Starsailor

by Tim Buckley

Starsailor cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: 1970
  • Label: Straight, Warner Bros.
  • Country: United States
  • Length: 35:59
  • Community rating: 4.43/5 from 12 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

'Starsailor' represents Tim Buckley's complete immersion into the avant-garde, abandoning his folk-rock origins for a fusion of free-jazz, rock, and experimental soundscapes. Buckley's performance is defined by extreme, multi-tracked vocal techniques, using his voice as a textural instrument for everything from guttural wails to soaring, wordless melodies over dissonant and unconventional arrangements. Though initially alienating audiences and proving a commercial failure, the album's unique artistic vision, which includes the renowned ballad 'Song to the Siren', has secured its legacy as a pivotal and influential cult classic.

Genres

Descriptors: avant-garde, experimental, improvisational, falsetto, ambitious, folk, acoustic, vocal, improvisation, atmospheric, personal

Tracklist

  1. Come Here Woman (04:11)
  2. I Woke Up (04:05)
  3. Monterey (04:31)
  4. Moulin Rouge (01:58)
  5. Song to the Siren (03:28)
  6. Jungle Fire (04:39)
  7. Star Sailor (04:35)
  8. Healing Festival (03:15)
  9. Down by the Borderline (05:17)

Credits

  • Tim Buckley - vocals, producer, written-by, twelve-string guitar
  • Bunk Gardner - alto flute, tenor saxophone
  • John Balkin - double bass [string bass], electric bass, written-by
  • Lee Underwood - electric guitar, electric piano, organ [pipe]
  • Maury Baker - timpani [tympani], drums [traps]
  • Buzz Gardner - trumpet, flugelhorn
  • Ed Trasher - art direction, photography by
  • Stan Agol - engineer
  • Herb Cohen - executive-producer
  • Larry Beckett - written-by

More from Tim Buckley: full discography