''Starsailor'' is the sixth studio album by
Tim Buckley
Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years. Buckley began his career based in folk music, but his subsequent albums experimented with ja ...
, released on
Herb Cohen
Herbert Cohen (December 30, 1932 – March 16, 2010) was an American personal manager, record company executive, and music publisher, best known as the manager of Judy Henske, Linda Ronstadt, Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Odetta, Tom Waits, Geo ...
's
Straight Records
Straight Records, self-identified simply as Straight, was a record label formed in 1969 to distribute productions and discoveries of Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen. Straight was formed at the same time as a companion l ...
label in November 1970. ''Starsailor'' marks the moment Buckley's
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...
origins became invisible as he fully incorporated
jazz rock
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...
and
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
styles into his music. Although it alienated elements of his fanbase upon release,
[ it also contains his best known song, " Song to the Siren". This more accessible song was written much earlier than ''Starsailors newer material, originally in a more traditional ]folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
arrangement, as shown on the later released compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...
'' Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology''. Bunk Gardner
Bunk Gardner (born John Leon Guarnera; May 2, 1933 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American musician who most notably played for the original version of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention until the group disbanded in 1969. He plays woodwinds and tenor ...
, a former member of the Mothers of Invention
The Mothers of Invention (also known as The Mothers) was an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows.
Originally an R&B band ...
, joined Buckley's normal band to record the album. Also, Buckley began working again with lyricist Larry Beckett
Larry Beckett (born April 4, 1947) is an American poet, songwriter, musician, and literary critic. As a songwriter and music arranger, Beckett collaborated with Tim Buckley in the late 1960s and early 1970s on several songs and albums, including ...
, after a three-album hiatus.
Leontyne Price
Mary Violet Leontyne Price (born February 10, 1927) is an American soprano who was the first African Americans, African American soprano to receive international acclaim. From 1961 she began a long association with the Metropolitan Opera, where s ...
attended a concert in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
during the supporting tour and told Buckley, "Boy, I wish they were writing things like that for us opera singers," to which Buckley responded, "Well, do what I did; get your own band."
"Starsailor" is a literal English rendering of the Greek-derived word "astronaut."
Renewed interest
" Song to the Siren" has been covered by a variety of artists, most notably by This Mortal Coil
This Mortal Coil were a British music collective led by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British record label 4AD. Although Watts-Russell and John Fryer were the only two official members, the band's recorded output featured a large rotating ...
, which featured on their 1984 album ''It'll End in Tears
''It'll End in Tears'' is the first album released by 4AD collective This Mortal Coil, an umbrella title for a loose grouping of guest musicians and vocalists brought together by label boss Ivo Watts-Russell. The album was released on 1 Octob ...
''. John Frusciante
John Anthony Frusciante (; born March 5, 1970) is an American musician, best known as the guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers across three stints since 1988. He has released 11 solo albums and 7 EPs, ranging in style from acoustic guitar to e ...
, in 2009, covered this song on his album ''The Empyrean
''The Empyrean'' is the eighth solo album by American musician John Frusciante, released worldwide on January 20, 2009 through Record Collection. Frusciante did not plan on a following tour, as he instead wanted to focus on writing and recordin ...
''. Amen Dunes
Amen Dunes is the musical project formed by American singer-songwriter and musician Damon McMahon in 2006. McMahon has described Amen Dunes as both a solo project and a band "when it's in action." Frequent collaborators include guitarist and key ...
covered the song on their 2015 EP release ''Cowboy Worship''. The British trance
Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
act Lost Witness also released a remix single, entitled "Did I Dream (Song to the Siren)".
While the revival of "Song to the Siren" renewed interest in Buckley amongst independent artists in the 1980s, the success of his estranged son, Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...
, in the 1990s, inspired indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
artists to look at the career of his father. The British band Starsailor took their name from this album.
The album had a brief reissue on CD by the Enigma Retro label, but like the other Tim Buckley release on the Straight Records label (1969's ''Blue Afternoon
''Blue Afternoon'' is the fourth studio album by Tim Buckley, released in November 1969. It is Tim Buckley's first self-produced record and his debut for Herb Cohen and Frank Zappa's Straight record label. This was Buckley's fourth album afte ...
''), it drifted out of print due to legal battles over who owned the rights to the music. This stems back to a 1976 separation and lawsuit between Herb Cohen
Herbert Cohen (December 30, 1932 – March 16, 2010) was an American personal manager, record company executive, and music publisher, best known as the manager of Judy Henske, Linda Ronstadt, Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Odetta, Tom Waits, Geo ...
and Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...
, the co-owners of Straight Records. As a result, many of the albums released on Straight (including Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet (; born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as Th ...
's '' Lick My Decals Off, Baby'') are very difficult to find on CD. In 2006, the album was released on the iTunes Music Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,000 ...
, making it available to the general public once more. In 2007, 4 Men With Beards reissued the album on vinyl, as well as the rest of Tim Buckley's nine-album catalogue. However, CD copies of this and ''Blue Afternoon'' remained out of print and difficult to find on the market until the release in 2017 of ''The Complete Album Collection'' box set.
Reception and legacy
''Starsailor'' was featured at #50 in Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
's 2004 list of ''The 100 Best Albums of the 1970s''. Reviewer Dominique Leone said of the album, "''Starsailor'' is a masterpiece in every sense. It captured its maker at his freest and most willing to throw caution and sales to the wind, while simultaneously at his most creative and most capable of pulling off songs and moods that, from practically anyone else, would sound cartoonish, clumsy and confused."
In addition, ''Starsailor'' was selected as the 47th best rock record of all time in the 1987 book ''The Top 100 Rock 'n' Roll Albums of All Time''.
In 2000 it was voted number 507 in Colin Larkin
Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged".
Along wit ...
's ''All Time Top 1000 Albums
''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...
''.
Track listing
All music written by Tim Buckley
Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years. Buckley began his career based in folk music, but his subsequent albums experimented with ja ...
.
Personnel
;Musicians
*Maury Baker – percussion
*John Balkin – double bass, electric bass
*Tim Buckley
Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years. Buckley began his career based in folk music, but his subsequent albums experimented with ja ...
– guitar, 12-string guitar, vocals
*Bunk Gardner
Bunk Gardner (born John Leon Guarnera; May 2, 1933 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American musician who most notably played for the original version of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention until the group disbanded in 1969. He plays woodwinds and tenor ...
– alto flute, tenor saxophone
*Buzz Gardner
Charles "Buzz" Guarnera (March 23, 1930 – February 1, 2004) was an American trumpet and flugelhorn player.
Early life and education
Born March 23, 1930 in Cleveland, Ohio, Guarnera started playing music at a very young age. He was influenced in ...
– trumpet, flugelhorn
* Lee Underwood – guitar, piano, pipe organ
;Technical
*Tim Buckley – producer
*Stan Agol – engineer
*Herb Cohen
Herbert Cohen (December 30, 1932 – March 16, 2010) was an American personal manager, record company executive, and music publisher, best known as the manager of Judy Henske, Linda Ronstadt, Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Odetta, Tom Waits, Geo ...
– executive producer
;Visual
*Ed Thrasher
Edward Lee Thrasher Jr. (March 7, 1932 – August 5, 2006), known as Ed Thrasher, was an American art director and photographer. He was the recipient of numerous Grammy Award nominations for his work on album covers and won a Grammy for Best Album ...
– art direction and photography
*L.J. Moche – repackaging for 1989 remastered CD version
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starsailor (Album)
Tim Buckley albums
1970 albums
Straight Records albums
Enigma Records albums