Exactly 30 years ago, on August 23rd, 1994, Jeff Buckley’s first and only studio album Grace was released to the public by Bearsville, Woodstock, New York. Jeff Buckley was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist who inspired many artists with his angelic voice; some of these artists being: Lana Del Rey, Thom Yorke from Radiohead, and Coldplay. And in honor of 30 Years of Grace, many artists are performing on September 15th on the radio station BBC Radio 6 Music at 8 p.m. These artists include the following: Alanis Morisette, Lana Del Rey, Glen Hansard, and Thom Yorke, and many others!
Since we are talking about the Grace album, why not review some of the songs? Now I’m sure everyone and their mother has heard Jeff Buckley’s cover of Hallelujah with it being the most popular version of the song, but we are going to be taking a look at the entirety of the album which includes these songs: “Mojo Pin”, “Grace”, “Last Goodbye”, “Lilac Wine”, “So Real”, “Hallelujah”, “Lover You Should’ve Come Over”, “Corpus Christi Carol”, “Eternal Life”, “Dream Brother”, and “Forget Her”. A total of 11 songs with each one expressing a different emotion and feeling, making the listener go through a roller coaster of emotions. Jeff Buckley has made such impactful music that has told the story about his life.
While the songs as a whole come together to have a huge album impact, individually, each song also stands up to scrutiny. These songs are designed to make people feel–Jeff Buckley is a master of making people experience multiple emotions in one song. Starting off with the first track in the album, “Mojo Pin,” Buckley begins the song very serene and calming with his soft-spoken voice. As more instruments and overlays come in, it leads to a rock n’ roll sound and then right back to the calming, emotional, tearful sound and vocals from Jeff Buckley. In my opinion, this is at the #3 song on the album because of this rise and fall of emotion.
The third track on the album is “Last Goodbye”. The song starts by Buckley playing an upbeat feel-good riff and as the drums come in, it forms into a saddening jumble of notes. And then the lyrics tell a story of Buckley missing and even dreaming of the one he loves, even though he knows it’s over and that they could never rekindle and be together again. This song gets the #2 spot on the ranking due to its sad nature and how much expression is shown just from his voice alone.
And finally, the 5th track of the album, “So Real,” is by far one of my favorite songs of his whole discography: the way he goes from a low to high note in less than a second still leaves me starstruck, no matter how many times I listen to the song. The song starts off with a mysterious mood setting arrangement of chords and once it gets to the main riff of the song the clean, harp-like sounding chords come into play as he sings of reminiscing about an old love he used to have and how it felt genuine to him. This song has my heart; just hearing his voice mix in perfectly with the sound of his guitar has me in an inescapable chokehold. The song “So Real” deserves the #1 spot in the whole ranking.
Jeff Buckley is the son of famous folk-rock musician, Tim Buckley. However, Tim ran out when Jeff was born and so he grew up barely knowing his father. Jeff had a passion for music especially Led Zeppelin, The Smiths, and Nina Simone. He started off his career by playing as a jazz session guitarist. He eventually left and started going solo, playing gigs at several clubs and cafes in lower Manhattan, New York. He eventually started performing at Sin-e every Monday night. Years later his recognition grew and became known for his beautiful voice and amazing vocal range.
Overall, Grace by Jeff Buckley is an ethereal sounding album that everyone should listen to at least once in their life to help Jeff Buckley’s legacy continue to thrive and be known.
