Jeff Buckley... The Greatest

obiwon76

After watching a BBC documentary of the life of Jeff Buckley, I had to dust off my "Grace" cd and sit back and listen to the beauty of his music. When I first heard "Grace" I was in college and was in the need for something special, and there was no better gift. I had the chance to see Jeff in concert once, and it was one of the best performances I've ever seen. It was in a little club, but his voice seemed to fill every inch of the place. His music and songwriting cannot be replaced and I think if he lived, his genius would of expanded even more.

ShE.dREAmS.in.CoLOr

obiwon76 wrote:

After watching a BBC documentary of the life of Jeff Buckley, I had to dust off my "Grace" cd and sit back and listen to the beauty of his music. When I first heard "Grace" I was in college and was in the need for something special, and there was no better gift. I had the chance to see Jeff in concert once, and it was one of the best performances I've ever seen. It was in a little club, but his voice seemed to fill every inch of the place. His music and songwriting cannot be replaced and I think if he lived, his genius would of expanded even more.

First off, you saw him live?!? so jealous!! He is, hands down, one of the all time best vocalists i've ever heard. It really is hard to put into words how excellent a musician he was, any word/phrase used to describe his immense talent really does not do it justice. just imagine what could have been if he lived.... truly a terrible loss. :(

obiwon76

Yes, in California. I think what people don't know about him is that live, in between songs, he is so playful, funny, and he goes right into a song and can become so sincere, serious and uplifting. It's amazing. I have a regret that I didn't attend more of his shows when I had the chance. I guess I always felt he was going to be around for the next 20 years and I could catch him later.

FinsburyParkCarrots

obiwon76 wrote:

Yes, in California. I think what people don't know about him is that live, in between songs, he is so playful, funny, and he goes right into a song and can become so sincere, serious and uplifting. It's amazing. I have a regret that I didn't attend more of his shows when I had the chance. I guess I always felt he was going to be around for the next 20 years and I could catch him later.

Yep, that's a good description of him live. I saw him in 1995, and he was very down to earth, between songs.

MeddleDeal

i've recently have gotten more into Jeff Buckley, I saw part of the bbc documentary on his life. It just saddens me that what a GREAT talent he was and now he is gone. It seems to happen to someone that is THAT talented, that who doesn't stay w/us for too long. :(

Last Goodbye is one of my favorites. He puts so much emotion into his songs and to me, he was one of the BEST singers out there

Gill

Omg you saw him live? I found out last year he performed at the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth in 1995, which is about a half hour from where i lived! The problem was i would have been 7, and i didnt know or (dare i say) care who he was - i was still listening to B*witched (please forgive me - destroyed the album now though...) back then! So close but yet so far!

My brother introduced me to jeff's music about 2 years ago and i still thank him whenever possible because he's just the most amazing artist ever, possibly. he has an amazing voice and his music is just so powerful, emotive and just plain amazing. I was listening to some of the sin-e monologues both on the legacy album and from http://www.mojopin.org, and i was even blown away by how human and funny he sounded, just so down to earth.

I would possibly give anything to have had the chance to see him live...just need to perfect my time machine...

Byrnzie

I always preffered his dad's stuff.

redrock

Byrnzie wrote:

I always preffered his dad's stuff.

Can't compare Byrnzie....

I love both....

moster78

How would one get his or her hands on said documentary? I know it exists, just haven't had a chance to see it, and would love to.

facepollution

moster78 wrote:

How would one get his or her hands on said documentary? I know it exists, just haven't had a chance to see it, and would love to.

looks like you can watch it on youtube: http://youtube.com/results?search_query=jeff+buckley+documentary&search=Search

Irish Al

You just have to listen to Live at Sin E to hear how good a musician/singer he was...it sounds like he has a full band with him and its actually just him :eek:

Phenomenal

JH6056

I really had Jeff Buckley on my mind tonight and this seems like the best thread to resurrect and post this performance... In terms of music that moves one, I have been the most moved , my life most changed/affected, by Jeff Buckley and the Clash. This video captures, better than any other video I've ever seen, just how much of a "vessel" or "channel" for incredible energy he was. Missing him extra a lot today for some reason.

If you've never checked out Jeff's music before, and you don't like what you hear here, at least try to hang in until the end. He is the most "in the zone" near the end. And a huge THANK YOU!!! to French t.v. for not being ADD and cutting a million times a second from shot to shot. You can actually see the performance...

Jeff on French t.v. in 1995... my favorite single song of any artist, ever: Grace...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LIvIb_RBnA

JH6056

And this song... I have wondered if Ed has heard this song and what he thinks. It's one of the most intense songs ever about, well my interpretation, about meeting your father who maybe you didn't really know in this life, meeting him in the afterlife. The first lines "It's been such a long time... and I was just a child then... what will you say when you see my face"... Again, totally damn powerful. "Father can you hear me... do you know me... do you even care... What will you say, when you take my place?"

Up there in my top 3 favorite Jeff songs, especially the version with Alim Quaasimov (sp??) but this is a different version (better visuals).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dckdPlX3Ohw

Mokkihewa

I'm so glad that you posted this. I feel completely alike, I've listened intensely to every song of Jeff Buckley from morning to night since I discovered his music and personality. Sadly I've only known this talent for 1 year and some months. I've heard his Hallelujah cover ten years ago though. It's great to know that someone else still listens to his music. Wonderful strong lyrics. Thanks for posting.

JH6056

Absolutely my pleasure! Aren't those amazing vids? It's so hard to fully discover him when he's already gone... but there are absolutely still people out there listening to him and loving his talent and gifts, and missing that he's gone. I don't know how active it is but there's still a JB message board out there somewhere. Haven't been in a long while.

If you don't already have the "Legacy Edition" of Jeff's "Live at Sin-e", you MUST MUST get it! It shows how amazingly talented, funny, and spontaneous he was. That's probably the best testament to his range.

Nice to "meet" another JB fan!

JH6056

Ooops, I assumed you were talking to me, but you may have been talking to the originator of the thread. It hadn't been posted in since 2006, but even if you weren't talking to me, it's still nice to meet you!

Mokkihewa

I was actually talking to you:) I forgot to tell that I was reading this thread and saw it was so many years since one last posted something here and I thought "I must do something about this" - but then I saw you writing at the bottom of the thread for some days ago and I was happy to know that someone still keeps listening to Jeff Buckley here in 2014. The videos are so amazing yes, I can't believe it. It's like he's still alive - his spirit is so lively and energetic. I really wish I could have seen him live.

I was thinking of making a blog to honor his great talent. Live at Sin-e is so fantastic to listen to and yes he was very spontaneous indeed. I feel totally entertained by him and his stories and voices.

Nice to meet another JB fan too

bluegrace

Jeff Buckley is stunning. I never tire of listening to his music. And right now I'm thinking about his story about listening to Led Zep much faster when he was a kid, and he goes on to mimic the sound. It is hilarious. He had such a good sense of humour it seems, as well as a brilliant voice and so many beautiful melodies.

Mokkihewa

I feel alike. His music is so rich of impression and mystic you can't get tired of it. I also enjoy listening to his hilarious imitations, lovely attitude and his thoughts and opinions. He was very characteristic and you are so right - a brilliant voice and full of beautiful melodies. I really wish I could've seen him live. Now I'll listen to Jeff Buckley :):)

RobbyD462

What

obiwon76 said:

After watching a BBC documentary of the life of Jeff Buckley, I had to dust off my "Grace" cd and sit back and listen to the beauty of his music. When I first heard "Grace" I was in college and was in the need for something special, and there was no better gift. I had the chance to see Jeff in concert once, and it was one of the best performances I've ever seen. It was in a little club, but his voice seemed to fill every inch of the place. His music and songwriting cannot be replaced and I think if he lived, his genius would of expanded even more.

What was the name of that documentery that you watched?

Mokkihewa

I believe it's BBC Documentary 'Everybody Here Wants You'. I saw it on youtube.

RobbyD462

Mokkihewa said:

I believe it's BBC Documentary 'Everybody Here Wants You'. I saw it on youtube.

Thanks

Mokkihewa

RobbyD462 said:

Mokkihewa said:

I believe it's BBC Documentary 'Everybody Here Wants You'. I saw it on youtube.

Thanks

You're welcome

JH6056

Yay, more activity on this thread! Mokkihewa, compared to the vast number of fans that Jeff developed over the years, it's a relatively small number that got to see him live because of his passing so young. I know that's not much consolation, but there are so many who are sad about never having gotten to see him. I hear his mom is really tight about the videos and audio recordings she has, but rumor has it that she has all of both "Live at L'Olympia" shows from Paris. My hope is that she'll release them some day, since "Live at L'Olympia" is my single favorite Jeff album, if I had to pick one. His mom definitely has the audio, but I'm hoping she has video too, and releases it.

Jeff was an incredible being. I was incredibly fortunate to see him play 3 times at Sin-e, but all short sets. And I became the massive fan I am now after seeing those shows, so I didn't quite appreciate them as I would have if I already "got him" then. I spent some time beating myself up for not appreciating him enough then and being such a big fan after the fact. But you get it when you get it, and I am grateful that I'm aware of his immense talent, because it's had quite an impact on my life.

JH6056

This is kind of random, but I wanted to share another super intense Jeff moment (or moment about Jeff), that I witnessed but only got to understand after I really truly "found" him and his depth years later. I went to a festival in NYC in, well it was the year Jeff passed. Natalie Merchant was one of the main stage performers, but a woman named Katell Keineg (sp?) was also performing on a different stage. She joined Natalie during her set and they spoke of the loss fo a dear friend (they had just recently found Jeff's body), and then went on to play a song of Katell's called, I think it was called "Gulf of Araby". Turns out they were absolutely singing about Jeff, Katell had performed at Sin-e and with Jeff but more importantly she dated him, and as she and Natalie sang this song they both pretty much broke down in the deepest sobs and grief onstage, it was like a tidal wave of grief. It affected everyone, even people who had no idea who they were singing about, but it was also a release and empowering by the end. It was truly heartbreaking to witness.

Katell wrote Gulf or Araby before Jeff passed, but it certainly became totally relevant to his passing.

Here is one verse:

The Gulf, the Gulf of Araby

Well, we would plough and part the earth to bring you home
And harvest every miracle ever known
And if they laid out all the things
That these ten years were to bring
We would gladly give them up
To bring you back to us
O, there is nothing we would not give
To kiss you and to believe we could take what is, what is, what is
To what can never be



In a similar vein, if any of you are Glen Hansard fans, he did a song with his awesome band The Frames called "Neath the Beeches" and it is his farewell to Jeff, since he knew Jeff before Jeff was famous. He wrote it when Jeff passed.

Mokkihewa

JH6056, Jeff's music certainly need more attention in my opinion. I'm so honored and excited that you took the time to give me a taste of what Jeff was. I know that the number of fans who got to experience Jeff live before he died is small. That said, I feel quite honored and lucky to have read this anecdote. It feels like I took a step closer to Jeff's being. I would really be excited if Jeff's mother would release the "Live at L'Olympia" someday because it's truly an amazing live album. I can't that I'm actually talking to a fan who has seen and experienced him live and even 3 times. I can imagine, it must be odd to be such a great fan of him afterwards experiencing him live when you didn't quite 'get him' then. I would probably have felt the same. Jeff's music has already a great impact on my life so I can relate.

Random isn't a bad thing. I actually think that it's precious information concerning Jeff and how I see him as a musician/person and what surrounded him. I appreciate you share it with me/other fans. It must have been very harsh to have been around all those people at the festival and then having the news broken to you. The lyrics performed are eerie and I can't believe she wrote that before he passed. Those words are strong and does almost hurt to read. I would like to hear the song. I'm going to check out the other song you mentioned at the bottom by The Frames.

Thank you so much for your reply.

bluegrace

Mokkihewa, I'm sad too that I never got to see him perform live. A friend of mine went to Roskilde in '94 think it was and saw him there. She took a photo of him onstage for me, and that photo is still on the door inside my wardrobe. But his music lives on...

Mokkihewa

bluegrace, yeah I understand there is a lot of us who didn't get the chance. I found out that he had also performed at a Jazz café in denmark and next time I'm going to Copenhagen I need to visit that place. I truly feel his music still lives on just like his spirit. I can feel the energy going through me with every song. He really gave everything he had and I'm forever grateful. Thank you for your kind words.

smarchee

giving Grace a listen today as it the anniversary of his passing

May 29, 1997

bluegrace

Only the other day I watched the BBC documentary about Jeff Buckley again and went on to listen to his music. He has been on my mind ever since and I realised only today that it's the anniversary day.

Inzzzane

I've just watched the BBC documentary and I didn't have repair on the fact that PJ, Nirvana members and Jeff were contemporaries... so then I made a Google research and found this video from Jeff while recording Hallelujah, doing Eddie's voice and singing "Leonard Cohen spoke in class today"... and also there's this anecdote from Ed, sayin that Jeff played for him a version from 'Indifference' 
Can you imagine?