Greetings From L.A.

I'm glad that his son knew how to make good music. From these lyrics I only get that this guy was always a horny motherfucker. Jeff is the superior musician in the family.

I feel far more distant towards this record than the more patient, introspective Happy Sad (the only other Tim Buckley album I’ve heard). He is going for a jubilant, carefree mix of blues and funk which I don’t think he is naturally suited to and I had trouble surrendering to.

There's a point about 1:30 remaining in the opening "Move With Me" song where the lyrics on Spotify just suddenly stop... A line beings "Well now I..." and you're left to wonder what? What, Tim? and you're mind races trying to decipher what he's about to say...

Well now I... love me
Oh, I love a black woman

Didn't expect that, it's that kind of album. The rest is overtly sexual... Tim fucks, and is mildly racist...

Better than Coldplay

It's ok, I guess.

Very different in style from the two other albums I’ve heard from him. This is some white boy funk and oh boy is it horny as hell. The grooving instrumentals often make you glaze over how nasty these lyrics can be. I liked this album. Favorites were Move With Me, Get On Top, and Make It Right.

Within 10 seconds I realised that there was a whole side of Tim Buckley I was not previously aware of.

Quite mixed feelings about this, which was clearly made to be a bit obnoxious. Felt a bit crap and weirdly sleazy, but maybe there's more to it that would be revealed by further listened. For now, it's a low mark.

1001 Albums Vol. 0033: Greetings From L.A.
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Introduction: Whoa, whoa, you're telling me that Tim Buckley, the author of the famous comic series Control Alt Delete, made music back in the 60's and 70's? Yeah...I know it's not the same person, that'd be...really weird actually now that I stop to think about it. Buckley would be an older man writing a comic series that focuses on gaming culture and making jokes about gaming in said comic series...that would be a weird alternate reality....Anyway, Tim Buckley the music artist is a completely different person, and someone I can't recall ever hearing up until this point either. That being said, it seems as if he made a string of very influential and important albums in the late 60's and into 1970; however, that being said as well, that string of albums apparently came to a halt with this release. Greetings From L.A., released by Tim Buckley in 1972, is widely regarded by many to be a...pretty bad shift in Buckley's career. This album was apparently a complete shift from his earlier, "less accessible" work that didn't resonate with people as well as said earlier works did....That's not a problem with me though seeing as I've literally never heard of this man's name outside of a comic series...but that is definitely something to take into consideration regardless. Commercial sellout or a shift towards commercial appeal is almost never a "good" thing when it comes to music. There are a few exceptions, yet said exceptions are far and few. When regarding this specific album though, that is not the case. With all that said, I have actually heard quite a few good things about this album as well. The production is apparently very on point with what Tim Buckley wanted to go for, and he was apparently very passionate about the album too. Passion, of course, no matter how bad an album may be, is always a good thing when it comes to music. It adds an extra layer of depth and genuinity that helps make the music feel more personal and more genuine to both the listener and the artist. So, you know, the album has that going for it too. Oh yeah, I've also heard this album compared to something that Jerry Lee Lewis would make as well. Now, I think I generated that guy's live album like two or three days ago or something like that, and that album was an absolute masterpiece. Masterclass playing, raw and unmatched energy, and was just a great experience to listen to. Anything that is like that I will likely enjoy. Anyway, overall, I've just seen a pretty decent mix of both good and bad things when regarding this album. Some love it, some hate it, and a lot just think it's alright. As for where I lie? Well, let's just see.
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Track 1: Move With Me: 6/10
Track 2: Get On Top: 7/10
Track 3: Sweet Surrender: 8/10
Track 4: Nighthawkin': 6/10
Track 5: Devil Eyes: 7/10
Track 6: Hong Kong Bar: 6/10
Track 7: Make It Right: 7/10
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Conclusion: Well now...Tim Buckley certainly is a pretty peculiar fellow. I mean, sex is something that most humans on this Earth are drawn to, but Mr. Buckley here seems to be especially drawn to it. I mean, there is seriously some drowning in hormones teenager type stuff on this album. It's like that period of one's life where the idea of sex was the new and most interesting thing to them. Greetings From L.A. is all of that in the form of a Funk album. And...one that's actually not all that bad at that. I mean, this album is, of course, very far from being a perfect or even a masterpiece, but there is more that DOES work in this album's favor than DOESN'T work. Firstly, the musical arrangements on this album are actually quite good and catchy at times. It's nowhere near Talking Heads level of mastery, but it is nowhere near bad either. There are some pretty typical Funk-based rhythms and instrumentation on here at times, but said rhythms still manage to sound pretty good and catchy to the ears regardless. The actual performance sounds incredibly slick and solid as well. I mean, there's really not too much to complain about from a musical standpoint when it comes to this album. The worst thing I can really say about its music is that fact that it really isn't all that experimental or groundbreaking. It's just pretty solid albeit normal early 70's Funk that manages to sound pretty good to the ears. There are some interesting points in the music, such as the beginning of Sweet Surrender...and really just the entirety of that song, that do sound somewhat distinct and separate from the general Funk movement of the time, yet those points are definitely far and in between. Now, with all that said...we do still have to address the elephant in the room when it comes to this album's music...despite being actually pretty solid...it's actually pretty hated as well. As stated before, this album marked a very drastic shift in Buckley's career from a simple and poetic Folk artist to a sexually driven and wild Funk artist. This was his Bob Dylan moment if y-you....will....Yeah...I've used that reference to refer to other artists way too much. I'm going to Control F and see just how many of my reviews mention someone's "Bob Dylan moment" after I'm done writing this review. I'll maybe mention it in my next album's review. ;) (Boring and dumb ass way to keep the one or two people reading this hooked, I know.) Anyway, very off topic there, this album marked a distinctive shift in Buckley's career. One that many fans didn't like both musically and lyrically. Now, I've stated some of my preferences on this shift already in the intro, but I do have a few more things to say after actually listening to the album. Firstly, as I literally just stated, the music is still pretty solid and catchy. It's much less artistic, poetic, and probably much worse than his earlier work, I'm sure, but there's still some genuine value in what was written here. Secondly, while this album was definitely made with the intention for some form of mainstream appeal, it kinda failed miserably due to a choice on Buckley's end: the lyrics. The hypersexual, lustrous, kinky lyrics held this album back from being the mainstream hit that Buckley and his record label thought it would be. Yeah...kinky as well. It really is just Make It Right that dives into kinks while the rest simply cover general sex, but the fact still remains. Also, I just have to say that it was kind of weird listening to Make It Right's chorus. The violins coinciding with Buckley's lyrics about loving being whipped just felt off to me in kind of a goofy way that I'm not 100% sure on how to feel about yet. Anyway, as stated above, this album essentially serves as what some call a "Pornographic Funk" album...That's kinda stupid who am I to say. Anyway, yeah, sex. There's a lot of it here. And not really in a way that provides much substance either. I mean, yeah, most of us like sex and are drawn to it...but that really is kinda the album's whole personality at most points. The Funk-based rhythms work well with this concept, Buckley's wild and sometimes improvised vocals work well with this concept, and just about everything here all works together to form this album's entire personality around sex and almost nothing else. There are some emotional points here and there such as Hong Kong Bar and Sweet Surrender, yet even those songs still use sex as a core idea. I've expressed my dissatisfaction with sex being portrayed through music before through albums such as Blood Sugar Sex Magik and uh...well I can't really think of any others off the top of my head, but this album really takes it to the extreme by forming most of its identity around the idea. But...with that said...it is...actually somewhat admirable in an odd way. I mean, Buckley was already an extremely unknown and underrated artist. He had more of a cult following than a large one, and then he decided to make this...something that would have almost 0% of any significant radioplay or a huge amount of promotion....Yes, the album was made with the intention in mind for it to be a huge commercial release, so the fact that Buckley made this with that intention in mind was really more out of stupidity than intentional artistic choice, yet the fact remains regardless. This album was bold in its own and unintentional way. You create this with the chance of alienating an already established fanbase and practically 0% chance of radioplay. I mean, yes, it was unintentional...the radioplay part at lease...but the boldness is undoubtedly admirable nonetheless. It takes a certain amount of confidence to do this that most artists don't have. So while I'm not necessarily a fan of hypersexualization radiating from this album, I can actually appreciate it in its own way. There actually is some stuff from the hypersexualization of this album to love though such as Buckley's wild and energetic vocals but I digress. Now, the fact that I can and do appreciate an album still doesn't save it from being something that I would consider as "middle-of-the-road." The hypersexualization isn't something I'm a huge fan of, there were some points of this album that made me somewhat uncomfortable, some lyrics are just...stupid, and you have to keep in mind that this album was made with commercial success in mind. As stated before, that is almost never a good thing when it comes to critical listeners. But, overall, I would still consider this album to be pretty decent. It's not something extremely noteworthy for being either bad or good. It' just...good...even though it shouldn't be...and that's all there really is to say about it. I guess getting introduced to this album before Buckley's earlier work on this list is...kind of a good setup to listen to his earlier work down the road, but I'll probably have completely forgotten about this album by the time we've gotten to it...eh...we'll see in time I guess.
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Greetings From L.A.: 6/10
Song Average: 6.7/10

3.57

Dug the music but could have done with fewer mentions of licking toes.

Tim Buckley was very handsome and this was his seventh album, so I'm guessing he'd encountered amorous fans before. So why does Greetings From LA sound like the work of a man who's only just lost his virginity and is a bit too keen to let you know about it? If you can overlook the slightly awkward 'have I ever mentioned I really like having sex?' aspects of it though (and the noises he is making on Devil Eyes), there's some good music here.

Gotta give this one a 3 with some musically interesting elements that I enjoyed, offset by some wild lyrics.

Groovyy, but i dont really vibe with his voice and this is just kinda meh. Low 3

Okay, last time I listened to Tim Buckley on my album journey, I remembered that he specialized in psychedelic folk, and Happy Sad saw him incorporating elements of jazz. So, I was admittedly surprised that he made a full-on genre shift to funk and R&B, and I'm not sure how to feel about it.

At least instrumentally, it is a pretty good record. The personnel he assembled for Greetings from L.A. provided that necessary swagger, particularly from the tight rhythm section and Kevin Nelly's bouncing piano work. I especially liked some of the additional embellishments, like the saxophone playing on "Move With Me", and Joe Falsia's opulent string arrangements on "Sweet Surrender" and "Make It Right". There is a genuinely solid foundation here for a charismatic performer to take behind the mic and lay down a delicious vocal performance. If only that were the case here....

Okay, to be fair, Tim tried to meet the moment with enough shouting and hollering in clear emulation of other funk vocalists at the time, and is certainly an attempt, even if it gets rather ear-grating when he occasionally reached his falsetto or devolve into straight up gibberish. But, even a middling vocal performance could be forgiven if the lyrics were good, right?

Yeah, this is the point where I reach the main problem with this album. Now, I'm not against the idea of someone wanting to explore more sexually explicit subject matter, that can work. What would be needed for a more sexually explicit song to work is if it can be approached from a sense of emotional maturity or genuine introspection into exploring the feelings that can be brought up from such passion, and I did not get much of that from Tim's words. If anything, he approached sex with the mindset of a teenage boy who came across their first Playboy magazine. All this talk of getting himself spanked, "talking in tongues", and other such innuendos carried little weight or substance throughout this record. Probably the most revealing of these is "Sweet Surrender", where the best explanation Tim could muster for cheating on someone is that he "had to be a hunter again" and "make love feel new again", which is a lame excuse. Then you remember that Tim abandoned Mary Guibert when she was pregnant with their child, Jeff, and it all feels terrible.

Adding salt to the wound are the multiple derogatory remarks Tim used throughout this record. I did not need to hear about him wanting to "kill me a gook before dawn" on "Nighthawkin'", or about how there's a "big old girl doin' the monkey rub" on "Devil Eyes". I did not need to look these terms up and be disgusted at what I found. The only song that I didn't cringe at was "Hong Kong Bar", where there is a sense of longing for a past lover, though even that was admittedly hampered by the notion that he was gonna find another mama to help him "rest at night".

Man, it sucks to say that for as instrumentally good as Greetings from L.A. is, the frontman behind the vocals went and soured the whole mood. It also sucks to say for Tim, as only a few years later he would die from accidental overdose. But I do not find myself coming back to this record.

figured I'd like, but didn't

like something that looks good on the clothes rack, but does't suit you in the mirror

I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump down to a 3, though I'd prefer to stay at a 3.5.

I mean, it’s definitely not a bad album. I don’t even know if it necessarily has a bad track. I just don’t think it’s the most compelling album in terms of buying into what Tim Buckley is selling here; the wit of his folksier stuff is gone, euphemism is dead, & frankly, it’s just kind of a horny album. One’s enjoyment of this album will center around how willing you are to buy into it, and I…

I don’t know, I guess I rented it? A lot of these tracks set their soundscapes in stone really early, and don’t progress too much afterward – something like “Sweet Surrender” seems like a prime example. It’s a 7 minute track, but it kinda settles into itself about 3 minutes in & just stays around that vibe, never building up too much higher. If you’re not sold on that track by then, you’re just kinda stuck for the ride. A totally fine ride, and one that’ll get you to your destination without bothering you, but it’s not one you’d glowingly recommend. That’s my experience with it, but I can understand people loving that one. On the flipside of it, you have a track like “Hong Kong Bar” which literally never lifts past its acoustically driven start, but for my tastes, I bought into it even though I thought the pacing was slow & the instrumentation could use a little more to it. It’s just solid storytelling.

All of those rentals leave me with an album that I kinda like, but not one that has me convinced to truly spread the word on it. I don’t think it’s as clever as his folksier stuff, and while I like the energy on a lot of these tracks, his vocals are prominent enough that the horniness of lyrics does directly impact that energy, in ways that both bring it up & down throughout the album. I don’t think there’s a bad track here, but there’s never a consistently strong throughpoint to keep the album as compelling as it wants to be & as it tries to make itself sound. Hence, a 3.5 that I’ll bump down to a 3. It’s probably my weakest Tim Buckley album here, which is a shame given how much I liked his other 2 albums on the list, but I really don’t think it’s that bad. It just didn’t click as much for me personally, and if anyone wants to go for a 4 or a 5, I wouldn’t blame them at all. For me though, just a 3.

There's definitely better funk albums from that time but it isn't the worst thing I've heard.

Prima luisterbaar. Beetje aparte lyrical content soms (hou dat tenen likken lekker voor jezelf, Tim). Heb meer dan 1 keer gedacht 'dit klinkt als the Doors' en vervolgens 'luisterde ik maar the Doors'.

Quite like the sound but the lyrics are rough

The Good: This album is civil!
The Bad: I was just in LA, and there’s no need to greet me from there…
The Ugly: Second TB album… why?

Yes, another Buckley album… another time I wish that his son would get a second album on the list, instead of the dad…

I do have to say that it starts of decent, but then descends into absolute horror…

Will give it 2* due to the first 2 songs… you might want to skip the rest