Jeff Buckley - Grace

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Comments

  • bucket1988
    bucket1988 Posts: 212
    This opinion doesn't seem to be too popular here, but...

    Jeff Buckley is my #3 favorite singer on his voice alone (behind Chris Cornell and Freddie Mercury). Hallelujah is a supremely beautiful song, essential for any music fan. With that said, I find the rest of the CD quite underwhelming. Buckley is an excellent singer, but an ungifted songwriter. His melodies are uninspired and sometimes awkward, and I usually get bored about halfway through each song. "Eternal Life," the album's lone rocker, is a fairly strong track, but Jeff Buckley desperately needed a band (rather than just being a singer/songwriter) in order to make the most of his voice by putting it over great music.

    If you love his voice enough, the album still might be worth picking up, (and you already did get it, if I was reading this thread correctly), but don't expect to be blown away by the songs. It really was a terrible shame that he died so young and with so much (vocal) talent, though...
    The words you say never seem to live up to the ones inside your head...
  • catefrances
    catefrances Posts: 29,003
    bucket1988 wrote:
    This opinion doesn't seem to be too popular here, but...

    Jeff Buckley is my #3 favorite singer on his voice alone (behind Chris Cornell and Freddie Mercury). Hallelujah is a supremely beautiful song, essential for any music fan. With that said, I find the rest of the CD quite underwhelming. Buckley is an excellent singer, but an ungifted songwriter. His melodies are uninspired and sometimes awkward, and I usually get bored about halfway through each song. "Eternal Life," the album's lone rocker, is a fairly strong track, but Jeff Buckley desperately needed a band (rather than just being a singer/songwriter) in order to make the most of his voice by putting it over great music.

    If you love his voice enough, the album still might be worth picking up, (and you already did get it, if I was reading this thread correctly), but don't expect to be blown away by the songs. It really was a terrible shame that he died so young and with so much (vocal) talent, though...


    remember 'Grace" was jeff's first 'real' album. getting it together within the framework of a major would be daunting for the most commercial and willing artist. but buckley didn't work like that. 'Grace' was born of difficult genesis and i have no doubt that with time he would've grown into one of the best.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • carolinabeerguy
    carolinabeerguy Kernersville, NC Posts: 2,517
    I just finished listening to the album for the first time and I thought it was excellent. I didn't care for Corpus Christi Carol, but other than that, very good stuff. Thanks for the input.
    I wish I was as fortunate, as fortunate as me.
  • audiodave
    audiodave Posts: 1,623
    I love this album. Jeff Buckley is one of those artists that breaks many peoples musical boundaries. People who listen to all sorts of different music have love for Jeff's music.
    ~AKA Dave-of-the-dead~

    I don't wanna think, I wanna feel

    Dublin 23/08/06 Lisbon I 04/09/06 Lisbon II 05/09/06 Paris 11/09/06 Verona 16/09/06

    London 18/06/07 Dusseldorf 21/06/07 Copenhagen 26/06/07 Nijmegen 28/06/07
  • Grungeblood
    Grungeblood Posts: 64
    Great album its like listening to an angel
    "I write a letter to a friend of mine
    I tell him how much I used to love watch him smile
    See I haven't seen him smile in a little while
    Haven't seen him smile in a little while
    But, I know you're laughing from the inside out."
    Blind Melon - Mouthfull of cavities
    R.I.P. JEN
  • duggro
    duggro Posts: 1,343
    epicly epic
    Dublin Leeds Berlin Wembley
  • catefrances
    catefrances Posts: 29,003
    i was listening to buckley on my headphones singing along to hallelujah, as i always do.
    zoe says, 'hey mum i know that song.'
    i say, 'do you?'
    zoe says, 'yes'
    i ask, 'from where'?'
    zoe says, 'shrek'.

    perfect.

    if anyone doesn't have the grace legacy edition, i highly recommend it. i think it's worth it just for 'forget her'. but all the songs go to show that jeff's true instrument was his voice. at the end of 'alligator wine', you can hear jeff laugh and it's such a beautiful sound.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • Pearl Jam and toast
    Pearl Jam and toast Posts: 4,475
    mindblowing.

    Jeff Buckley might have been the best singer in history...
    Come on pilgrim you know he loves you..

    http://www.wishlistfoundation.org

    Oh my, they dropped the leash.



    Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!

    "Make our day"
  • rcs
    rcs Posts: 711
    Grace is easily the most beautiful album I own. My #3 favorite album of all time. It's really just that good!
    E agora? Faz xixi na mão e deita fora!
  • gtbrown77
    gtbrown77 Posts: 143
    catefrances wrote:
    i was listening to buckley on my headphones singing along to hallelujah, as i always do.
    zoe says, 'hey mum i know that song.'
    i say, 'do you?'
    zoe says, 'yes'
    i ask, 'from where'?'
    zoe says, 'shrek'.

    perfect.

    if anyone doesn't have the grace legacy edition, i highly recommend it. i think it's worth it just for 'forget her'. but all the songs go to show that jeff's true instrument was his voice. at the end of 'alligator wine', you can hear jeff laugh and it's such a beautiful sound.

    Not sure if you thought that Hallelujah being on Shrek is a good thing or bad thing....but I believe it is Leonard Cohen's version. It's def. not Jeff's version. And it's not like any of the characters is singing it. It seems to be an appropriate song for what's going on in the movie at the time.
    "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
    -John Lennon
  • enharmonic
    enharmonic Posts: 1,917
    The best part about Grace for me is that it's not over-produced. It sounds just like I would have expected Jeff to sound live. With some artists, you have to build this entire universe around their music on the album. With Jeff, you could srip him down to a guitar and vocal, and it's just magical stuff.

    All of the great albums for me are like that, regardless of how big they end up sounding. There was something about Jeff that just translated well on Grace. It's hard to put into words, but those songs create a feeling about where he could have gone had he lived. They open up my ears to so many possibilities, and do so in a very natural way.

    It's a great album for everything that it's not, just as much as for everything that it is :)
    new music: http://www.myspace.com/blackbirdsymphonique

    old music: http://www.myspace.com/slowloader
  • carolinabeerguy
    carolinabeerguy Kernersville, NC Posts: 2,517
    gtbrown77 wrote:
    Not sure if you thought that Hallelujah being on Shrek is a good thing or bad thing....but I believe it is Leonard Cohen's version. It's def. not Jeff's version. And it's not like any of the characters is singing it. It seems to be an appropriate song for what's going on in the movie at the time.

    It's actually Rufus Wainright on Shrek. Very good cover IMO.
    I wish I was as fortunate, as fortunate as me.
  • Jeremy1012
    Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    touringfan wrote:

    It’s never over, she’s the tear that hangs inside my soul forever
    Possibly the best lyric ever written about love.
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • catefrances
    catefrances Posts: 29,003
    it's never over. she's the tear that hangs inside my soul forever.
    Jeremy1020
    Possibly the best lyric ever written about love.


    yeah it goes mighty close. it certainly makes you catch your breath. it makes me smile every time.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • conguita
    conguita Posts: 222
    Love Jeff Buckley
    Love Grace
    Love live stuff..

    Love the sound simplicity

    Great artist.... great '90s spirit!
    ..:: I wanna taste everyone I see ::..
  • smarchee
    smarchee Windsor, Ontario Posts: 14,539
    I downloaded Grace a while ago, because I have heard so much of him over the years, and I have to say this album completely grew on me, and I have listened to it alot in the last couple of months, so much so that I am now uploaded into my Itunes. Can someone recommend any of his other albums that I should look for. I must say I am very impressed by his music, it is very very good. I have yet to read some lyrics, I imagine they will be quite deep.
    1998 ~ Barrie
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    2019 - Chicago X 2
  • dharma69
    dharma69 Posts: 1,275
    There are a few live CD's out there like "Mystery White Boy" which is a live CD of mainly Grace material. "Grace" was his only true studio album.

    "Sketches (For My Sweetheart The Drunk)" is a double CD set of, technically, unfinished songs. Rough cuts, demos, songs that he never got to finish. I think it was released not long after his death.

    It's a mish mash of different styles...almost sounds like a period where he was trying to figure out what his sound was. But there's good music there; and good in a kind of haunting way. If nothing else this CD, just like "Grace", clues you in on everything that could've been that we'll never know. The uber smooth "Everybody Here Wants You" is reason to by the CD alone.
    "I'm here to see Pearl Jam."- Bono

    ...signed...the token black Pearl Jam fan.

    FaceSpace
  • harrymanback
    harrymanback Posts: 435
    adam42381 wrote:
    I Just purchased this album online? I've only heard Hallelujah and found it hauntingly good. So, how is the entire album? Is is just ok or is it a masterpiece? Any input will be appreciated.

    listen (you won;t regret it) and form your own opinion.
    I don't want to be hostile. I don't want to be dismal. But I don't want to rot in an apathetic existance either.
  • Toshala
    Toshala Posts: 200
    go to his website and get tons of info...

    http://www.jeffbuckley.com


    it took a friend over a year to get me to finally REALLY listen to JB. I rented Live In Chicago dvd and listened to one of the two live in the studio tracks first before getting into the concert...SO REAL got to me so that I was sobbing....I mean I was so moved not just by the song or the way he looked into the camera but just knowing he was gone and we'd never get more from him than we had......seems his mother is trying to obtain more live recordings unreleased so they can finally be heard someday by the fans......anyway, do go check out the website.......a listing of all currently available discs, etc......

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