TIM BUCKLEY

Live At The Electric Theatre Co, Chicago, 1968

EDSEL/DEMON 8/10

Passion in rumbles, roars, lunges and bites

Time was not to be wasted for Tim Buckley. Though he wasn’t long for this world, in 1968, all wheels were rolling for the then-21-year-old phenomenon, then only two albums in. This Buckley era has been closely dissected before, but this never-heard Electric Theatre set provides a glimpse of the artist’s transformation in progress. With guitar maestro Lee Underwood absent – only Tim’s guitar, plus bass and congas, are present – Buckley’s ferocious five-octave voice commands everything, a parallel of sorts to Jimi Hendrix’s guitar leads. Seeking meaning, and revealing emotion through improv and experimentation, his voice ripples through ruminations on life and death, mother and brother, shame and despondency. A nearly unmelodic “Big River” barely hints at Johnny Cash’s creation, but when he confidentially sings, “I’m gonna sit right here ’til I die,” it rings true. A radical 17-minute take on “Wayfaring Stranger”, sung as if Buckley’s rising from the grave, closes the show.

Extras: None.