Tim Buckley - Happy Sad - 180g Vinyl LP

2025

This album has been cut from the original tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and is pressed on 180 gram premium-quality vinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing's plant in Oxnard, California as part of the Rhino Reserve line.

Easily Tim Buckley's most underrated album, Happy Sad was another departure for the eclectic Southern California-based singer/songwriter. After the success of the widely acclaimed Goodbye and Hello, Buckley mellowed enough to explore his jazz roots. Sounding like Fred Neil's Capitol-era albums, Buckley and his small, acoustic-based ensemble weave elegant, minimalist tapestries around the six Buckley originals. The effect is completely mesmerizing. On "Buzzin' Fly" and "Strange Feelin'," you are slowly drawn into Buckley's intoxicating vision. The extended opus in the middle of the record, "Love From Room 109," is an intense, complex composition. Lovingly under-produced by Jerry Yester and Zal Yanovsky, this is one of the finest records of the late '60s. 

Matthew Greenwald