Sound Advice: CD Reviews - Jeff Buckley (Grace)

CD Review:
Out of all the artists that have benefited (if you can call it that) fame-wise by their untimely and early death, Jeff Buckley has to be one of the tops to evoke sympathy and as a result massive record sales. I purchased this CD on advice from a friend many years ago and have listened to it at least 50 times trying to realize its greatness. I still haven't and therefore have to conclude that the sympathy factor is the driving force and not the talent. With the music evoking this emotional response anyway it is not surprising.

How can I desecrate the memory of Jeff Buckley and his masterpiece? Well I am not actually. It is a good album. This album though is not one for the ages.

Jeff needed to make a choice. Was this album going to be an album that songs like "Halleluja" and "Lover, You Should've Come Over" represent, or, was it going to be a more rock oriented album as "Mojo Pin" and "Grace." If it was my choice, I would have picked the former. It meshes well with the overall feeling of the album. With Jeff's choice to do neither, the album is too erratic. You are either uncomfortable with most of the first half, waiting for it to end, so you can enjoy its slower beauty. Or you like the rising vocals and guitar rock of the first half and wish it didn't get so depressingly quiet afterward.

When does the album pop into your head to play? You come home from a hard day's work and are tired. You would like to relax and listen to something smooth and calming. Deserter's Song, Parachutes or Moon Safari come to mind as recent albums. Or, it's the start of the weekend and time to push the envelope a bit. Master of Puppets, Led Zep IV or Veni Vidi Vicious come to mind. Or, you bring a date home to cook for her a fine meal and relax on the sofa. Diamond Life, Midnight Love or Little Girl Blue enter the CD player. Grace doesn't enter the picture except way down on the last list.

To further the non greatness of Buckley, the two best songs on the album were covers. "Halleluja" and "Lilac Wine" are great songs and Buckley is quite impressive on their rendering. But if this is such an unforgettable album, then why do they become the best thing about the album? Although the Cohen cover is worth the purchase of the CD, Jeff destroys you with his version, it should not be the center of any album other than Leonard's. Jeff needed to grace us with something as good or better in order to add this album to the list of immortals. He doesn't and it therefore doesn't either.

As for the other songs on the album, all of them are good except "So Real." The continuous repetition of that phrase grates on your nerves and your CD player with track five lit up begs to be bumped up to number six. The songs are good but do not mesh with each other and a great album always have this as its backbone.

Grace is a good album from a man with a great voice. It just doesn't enter the halls of the all time greats, unless you add the sympathy factor of his early death from drowning. I guess that's what every rock critic that I have read has done.

Scott D. Brown