Happy Sad

In high school, I had a crush on a girl. She had long since decided we should only be friends. I had my head buried deep in the self-absorbed teenage sands and I was unfoundedly convinced that the time for our true relationship was imminent. You would've thought I'd have known better, given she already had a boyfriend. One day, she asked me to drive her to boyfriend's house, to which I agreed because ... of course I wanted to hang out with her! We got there and the plan somehow turned into the three of us hanging out in my car, in the dude's driveway. They chatted and cuddled while I strummed my guitar. In hindsight, I'm sure there were numerous clear signals that I should have gone for a walk or something, but as I said I was oblivious. In fact, as the plan went on, I became progressively convinced that I had been invited along because somewhere deep down inside she wanted to leave this guy and be with me. The masterstroke of my subterfuge, most certainly, would be my musical prowess. In reality, I was shit at playing the guitar and the main reason I was there is primarily because I had a car. I feel like Tim Buckley and young me, were on a similar wavelength.

Tim Suckley

That's boring. You're boring everybody. Quit Boring Everyone.

I was gonna make a joke, but holy cr*p, it's actually Jeff Buckley's dad. I've never heard of this guy, but I was immediately excited by how few tracks were on here. These are long songs, with time for Tim and his audience to settle into the tunes together. I really like this, "happy sad" is spot on. The instrumentals sound bright due to what I think is the vibraphone - I'm getting that from wikipedia. The production is meandering and jazzy, while his lyrics and vocals are much more melancholy. "Gypsy Woman" is a nice shot of adrenaline too. I really don't have any complaints with this one, I think it's really cohesive and ruminative in all the right ways. Sign me up for more from Buckley, Sr. Favorite tracks: Buzzin' Fly, Gypsy Woman, Love from Room 109, Dream Letter. Album art: Just a simple headshot (or HS for those of us in showbiz, gracias amigas) but It's a good shot. More sad than happy but I like the angle and everything. Very cool. 4.5/5

crappy bad

i think Tim misunderstood what the word happy means. some depressing shit right here.

I suppose it was ok. It probably helped lots of people get laid in the early 70s.

I went from being happy to sad.

Psychedelic-Folk crossed with Jazz Fusion is a combination of genres that I did not expect to see together. And I gotta say it's pretty enjoyable. I normally have a tendency to complain about albums having an excess of long songs. But I think it is something that both Tim and Jeff Buckley manage to do very well. "Love from Room 109 at the Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)" Has as many words to the title as it does minutes in the song, but it was a great song to just sit there and vibe out to. "Dream Letter" is similarly wonderful to vibe to. "Gypsy Woman" is where it gets more experimental and feels like too long of a song. It isn't a bad song, but it's just not for me. Happy Sad is basically how I describe my personal musical style of both what I make and what I listen to. So this album resonates with me very well.

This album was interesting. It reminded me a bit of Gary Burton (with Chick Corea) but that was most likely just because of the vibraphone. I liked the album more as it went on and thought the opening track was the weakest. It's quite laid back and it certainly doesn't demand attention in the way some other albums do. That being said there is a lot of variety between slow ballads like Dream Letter and much more upbeat folk-rock songs like Gypsy Woman. I didn't get the chance to listen to the album all the way through twice but I would like to come back to it. Favorite Songs: Buzzin' Fly, Love from Room 109 at the Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway), Dream Letter, Gypsy Woman, Sing a Song for You Least Favorite Song: Strange Feelin' Strong 8/10

Was a solid 2 until 12 minutes of Gypsy Women came on

Dear God this sucks. What the fuck is this? 6 versions of the same shitty wannabe jazz. How did this get made? How is it considered socially relevant? Ugh

I couldn’t quite place it but this album sounded so familiar at times. It was just different enough to have its own personality and overall enjoyed it throughout. Saved gypsy woman as a favorite for future listens

oh I don't have enough time in my life for this.

Meandering rubbish

crappy bad

Liedermacher und Jazz. Kann das funktionieren? Es funktioniert. Und wie. Ein große Freude und Entdeckung für mich. Ich danke der Challenge und Tim Buckley. Happy sad. Für mich nach diesem Genuss: Happy Happy

This is a lovely record, a bath of relaxed jazz guitar, vibes, cheerful strumming and Buckley sounding somehow both casual and sublime. I’m in the mood for this today; some days, he’s too angelic for me, but I may play Dream Letter later as a chaser. An of-its-time content warning is merited for the witchy gipsy woman song, but I suppose his fantasising about Romani is kinder than Enid Blyton’s. As my Uncle Feroz pointed out when he snatched a Famous Five book out of my eight-year-old hands, man she was racist as heck.

Beautiful, but perhaps just a bit too introspectively maudlin

Tim Buckley is that bleak prick who turns up at a house party with an acoustic when all everyone wants is to drink, get stoned, and fuck. This is fine, but completely unremarkable.

Trite lyrics ruined by excessive vibraphone and weird guitar noodling.

Absolutely pants - Drivel dirges

This is genuinely shit. Drawn out, offensively bland shit. 1/5.

Incredible album. Need to revisit this one. I could definitely hear a bit of jeff in his voice.

Extraordinary music from a tragic hero.

The Buckleys were a gifted but ultimately tragic family, and this is the first example of it that my group has gotten. What a voice the elder Buckley has. Solid 5 Stars.

It was exceptional. I loved everything.

No longer feeling beholden to whatever barricade that stood in his way, Tim Buckley created Happy Sad to allow listeners become witnesses to his immersion into jazzier terrain and folkier ruminations. Using his sprawling yet engaging musical explorations to full effect, this album is a journey from which one would not emerge the same; it could perhaps be said of Tim in regards to the most watershed work of his career.

Brill

Great album!!

Some pretty good moments in songs, but the songs are too long, and there's a lot of not great stuff in between the good stuff.

These Tim Buckley records are pretty good so far, they seem to breeze by with subtle instrumentation and atmospherics and aren’t very intrusive - good music if you need to concentrate on another task while listening. A bit melancholic for my taste, especially towards the end (expected from an album called happy/sad), but not to the point of being a drag.

Boring, I’m so sorry!

The music on this album is so calm and relaxed that it risks not leaving any impression at all. I’m usually down for some slow, meditative music and I generally like this sort of jazzy singer-songwriter style but these songs are pretty boring. “Gypsy Woman” is a nice surprise. I like this wild energy. The song is still a bit formless though. I’m not sure there was a strong enough song to begin with before it breaks down into jazzy riffing and improvisations.

NOT GOOD

This is the third Tom Buckley album that I’ve listened to and it just doesn’t seem to get better. Buckley obviously has some good ideas and his playing is standard for the time, but his lyrical content leans far too into the sensitive artist trope. There is a lack of self awareness that makes this album a slog to get through. I will grant that his leaning onto the experimental and utilizing jazz elements was a good move for him.

Jeff Buckley is an artist whose voice I appreciate quite a lot, but I only recently found out he was not the first in his family with a significant reputation in the music world. On this record, the first track does not inspire the same confidence in me. I find the instrumentals on it (Strange Feelin') to be very confusing, not fitting with the lyrics or tone of the song at all. This same feeling continues in the rest of this record, I find it mostly too slow, with mismatched sounds and weird choices in song length, and uninspiring. I can appreciate the vocal quality and theme, but it is not something I would find myself listening to with enthusiasm in the near future. Overall score, 2/5.

Usually I find it pretty easy to separate the art from the artist but then again, usually the art is pretty good. Here, not so much. Whiny songs sung by a whiner who was a shit dad. He gets one star which is actually my middle finger.

Happy Sad? You bet, Happy when it’s over and Sad that you wasted almost an hour of your life.

God I hate giving this album a one but it's just so... all over the place. It meanders constantly. The jazziness is definitely noticeable, but it doesn't save the record from getting super boring. The songs are long, and it all just feels like a marimba-heavy jam session that got recorded and Tim Buckley said, "Yeah, good enough, send it." Just... not for me, I guess.

Tim Buckley never made things easy for his audience. Where his son Jeff turned aching vulnerability into pop gold, Tim wandered straight into the deep end — ambitious, challenging, often strange, and occasionally brilliant. Happy Sad (1969) may well be his masterpiece: an album steeped in melancholy and experimentation, where folk, jazz, and something more elusive blur into one hypnotic whole. It opens with Strange Feelin’, a clear reimagining of Miles Davis’s So What — the cool jazz influence unmistakable. From the first bars, you’re struck by the sound of the vibraphone, which gives the album its shimmering, dreamlike atmosphere. It’s an instrument almost never heard in rock or folk, and its presence makes the record both distinctive and, at times, impenetrable. The highlights come early: Buzzin’ Fly, buoyed by Buckley’s supple voice and a flowing melody, is perhaps the album’s most direct moment. Love from Room 109 at the Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway) is sprawling and strange, with bowed bass and shifting textures that shouldn’t work but somehow do. And Dream Letter — an aching message to his estranged wife and young son Jeff — offers a glimpse of the emotional intensity that made Buckley such a singular figure. It’s not all flawless. Gypsy Woman, a twelve-minute suite of wails, improvisations, and sharp-edged guitar, pushes its luck — fascinating in intent, exhausting in execution. But then, that’s part of the album’s charm: no progress without a few derailments. Happy Sad is beautifully melancholic, sometimes difficult, often mesmerizing. It’s a record that asks for patience and attention — and rewards both. For those who only know the son, it’s well worth spending some time with the father. The voice is different, the mood deeper, and the risk-taking far greater.

Really good!

oh wow, really enjoyed this! Did not expect to with the deluge of late 60's male rockers but the voice is really interesting and I like the experimental production. A 10 minute song about beauty and meloncholy at the beach? Hell yeah.

relaxing

ho pianto tutte le mie lacrime

Just 6 songs but that's all I need. I love Tim Buckley. The vibraphone on this record is just amazing. Love the jam sections too, it's pretty fun

One of those mood albums. Absolutely astonishing. I was walking around Rotterdam in the rain, remembered to do my list, and it soundtracks quite a grey day. Lovely melody lines, and a calming but miserable voice. Dream Letter was my favourite, but Strange Feelin' was also good. Songs on the long side, but I could cope. I enjoyed the his previous album (he's a filthy animal) too. Hit me at the right time and right place. Which was, depressed.

Tim Buckley er enda en av de jeg liker alt jeg har hørt av, men aldri har fått somlet meg til et helt album. Happy Sad traff meg bedre enn jeg forventet. Tittelen er passende, for musikken hopper fra lekende lystige melodier til beint fram murring. Det er sjeldent jeg får lyst til å tenne levende lys, men når jeg hører denne plata så ser jeg for meg mange høstkvelder med levende lys.

BOUT TIME

Had a great time with this. Some really interesting modal mixture type of chord sequences and matching beautiful melodies that really pull you in. It all makes the more indulgent drawn out song forms work. Gypsy woman is a regrettable concept and he leans into it hard. We all make mistakes

The first time I listened to the album, my impression after the first few songs was "hm, very tonal". But halfway through, I realized I was actually kinda enjoying the album, lots of passion being this tortured vocalist. So I listened to the album again and realized I actually really liked this, it walks the fine line between being a pseudo-earnest dad rock album vs. being a genuinely earnest album. I've decided it's the latter, so 4.5 rounded up!

Very good vocals and nice guitar melodies/sound. Lyrics are decent.

Great find!

Almost thought this was Jeff Buckley for a minute 😂

First time really spending any time with Tim Buckley. Oddly calm and yet chaotic at the same time… in a late 60s ditch weed kinda way.

This was the first Tim Buckley album I’ve heard, and I really enjoyed it. It’s a more avant-garde and experimental take on singer/songwriter music, with a strong freeform jazz influence in the instrumentation. The entire album puts a lot of focus on mood and atmosphere, and what really stood out to me was Buckley’s vocal range—shifting from quiet, intimate whispers to wild, emotional outbursts that are often wordless and improvised.

He was great, great composer, great voice, great at all. But completely aged for these fast times.

Looks like it runs in the family, and by it, I mean. Well, let’s just say. Talent Rush could learn a thing or two from Tim

Buzzin Fly Strange Feelin sing a song for you gypsy woman dream letter Love from room 109

beautiful

Nice to the ears

O instrumental simples não tem refrões ou solos, parece uma constante improvisação lenta. Junto com o vocal langue e as músicas de longuíssima duração, o álbum ganha um tom intensamente introspectivo. Definitivamente não é para qualquer momento, mas em nenhum momento me senti entediado - diferente de outros álbuns que eram mais agitados mas tinham uma construção melódica repetitiva e sem graça - e sim muito calmo e centrado. Por não parecido com nada do que ouvi aqui até agora ainda ganha pontos de originalidade.

A transitional album between his folk beginnings and later free jazz and funk leanings.

holy shit i love this album, one of the only albuns im proud of enjoying cause no one else talks about it. it has such a mystic vibe to it while being extremely folk, i guess thats what buckley is all about really. the range on his voice too is very clear here on songs like gypsy woman and buzzin fly, roars to whispers. probably my favorite of his, love to listen to it as i fall asleep.

Chill album.Every song is good. Strange feeling:8/10 Buzzing fly:18/10 sounds so chill and I'd play this if I was on a train even this entire album Love from Room 109 at the Islander(On the Pacific Coast Highway):9/10 very jazzy Dream letter:9.9/10 It is so chilling and sounds so soothing and kinda scary. Gypsy Women:6/10 tbh wtf is this song? Sing a Song for You:20/10 it sounds like western lullaby and is the best song on the album by far.

Very surprised by how much I liked this. Heavy on the vibraphone, but a very relaxing experience.

I am really Happy Sad now. Great album!

I really enjoyed this album and will be checking out more of his work! Well written and sung!

Jazz Rock is always an automatic 10/10 for me and Tim Buckley is one of the most talented, and tragically short-lived artists I’ve ever had the privilege of listening to

Like a long sunny trip on a drunk summers day

Sad Sad

PREFS : TOUT MOINS PREF : RIEN

Very good. Too short. I didn't think I would ever say that about an album. Favorite song: Strange Feeling.

This is really a great album and, at the same time, such an unassuming one. Except for the last song, which is concise and more straightforward (but nevertheless a gem), this album doesn't try to win you over with catchy melody, unique chord progressions or instrumental pyrotechnics. Rather, it is mood music of the best kind, creating its own sense of atmosphere, almost existing in its own world and letting you stay in it from the beginning to the end. It's also one of the best albums to listen to while taking a bath or shower.

What a gorgeous album, what a beautiful man. This is folk pop but the instrumentals are syncopated and idiosyncratic, jazzy really. Together with Tim's extraordinary expressive powers, both lyrical and vocal, the effect is poignant, magical. "Happy Sad" is exactly right -- like the album cover, the tones are warm and the songs express earnest wistfulness in the best folk tradition. Buzzin' Fly made my heart feel tighter and lighter at the same time. The mood and sound remind me of Nick Drake (with the exception of Gypsy Woman which is interesting and well executed but seems misplaced here). Clearly something special was happening in pop music in the years 1968-69.

This album is like a warm bath to my soul; I just feel good when I listen to it. I feel my mind being transported to another time and place I’ve never been and it’s intoxicating. Tragic story Tim Buckley has… fantastic album.

Ich fand das sehr ansprechend komplex. Die Mischung aus melancholischer Stimme fast jazziger Gitarre und Meeresrauschen hatur gut gefallen. Die 5 Sterne sollen mich motivieren mich damit noch einmal auseinander zu setzen

Where has this been all my life? Astral Weeks via Kind of Blue, Stevie Wonder's Visions and Eddie Vedder. Not what I was expecting at all. Love it.

Endlessly relaxed jazz infused singersongwriting. Songs ebb and flow creating his own magical world

pretty wonderful

this is so pretty. listening to this was a whole experience. amazed.

The lyrics and vocals on this album are incredibly gorgeous ;-;

It got better with each song !! I wasn't super into it during the first two songs but when I listened to Dream Letter I was transported to a different place while I was washing dishes. I was at a farm at night and the more I listened the different I felt and the more I imagined !! The song just kept painting different pictures in my mind and it was very interesting to see what my mind would come up with at different points during the song. Dream Letter and Love from Room 109 were my favorites and I really liked Gypsy Woman and Buzzin' Fly. Cool experience genuinely because it's been a bit since a song has made me imagine 20 different things in the span of five minutes.

Beautiful, listened to this in my teens and didn't wow me that much but glad I revisited - an outstanding album

Great sound. Very surprising

Amazing

This one is amazing!

Solid album for day 1. Enjoyed it during a hockey intermission and then switched gears when I went to snowblow during a blizzard. 4/5 stars?

Such a strong voice. So delicate one moment, thunderous the next. Always a good listen. A good background album but also a good listen when alone and focussed.

A very ethereal experimental jazz rock folk album.

More sad than happy. At times hauntingly beautiful, but not gripping enough. Low 4

Tim Buckley sounds a lot older than he is on this. He has the voice of a seasoned professional on their 10th album and instrumentally he is a master of the art, comfortable enough to expand out on interesting little ideas within the framework of his well defined compositions. He is also comfortable enough to write songs which are on average over 7 minutes long which shows a serious amount of confidence in his vision as a singer songwriter. It's astonishing.

This could even grow on me with time but on first listen I already love it, perfect for an early morning cold and dark walk

I enjoyed it. Easy listening fusion of fun late 60s genres. I'll definitely go through his other stuff. Very fun to hear the connections between his sound and his son. Rating: 4.4

#178/1001. A buckley album worth listening to. I always preferred the sr over the sr.

Excellent vibes, maybe a little outdated for the lyrics on "Gypsy Woman".

Original, honest, jazzy, unique

Sleepy, chill album from Jeff's dad. I'm not familiar with his work but I'd definitely come back to this.

Tim Buckley has such a profoundly melancholy affliction. It is made somewhat more interesting with the vibraphone and other jazz forward sounds. The discordancy can be challenging at times.

Dig it