While Dream Letter remains the definitive live Tim Buckley album, I often prefer Live at the Troubadour 1969 recorded a year later. A year was a long time in the arc of his art, which now blended folky Tim with jazzy Tim, funky Tim, oversexed (but still horny) Tim, speedball (heroin meets coke) Tim – a full blown electric band with Lee Underwood playing not just lead guitar, but some pulsating Fender Rhodes piano that when it echoes Joe Zawinul’s riff from Miles’ “In a Silent Way” – it’s pure brilliance, so is Buckley stealing from his own “Buzzing Fly” chord changes. 2 songs clock in at 15 mins, several near 10 mins – this is NOT Tim at his most excessive, it’s Tim at his MOST expressive! Comrade Bill Inglot has produced many great projects, this maybe his best. Oh, and the conga playing by CC Collins is wicked.
– Pat Thomas is the author of Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975.
