Tim Buckley

On 1968's Astral Weeks, Van the Man utilized free jazz to expand accepted notions of folk music. Just two short years later, Buckley used free jazz to smash those same notions. Where Van's masterpiece is impressionistic and meditative, Starsailor is avant-garde and aggressively in your face. Over brittle, stuttering grooves Buckley contorts his once-soaring voice into all kinds of harsh. Half the time the guy doesn't even sound human -- more like half animal, half ghost.

In which a man who was renowned for his Odetta impressions on Jac Holzman's folkie label switches to Frank Zappa's art-rock label, presumably so he can do Nico impressions. (Grade: C-)