Jeff Buckley Classic or Dud?

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Anyone who can't see the greatness of his cover of Genesis' "Back In N.Y.C." is just lost in a forest for the trees.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Friday, 25 February 2005 08:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Well I suppose there aren't a whole lot of Buckley fans on here, and you know, that's fine, but I just wanted to say I think my favourite song of his ever is "Gunshot Glitter" and if you're in the U.S. and bought a U.S. version of Sketches, this song won't be on it! You have to get the UK version. And I think that's so sad that the two versions of Sketches are identical except for this one song that got left off. The first time I heard it I thought "this is the closest thing I've heard to the Cocteaus yet" although I don't feel that way now when I play it. Go figure. I still think it's my favourite song of his.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Monday, 28 February 2005 06:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Say what you may about the hype and the canonizataion and the "martyr syndrome," but I don't see how anyone can deny the power of songs like "Lover, You Should've COme Over" or his rendition of "Halllelujah." He had a gorgeous voice and the talent to do something above and beyond what we've heard from him, but what he left behind is great on it's own right. Grace is excellent, if spotty, and Sketeches has many songs that would've been special had Jeff seen their completion. "Witche's Rave," "Jewel Box," "Everybody Here Wants You," "Nightmares By the Sea," etc. are all greta tunes.

Classic.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Monday, 28 February 2005 06:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Grace's "flaws" are it's Masterpiece. Classic.

― miss chievous grin (miss chevious grin), Monday, 28 February 2005 10:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I dig 'Grace,' but his version of "Hallelujah" defines the phrase "epochal misreading."

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Monday, 28 February 2005 11:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I used to like this fellow, but now I don't really care. However, he got me into Leonard Cohen, so classic.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Monday, 28 February 2005 14:08 (twenty-one years ago)

And re: his mother's kookiness -- who cares?

Well, personally speaking, the notion that his mother was trolling around the `net, chastising JEFF'S FANS for discussing his music (when, the point could be made in the particular instance i was caught in, it was the BAD BRAINS who were actually getting short-changed) left quite a bad taste in my mouth, so much so that it almost completely put me off the man's music, which is a shame. I'd paste some of the comments that were made during the exchange (it was rumored that she also used a variety of pseudonymns), but .....hmmmm....I was going to say "why dig up old bones?" or "that's just water under the bridge", but I can't think of a colloquialism that isn't somehow in exceptionally poor taste.

In any case, it never struck me as a good idea that someone so close to the deceased should be in charge of his vaults. I'm sure her maternal instincts and deep feelings of loss amplified any legitimate legal grievances, so she's not really to be blamed, I suppose. Still, I can't listen to the stuff anymore without thinking of her sitting at a computer, foaming at the mouth, ripping her hair out and painting herself red with lipstick like Diane Ladd in "Wild at Heart".

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 28 February 2005 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Most overrated dead performer of all time!

― henrod eldrix, Monday, 28 February 2005 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

In his lifetime he was underrated.

― shookout (shookout), Monday, 28 February 2005 17:12 (twenty-one years ago)

wrong. in his lifteime he was boring. he's just more overrated now.

― henrod eldrix, Monday, 28 February 2005 17:14 (twenty-one years ago)

we are in the realm of opinion now.

I really enjoyed seeing him live.

― shookout (shookout), Monday, 28 February 2005 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

in his lifteime he was boring. he's just more overrated now.

no YOU'RE WRONG.

I'M RIGHT OF COURSE. MY TASTE IS GOOD AND YOURS IS BAD. I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYTHING AND YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ANYTHING SO I WIN.

Loser.

― john clarkson, Monday, 28 February 2005 20:31 (twenty-one years ago)

two months pass...

Say what you want about the man, but the Live at Sin-E album shows a person with about as complete a mastery of the guitar as I've heard outside of the Pages/Townsends/Hendrices/et al. He might be overrated, but his talent was/is extremely humbling.

― PB, Thursday, 26 May 2005 03:39 (twenty-one years ago)

there's some very worthy stuff on the grace deluxe edition (say what you will about the necessity of a "grace deluxe edition"). his version of dylan's "mama you've been on my mind" is purty. but it always makes me smile when contemporary newweirdaltdotwhatevers cover dylan -- especially if they're good at it.

― a collectivist romantic fling! (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 26 May 2005 04:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Well if anyone in Seattle is interested, there's two showings of the Amazing Grace documentary for the Seattle Intl Film Festival, one is on June 2, the other on June 4.

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Thursday, 26 May 2005 04:08 (twenty-one years ago)

i wasn't sure whether i'd think grace still held up, but i played it again recently and ya know, it does -- it incorporates a bunch of different early '90s sounds very interestingly. There's Dream Theater/Queensryche/Living Color-style metal, shoegaze, rockabilly revivalism/LA punk, NYC antifolk, classic-rock worship (remember the Doors movie?), and so on. It's a cool and unlikely time capsule of that era.

― a collectivist romantic fling! (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 26 May 2005 04:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree that Grace seems like a very "groomed" record, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing -- how many mainstream alternative acts in 1994 were singing Benjamin Britten?

― a collectivist romantic fling! (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 26 May 2005 04:19 (twenty-one years ago)

for some unknown reason i hate him.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Thursday, 26 May 2005 04:24 (twenty-one years ago)

i hate it when artists get ridiculously overexposed to the point of inevitable backlash; people sort of HAVE to hate 'em if only to drown out the deafening pitch of unbridled adulation.

― a collectivist romantic fling! (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 26 May 2005 04:43 (twenty-one years ago)

i think thats it.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Thursday, 26 May 2005 04:45 (twenty-one years ago)

i blame all the people who can't qualify thinking something is "brilliant" with anything but hoary old rockist cliches. why does everything have to be brilliant? why can't it just be interesting/compelling?

― a collectivist romantic fling! (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 26 May 2005 04:51 (twenty-one years ago)

well, he was pretty brilliant. AND interesting/compelling. to me, anyway.

Very kick-ass guitarist, very kick-ass vocalist, great taste in music/covers; had a great, sympathetic band. You'd have to be musically illiterate not to recognize his talents, even if you didn't like the particular idiom within which he worked... But then, ILM is a festering cesspool of anglophile/musical-illiterates...

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Thursday, 26 May 2005 05:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I spent a full decade thinking that Grace was just one of those albums only used by uncreative high-school kids (i.e. everyone else at my high school) to demonstrate their Overpowering Sensitivity to dense Dave Matthews Band-adoring girls. Then I actually listened to it and went completely bananas over "Last Goodbye" and the title track and above all else the "Halleleujah" cover. My gut says Classic, although I can understand the hate. Ned probably shouldn't ever ask me what I think about the Cure, though (EMOTICON).

― James.Cobo (jamescobo), Thursday, 26 May 2005 05:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Grace was dead useful for getting girls to sleep with me when I was at university.

I love "Mojo Pin" (especially the opening 45 seconds) and "Last Goodbye" and "So Real", really like "Grace" and "Lover..." and "Opened Once" and "Morning Theft", quite like most of the rest og Grace and CD1 (plus "Haven't You Heard" off CD2) of Sketches... and "Forget Her". The slavish worship by some people (such as the Aussie guy who's temping in my office) of him weirds me out a bit. But I generally don't like rock mythologising.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 26 May 2005 07:38 (twenty-one years ago)

my mum gave me a dvd of him a few months ago and i still haven't watched it. maybe i should. maybe the lavish rock mythologising for someone working in an idiom i don't really care for has been denying me pleasure.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Thursday, 26 May 2005 07:45 (twenty-one years ago)

"Grace" = "Introducing..."

There were too many cover versions and "fill-ins" to be truly classic, and that they let off the only true "single" (for valid reasons granted) didn't help.

"Live at Sin'e" (deluxe) is the one.

The rest I don't have.

I don't know of many artists that were so immersed in music, not just their own, so on the whole I think "Classic" if only because he worked so hard for it.

And if "Taking sides" issuing live albums/demo collections/reformatting, well you don't have to buy them. They will run out of stuff, and that will be it.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 26 May 2005 07:52 (twenty-one years ago)

We went to see him at the Highbury Garage in '94. It was like going to an avant-garde Take That gig - lots of screaming ladies, JB stripping down to his waist, Laura giving me reproachful "BODY TRANSPLANT!" (i.e. why can't YOU be HE?) looks throughout - but the man was magic, no question about that.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 26 May 2005 08:06 (twenty-one years ago)

The couple of people I know who saw him live talk about him in similar terms, Marcello. In fact I think my friend Gav was at that gig.

I prefer Jeff to Tim, frankly, because Jeff seemed more exciting and dark to me when I was 18 and (trying) to get into Tim after having loved Grace (I bought it the week after he died, out of curiosity).

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 26 May 2005 08:16 (twenty-one years ago)

eight months pass...

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― discus, Monday, 13 February 2006 17:18 (twenty years ago)

dreaded ned faggot

Curious.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 13 February 2006 17:21 (twenty years ago)

Ned is that your Juggalo name?

― Alex in Baltimore (Alex in Baltimore), Monday, 13 February 2006 17:24 (twenty years ago)

No, I just rent it out.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 13 February 2006 17:28 (twenty years ago)

Classic for his influence on lots of great bands, for his voice and for his version of "Hallelujah". Even though I am not that impressed by the "Grace" album myself.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 01:01 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

Is there any reason not to sing his praises once more? Only very recently a few months ago I felt I'd finally grieved enough to be finally comfortable with listening to him again, without pain. It's so nice. I mean, I really didn't think the day would come.

― Fryin' Berry, Buck Cherry (Bimble...), Saturday, 24 June 2006 02:37 (nineteen years ago)

"Night Flight"

― Fryin' Berry, Buck Cherry (Bimble...), Saturday, 24 June 2006 02:40 (nineteen years ago)

ten months pass...

i quite like grace, but i'm not going to make the conscious decision to listen to it anytime soon

i remember back in high school i'd go to parties and one of buckley's songs came on and there'd be some smug fuck who'd sit there listening to it with his eyes closed, breathing slowly like it was the embodiment of musical perfection. that really irritated me.

― Charlie Howard, Friday, 11 May 2007 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't know you went to school with Chris Martin.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 11 May 2007 16:11 (nineteen years ago)

I was really into Buckley for a while (around 15-16 years old I was).

His voice is quite stunning, and I think Grace does have some amazing moments (esp. the Britten hymn and 'Lover, You Should Have Come Over'). But the hype surrounding him is so bunko and weird, so i say 'eh'.

― the table is the table, Friday, 11 May 2007 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

dud

― Just got offed, Friday, 11 May 2007 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

yeah pretty dud

― pretzel walrus, Friday, 11 May 2007 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

haha, yeah. chris martin = the more nasal, less gifted incarnate of the late mr. buckley.

― Charlie Howard, Friday, 11 May 2007 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

chris martin and jeb fuckley deserve each other, in some musical hinterland far, far away from my auricles. jeb's voice in no way comes close to balancing out his utterly anaemic songwriting.

― Just got offed, Friday, 11 May 2007 16:31 (nineteen years ago)

clud.

― Roz, Friday, 11 May 2007 16:43 (nineteen years ago)

never liked this guy, despite trying to. lilac wine is good, but i hate the sound of that album in general.

― negotiable, Friday, 11 May 2007 16:49 (nineteen years ago)

I've mentioned this elsewhere, but who has heard the Buckley/Fraser duet "All Flowers in Time Bend Towards the Sun"?

I feel guilty having it, it wasn't meant to be leaked and all that, too personal blah blah but OH MY GOD it is so beautiful.

― Trayce, Friday, 11 May 2007 17:00 (nineteen years ago)

you can really hear buckley's influence on her in tracks like 'group four' and the like

― Charlie Howard, Friday, 11 May 2007 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

what

― Just got offed, Friday, 11 May 2007 17:07 (nineteen years ago)

Tongue not so much piercing cheek as further turned and now tickling ear.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 11 May 2007 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

I refuse to believe that CH would joke about such things. 'Group Four' is Massive Attack's greatest achievement (IMO)!

― Just got offed, Friday, 11 May 2007 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

Ned: eh?

― Trayce, Friday, 11 May 2007 17:21 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 383 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

And the guy wrote two others about him as well.

― Reggie Clanker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 3 September 2025 21:28 (nine months ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiMeZQgySPY

― Reggie Clanker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 3 September 2025 21:30 (nine months ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQRnERdpyr8

― Reggie Clanker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 3 September 2025 21:31 (nine months ago)

There was also « Seekers who are lovers » by the Cocteau twins about him

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 3 September 2025 21:53 (nine months ago)

Just watched this new Darren Aronovsky movie set in NYC during the 90s and, the whole time I was watching, part of my brain thought that Austin Butler was playing Jeff Buckley.

― Reggie Clanker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 4 September 2025 21:01 (nine months ago)

three months pass...

Debating whether to click on those Jimmy Gnecco videos again.

― Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 13 December 2025 20:44 (six months ago)

three months pass...

Mojo has a Liz Fraser piece because of a recent update to a 4AD book where some of this is talked about.

― Galactic Poetaster (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 20 March 2026 12:19 (two months ago)

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