The 500 - #304 - Grace - Jeff Buckley

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

---

Album: # 304

Album Title: Grace

Artist: Jeff Buckley

Genre: Alternative Rock, Folk-Rock

Recorded: Bearsville Studios, Woodstock, New York

Released: August, 1994

My age at release: 29

How familiar was I with it before this week: One song

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, 147 (Up 157 spots)

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Last Goodbye

Bono, famed humanitarian, activist and singer for the Irish band U2 once said "Jeff Buckley was a pure drop in an ocean of noise".

To me, the quote is also "a drop in an ocean of praise" for the singer, songwriter and guitarist who released only one record, Grace, in the summer of 1994. He is highly regarded by a lengthy list of musicians and artists who, collectively, have dozens of records on The 500 list.

Born November 17, 1966, in Anaheim, California, he was raised by his mother, Mary Guibert, and step-father Ron Moorhead and went by the name Scott Moorhead through his youth. His father, folk singer turned avant-garde musician Tim Buckley, had divorced Jeff's mother just a month before he was born.

Jeff's father, Tim Buckley, performing in 1968

Jeff Buckley was brought up around music. Not only was his father a well-respected musician, his mother was a classically trained pianist and cellist and his step-father introduced him to the classic rock sounds of the 60s and 70s -- Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Who and Pink Floyd. By the time he was 12, he had decided to become a musician and got his first electric guitar. He also developed a love for the same kind of music I loved, Progressive Rock.

Buckley, who was born one year after me, cited Rush, Genesis and Yes as his favourite bands during high school -- we could easily have been friends. It was around this time that he began to go by his first name with his biological father's surname.

Jeff Buckley (Scott Moorhead) in the early 80s

After working as a session guitarist on other musicians’ projects for a decade, Buckley moved to Manhattan to work on his own material while playing at clubs, mainly in the East Village. This included the legendary Sin-é, an Irish music venue well-known for helping launch the careers of many notable writers, musicians and artists, including  Sinéad O'Connor, Marianne Faithful. The Hothouse Flowers, and  Alan Ginsberg.

Grace was lauded by critics but sold poorly, resulting in Buckley embarking on a long international, promotional tour to pay the bills.

In 1996, he began working on his second record which was tentatively titled, My Sweetheart The Drunk. On the evening of May 29, 1997, he was awaiting his bandmates' arrival in Memphis, Tennessee, to join him in the studio. He decided to go for a dip, fully clothed, in the Wolf River Harbour -- a slack water channel of the Mississippi River. He was accompanied by a road crew member who remained on shore.  At one point a tugboat passed by, and Buckley disappeared in the wake. Rescue efforts that night and the next day were futile. His body was found on June 4, tangled in some branches on the shoulder of the river.

The Memphis Suspension Railway Bridge over Wolf River
where Buckley was last seen alive

Grace re-entered the charts in 2007, a decade after Buckley's death and 13 years after its release, finally finding a commercial audience. It has since been certified platinum (over a million units sold in the United States) and has sold a further two million units sold internationally. His legacy thrives by continuing to be celebrated  by a host of musicians and artists who gather annually to perform his songs. A tribute to his short, impactful life.

Poster from the 22nd Annual Tribute Performance

Postscript: Buckley's rendition of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah was released as a single in 2007, resulting in a posthumous surge in popularity for Buckley. The song became ubiquitous in television and film soundtracks over the next few years.

My wife and I have been Cohen fans for decades and adored both Buckley's version and the performance of it by k.d. lang at the closing ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. We were also fortunate to see lang perform it live at The Grand Theatre in London the following year.

lang performs Hallelujah-2010 Winter Olympic Closing Ceremonies

Hallelujah has been covered by over 300 artists. I wondered: Which version do people like best? Using my social media platforms (Twitter and Facebook), I conducted an impromptu poll. The question generated lively discussion in those threads for three days as the poll ran. The results are from Twitter are below.

Cohen's original version narrowly surpassed lang's Olympic rendition, with Buckley receiving 29 out of 136 votes. The responses to the option of "another version" were varied indeed. Respondents suggested versions from Rufus Wainright, Pentatonix, Justin Timberlake, John Cale, Damian Rice, Bono, Andrea Bocelli, The Canadian Tenors, Il Divo, Susan Boyle. Lesser known versions from local and YouTube artists were also suggested including this heavy metal version, this version from Three Talented Girls and one from Laura Gagnon, who hails from my hometown of London, Ontario.

Single album cover for Hallelujah by Cohen

In a 2009 interview on CBC radio, Cohen found the number of covers of his song "amusing and ironic", given that his record label initially refused to release it when it was written. He later added, after learning it was used in a romantic scene in the comic book film The Watchmen, Cohen suggested a moratorium on its use, saying; "It's a good song, but I think too many people sing it."

I can understand his point. This week, as I became a robust fan of Buckley's Grace, I found myself more enamoured by the deeper cuts, including Last Goodbye, Lilac Wine, Lover You Should Come Over, and the title track.

Bono was correct, Buckley is "a pure drop in an ocean of noise". His four octave tenor voice matched that of famed opera singer Luciano Pavorotti. He was able to effortlessly sing everything from gentle ballads to powerful rock. A great tragedy is that we did not get to see where his musical journey would take him. He would still be in his mid-fifties if alive today.