate, shamanistic, abstract, vulnerable, and strong. Often times in one song he'll swing between dichotomous extremes, pulled from one place to the next. Tilly mentioned he was without peer as a vocalist in this folk/singer songwriter genre of his time and all time. I would agree mostly, but really I would say Van Morrison is his closest rival in that regard. And that is high praise for both men.

Speaking of Van, this album and Buckley's other 1969 classic, consistently reminded me of the classic of classic's Astral Weeks in a lot of ways. But a little more on that later.

Strange Feelin' is a great opner. But really this song's sound and this album kicks into high gear, and comes into sharp focus with the gorgeous "Buzzin' Fly". In this track, Tim Buckley makes my knees weak when I hear him sing that chorus, and really the entire song features the greatest conceivable vocal performance like, ever, man. And the guitars are similarly awe-inspiring. This song is bonkers great!

The rest of the songs and tracks are consistently moody. I listened to this and Blue Afternoon one late night back to back and that is when I had the epiphany that they are great. And i think that was no coincidence. The albums both give off a midnight or 1am vibe of contemplative soulfulness which just fits with a cigarette and a brandy and all the romantic thoughts which reside heretofore dormant in your mind. When that moment comes and you're listening to Buckley, it really is like the cliche concept of having Tim there just talking directly to you, easing your troubled mind.

"Gypsy Woman" is a bit too long in getting to the point. That's its main flaw, the song's and the album's. Still a solid track, but it is something like 25 percent of the run time, so it does drag this album down a slight bit. Also track 3 "Love From Room 109" I have similar tiny gripes about.

and now for my conservative rating, with ample room to grow in my mind...

Rating: 8.7/10 (Edited)

This album is a very different affair compared to 1967's 'Goodbye and Hello'. I prefer the former but don't dislike Happy Sad, the vocal Is delivered like an instrument, it climbs and falls with crescendos and decrescendos all underpinned by acoustic guitar, electric piano and xylophone. The ten minute long third track (title too long to type!) is my favourite with the double bass and electric guitar flourishes. The album is a mixture of folk and jazz with happy and sad undertones so the album does live up to its name. (Edited)

well put. this album surprised me...tim buckley is a great artist. i prefer lorca, but this is a better place to start. fantastic album (Edited)

Such a great album! 'Strange Feelin', to me anyway, is just as good an album opener as 'Kind of Blue's' 'So What'. Simply perfect! (Edited)