Grace, Rock, 1994
Jeff Buckley is one of the great talents of the modern rock age, although his life was tragically cut short when he drowned in 1997. Born with handsome pedigree as son of '60s singer/songwriter Tim Buckley, Jeff's entire earthly career consisted of one this one solo album- a schizophrenic and scattered but breathtakingly beautiful and awe-inspiring epic, aptly named "Grace." Buckley was still finding himself during this album, but his inexperience shows more in his song choices than in his execution- he conquers six or seven genres with the grandeur and style of a master. In fact, he displays such extraordinary command over such a wide realm of the musical scene that it is difficult to lable the album as simply "Rock."
Despite the variety on the album, there is one constant throughout: the unbelievable instrument that is Jeff's voice, some combination of Robert Plant's or Freddie Mercury's howling banshee shrieks and the melancholy coo of Ryan Adams or Art Garfunkel. Coupled with a soaring countertenor falsetto, Buckley's voice swoons and dips and reaches emotions and octaves that most rock singers can only dream of. Buckley has a knack for bypassing the intellect and singing straight to the heart, be it with bruising rockers, gut-wrenchingly poignant ballads or soulful crooning, often in the same song. Take, for example...
1. Mojo Pin- ...the first track on the masterpiece, Mojo Pin. The song begins with distant feedback and chiming noises, until the sky opens up and the song's high point is reached, as Jeff's tender falsetto descends over an eerie acoustic riff. The song meanders along, showcasing Buckley's quiet tenor and lovely falsetto with strange, surreal and disturbingly non-sequiter masochistic lyrics ("send whips of opinion down my back, give me more") uncomfortably juxstaposed next to images of tender love ("It's you I've waited my life to see/It's you I've searched so hard for"). Eventually, it builds to Buckley's powerful screaming climax, but instantly fades into hushed falsetto and a major chord for the end. A beautiful opener, in spite of already showing the scattered nature of the album. 7.5/10
2. Grace- The soaring title track, and one of the best on the album. A haunting rocker built around an uncharacteristically typical but hardly radio-friendly riff/verse/chorus scheme, Jeff sings about death and sex as if they were one, whispering the foreboding chorus "wait in the fire, wait in the fire" as if it were a deadly secret. Here we see Buckley's first real male-soprano projected falsetto, a cherubic "eeee" descant over his own voice multi-tracked to r&b-like backings. Once again, the song eventually simply explodes, this time behind cascading distorted guitar and hellish bass drums while Buckley's voice begins to careen out of control, reaching higher and higher until climaxing at an inhuman screech, as high as the woman on Pink Floyd's "Great Gig In The Sky". Then he spirals higher, until finally backing off into the song's hook in falsetto. Triumphantly powerful and technically astonishing- a 9.5/10.
3. Last Goodbye- Certainly Buckley's most radio-friendly tune on the album, and his only hit. A simpler love song, again showcasing his cherubic falsetto and soaring tenor, cutting to the soul with his plea "Kiss me, please kiss me." The song generally displays an honest lyrical beauty missing from his previous two efforts, and Jeff can't help but break your heart. 8.5/10
4. Lilac Wine- One of the slighter efforts on the album, a cover song in which Jeff tries his hand at '50s crooning. As with everything, he's very good at it, but the ambition and passion that consumed the first three tracks is absent here, leaving the song feel like a hollow and almost cloying tug at the heartstrings. His mastery of the craft and the beauty that he creates makes the song more than worth listening to, but it merits a mere 6/10.
5. So Real- A harshly unfriendly, difficult-on-the-ear piece of art-school noise rock that's much more difficult to appreciate than his previous work on the album, in many ways this is the complete opposite of Lilac Wine. Rather than being lovely and saccharine, this song is grating, ambitious and strong. Again, Buckley flashes his honest and piercing lyrical brilliance, but again, it is in a way that makes the listener uncomfortable, just like the rest of the song- you know that you are hearing a troubled and tortured soul just by hearing Jeff in the sort of distress that he exhibits during this song. Powerful, but ugly enough so that it only merits a 6.5/10.
Hallelujah- This Leonard Cohen number is Jeff Buckley's most famous today, and with good reason. It is simply one of the most beautiful recordings ever made. Buckley's voice is composed and controlled during this song, never screaming, never shrieking, never flying into his falsetto. Instead, he sings the song in gorgeous, spine-tingling mid-voice, alone on acoustic guitar with a simple elegance. Jeff can't resist showing off a little, though; his acoustic guitar chops here are impressive, and he gives the listener the pleasure of hearing him hold a plaintive coo for over twenty seconds, while his guitar shimmers and dances around his voice and eventually fades away to the final "hallelujah". This is Buckley's best song, and one of the best songs ever to be made, by any artist. If you can't download this whole album, at least download this. You will not regret it. An unabashed 10/10.
Lover, You Should've Come Over- Probably Buckley's greatest solo song (Grace was co-written with another artist and Hallelujah was a cover). The first few verses are Buckley in his sorrowful singer-songwriter mid-voice again, reflecting over a gently-strummed acoustic guitar that "Maybe I'm just too young to keep good love from going wrong." The "It's never over" bridge might just be the climax of the album; a gospel tune belted out by Buckley over himself overdubbed on backing vocals (sounding uncannily like a soul-singing troupe of african-american women) with the some of the most elegant, beautiful, and heartbreaking lyrics in the American songwriting canon. Buckley then beings ascending upward and upward, again scraping the sky and kissing heaven with his voice repeating the word "lover" before coming back down, for "you should've come over- 'cause it's not too late." Another masterpiece. 9.5/10.
Corpus Christi Carol- Here Jeff breaks all the rules. He radically departs from anything that has ever been on rock albums (or really belongs on rock albums) and inculdes this Benjamin Britton cover of a British madrigal piece from the 1800s. It's very pretty, and it's the supreme showcase for Buckley's choir-boy countertenor falsetto, which sounds lovely. Unfortunately, it's this sort of eclecticism that makes the album seem so schizophrenic. Buckley is obviously an accomplished choir singer, but how many people who are buying rock albums share his taste in British classical madrigal songs? A good bet is very few. Because of the level of execution on the song, it's impossible to call it below average, but it's too bizzare of a choice to deserve more than a 6/10.
Eternal Life- From a classical choir-boy piece to this grungy hard-rocking piece of heavy metal? You have to admire the variety that Buckley displays. No other artist in history could have these two songs back to back on one album and execute them so well; Beatles, Zeppelin, you name it. This is a heavy-hitting work of pure testosterone, with hammering bass and pounding electric rhythm guitar driven from a powerful drumbeat. Another excellent lyrical performance delievered with passion and energy that puts Robert Plant to shame, and not many singers can beat Plant at his own game. The song itself swells and pounds behind the strength of Buckley's screams and the surprisingly heady lyrics, climaxing with Buckley's voice reaching into falsetto and crescendoing into a devastating wail at the mid-top of his range, screaming "Angel" the way the devil would. This is a work of supreme rock craftsmanship, although it may be a little over-the-top for people who bout the album for songs like "Last Goodbye" and "Hallelujah". But it's too good to get anything lower than a 9/10.
Dream Brother- The album's tense closer, built around a seesaw circular riff that works around the single note that Jeff repeats in a druggy but somehow urgent whisper, before eventually rising and falling to an echo of the riff in the chorus. Driven by haunting lyrics and ghostly wails in the background, the song lets the album draw itself out and peter out until Buckley's voice blooms to a final falsetto note, holds it, and lets it fade away with an eerie acoustic chord. Not one of the strongest efforts on the album, and certainly the most nondescript, but good enough to earn a 6.5/10.
Overall, this album deserves a hearty 8.5/10 for its supreme craftsmanship and variety, and the exquisite grace of Buckley's voice. It's one of my personal favorites.
Songs to download: Hallelujah; Grace; Lover, You Should've Come Over.
Jeff Buckley is one of the great talents of the modern rock age, although his life was tragically cut short when he drowned in 1997. Born with handsome pedigree as son of '60s singer/songwriter Tim Buckley, Jeff's entire earthly career consisted of one this one solo album- a schizophrenic and scattered but breathtakingly beautiful and awe-inspiring epic, aptly named "Grace." Buckley was still finding himself during this album, but his inexperience shows more in his song choices than in his execution- he conquers six or seven genres with the grandeur and style of a master. In fact, he displays such extraordinary command over such a wide realm of the musical scene that it is difficult to lable the album as simply "Rock."
Despite the variety on the album, there is one constant throughout: the unbelievable instrument that is Jeff's voice, some combination of Robert Plant's or Freddie Mercury's howling banshee shrieks and the melancholy coo of Ryan Adams or Art Garfunkel. Coupled with a soaring countertenor falsetto, Buckley's voice swoons and dips and reaches emotions and octaves that most rock singers can only dream of. Buckley has a knack for bypassing the intellect and singing straight to the heart, be it with bruising rockers, gut-wrenchingly poignant ballads or soulful crooning, often in the same song. Take, for example...
1. Mojo Pin- ...the first track on the masterpiece, Mojo Pin. The song begins with distant feedback and chiming noises, until the sky opens up and the song's high point is reached, as Jeff's tender falsetto descends over an eerie acoustic riff. The song meanders along, showcasing Buckley's quiet tenor and lovely falsetto with strange, surreal and disturbingly non-sequiter masochistic lyrics ("send whips of opinion down my back, give me more") uncomfortably juxstaposed next to images of tender love ("It's you I've waited my life to see/It's you I've searched so hard for"). Eventually, it builds to Buckley's powerful screaming climax, but instantly fades into hushed falsetto and a major chord for the end. A beautiful opener, in spite of already showing the scattered nature of the album. 7.5/10
2. Grace- The soaring title track, and one of the best on the album. A haunting rocker built around an uncharacteristically typical but hardly radio-friendly riff/verse/chorus scheme, Jeff sings about death and sex as if they were one, whispering the foreboding chorus "wait in the fire, wait in the fire" as if it were a deadly secret. Here we see Buckley's first real male-soprano projected falsetto, a cherubic "eeee" descant over his own voice multi-tracked to r&b-like backings. Once again, the song eventually simply explodes, this time behind cascading distorted guitar and hellish bass drums while Buckley's voice begins to careen out of control, reaching higher and higher until climaxing at an inhuman screech, as high as the woman on Pink Floyd's "Great Gig In The Sky". Then he spirals higher, until finally backing off into the song's hook in falsetto. Triumphantly powerful and technically astonishing- a 9.5/10.
3. Last Goodbye- Certainly Buckley's most radio-friendly tune on the album, and his only hit. A simpler love song, again showcasing his cherubic falsetto and soaring tenor, cutting to the soul with his plea "Kiss me, please kiss me." The song generally displays an honest lyrical beauty missing from his previous two efforts, and Jeff can't help but break your heart. 8.5/10
4. Lilac Wine- One of the slighter efforts on the album, a cover song in which Jeff tries his hand at '50s crooning. As with everything, he's very good at it, but the ambition and passion that consumed the first three tracks is absent here, leaving the song feel like a hollow and almost cloying tug at the heartstrings. His mastery of the craft and the beauty that he creates makes the song more than worth listening to, but it merits a mere 6/10.
5. So Real- A harshly unfriendly, difficult-on-the-ear piece of art-school noise rock that's much more difficult to appreciate than his previous work on the album, in many ways this is the complete opposite of Lilac Wine. Rather than being lovely and saccharine, this song is grating, ambitious and strong. Again, Buckley flashes his honest and piercing lyrical brilliance, but again, it is in a way that makes the listener uncomfortable, just like the rest of the song- you know that you are hearing a troubled and tortured soul just by hearing Jeff in the sort of distress that he exhibits during this song. Powerful, but ugly enough so that it only merits a 6.5/10.
Hallelujah- This Leonard Cohen number is Jeff Buckley's most famous today, and with good reason. It is simply one of the most beautiful recordings ever made. Buckley's voice is composed and controlled during this song, never screaming, never shrieking, never flying into his falsetto. Instead, he sings the song in gorgeous, spine-tingling mid-voice, alone on acoustic guitar with a simple elegance. Jeff can't resist showing off a little, though; his acoustic guitar chops here are impressive, and he gives the listener the pleasure of hearing him hold a plaintive coo for over twenty seconds, while his guitar shimmers and dances around his voice and eventually fades away to the final "hallelujah". This is Buckley's best song, and one of the best songs ever to be made, by any artist. If you can't download this whole album, at least download this. You will not regret it. An unabashed 10/10.
Lover, You Should've Come Over- Probably Buckley's greatest solo song (Grace was co-written with another artist and Hallelujah was a cover). The first few verses are Buckley in his sorrowful singer-songwriter mid-voice again, reflecting over a gently-strummed acoustic guitar that "Maybe I'm just too young to keep good love from going wrong." The "It's never over" bridge might just be the climax of the album; a gospel tune belted out by Buckley over himself overdubbed on backing vocals (sounding uncannily like a soul-singing troupe of african-american women) with the some of the most elegant, beautiful, and heartbreaking lyrics in the American songwriting canon. Buckley then beings ascending upward and upward, again scraping the sky and kissing heaven with his voice repeating the word "lover" before coming back down, for "you should've come over- 'cause it's not too late." Another masterpiece. 9.5/10.
Corpus Christi Carol- Here Jeff breaks all the rules. He radically departs from anything that has ever been on rock albums (or really belongs on rock albums) and inculdes this Benjamin Britton cover of a British madrigal piece from the 1800s. It's very pretty, and it's the supreme showcase for Buckley's choir-boy countertenor falsetto, which sounds lovely. Unfortunately, it's this sort of eclecticism that makes the album seem so schizophrenic. Buckley is obviously an accomplished choir singer, but how many people who are buying rock albums share his taste in British classical madrigal songs? A good bet is very few. Because of the level of execution on the song, it's impossible to call it below average, but it's too bizzare of a choice to deserve more than a 6/10.
Eternal Life- From a classical choir-boy piece to this grungy hard-rocking piece of heavy metal? You have to admire the variety that Buckley displays. No other artist in history could have these two songs back to back on one album and execute them so well; Beatles, Zeppelin, you name it. This is a heavy-hitting work of pure testosterone, with hammering bass and pounding electric rhythm guitar driven from a powerful drumbeat. Another excellent lyrical performance delievered with passion and energy that puts Robert Plant to shame, and not many singers can beat Plant at his own game. The song itself swells and pounds behind the strength of Buckley's screams and the surprisingly heady lyrics, climaxing with Buckley's voice reaching into falsetto and crescendoing into a devastating wail at the mid-top of his range, screaming "Angel" the way the devil would. This is a work of supreme rock craftsmanship, although it may be a little over-the-top for people who bout the album for songs like "Last Goodbye" and "Hallelujah". But it's too good to get anything lower than a 9/10.
Dream Brother- The album's tense closer, built around a seesaw circular riff that works around the single note that Jeff repeats in a druggy but somehow urgent whisper, before eventually rising and falling to an echo of the riff in the chorus. Driven by haunting lyrics and ghostly wails in the background, the song lets the album draw itself out and peter out until Buckley's voice blooms to a final falsetto note, holds it, and lets it fade away with an eerie acoustic chord. Not one of the strongest efforts on the album, and certainly the most nondescript, but good enough to earn a 6.5/10.
Overall, this album deserves a hearty 8.5/10 for its supreme craftsmanship and variety, and the exquisite grace of Buckley's voice. It's one of my personal favorites.
Songs to download: Hallelujah; Grace; Lover, You Should've Come Over.
