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Mojo · 11-20-2009, 09:04 AM

Well I suppose, given my username, there is really only one place to start.

JEFF BUCKLEY

The first time I listened to Grace I simply had not heard anything like if before. I was roughly 18 or 19 years of age and a lot of the doors to different musical styles and genres that I would later open were firmly closed. I lived in a world of some British indie staples and emerging American garage rock bands riding on the back of the unrelenting NME hype in this country and so Grace was somewhat of a wake up call, not just to Jeff Buckley himself but to a whole world of possible musical gems I had been missing out on.

I know he is far from a stranger around these boards but for those of who may not know Jeff Buckley was born Jeffrey Scott Buckley in Anaheim, California in 1966 and is the son of estranged father and 60’s - 70’s folk/jazz/whatever the hell else he did musician Tim Buckley. Tim met an early demise at the age of 28 and his son, who was only 9 years old at this time, would later suffer a similar fate. Jeff was raised mainly by his stepfather and often has stated that he never felt as though he knew his father and that he only actually met him once and was even known as Scotty Moorhead in his infant years. Moorhead being his stepfathers name. It probably came as no surprise then, that when Jeff would start to involve himself in music, an interest that his mother happily nurtured and supported in him, that he would make a strong attempt to distance himself musically from his famous father.

He joined several bands in the late 80’s and early 90’s where he initially decided that he wanted to be a lead guitarist and no more. It was during this time that he formed a song writing partnership with Gary Lucas, a guitarist that has, in his time, worked with the likes of Lou Reed, Captain Beefheart and Nick Cave, in his band Gods and Monsters. As Jeff was coming to terms with his abilities as a singer also, it was with Gary Lucas that Jeff made his first public singing appearance at a memorial concert for his father in NYC in 1990 where he performed I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain, a song from his fathers 1967 album Goodbye and Hello written about a year old Jeff and his mother. He has stated on numerous occasions the conflict he felt by performing at this concert to pay his respects to his deceased father but that it would eventually be the performance that got Jeff recognition as a musician in his own right.

Jeff left Gods and Monsters in 1992 and decided to go it alone. Armed only with an electric guitar, a handful of original songs and a wealth of covers of his favourite artists he would begin a residency at Sin-é, a small café and music venue in NYC in which his music would begin to make even more noise with major record label executives. After signing with Columbia records a 4 track EP of his Sin-é performances was released and in 1993 he began recording his full length debut album.

So, even though I found the Grace CD in my hands a full 8 years after it’s worldwide release in 1994 this seemed unimportant to me. I had no expectations or for that matter no idea what to expect from it whatsoever. I felt no instant connection to the record but after a couple of plays I was hooked, mesmerised by it. The opening track Mojo Pin and the closing track Dream Brother in many ways are a perfect representation of what Jeff Buckley was all about. Both offer a slow, gentle “easing in” of the senses, an almost meditative quality to the soft melodies before the formerly shy boy who would prefer to hide behind his guitar playing rather than open his mouth and be unavoidably referred to as “Tim Buckley’s son” allows his vocal chords to open and his distinctive, strong, powerful voice to organically bleed through into the music. A technique he claims to have adopted from watching and listening to two of his biggest idols and “vocal tutors” Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin and Pakistani musician and singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Grace quickly became my Bible. I took it everywhere with me. I listened to it at home, on the bus, in the car, on the train, on a plane. I even listened to it on breaks at work. I loved how one person could incorporate so many different peoples music, including their own and still have the album naturally flow and even appear to have a beginning, middle and end. I found myself reading and admiring the lyrics, the perfect timing between a soft, gentle flow and the stinging, Zeppelin-esque riffs.

I see other members here making lists of their top 25, 50 or even 100 albums and it’s something I would love to attempt but just know that making such a decision would be impossible. I would always be scared of missing something out, looking back on it months later and realising that I couldn’t have gotten the order of those albums more wrong if I had tried and I genuinely do think it would be a useless task for me to even attempt. Even with that said Grace sits proudly at #1 even after all these years and I’m certainly not ashamed to admit that in my less balanced and sane years this album, which as I mentioned was always on my person, I felt really did help me. Whether it would calm me, clear my head, allow me to think more clearly or put a more positive spin on things it always had some form an effect. I now find myself unable to make such a strong personal and emotional connection to an album and maybe that’s because I feel more secure and in balance with myself or maybe that’s because I haven’t heard another Grace just yet.

After Grace was in the bag and on the shelves, Jeff was determined not to be typecast and therefore set out to make something that no matter what you were to say about it, you wouldn’t be able to say it was Grace II. This album was to be called My Sweetheart The Drunk and if his live performances over 1995 and 1996 were anything to go by it was to offer a much harder, rock and roll edge than was available on his first record. Unfortunately one night in May 1997, as his band were flying in to begin recording the new record Jeff and a roadie went down to the Mississippi river and he waded into the water singing Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love. As the roadie turned to move equipment back up the riverbank away from the water Jeff vanished. His body was found several days later.

Since his death, the Buckley estate in which his mother is in charge have approved several posthumously released collections of his songs and live recordings which in my opinion help to continue the progression of his work nicely. There is no way of knowing what he wanted his next record to be or where he saw the direction of his career going but given what he has been recorded as saying I think Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk, a collection of studio recordings and 4 track demo recordings from what was to be his second full length record does a good job in allowing us to make our own minds up and hear what he had been working on in the months, weeks and days leading up to his death.

I doubt very much that I have a bigger music related regret than to have never had the opportunity to see this man perform live and so even though I have live recordings, both official and bootlegged and I like to feel that I have my own opinion as to what the “other” side of Jeff Buckley was, the post Grace Jeff Buckley, there will always be a deep sadness in knowing I never got to experience this myself and a huge gap on my wall where my gig ticket should be.

11-20-2009, 09:04 AM	#5 (permalink)
Mojo Melancholia Eternally Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: England Posts: 5,018	Well I suppose, given my username, there is really only one place to start. JEFF BUCKLEY The first time I listened to Grace I simply had not heard anything like if before. I was roughly 18 or 19 years of age and a lot of the doors to different musical styles and genres that I would later open were firmly closed. I lived in a world of some British indie staples and emerging American garage rock bands riding on the back of the unrelenting NME hype in this country and so Grace was somewhat of a wake up call, not just to Jeff Buckley himself but to a whole world of possible musical gems I had been missing out on. I know he is far from a stranger around these boards but for those of who may not know Jeff Buckley was born Jeffrey Scott Buckley in Anaheim, California in 1966 and is the son of estranged father and 60’s - 70’s folk/jazz/whatever the hell else he did musician Tim Buckley. Tim met an early demise at the age of 28 and his son, who was only 9 years old at this time, would later suffer a similar fate. Jeff was raised mainly by his stepfather and often has stated that he never felt as though he knew his father and that he only actually met him once and was even known as Scotty Moorhead in his infant years. Moorhead being his stepfathers name. It probably came as no surprise then, that when Jeff would start to involve himself in music, an interest that his mother happily nurtured and supported in him, that he would make a strong attempt to distance himself musically from his famous father. He joined several bands in the late 80’s and early 90’s where he initially decided that he wanted to be a lead guitarist and no more. It was during this time that he formed a song writing partnership with Gary Lucas, a guitarist that has, in his time, worked with the likes of Lou Reed, Captain Beefheart and Nick Cave, in his band Gods and Monsters. As Jeff was coming to terms with his abilities as a singer also, it was with Gary Lucas that Jeff made his first public singing appearance at a memorial concert for his father in NYC in 1990 where he performed I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain, a song from his fathers 1967 album Goodbye and Hello written about a year old Jeff and his mother. He has stated on numerous occasions the conflict he felt by performing at this concert to pay his respects to his deceased father but that it would eventually be the performance that got Jeff recognition as a musician in his own right. Jeff left Gods and Monsters in 1992 and decided to go it alone. Armed only with an electric guitar, a handful of original songs and a wealth of covers of his favourite artists he would begin a residency at Sin-é, a small café and music venue in NYC in which his music would begin to make even more noise with major record label executives. After signing with Columbia records a 4 track EP of his Sin-é performances was released and in 1993 he began recording his full length debut album. So, even though I found the Grace CD in my hands a full 8 years after it’s worldwide release in 1994 this seemed unimportant to me. I had no expectations or for that matter no idea what to expect from it whatsoever. I felt no instant connection to the record but after a couple of plays I was hooked, mesmerised by it. The opening track Mojo Pin and the closing track Dream Brother in many ways are a perfect representation of what Jeff Buckley was all about. Both offer a slow, gentle “easing in” of the senses, an almost meditative quality to the soft melodies before the formerly shy boy who would prefer to hide behind his guitar playing rather than open his mouth and be unavoidably referred to as “Tim Buckley’s son” allows his vocal chords to open and his distinctive, strong, powerful voice to organically bleed through into the music. A technique he claims to have adopted from watching and listening to two of his biggest idols and “vocal tutors” Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin and Pakistani musician and singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Grace quickly became my Bible. I took it everywhere with me. I listened to it at home, on the bus, in the car, on the train, on a plane. I even listened to it on breaks at work. I loved how one person could incorporate so many different peoples music, including their own and still have the album naturally flow and even appear to have a beginning, middle and end. I found myself reading and admiring the lyrics, the perfect timing between a soft, gentle flow and the stinging, Zeppelin-esque riffs. I see other members here making lists of their top 25, 50 or even 100 albums and it’s something I would love to attempt but just know that making such a decision would be impossible. I would always be scared of missing something out, looking back on it months later and realising that I couldn’t have gotten the order of those albums more wrong if I had tried and I genuinely do think it would be a useless task for me to even attempt. Even with that said Grace sits proudly at #1 even after all these years and I’m certainly not ashamed to admit that in my less balanced and sane years this album, which as I mentioned was always on my person, I felt really did help me. Whether it would calm me, clear my head, allow me to think more clearly or put a more positive spin on things it always had some form an effect. I now find myself unable to make such a strong personal and emotional connection to an album and maybe that’s because I feel more secure and in balance with myself or maybe that’s because I haven’t heard another Grace just yet. After Grace was in the bag and on the shelves, Jeff was determined not to be typecast and therefore set out to make something that no matter what you were to say about it, you wouldn’t be able to say it was Grace II. This album was to be called My Sweetheart The Drunk and if his live performances over 1995 and 1996 were anything to go by it was to offer a much harder, rock and roll edge than was available on his first record. Unfortunately one night in May 1997, as his band were flying in to begin recording the new record Jeff and a roadie went down to the Mississippi river and he waded into the water singing Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love. As the roadie turned to move equipment back up the riverbank away from the water Jeff vanished. His body was found several days later. Since his death, the Buckley estate in which his mother is in charge have approved several posthumously released collections of his songs and live recordings which in my opinion help to continue the progression of his work nicely. There is no way of knowing what he wanted his next record to be or where he saw the direction of his career going but given what he has been recorded as saying I think Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk, a collection of studio recordings and 4 track demo recordings from what was to be his second full length record does a good job in allowing us to make our own minds up and hear what he had been working on in the months, weeks and days leading up to his death. I doubt very much that I have a bigger music related regret than to have never had the opportunity to see this man perform live and so even though I have live recordings, both official and bootlegged and I like to feel that I have my own opinion as to what the “other” side of Jeff Buckley was, the post Grace Jeff Buckley, there will always be a deep sadness in knowing I never got to experience this myself and a huge gap on my wall where my gig ticket should be. __________________ Last.FM \| Echoes and Dust Last edited by Mojo; 11-20-2009 at 09:15 AM.