Released 1967 Length 3:29 Writer(s) Tim Buckley | Recorded June 1967 Label Elektra Records | |
Genre Folk rock, Psychedelic rock | ||
"Phantasmagoria in Two" is a song that was composed by Tim Buckley, as opposed to the Larry Beckett/Tim Buckley collaboration that was more commonly credited during Buckley's earlier years, and released (with Once I Was) as the third and final single from his second studio album, Goodbye and Hello. The song - which is dominated by hauntingly psychedelic intertwining guitar and piano sequences - is lyrically much like the majority of the other Buckley solo compositions of the time (such as Pleasant Street, Once I Was and Wings), with less of a specifically metaphoric and more of a purely ambiguous approach to the topic in question. However, despite these lyrical similarities, musically, it is perhaps the most deeply psychedelic of Buckley's published recordings.
Indeed, when recorded in June 1967, it was the height of the psychedelic era and yet despite being very much of its time, the single failed to reach anything like a significant chart position.
A slower, live version of the song was performed during his 1968 concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, England, released in 1990 as Dream Letter: Live in London 1968. This performance was also included on the 2001 compilation album Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology.
Covers
The song was covered by the British musician Neil Halstead on the 2000 tribute album Sing a Song for You: Tribute to Tim Buckley which was contributed to by a series of other artists.
It was also covered by the American musical duo Arborea on their 2011 album Red planet.