I find it impossible to predict the vocal stylings as well as guitar playing of Jeff Buckley, from the intricate riffs and openings of grace, to the apparently random plucking of strings in "murder suicide meteor slave." Jeff contradicted himself and his styleso many times, I could write about it for ages. The only other one worth metioning is the strange diversity in openings. From the monstrous 60 second intro to hallelujah, to the 1 chord 2 second so-called intro to lilac wine. Such diversity could only be the work ofa mad man a genius....or both.
To look at, Jeff (hold the afro) was the spitting image of his father, Tim buckley. Jeff has been described as "stunningly good looking," "impossibly handsome" "obscenely good looking" and "undeniably charming"
As far as I know, Jeff wasn't really influenced by anyone, at a youg age, he knew what he wanted to do and excactly how he wanted to do it, although he has since influenced other artists like silverchair. However, one person he was not influenced by was indeed his own father, the world famous folk singer Tim, who left jeff's mother before jeff was born and died when jeff was eight. Although he never met his father, Jeff was on a lifelong quest to proove he was a musician in his own right, this develoed into a case of paranoia which affected his carrer somewhat. Be it karma or otherwise, Jeff ended up just like his father, Dying young of a tragic death. This was amazing, as he always was so carefull not to end up this way. "The only way you can protect freedom is a strong knowledge of how to protect it - otherwise you can blow your head off in a hotel room or end up dead in a persian bath tub, you can get into real trouble" says Jeff.
Jeff buckley had an apparently never ending shcedule of interveiws, concert etc. He gave a cancer tin Chicago, which has been released on DVD, even though you are not there, the experience is still magical. He came out to australia twice, as well as a breif promotional tour which included a concert in a black velvet draped, Athenaeum theater in collins street melbourne. The settings for jeff's concerts were always perculiar, with the chicago concert taking place in a hall covered in giant rugs. But the Aussie Concerts were always something
special, as Jeff was more popuar here than anywhere else. Such concerts prompted the rerelease of grace live. On the inside cover of the album, Jeff said, "This is not our last trip out" But alas, It was to be the final trip out, because while singing to a friend across the river, Jeff wandered into the aparently calm waters only to have a boat come past, and pull him under in the undertow, never to surface alive again. This caused world wide mourning, in the world of music, and otherwise. In an article released the day after jeffs death, the journalist wrote, "Drowning is definatly a more dignified way to go down than choking on ones own vomit" referring of course to the death of guitar extraordinaire, Jimmy hendrix.
So what is grace? Or what is the grace that Jeff sings about? He told a Journalist in 1995: "Ah.... sort of...transcendental soul in somebody's behaviour. Like a soul that's wise.... Like somebody who doesn't stoop to violence in the face of a problem, cause they're, a little more potent of soul.... It's rare."
After the horribly untimely Death of Jeff Buvkley, although eny death is untimely, Only dyas before he was supposed to record his next album, another album was mixed and released. "Sketched for my sweetheart the drunk" was undeniably the more sombre of the two albums, you could tell this from the title. This could be explained by the fact that the album was produced after Jeffs death, so obviously could have no inputinto the mixing, order of tracks, or which tracks were used. The majority of tracks from sketches, were either songs jef didn't want for the first album, or ones jeff was just stuffing around with. Jeff wen't through a period of turbulence, writers block to put it better, he wen't away to a house in memphis, the lyrics to scetches for my sweetheart the druk were the result of this hiatus.
Jeff Buckley was th undesputed master of putting feeling into his songs Scetches for my sweetheart the drunk is extremely heartfelt. I often catch myself screaming turning it off thinking "aaargh I just can't take it any more, Just turn it off!!!!" The album is simply draining to listen to, the way the lord of the rings is drainingto read. For a few minutes, you are teleported to a new world, of pain and surrow in this case, and is genuinely depressing to listen toeven now, at this very moment i'm getting all teary listening to corpus christi. To be so utterly enveloped in a song that you cry to hear it's words, and then after the song is over you feel like part of you is gone is sheer magic, like the loud hallelujah at th ened of hallelujah brings you back to earth, but that's just it, when you listen to jeff buckleys music you are not on this earth, because the music is out of this world and that can only come from a poetic genius, like Jeff Buckley.