Review #147: Grace, Jeff Buckley
#147: Grace, Jeff Buckley
Like any good Millennial, I only really know who Jeff Buckley is because I heard the Rufus Wainwright cover of “Hallelujah” in the first Shrek movie, and every time I Google that song, Jeff Buckley comes up. However, it should be noted that Leonard Cohen wrote the original “Hallelujah,” and both of them are piggybacking off of him. So it goes.
Other than that, I knew very, very little about this guy. I’ve learned that this is because he is dead. He died in 1997 at the age of 30, while swimming in the Wolf River in Memphis. Apparently, there were no drugs in his system — it was just a regular old dangerous decision.
If you’re interested, Buckley’s website has a really comprehensive collection of some of the things he said about these songs.
FAVORITE SONGS:
“Mojo Pin” — Haunting background that graduates into a grunge crescendo.
“Grace” — Very pretty guitar part, and his melisma is unreal.
“Last Goodbye” — Parts of this album just felt like an Elliott Smith album with a higher production value and more luxurious vocals.
“Hallelujah” — So sparse and pretty. But I don’t really care for music, do I?
“Corpus Christi Carol” — Holy crap! Is that really his voice?!
“Eternal Life” — Where did this TOOL guitar intro come from?? Now this sounds like a ’90s song. I love that he put it right after his hymn.
“Forget Her” — I’m really glad that he doesn’t end with a super slow song. Instead, this song has a big crescendo.
LEAST FAVORITE SONGS:
“Lilac Wine” — I mean, it’s a very pretty song title, but this album is going at just a verrrry slowwww pace.
“Dream Brother” — I really don’t want to belabor this point, because I realize it’s mostly a personal thing, but I. Am. Bored.
IS RS FULL OF IT?
Even when I was bored listening to this album, I had goosebumps.
