Jeff Buckley "Grace" (1994) - got it
Buckley seems to have been a hard worker and another musical 'lifer'.
The son of 60s folk star Tim Buckley, he could easily have leant on his
famous name to fast-track his music career. Instead Jeff first put in
years playing guitar and/or performing backing vocals in bands ranging
from jazz, reggae, blues and metal. He eventually started working on
more and more of his own music. Taking the time to get that musical
education and putting in the work helped Buckley form a musical identity
that wasn't just a rehash of his dad's sound.
Though there is a posthumous release of Buckley's incomplete second
album, "Grace" is the only album he released during his lifetime,
drowning while night-swimming at the age of 27.
It would be an amazing album in any situation... that it's Buckley's
debut is testament to the work that he put in beforehand. There is a
bit of a mix of styles, but it gels well into a cohesive whole, mostly
driven by clean guitars and Buckley's soaring voice that hits high
notes that can send shivers down your spine. I could imagine a live
rendition of his cover of "Corpus Christie Carol"
being something that could bring tears to the eyes... there's just a
hint of Freddie Mercury to it too (but in a subtle way).
The most
famous cover on here of course being Leonard Cohen's "Halellujah" which has been used in more films and tv shows then I'm aware of, and is probably better known than the original.
That's not to downplay Jeff's own songs though, the title track
is a swirling beautiful wave of melodic alt-rock, again with Buckley's
voice taking the whole thing higher. His voice can be plaintive and
begging through to aggressive and decisive and occasionally treads a
line of drama that would seem overblown in the wrong hands (or with the
wrong voice) but that Jeff nails.
His potential career will remain one of the great 'what ifs' of music.
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