1. Mojo Pin
2. Grace
3. Last Goodbye
4. Lilac Wine
5. So Real
6. Hallelujah
7. Lover, You Should`ve Come Over
8. Corpus Christi Carol
9. Eternal Life
10. Dream Brother

amazon
Resembling at times a soft-sung Robert Plant, Buckley was an intuitive vocalist capable of dizzying arabesques and choir-boy sweetness. He is joined here by a tight band for 10 tracks highlighting his stylistic range--Pearl Jam bluesy on "Eternal Life," impossibly serene on Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," art-school noisy on "So Real," Led Zep daring on "Mojo Pin." Unorthodox, this was the debut of '94.
adrians album reviews
Jeff Buckley's only official and complete studio album. Released in 1994, three years later he'd drink some wine, go for a swim and never come back. In the immediate aftermath of his death, it wasn't apparent what sort of loss his musical talent really would prove to be. 'Grace' had been critically acclaimed but was, after all, only his debut album. The fact that many singers since have been described as bearing his influence just goes to show how good this one album really was. His voice could go from a whisper to a roar but he never really showed off with his singing - despite having one of the finest voices of a generation. Musically, there are no obvious melodies rather shifting moods, tempos and intensities. The lyrics are full of a search for redemption and all about love, loss and faith. The result is this. 'Grace'.

Opening 'Mojo Pin' displays exactly what this album is all about. A quiet introduction, that swooning voice, a beautiful wordless sound. Whispered words. The guitars begin to take on a rock hue and the voice continues. A mention of 'black beauty', 'first love' and then the wordless vocal returns. We have beautiful lilting guitar in the quieter sections, rock guitar in the 'chorus' parts. He is certainly backed with empathy by this group of musicians. One of the keys to this record is the atmosphere is maintained. The flow of songs is perfect and beautiful. 'Mojo Pin' flows into 'Grace' the title song. The vocal is a sheer beauty, a thing of wonder. 'I'm not afraid to die' goes one part of the lyric. This song actually sounds more commercial than some of the others here. A good counterpart to the heavily atmospheric opening song. An amazingly strong album opening sequence is completed with 'Last Goodbye'. This was released as a single and brought him to a wider audience. The mood of the song is all devotional love mixed in the possibility of loss 'this is our last embrace, must I dream and always see your face'. Beautiful words. The chorus is absolutely thrilling with rock guitars and his voice sailing over the top, soaring higher in tone as if reaching for the heavens. A wondrous moment. A string section pops in. I usually get tearful and joyous at the same time listening to this song. Brilliant, no other word will do.

There are no obvious weak points on the album. He took his time with the recording process, changing, perfecting. The performance is everything. 'Lilac Wine' is all performance. A tender and pretty vocal amid slow shifting bass and delicate guitar. 'So Real' repeats the quiet/loud formula of 'Last Goodbye' but with significantly more Rock thrown in. A guitar sounds like a buzzsaw at one point. The louder sections are as intense as hell and the other vocals are whispered, quietly caressed. 'Lover You Should Come Over' has great melodic moments and again, beautiful vocal parts. Gospel influenced vocals come in towards the end.

The second half of the album isn't easy going actually. This isn't an album that will immediately reveal its charms and delights first few listens. 'Dream Brother' and especially 'Corpus Christi Carol' are all atmospheres and shifting moods. The melody isn't obvious, it needs teasing out. Melody is there, a good half of it at least is provided by his vocals. All your attention will focus on THAT voice. Such a sheer presence. Closing 'Dream Brother' does some interesting musical things. Jeff was a huge fan of English group The Cocteau Twins and some of the guitars do sound a bit Cocteau Twins on this song. A good song actually. The centrepiece of the album for many is his version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'. Not the first person to cover the song and its such a good song anyway, he could hardly fail. A single guitar and Jeff Buckley's vocal is all that's present. A minimal stripped back performance but with such a spiritual, devotional vocal. It really will bring a tear to your eye. 'Grace' is a wonderful album. It has stood the test of time and always was going to. As I said, its appeal is slow burning. Give it time, listen to it. Its an album that deserves to be listened to and paid attention to. It's a beautiful record and some debut. 9/10
all reviews
Jeff Buckley passed away last year and took with him an immeasurable wealth of talent. His first and only completed album, Grace, told the world what passion and love Jeff put into his music. Jeff's angelic voice is umistakable. Against his romantic melodies, played mainly on piano, the songs take on a life of their own. Buckley elicits so much "Hallelujah" is one of the most beautiful ballads that Buckley wrote. It is lyrically perfect and a melodic masterpiece.

It's hard to place Jeff Buckley in one specific genre. He draws from folk, indie, college, and so many different styles of music that they all seem to combine into a masterful mixture that doesn't sound cluttered, but rather magnificent. The music is so overwhelming that all thoughts are erased from your mind and Jeff's sweet, soft voice inhabits your psyche. Jeff was never completely happy with his work, but it's difficult to understand why. One listen and the music will pull you and leave you wishing for more. It's so tragic that Jeff was not able to continue his work and let all the world know what a remarkable talent he was. 3/4
ink blot magazine
Yes, Grace is the definitive Jeff Buckley album. It all begins as "Mojo Pin" creeps into the air with swirling ambient guitars and Buckley's angelic, breathy vibrato seduces the listener and cascades over the odd time signature. Before the first minute of this album is over, you're enveloped in the most ethereal and achingly lovelorn album to come out in the past decade. "Grace" is one of the darker, moodier songs on the album. With Gary Lucas making a special appearance on guitar, this song marks Buckley's penchant for writing and singing about death and sorrow: "And the rain is falling/and I believe my time has come/it reminds me of the pain I might leave behind." The third song on the album,"Last Goodbye," was Buckley's only US single for Grace and even though it's the obligatory power love ballad on the album, it's damn good. Backed by acoustic guitars, Mike Johnson's solid drumming and some lush violins toward the end, it reminds you of that last time you left your lovers house knowing you could never go back no matter how badly you wanted to.

Every song on Grace touches you this way. The fourth song, "Lilac Wine," is a stunning achievement by Buckley as he plays troubadour and croons out an old James Shelton song. This is only upstaged by Buckley's emotionally jarring version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." As tender as the heart that broke to write this song, he confesses to us: "Well maybe there's a God above/but all I've ever learned from love-was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya." Jeff Buckley surprises you over and over again on this record. He can be as edgy and loud as old Zeppelin on "Eternal Life," and make you feel more emotionally naked than during your first sexual experience on "Lover, You Should've Come Over."

Jeff Buckley was a musical tidal wave. As a person and performer he left his fans feeling like his personal friends awash in romance and intrigue, a connection very few artists ever give to their audience. His extreme intensity and emotional sincerity make Grace what it is - a flourishing achievement in every conceivable way. Steal this album.
nude as the news
The quavering voice floats in on ether trails, pulling you into a tender, glistening world where Adonis stands alone with a microphone on a softly lit stage. Subtle rhythms boil up via a twisting guitar and gently rolling drums. As the chorus turns, the phasing guitar and vocals stretch toward the ceiling, creating a misty column of pure music.

Such are the images summoned forth by Jeff Buckley's first and only solo record, an experienced debut to say the least. Buckley was 28 and a veteran of performance (including stints with Shinehead and Gods and Monsters) when he recorded this 10-song opus with bassist Mick Grondahl and drummer Matt Johnson. Building on echoes of influences as varied as the avant jazz-rock stylings of his father, Tim Buckley, the powerful crooning of Van Morrisson, and the classically sculpted riffs of Led Zeppelin, Buckley is as elegant a rock star as we had in the '90s. Had he been able to endure in the public's eye, he may have touched the lives of millions with his songcraft and talent. As destiny would have it, he was swallowed by the Mississippi on the eve of recording his second album, leaving Grace as his only realized work.

But the album leaves a lasting impression of an artist whose exceptional talents never got to grow to their limits. His guitar paints lustrous pictures all over the record, and his golden vocal pipes are almost unmatched - sometimes revealing shadows of one of his inspirations, the otherworldly voice of qawaali deity Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

At times, he is almost too tender. "Corpus Christi Carol" features only sparse instrumentation accompanying Buckley's interpretation of the traditional hymn. Lyrics like "the falcon hath borne my maid away" seem a little archaic in the forum of '90s rock music, but they somehow fit right in with Buckley's oeuvre. "Carol" is only one of three covers Buckley chooses to flesh out over the course of the album, including an evocative version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," but the best tracks are his own.

Classic pop songs "Grace" and "Last Goodbye" ride over rolling landscapes of guitar riffage, Buckley entreating his loves with poetic lyrics and a voice pregnant with desire. The album's centrepiece, however, is the epic "Lover, You Should've Come Over," which melts out of a stately organ invocation, and exquisitely sets the mood of rainy day regret. A seductive chord progression accentuates Buckley's voice as tension builds throughout the first two verses, only to break out and head for the clouds. A Motown-style choir of backing vocals helps propel the song toward its tumultous climax.
monsters at play
Rarely has there been a more perfect debut. Imagine an album that had a singer with the dexterity of Mariah Carey. Imagine a band with the musical taste and ability of a Miles Davis combo yet who could rock harder than Pearl Jam. Imagine songs as finely crafted as those from Crowded House with production as subliminal as that of Brian Eno. On Grace, the first full-length album from Jeff Buckley, such elements came together. With legendary mixer Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Helmet, Ben Folds Five) at the controls and producing, Buckley and his band created a hard yet delicate album that is a compulsory addition to any serious record collection.

"Mojo Pin" opens the album softly with Buckley's falsetto voice soaring over a tender band track. As the story builds, so does the tension in the music. With Led Zeppelin like intensity the track grows stronger and louder to it's climax. The wonderful guitar work of Gary Lucas ties the song together while Matt Johnson's drumming accentuates each change of pace. "The welts of your scorn, my love, give me more/Send whips of opinion down my back, give me more," Buckley's singing builds, "Well it's you I've waited my life to see/It's you I've searched so hard for." With amazing vocal ability he controls each moment from quiet tone to full force shouting and then back again in an instant.

The Gospel inspired "Lover, You Should've Come Over" moves from an harmonium opening to a solemn acoustic guitar backdrop grounded by the tasteful bass playing of Mick Grondahl. Over the sweet Hammond organ and the R&B styled backing vocals, Buckley builds the song to a desperate crescendo. "It's never over/My kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder/It's never over/All my riches for her smiles when I slept so soft against her," his own fine guitar work adding to the beauty of the lyrics, "It's not too late."

The moody tune "Dream Brother" allows drummer Johnson to expand his kit work as well as to deliver smooth vibraphone playing while Buckley uses a trance like guitar to lure in the listener. "The love you lost with the skin so fair/Is free with the wind on her butterscotch hair," his sympathetic vocals observe. "Her green eyes bloom goodbyes/With her head in her hands/And your kiss on the lips of another." Again the class of this band, their musicianship and the singing, allow the track to successfully convey a delicacy rare on Rock albums.

All Music

Jeff Buckley was many things, but humble wasn't one of them. Grace is an audacious debut album, filled with sweeping choruses, bombastic arrangements, searching lyrics and, above all, the richly textured voice of Buckley himself, which resembled a cross between Robert Plant, Van Morrison, and his father Tim. And that's a fair starting point for his music: Grace sounds like a Led Zeppelin album written by an ambitious folkie with a fondness for lounge jazz. At his best — the soaring title track, "Last Goodbye," and the mournful "Lover, You Should've Come Over" — Buckley's grasp met his reach with startling results; at its worst, Grace is merely promising.