GREETINGS FROM L.A.

Normally I'm not too fond of vocal solo's, but for Tim Buckley I'll make an exception. We'll find Buckley standing without money and forced to make a record with more commercial potential after two avant garde records ("Lorca" and "Starsailor"). Well, I don't know if it was a commercial succes, but in my opinion it is a succesful record!

With a total new band sounding between Traffic (On the Road) and David Bowie (Young Americans and Station to Station) Tim Buckley made this "Greeting from L.A." showing the city in smog. The cover is a postcard with a stamp showing Tim Buckley with a gas mask and information about the smog in L.A. city. The songs vary from rock 'n roll with female choirs ("Move with me" and "Night Hawking") to funky rhythm and blues ("Get on top", etc..) to blues (Hong Kong Bar). I can understand that this sounds less attractive to a prog community then the more avant garde period, but Tim Buckley did this with a lot of enthousiasm and his band did really know how to play and jam. The atypical use of vocals and smart song writing with (sexual) provocative lyrics made this a very good record, although not as experimental as his previous records.

Although I'm more impressed by Starsailor this record is often seen at my turntable. Four stars for sure for this nice room chamber music! This record is advised for fans of the funky and bluesy period of Bowie, fans of Tim Buckley in general and for fan's of slightly experimental but good performed music.