Grace - Jeff Buckley > Reviews > under rated or over valued

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Average
Value for Money

Advantages:	great voice
Disadvantages:	poor tunes

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Is Smash Hits part of the serious music press?

Let’s assume not, and therefore I think I’m safe to say that any poll in the serious music press listing the 100 greatest albums will somewhere include Grace by Jeff Buckley. Indeed in Q’s list of greatest albums of the last 15 years Grace makes an appearance at #14.

The continual appearance of an album and singer I knew nothing about and had never heard obviously had a subliminal effect because I found myself buying it to see if I was missing anything.

Just to fill in a few blanks, Jeff Buckley is the son of 70’s folk singer Tim Buckley, and like his father had a fantastic voice with exceptional range and tone that he could sing anything. Grace, recorded in 1993 is the only proper album of his released because in 1997 he was drowned in a freak accident before finishing recording the follow up. Since then several other albums have been released heavily reliant on his live shows where his non-stop touring really made his reputation.

So does the album meet up to expectations?

Well yes and no. There’s no doubt that he has a fine voice, from recent years only Brian Kennedy can match him, his voice soars all over the songs, really showing the intensity of the lyrics. But it’s the songs themselves that are the disappointment, particularly the 7 that are written / co-written by Buckley himself. The music finds it hard to match the voice, should it try to follow or just hold the structure together and the end result is an overall blandness, with the only exceptions being the simplest songs musically which also happen to be the 3 cover versions.

Song by song –

Mojo Pin: Imagine a folk version of the Doors, Like Jim Morrisson, Buckley effortlessly switches direction within a song moving from simple folk music through to sweeping rock in this paean to lost love.

Grace: This sounds like Stephen Duffy’s Lilac Time with a cross between folk rock and Greek Bouziki music, but as soon as that voice starts musically the song comes adrift as the band try to keep up with the vocals and just starts to match the lyrics.

Last Goodbye: A Led Zep riff underpins the song and threatens to rock off with it, but the delicate swooping voice soothes the beast and requires the addition of strings.

Lilac Wine: cover of an Elkie Brooks song, performed in a torch singer style a la Edith Piaf. This actually works, with the song and accompaniment being ever so delicate and the voice actually having room to move to finally express itself.

So Real: Structured around a discordant VU guitar riff, this has the honour of having a recognisable chorus but still remains a mixture of the heavenly and the pedantic

Hallelujah: a cover of a Leonard Cohen song, with a blue moon bass line. Without knowing the original I would guess at a miserabilistic affair but Buckley’s vocals lift this to an almost spiritual level.

Lover you should’ve come over: Mourning a lover at her funeral this mellow lament drifts past, pretty but without ever really engaging me.

Corpus Christi Carol: The strangest song to hear on a rock album. As the title suggests this is belongs to a classical recital while Buckley does an excellent Aled Jones impression accompanied only by a bit of Elizabethan hey nonny nonny guitar. Very out of place but fitting in beautifully.

Eternal Life: The big rock out. Thundering guitars and huge riffs.

Dream Brother. Sounds like a hippie film dream sequence with an oriental approach to the verse lifted again by a rocking chorus.

In summary each song has something special but despite listening to the cd repeatedly this last week whilst writing the op nothing has lodged in my mind and without the cover I would be pushed to tell you which song is which. A decent enough debut but had he lived maybe we would have seen really what he was capable of.