GOODBYE AND HELLO

Tim Buckley was an excellent musician and one of the greatest vocalists of the 60's, which was able to reach a cult status due to his music and because his premature death too. His music drew from folk, rock, psychedelic and jazz and created a considerable body of adventurous and very special musical works in his brief lifetime. His very special and unique voice with multi octave range was perfectly capable to express a really astonishing power and at the same time great emotional expressiveness, swooping from sorrowful tenderness to anguished wailing. This is real amazing, truly.

'Goodbye And Hello' is the second studio album of Tim Buckley and was released in 1967. Like his eponymous debut studio album, this is also an album where half of their songs were co-written by him and by Larry Beckett, the poet and songwriter, who was colleague and friend of Tim Buckley, in those times. As happened with their debut, Elektra continued providing to Buckley an impressive number of musicians to collaborate with him on 'Goobye And Hello'.

'Goodbye And Hello' has ten tracks. The first track 'No Man Can Find The War' written by Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett is a song dealing with the horrors of war. It's a protest song against the Vietnam War but we can also interpret it as a war in our minds. It's a beautiful and simple song very melodic with good bass and percussion. The second track 'Carnival Song' written by Tim Buckley speaks about the hypocrisy and truth. This is a song created in a fair funny atmosphere of a circus. It's also a song sung by Tim Buckley with the circus atmosphere in the back delivered by the keyboards and some special sound effects. The third track 'Pleasant Street' written by Tim Buckley is one of the finest songs on the album. It's a very sentimental, emotional and temperamental song full of energy. This is one of the strongest songs on the album and one of my favourites too. The fourth track 'Hallucinations' written by Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett is a psychedelic song also very strong on both, lyrics and music. This is a song with very strange beautiful moments and it's also a bit tragic. It has also some interesting eerie sounds and percussion effects causing a strange and unusual musical moment. The fifth track 'I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain' written by Tim Buckley is a very personal song of him. This is a song addressed to Mary Guibert his first wife, the mother of his son, Jeff Buckley, also musician, speaking of the forces that pull two people together and drive them apart. It's a very energetic and frenzy song with fantastic lyrics. This is the second highest moment on this album and for me is one of the best things that Tim Buckley ever wrote. The sixth track 'Once I Was' written by Tim Buckley is a very simple and melodic song that speaks of love and change. It's a calm ballad with nice harmonica and it has some of the most beautiful musical parts of this album. The seventh track 'Phantasmagoria In Two' written by Tim Buckley is dominated by psychedelic guitar and piano sequences and also by the incredible voice of Tim Buckley. It's probably the most psychedelic song on the album. This is a song deeply melodic that, for me, represents one of the most beautiful moments on this album. The eighth song 'Knight-Errant' written by Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett is a very short song. It's a romantic song that uses the images of a knight and his lady in the musical atmosphere of the medieval troubadours. This is a simple, melodic and nice ballad. The ninth track is the title track 'Goodbye And Hello'. It was written by Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett and is the lengthiest song on the album and is also the epic magnum opus of it. The lyrics are a fantastic piece of poetry brightly sung by Tim Buckley with several types of vocals. It's, without any doubt, the most complex musical piece on the album and it has also the benefit of the presence of a backing orchestra. This is an excellent song that works very well. The tenth track 'Morning Glory' written by Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett is the song that closes quietly this album. This is another short, gentle and sweet ballad, very simple and romantic and with nice chorus too.

Conclusion: I have a vinyl copy of this album, since the 70's, and I must confess that I've always loved it. So, I'm a bit disappointed with some of the reviews and the ratings of this album on Progarchives. I really think that 'Goodbye And Hello' deserves much more. In the first place I'm very surprised to see so few reviews. In the second place I sincerely can't understand the argument this is an album slightly progressive or not progressive. This is an album released in 1967 and from what I know the first really progressive album was 'In The Court Of The Crimson King' of King Crimson that only was released two years later. So, what should we say about the first albums of The Beatles and The Doors? 'Goodbye And Hello' is a fantastic psychedelic/folk album, with some great, sophisticated and complex musical compositions, and Tim Buckley is a great composer that owns a very special and unique voice. To finish, 'Goodbye And Hello' is an essential musical piece of the end of the 60's that can be considered as a great proto-prog album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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