Last weekend (29 May) was sadly the 25th anniversary of Jeff Buckley's untimely death, just days before he was due to begin recording his second album.
You can read a bit more on Buckley's life and music in the tribute I posted last week - here.
So, he left us with only one studio album - but what an album it was!
Grace was released on 23 August 1994 by Colombia Records. I came to the record late, hearing it for the first time in 1999, two years after Buckley's death. I was surprised to read later, that it had received somewhat mixed reviews at the time and sold pretty poorly. One his heroes, though Jimmy Page, thought it was one of his favourite albums of the 90s - and I'm guessing that was probably more important.
So let's take a look at the album, track by track.
Mojo Pin: the guitar arpeggio trickles along nicely and Jeff throws in the odd crescendo. There is homage to Zeppelin, with Kashmir-ish rat-a-tats too - and we are off!
Grace: the title track opens with dreamy vocals, before it picks up and starts skipping along - the drums seem to propel the guitar along. It's a true love song, "Wait in the fire," Jeff sings with insistence on the chorus. There is almost a choral feel and then... that howl comes in. A sustained outpouring of emotion. Two tracks in and I am breathless already.
Last Goodbye: a more straightforward track, that ended up being Buckley's most successful single (#19 on the US Alternative chart). The depth is added by some lush middle eastern strings arranged over the top.
Lilac Wine: this was written in 1950 by Broadway composer James Shelton and has been covered by many, including Nina Simone and Eartha Kitt. The version here is wonderfully understated. Buckley sings mournfully over a carefully picked guitar, plucking every ounce of sentiment and solace from the 'wine from the lilac tree'.
So Real: the chords seem rigid somehow, with a regimented drum and a steady tempo, give the verses almost an automated feel, despite the wispy lyrics. But then the voice soars again, into those choruses, and he throws in some slight wig-out moments as the song gets nearer the end.
Hallelujah: in some ways it seems pointless to review this song. It is probably the most analysed of Buckley's output, ironic obviously, because it is another cover version. But it is one of the best covers you will ever hear, so I will add my piece. This is one of the most glorious pieces of music you will ever hear. It is captivating, as it ebbs and flows. You forget that it is pretty much just voice and guitar. They work together so effortlessly to bring you through the song in a trance.
Lover, You Should Have Come Over: having eulogised over the previous track, this is probably actually my favourite - and that despite having accordion on it! There is something about the chord sequence that grabs me, and the way they are played around with fills the sound out nicely. The song is about the end of a relationship and it builds slowly, the drum fills are delightfully off-kilter, Buckley's voice rises and falls - and as the song ends, he seems spent.
Corpus Christi Carol: perhaps a strange choice of song in many ways; a sixteenth century hymn, with arrangement in the 1930s by Benjamin Britten. But Buckley takes the high voice approach used by Janet Baker in her 1967 interpretation and it fits. Close you eyes and you are in a medieval cathedral listening to angelic choirboys. The sparse baroque accompaniment is just enough to fill the space.
Eternal Life: with a crash and a bang, the hammer drops! This is a very angry song - pretty much everyone seems to be on the receiving end; "Racist everyman what have you done? You've made a killer of your unborn son." "Tell me where is the love in what your prophet has said? Man, it sounds to me just like a prison for the walking dead." And the refrain about broken fantasies - "Did you really think this bloody road would pave the way for you?" The music matches the words, which Buckley almost spits out - there is no choirboy singing here. This could be the MC5 roaring in - Mick Grondahl seems to be attacking his bass throughout and the guitar wails repeatedly. In terms of album sequencing, this is way out there, especially given the previous song. It probably shouldn't be on here, it is so out of whack with every other song, but yet I couldn't imagine the album without it.
Dream Brother: no sooner were the amps turned to 11, than they get dialled back down to 'soothing' mode. A hypnotic guitar circles round and round, it really is dream-like and again there is an Arabic feel to the tune. The dreaminess of the song belies the urgency of the lyric; asking his friend Chris Dowd, not to walk out on his pregnant girlfriend. The echoes of Buckley's own father, Tim, resonate, "Don't be like the one who made me so old, don't be like the one who left behind his name, cause they're waiting for you like I waited for mine, and nobody ever came."
And so, an epic album draws to a close. There are many things that shouldn't work in here; the medieval hymn, the angry rock song and the snare, which sounds flat and hollow throughout. That is something I usually really don't like, but here it adds tension to the overall sound, rather than detracts.
It is the common theme of this album that draws everything together and that is that voice. My descriptions will not do it justice and for many it is too much. At times it is operatic, then choral, then whispered, but also at times harsh and then there is the shrieking - some kind of banshee-like wail, that he was able to sustain seemingly indefinitely.
You know, I don't think there has ever been another debut album like this one. I mean, there have been some absolute crackers (The Crossing, Boy, Ten, to name a few), but this is the only one that ever left me speechless from the first listen. I can still recall sitting in my room the first time I put this on - my jaw hit the floor early on and never really left it. I have never, before or since, decided that a record was a classic from the very first listen. I really struggle to find a weak track in there.
Notes:
Recorded at Bearsville, Woodstock (New York State)
Produced by Andy Wallace
Released on 23 August 1994 on Colombia Records
Featuring: Jeff Buckley, Mick Grondahl, Matt Johnson
Score:
A jaw-dropping 9.3 / 10