Starsailor (album)

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Starsailor

Studio album by Tim Buckley
Released	1970
Genre	Experimental rock
Length	35:54
Label	Rhino/Bizarre
Producer(s)	Tim Buckley
All Music Guide link
Tim Buckley chronology
Lorca (1970)	Starsailor (1970)	Greetings from L.A. (1972)

Starsailor is a 1970 album by Tim Buckley (see 1970 in music).

It marks the transition of Buckley from folk rock to incorporating jazz rock and avant-garde styles. Although it is often regarded as not being accessible to many people, it also contains his best known song "Song To The Siren". Bunk Gardner, a former member of the Mothers of Invention joined Buckley's normal band to record the album.

"Song To The Siren" has been covered by a variety of artists most notably This Mortal Coil from their 1984 album It'll End in Tears. This Mortal Coil was a collective name for artists on the 4AD Records label and Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins performed the song. David Lynch has stated that the Cocteau Twins version of the song inspired the first two albums by Julee Cruise. The British cheesy trance act Lost Witness also covered it as Did I Dream (Song to the Siren). The Mortal Coil version was sampled by acid house duo Messiah in their singles recording Temple of Dreams.

While the revival of "Song To The Siren" renewed interest in Buckley amongst independent artists in the 1980s, the success of Tim Buckley's son Jeff Buckley in the 1990s inspired indie rock artists to look at the career of his father. British band Starsailor took their name from this album.

The album had a brief reissue on CD by the Rhino/Bizarre label, but like the other Tim Buckley release on the Straight Records label, Blue Afternoon, it drifted out of print due to apparent legal battles over who owned the material. Copies of the CD are increasingly difficult to obtain. In 2006, the album was released on the iTunes Music Store, making it available to the general public once more.