Grace (Jeff Buckley album)
| Grace | |
|---|---|
| Jeff Buckley's studio album | |
|
Publication |
|
| Label (s) | Columbia Records |
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Format (s) |
|
|
Title (number) |
10 |
|
running time |
51 min 48 s |
| occupation |
|
|
Studio (s) |
Bearsville Recording Studio, Woodstock (New York) |
Grace is the only completed studio album by the American musician Jeff Buckley . It belongs to the alternative rock genre and was released on August 23, 1994.
History of origin
Jeff Buckley, son of the songwriter Tim Buckley , started his professional career as a kind of bar singer in the New York Café Sin-é and made a name for himself there. His performances initially consisted only of solo performances with an electric guitar. During this phase many songs were written for his debut album. Another creative boost came from the collaboration with former Captain Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas , who also appears on the album. As a result, Buckley recruited a band around the drummer Matt Johnson and the Danish-American bassist Mick Grøndahl. During the recording of the album, Michael Tighe joined as lead guitarist.
The recordings for the album supervised Andy Wallace as producer, who had gained notoriety as the sound engineer of the Nirvana album Nevermind . Since their own material was not enough, three cover versions were included on the album. The song So Real was created while on tour and was personally produced by Buckley. In later versions the song Forget Her was added as a final piece.
content
The album is to be assigned to alternative rock. The guitar is the dominant instrument. The stylistic range that Buckley and his band process on the album is remarkable: in addition to dynamic post-rock ballads such as Mojo Pin and jazz classics such as Lilac Wine (known from Nina Simone ) there is a piece by Benjamin Britten , brisk folk Rock like Last Goodbye , a solo performance of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah (the arrangement of which he took over from John Cale and greatly reduced), and Dream Brother , which is influenced by Indian classical music . A song in contemporary grunge style can also be made out ( Eternal Life ).
In addition to the stylistic diversity, Buckley refers to numerous influences that can be found on the album: Nina Simone , Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan , Morrissey , Bob Dylan , Leonard Cohen , Alex Chilton , Led Zeppelin , Joni Mitchell , Van Morrison , Stevie Wonder, among others , Édith Piaf , Judy Garland and Freddie Mercury .
Most of the songs are longer ballads (five minutes on average) at a moderate pace, which primarily serve to give Buckley a space for his singing, around which the album is clearly constructed. The songs are designed for Buckley's enormous vocal range (about four octaves) as well as for his clear falsetto and the alteration between different registers . Buckley's voice is classified as a high tenor and a countertenor. The metaphorical lyrics of the album deal with the omnipresence of death, devoted love, abandonment and also the relationship with his estranged father.
Influence and reception
Grace is considered to be one of the best albums of the 90s. Numerous subsequent singers refer to his influence, including Thom Yorke from Radiohead , Matthew Bellamy from Muse and Chris Martin from Coldplay . Established musicians were sometimes euphoric, including Bono , Elvis Costello and Jimmy Page . Critical voices came from Robert Christgau , among others , who described Buckley as a "syncretic asshole" .
His interpretation of the Leonard Cohen piece Hallelujah became particularly successful and well known .
Track list
- Mojo Pin (Jeff Buckley, Gary Lucas) - 5:41
- Grace (Buckley, Lucas) - 5:22
- Last Goodbye (Buckley) - 4:35
- Lilac Wine (James Shelton) - 4:32
- So Real (Jeff Buckley, Michael Tighe) - 4:43
- Hallelujah ( Leonard Cohen ) - 6:53
- Lover, You Should've Come Over (Buckley) - 6:43
- Corpus Christi Carol ( Benjamin Britten ) - 2:56
- Eternal Life (Buckley) - 4:52
- Dream Brother (Buckley, Mick Grøndahl, Matt Johnson) - 5:26
Included on later versions:
- 11. Forget Her (Buckley) - 5:13
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from August 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 23, 2013
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 23, 2013
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 23, 2013
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 23, 2013
- ↑ http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/995-grace-legacy-edition/ accessed on May 23, 2013
- ↑ http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/jeff_buckley/grace/ accessed on May 23, 2013
- ↑ http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/jeff-buckley-grace-20120524 accessed on May 23, 2013
- ↑ http://www.cracked.com/funny-715-radiohead/ accessed on May 23, 2013
- ↑ http://www.mojopin.org/pages/other_quotes.php accessed May 23, 2013
- ↑ http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Jeff+Buckley accessed on May 23, 2013
Web links
- Jeff Buckley
- Grace at Allmusic (English)