Lorca

The fifth studio album was named for the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca and recorded at the same time as Blue Afternoon, though in a very different style. It moves away from the verse and chorus form toward a free mix of jazz, avant-garde and folk, and relies on Buckley's voice rather than a constant rhythm section. Buckley and Underwood had been reading poetry such as Lorca's at the time. Larry Beckett said Buckley was purposely trying to alienate fans, and Buckley said you could not put it on at a party without stopping things. Trouser Press heard in the title track an attempt at the vocal technique of Cathy Berberian, and called the album a critical and commercial failure and Buckley's final release on Elektra.