Starsailor by
Tim Buckley
Recommended by: Frownland
Come Here Woman - The album opens with some hauntingly dark instrumental work. It starts off as exactly what one would expect from a Frownland recommendation, with some noodley, wonky, avant-garde inspired guitar work, but it isn't long before the song transitions into a fairly impressive piece of bluesy psychedelic rock.
I Woke Up - This one showcases Buckley's voice quite well, as he's accompanies by some sparse instrumentation. Most notably some lovely horns and a loud, booming bass drum. I might not be sold on the experimental approach he takes, but I will say I dig his voice and I like his jazz rock influence. As the song progresses, I'm starting to be put off a little by his guitar work, and I much prefer hearing the horns or even the organ from the first track.
Monterey - As soon as I give him a dig for his guitar work, he comes through with this one and impresses me. The guitar tone kind of reminds me of Beefheart in some ways, and this is perhaps the most straight forward psych rock track of the three I've heard thus far. I will say however, he still keeps coming with the jazz rock and does a pretty damn good job with it as well. By the end of the track, he's getting pretty wild with his vocals, it's a nice little touch. Now he kind of sounds like he's imitating a monkey, and strangely enough it still fits.
Moulin Rouge - This one starts with Buckley singing in french, and it's a much more laid back, easy going cut. Not very experimental, but the wonderful horns return, and I absolutely love this one. It kind of reminds me of something you would find being played in a bar scene of a classic film.
Song to the Siren - This one is a little boring to be honest, it's a little too heavy on the ballad side of things and I think it's a fairly big let down after how the album started. His vocals also feel a little contained on this one, and I really want to hear him be a little more wild again.
Jungle Fire - This one is a jazzier track. The instrumentation is all over the place, but not in necessarily in a bad way, although I do feel it meshes quite heavily with vocals and is somewhat grating. At least the wild vocals return on this one. The second half of this track is much stronger than the first.
Starsailor - Time for the title track, and I'm not sure what to expect as this album hasn't really stayed true to any sound thus far. Buckley starts the song by... yodeling? I mean, he's not literally yodeling, but the way his vocals are cutting out it almost sounds like he is.
Quick side note: it's hilarious listening to this album while looking at the album art, it really does not prepare you for what you're getting into on this one, if anything it looks like the kind of album you'd find in your grand parents record collection.
There's a lot of different vocal recordings on this one, it's cool for awhile, but at almost five minutes in length it's just a little too much.
The Healing Festival - Wow, this one is super jazzy. Love it. It's fast paced and the way the sax floats from the background to up in front of the tracking is great. Is it weird to say I think Buckley could have fronted a really awesome post-punk band? There's something about his voice that I really enjoy, he also can hold a note for an incredible length, so there's that as well. As the track wraps up, I can definitely say it was the sax work that stole the show on that track, this is gearing up for a strong finish.
Down by the Borderline - This is a groovy psych track that seems to leave the experimental rock alone, at least for the moment. It's strange how quick Buckley is to dip in and out of the more experimental aspects on this album, half of the tracks are almost, dare I say, accessible to a mainstream audience? Aside from maybe his wild vocals that is. Never mind, I'm eating my words as the album concludes with an awesome little jazz freak-out, led again by some awesome sax work.
Apparently there was a flugelhorn on this album, can someone tell me what a flugelhorn is?
This was definitely an interesting listen, and while it was a little bit of hit-or-miss, I felt there were more strong tracks than weak ones. Again, I think he has a very strong voice, and I think there were moments on this record that I feel could have inspired some successful modern musicians. The vocal effects throughout reminded me Thom Yorke's interest in toying with the pitch and speed of his own vocals, and there were plenty of moments that actually reminded me of Swans, The Healing Festival in particular.
Final Verdict: Frown gets a solid pass for this one.