Jeff Buckley - Grace

Here's what they say about Jeff Buckley: "He died too young." Here's why they say it: Grace is simply one of the most amazing things you can do with your ears and a little digitally-encoded disc. He inherited the voice of his father, the legendary Tim Buckley--seven octaves, each of them only just enough to cram his big feverish dreams into--but his music was all his own. Think Van Morrison's Astral Weeks on drugs--but then drugs could give some kind of comfort, and there's no comfort in Grace; just constant flux between crippling despair and an almost violent joy. When "Last Goodbye" unfolds its third different bridge of Bollywood strings and Buckley's ecstatic scatting, it's hard to believe an ordinary human could have had a hand in something so extraordinary. Ten years on from its original release, this repackaged "Legacy Edition" 3-disc CD and DVD set really does his legend proud. --Caitlin Moran Amazon.com

Grace ubove all

Grace is one of the best albums ever made. It is essential in every album collection. It is a pity the man died. May 14, 2008

"...I couldn't awake from the nightmare, it sucked me in, and pulled me under..."

That hauntingly evocative line from "So Real" which became fatefully too real 10 years ago when Jeff Buckley drowned in the Wolf River exemplifies the mystically chilling experience of listening to Grace.
First and foremost one notices Jeff Buckley's voice---all 8 octaves, then maybe the stirring lyrical romanticism, and finally it'll settle in the wide range of his stylings.
From melodic rockers like "Mojo Pin" and "Grace" to the weeping ululation of "Corpus Christi Carol" and solemn hymnal of "Hallelujah" Grace is one of the most beautiful debut albums ever.
There's no filler to be found on this disc.
I actually recommend getting the Legacy Edition. The higher price gets you an extra disc of music and a dvd of videos.
The "road version" of "Eternal Life" at full blast is like a Mack truck crashing into your chest and atomizing you instantly.

JB is well on his way to becoming a legend and I consider his tragic demise the greatest loss to music in our lifetime.

July 30, 2007

Discovered : The Holy Grail on Three Discs

The reason why this is actually the greatest male solo album of all time, is because no other album on earth has such a perfect harmony of so many genres of music - rock, pop, jazz, neo-soul, and even sufi melodies.

I can safely say that twenty years from now, "Grace" will be hailed as probably the most important cultural document arising out of the rock movement of the 1900s. The passion here is more palpable that anything put out by say, The Beatles or Eric Clapton (geniuses in their own right). Its one thing to here people say "Oh, this is the greatest album ever!" and "Best Album of all time!", or when fans go "This makes the entire catalog of The Rolling Stones look like kindergarten!" - but that, dear reader, is the happy reality of this album - its better than almost all of the artists mentioned above. It really is.

If you're new to Jeff Buckley, heres a quick rundown of what this album actually sounds like - take a 27 year old boy-man with a soaring, beautiful, jazz-suited voice, and hear him sing touching slow-rock songs, and some unlikely covers ("Lilac Wine" by Nina Simone, "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen). The voice is the instrument here. Production is flawless. He can sound like a little girl whose hearts' been broken for the first time, or a 70 year old singing from wisdom and experience - all on one song. If that isn't amazing, what is?

For years now, I've held that Tori Amos' "Scarlet's Walk" is the greatest album ever recorded. Well, musically and conforming to my tastes, I'd have to say that the Amos album still ranks high on my list. But I listened to "Grace" when it first released in 1994, and its been a friend to me since then. What an experience that was, me as a gangly 17 year old with headphones on to shut the rest of the world of - Jeff Buckley was easy to idolize when you're that age, but what I didn't count on was this album becoming a permanent fixture in my life even in my thirties. I guess `timeless' would be the word, but I don't want to use adjectives here that I would use for just any other album.

Many Tori Amos fans seem to love this album as well, even though Tori is a completely different sort of performer. While Amos sings primarily of life through her eyes (fair enough), Buckley reaches out to you and sings about YOUR life, which is something that not many singer-songwriters are capable of doing.

If you haven't heard this before, lucky you! I can only imagine the goosebumps you're gonna get when you slide this CD into your player and hear the opening verse of "Mojo Pin", Track 1. The title track is a bonafide classic, but its on "Lilac Wine" that this album finally finds its wings and soars. How can a human voice sound like this, you ask yourself. If heaven was packaged in a three minute track on a CD, this would be it. Nothing can come close, and if the original songwriter were alive today I can only imagine his amazement at what it has been transformed to in Buckley's hands. Another ancient lyrics "Corpus Christi Carol" is just as stunning.

Jeff Buckley died in 1997. Since then, this album has been hailed as a classic, but I find this to be quite cheap and derogatory, because its too easy to hail something once an artist is dead. I mean, I did like Nirvana, but lost all interest in them after their catalog was plundered and sold out to commercial gain upon Kurts' death. Thankfully, that hasn't quite happened to Jeff (though we have had a few posthumous releases, not of the magnitude of Nirvana, however), because Jeff was only starting his career and there wasn't a whole lot available to readily release. His estate, now in his mothers' hands, have released some Live albums, a double-CD of his unfinished work, and a DVD, but nothing compares to "Grace" which is the only album he released in his lifetime.

You know, in this world, its hard to find a thing of beauty that retains its' power and hold over you. Friends come and go, relationships fade away, and family sometimes isn't all its cut out to be. I find that music has been my sole companion through most of lifes' ups and downs, and "Grace" has been a constant support. In times of highs or lows, all I need to do is to listen to "Lilac Wine" or "Eternal Life" and its' as if fresh new liquid energy is being poured into me by some divine entity (well, the experience is other-worldly, for sure). But more than that, it's a thing of wonder that a record soon celebrating fifteen years of release has been a constant soundtrack to my life, mirroring my moods and emotions, and being the best friend through it all. For this, I can only thank Buckley. I bet even he didn't know what he was creating.

The new version of "Grace" is entitled the "Legacy Edition" and I highly recommend you get that over the single-CD version. Yes, the single CD version is what Jeff released originally, but this new version, supervised by his mother, is what I now consider the most essential version of this album. Its my No. 1 Desert island disc (over Amos' Scarlet's Walk" in its' current form). The second disc, in my opinion is not `better' than the first disc, its just `different'.

The most beautiful new track here is the shimmering ballad "Forget Her", which had been spoken of for years, but now that we have it, it exceeds our expectations. This has got to be the most underrated rarity of all Buckley's work. There is also the long `Kanga Roo', and the amazing `Mama, you be on my mind'. I must say though, that the second disc, save for Track 1, has a rougher, edgier sound, but at no point do these sound like `demos' or `cheap live recordings' as many people assume them to be. In fact, even though it probably didn't go through the multi-layered studio instrumentation as the first disc did, the second is just as well produced and impeccably put together, and is a worthy addition to the catalog. For those of us who were fans of the original CD, this new Legacy Edition is the most glorious musical occasion in recent memory.

The Legacy Edition, while bestowing the album with the greater respect it deserves, also offers us a DVD with all Jeff's official music videos, with a documentary thrown in as well. This definitive 3-Disc package is the way to go, if you need to get "Grace".

Throughout my life, I've always been fascinated and felt kinship toward Buckley due to his obsession and love for Sufism and the Qawwali genre of music. He was a follower of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and in fact, one of Nusrat's posthumous releases is even dedicated to Buckley. While "Grace" does not have any songs of this nature, I find that Buckley's voice is strangely very "exotic" sounding in places, almost as if he were channeling a Moslem preacher from the wilds of the Afghan highlands (I'm sure Jeff would consider this a compliment). Listen to this album again, and note what I'm saying here - his voice is just so adaptable and I think that he channels Nusrat in more than a few places on this record. Now, this is a fabulous experience, and I only understood the relevance of this years later, when I read an interview that Buckley did with Nusrat during a US tour. Jeff also lists Patti Smith (one of my musical gurus) as one of his icons (he even toured with her at one point), and her influence upon his music is quite evident (traces of her debut album are present through strains of "Grace").

Let me not mince words - "Grace" is the best thing to happen to the world of music, since, well... ever. This is one album that not many people know about, but those who do most certainly live a charmed life upon possession of this record. If your musical inclinations and `best-ofs' lie with "Abbey Road" and "The White Album", well, what can I say. You've certainly missed out on what is obviously the true blueprint for what music ought to be based on. This is genre bending, music-revolutionizing stuff here, and you should do yourself a favor and just buy this.

I would also highly recommend the new Legacy Edition of "Live at Sin-E", which is actually Jeff's first album. It was released early on as an EP, and now has been extended into a mega two-hour event. What a treat! Other than the usual tracks, the standout for me on this record is "Yeh Jo Halka Halka Suroor Hain", which was incidentally the first song by Khan that Jeff ever heard. I would say that if you're reading this review, check out the link above to this Live set, and add to your cart. I know that it's a pretty obvious endorsement, but I'd really like you to get both these Legacy Edition records and listen to them. These are records you NEED to own.

To sum things up, what we have here is the Greatest Male Solo Record of all time. It breaks new ground, reinvents a whole new genre, and introduces you to the most beautiful male voice I have ever heard. I cannot recommend this album highly enough.

If Music were Religion, consider this your Bible.

Five Stars - Jeff Buckley, you will be missed. June 14, 2007

Grace: Legacy Edition

Usually when I review an album, I will make detailed observations on the music, meaning, impact, and production. For this, I'm just going to review the production of the re-master of the ten songs of the original album.

Like most Buckley fans, I purchased Grace and after falling in love sought out everything I could get my hands on. So in response to those who may complain about Jeff's mother and Columbia records exploiting Buckley fans for more money, I feel the quality of the mixes and bonus materials easily warrant the additional expenditure.

As to the mix itself, I do feel that it is mostly superior to the original. All the instrumentation is clearer without sounding artificially boosted. The background noises that hide behind most of the songs have been brought out without sounding too compressed. It's much easier to hear and visualize what is going on in the mix. The drums and bass feel like they have been mixed MUCH better and sound a lot more like a solid platform for Jeff's voice and guitar. There are a few moments when it feels like Jeff's voice is a touch harsh or perhaps the slightest bit of clipping on the cymbals, but it could also be in my listening chain (laptop through Presonus interface through M-Audio BX8 studio monitors). I keep hearing things out of this mix that feel like they were added to the original recording but when I listen to my old copy I find they are just much better mixed. It may have been Mr. Wallace's relative inexperience with a project of this scope, but I can assure you it is not simply a copy of the original disc run through a multiband compressor and jacked up 10 dB to the point of clipping.

So yeah if you loved the original, you probably have scratches all over the disc like I do and owe it to yourself to pick up this copy. Well worth the $23. January 2, 2007

Wonderful special edition of classic album

I can't say enough good things about Jeff Buckley and his music. This special edition of his breakout album (and his only completed album), Grace, is worth picking up. I had never got the unreleased "Forget Her" before (even though I think it was pretty easy to come by) until I got this. That song alone is worth the special edition. September 28, 2006

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