Jeff Buckley -

Date: 1994
Release: Columbia
Cover Art: view / download
Buy the Album

If Grace (and Jeff Buckley‘s premature death, for that matter) teaches us one lesson, it’s that music has the boundless potential to impassion performers and listeners alike! Buckley’s career as a solo artist started back in the early ’90s in New York’s smaller clubs and coffee houses. Word of his diverse and captivating performances—in which he deftly peppered sets of his own songs with those from artists as distinct as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and MC5—buzzed about town, garnering him an avid enough following to support the release of his solo EP Live at Sin E in 1993.

For the full-length Grace, however, Buckley formed a band, enlisted the help of veteran engineer/producer Andy Wallace, and set out to, in his words, give back something the musical community who’d given him so much. The result: ten gripping tunes that explore the age-old themes of love, loss, yearning, life, and death. Bolstered by a full band, Buckley has room to explore his heavier and more complicated musical influences. The lead track “Mojo Pin,” for example, begins with Buckley floating his supple falsetto over an instrumentally sparse space that crescendos in a Zeppelin-tinged torrent of driving staccato drumming, pulsing guitars, and wailing operatic vocals. “Eternal Life” has an aggressive and distorted immediacy, taking the album on a grungier path. The tabla that complements the singer’s distant, eastern-influenced, and meandering vocals on “Dream Brother” end the album on a contemplative, ethereal note.

Still, for most critics, the true beauty of this album is embodied in Buckley’s moody, solitary, and sweet rendition of Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah.” Although Jeff’s gone now, this album stands as a powerful and enduring legacy to his talent as a performer.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.