Honeyman is a previously unreleased live 1973 radio broadcast in excellent sound, that offers a valuable supplement to
Tim Buckley's often disappointing final albums.
Buckley's last LPs were marred by unsympathetic L.A. production, and this presents the material with much sparser, focused, and appropriate arrangements. As the songs originate mostly from the
Sefronia and
Greetings from L.A records (although a couple of songs from the '60s do appear), this couldn't be placed among his best work, or even among his best live albums (
Dream Letter and
Live at the Troubadour 1969 are both considerably better).
Buckley's vocals are great, though, and if the tunes are sometimes too funky for their own good, this is generally good stuff, especially his riveting interpretation of
Fred Neil's "Dolphins," which is probably worth the price of admission alone for
Buckley fans. ~ Richie Unterberger