# Starsailor (album)
*Starsailor* is the fifth or sixth studio album by the American singer-songwriter [Tim Buckley](https://www.edgepedia.org/tim-buckley) (1947–1975), released in November 1970 on Straight Records, a Warner Bros. sub-label. It is Buckley's most experimental record, blending free jazz, jazz-rock, and twentieth-century classical vocal techniques, and it includes the best-known version of his song "Song to the Siren".[1](https://music.apple.com/us/album/starsailor/110692372) • [2](https://ondarock.com/reviews/milestones/1970-tim-buckley-starsailor/) • [3](https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000653397)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist and release | Tim Buckley; released November 1970 on Straight Records (℗ 1970 Straight Records)[1](https://music.apple.com/us/album/starsailor/110692372) |
| Length and songs | Nine songs, 36 minutes (AllMusic lists 35:54)[1](https://music.apple.com/us/album/starsailor/110692372) • [3](https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000653397) |
| Recording | Ten days in September 1970 (10–21) at Whitney Recording Studios, Glendale, and the Record Plant, Hollywood, California[2](https://ondarock.com/reviews/milestones/1970-tim-buckley-starsailor/) • [4](https://musicbrainz.org/release/2de642e6-a5ee-397d-97cc-1bed9edb1a05) |
| Production | Produced by Tim Buckley; engineer Stan Agol[4](https://musicbrainz.org/release/2de642e6-a5ee-397d-97cc-1bed9edb1a05) |
| Core band | Lee Underwood (lead guitar), John Balkin (bass), Bunk Gardner (saxophone, alto flute), Buzz Gardner (trumpet), Maury Baker (tympani)[4](https://musicbrainz.org/release/2de642e6-a5ee-397d-97cc-1bed9edb1a05) • [5](https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/72598/tim-buckley-starsailor/) |
| Signature track | "Song to the Siren" (3:28), co-written with lyricist Larry Beckett[4](https://musicbrainz.org/release/2de642e6-a5ee-397d-97cc-1bed9edb1a05) |
| Aftermath | Poor sales and a confused reception stalled Buckley's career; the album later became a cult favorite, and the English band Starsailor took its name from it[6](https://www.classical-music.com/rock/tim-buckley-starsailor) • [7](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/7480-silence-is-easy/) |
## Position in Buckley's career
Tim Buckley began as a gentle, melodic baroque folk-rocker and evolved steadily toward experimental music. AllMusic's discography timeline places *Starsailor* sixth of his nine studio albums, between *Lorca* and *Greetings from L.A.* (1966's *Tim Buckley*, 1967's *Goodbye and Hello*, 1969's *Happy Sad* and *Blue Afternoon*, then the two 1970 releases); one retrospective account calls it his fifth album and his second release of 1970, after *Lorca* in May.[3](https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000653397) • [6](https://www.classical-music.com/rock/tim-buckley-starsailor) In any ordering it falls almost exactly halfway through his recording career, and it marks the peak of an experimental curve that began with his 1966 debut.[8](https://thenewperfectcollection.com/2015/04/14/tim-buckley-starsailor-1970/)
**A new label and a new band.** After poor sales for the jazzy *Happy Sad* and the experimental *Lorca*, Buckley signed with Straight, the Warner sub-label co-run by [Frank Zappa](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-zappa) and Herb Cohen, which gave him freedom to record what he wanted.[5](https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/72598/tim-buckley-starsailor/) For the album he recruited a new band drawing largely on Zappa's Mothers of Invention: guitarist Lee Underwood, the Gardner brothers Bunk and Buzz, percussionist Maury Baker, and bassist John Balkin.[5](https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/72598/tim-buckley-starsailor/) Buckley's lyricist from his early career, Larry Beckett, returned and contributed lyrics to several songs, including "Monterey", "Moulin Rouge", "Song to the Siren", and the title track.[9](https://albumlinernotes.com/Morning_Glory.html) • [4](https://musicbrainz.org/release/2de642e6-a5ee-397d-97cc-1bed9edb1a05)
## The music
*Starsailor* is an avant-garde record built around Buckley's voice. Its reference points included contemporary classical composers such as [Olivier Messiaen](https://www.edgepedia.org/olivier-messiaen), Igor Stravinsky, Krzysztof Penderecki, and [Luciano Berio](https://www.edgepedia.org/luciano-berio), and Berio's vocalist Cathy Berberian; Underwood, Buckley's longtime guitarist, credited Balkin with conceiving much of the vocal layering and multi-tiered criss-crossing on the album.[10](https://www.leeunderwood.net/TimBuckley/morning-glory/morningG_01.html) Buckley's stated model was jazz improvisation: he told an interviewer that he valued the way Roland Kirk integrated a wrong note into the total sound within a split second, and called such playing "spiritual" music.[11](https://www.leeunderwood.net/Interviews/05_starsailor.html)
**Vocal and structural techniques.** With the exception of "Moulin Rouge" and "Song to the Siren", which Underwood described as poetic gems reminiscent of Buckley's earlier work, the album uses odd-time signatures, dissonant instrumental improvisation, and extreme vocal writing: "Come Here, Woman" in 5/4, "The Healing Festival" in 10/4, and "Jungle Fire" in 5/4.[11](https://www.leeunderwood.net/Interviews/05_starsailor.html) On the title track Buckley sings 16 overdubbed vocal tracks against himself, an a cappella construction with the voices sped up, slowed down, and warped; Balkin told *Mojo* in 1996 that the aim was Buckley's voice "moving and circling the room, coming over the top like a horn section".[11](https://www.leeunderwood.net/Interviews/05_starsailor.html) • [6](https://www.classical-music.com/rock/tim-buckley-starsailor) Buckley said he had begun singing wordless passages that sounded as if they were in languages such as Swahili, and that a singer producing non-verbal sound shocked audiences more than almost anything else a performer could do.[11](https://www.leeunderwood.net/Interviews/05_starsailor.html)
**The songs.** The nine tracks include "Come Here, Woman", "Monterey" (4:31), "Moulin Rouge" (1:59), "Song to the Siren" (3:28), "Jungle Fire" (4:40), "Starsailor" (4:36), "The Healing Festival" (3:16), and "Down by the Borderline" (5:18).[4](https://musicbrainz.org/release/2de642e6-a5ee-397d-97cc-1bed9edb1a05) "Song to the Siren" became the album's best-known piece; Buckley had long resisted recording it and in 1970 agreed to put it on the album only if the "oyster" line of the lyric was rewritten.[12](https://device.report/m/69b68d598515a7685fe3901fd2a0893af01f885ab45beec1ae4b56761857ab9b.pdf) "Jungle Fire" and "Down by the Borderline" frame the second half with jazz-funk workouts, while "The Healing Festival" is a free-jazz-inspired piece built on Buckley's vocal improvisation.[6](https://www.classical-music.com/rock/tim-buckley-starsailor)
## Reception
The album alienated far more listeners than it exhilarated on release, in AllMusic's summary.[3](https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000653397) Many of Buckley's original folk-oriented fans were confused by it, while some jazz critics welcomed him; a 1971 *Down Beat* review by Michael Bourne gave it five stars and called Buckley "a consummate vocal technician" who exhibited expressive control of resonance and tone that few if any pop artists matched.[13](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/History-of-Rock/TheHistoryOfRock1974.pdf) • [14](https://musicaficionado.blog/2023/09/19/1970-singer-songwriters-part-2/) • [11](https://www.leeunderwood.net/Interviews/05_starsailor.html) Commercially it failed: Buckley received no tour support for the record, and Underwood wrote that the album "proved to be a terrifying failure".[12](https://device.report/m/69b68d598515a7685fe3901fd2a0893af01f885ab45beec1ae4b56761857ab9b.pdf) • [11](https://www.leeunderwood.net/Interviews/05_starsailor.html)
**Aftermath.** Initial plans to continue recording with the Starsailor band were scrapped when Buckley felt he lacked label support; after a fallow period he returned in 1972 with *Greetings from L.A.*, a much more straightforward funk-rock proposition.[6](https://www.classical-music.com/rock/tim-buckley-starsailor) He died on June 29, 1975, at 28, from an overdose of heroin and alcohol.[11](https://www.leeunderwood.net/Interviews/05_starsailor.html)
## Legacy
*Starsailor* became a cult favorite after Buckley's death. AllMusic notes that Pitchfork named it one of the 100 Best Albums of the '70s in a 2004 feature, and the success of Buckley's son [Jeff Buckley](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeff-buckley) from 1994 onward pointed many listeners back to Tim's recordings, including this one.[15](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tim-buckley-p3794) Underwood, who played lead guitar on seven of Buckley's nine albums, called it "an amazing combination of odd-time signatures, avant-garde instrumental music, and astonishing vocal flights that nobody else has come close to before or since".[16](https://www.indiependent.co.uk/interview-lee-underwood-on-the-life-and-music-of-tim-buckley/)
The album's name outlived its commercial life in a second way: the English rock band Starsailor, formed in [Lancashire](https://www.edgepedia.org/lancashire), took its name from the Tim Buckley LP, and their debut *Love Is Here* (2001) sold a million copies.[7](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/7480-silence-is-easy/) • [17](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-starsailor-5353591.html) "Song to the Siren" has been recorded by many artists since, including [Robert Plant](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-plant) and [This Mortal Coil](https://www.edgepedia.org/this-mortal-coil), though the sources retained here do not document those covers; within Buckley's own catalog, reviewers consistently single out the *Starsailor* version as the definitive one.[18](https://tunetempest.co.uk/album-review-tim-buckleys-starsailor/)
## References
1. [Starsailor – Album by Tim Buckley, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/starsailor/110692372)
2. [Tim Buckley – Starsailor :: OndaRock Milestones](https://ondarock.com/reviews/milestones/1970-tim-buckley-starsailor/)
3. [Tim Buckley: Starsailor Tracks & Reviews, AllMusic (Richie Unterberger)](https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000653397)
4. [Release “Starsailor” by Tim Buckley, MusicBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/release/2de642e6-a5ee-397d-97cc-1bed9edb1a05)
5. [Tim Buckley – Starsailor (album review), Sputnikmusic](https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/72598/tim-buckley-starsailor/)
6. [1970: this singer makes his wild masterpiece. Tragically, the world ignores it, Classical Music (Jamie Atkins)](https://www.classical-music.com/rock/tim-buckley-starsailor)
7. [Starsailor: Silence Is Easy Album Review, Pitchfork (John O'Connor)](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/7480-silence-is-easy/)
8. [29. Tim Buckley – Starsailor (1970) – The New Perfect Collection](https://thenewperfectcollection.com/2015/04/14/tim-buckley-starsailor-1970/)
9. [Morning Glory liner notes, albumlinernotes.com](https://albumlinernotes.com/Morning_Glory.html)
10. [Morning Glory -= Page 1](https://www.leeunderwood.net/TimBuckley/morning-glory/morningG_01.html)
11. [Chronicle of a Starsailor, Lee Underwood](https://www.leeunderwood.net/Interviews/05_starsailor.html)
12. [Starsailor-phase reminiscences including Emmett Chapman, device.report](https://device.report/m/69b68d598515a7685fe3901fd2a0893af01f885ab45beec1ae4b56761857ab9b.pdf)
13. [“I have to assimilate it all”, New Musical Express, History of Rock 1974](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/History-of-Rock/TheHistoryOfRock1974.pdf)
14. [A Year in Music – 1970 Singer-Songwriters, part 2, Music Aficionado](https://musicaficionado.blog/2023/09/19/1970-singer-songwriters-part-2/)
15. [Tim Buckley – Biography, Discography, Albums & Expert Reviews, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tim-buckley-p3794)
16. [Interview: Lee Underwood On The Life And Music Of Tim Buckley, The Indiependent](https://www.indiependent.co.uk/interview-lee-underwood-on-the-life-and-music-of-tim-buckley/)
17. [Album: Starsailor, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-starsailor-5353591.html)
18. [Album Review: Tim Buckley's Starsailor, Tune Tempest](https://tunetempest.co.uk/album-review-tim-buckleys-starsailor/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › Experimental and avant-garde albums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license