Album Reviews

Grace | Jeff Buckley

By Dan ⋅ September 4, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

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I know I’ve mentioned Jeff Buckley before in my Strongest Voices in Rock post, but his voice was just too phenomenal to actually think his music deserved just a passing mention. Sometimes he played alternative, straight-up rock, blues, or even folk. But what remained constant throughout was his amazing voice. It really is a shame he died so young.

For some reason Jeff Buckley never made it into my music collection until this past summer. The first time I heard his name was from my vocal teacher’s recommendation back in high school. I gave a couple quick lessons, but it didn’t really stick. Honestly, I wasn’t open to many styles of music outside of the well-defined borders I made for myself at that age. I guess I just figured that I hadn’t heard of him anywhere else, so how great could he really be? More recently I noticed his name popping up as influences for bands with singers I really enjoy. And just this past year, his name has been given a little more attention since someone sang Hallelujah on American Idol… of course I only just found that out while doing a little bit of research for this post. Anyways, I didn’t actually buy Grace (Legacy Edition) (1994) until this past summer. Aside from the fact that his voice is practically the only voice in modern rock that rivals Maynard James Keenan and Billy White, his music was actually pretty good too… assuming you can tolerate some diversity across an album.

Personally, I do enjoy his rock influenced tracks more so than the blues, folk, or artsy tracks. And despite its apparent surge in media attention, Jeff Buckley’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah is absolutely beautiful. I don’t actually watch cable, read the paper, or listen to the news, so I’m always late on these popular trends or well-known occurrences… you know, like global warming or the downfall Ottoman empire… who knew? My ignorance of current events aside, I had a harder time getting into tracks like Lilac Wine and Corpus Christi Carol, but I can still appreciate what he’s doing. But tracks such as Mojo Pin, Grace, Last Goodbye, and Eternal Life in particular really stick out to me. These are certainly more rock influenced but still retain his singer/song-writer twist. His music is always good for a pick-me-up and a reminder of how great singing should sound like… which in turn reminds me how terrible my singing is. This subsequently requires another pick-me-up… but what are you gonna do?

Jeff Buckley | Wikipedia | MySpace

Related Article: Strongest Voices in Rock

Tags: alternative, rock