Picking out the best cover songs on Jeff Buckley album ‘Live at Sin-é’
Jeff Buckley‘s talent was undoubted. His skills more than lived up to his father’s solo efforts, even though many had probably not expected him to bother. Buckley’s only full-length studio album, Grace, remains a stalwart of contemporary popular music, and it is often regarded to be a flawless record from start to finish.
While it is a true shame that Grace was Buckley’s only studio effort, there are a few other records that can ease his tragic passing amongst his fans. For instance, there are early versions of the tracks that would eventually make their way onto Grace on Songs to No One, as are their hint of where Buckley would head after Grace on Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk.
However, perhaps the best example of Buckley’s talents, bar his studio album proper, is the live album Live at Sin-é. He had moved to New York City in 1990 but spent a year in Los Angeles getting a demo tape together before heading back to the Big Apple in 1992 after playing a tribute concert for his father, Tim Buckley.
The next year or two were Buckley’s “Café Days”, and he earned a regular slot at Café Sin-é in Lower Manhattan. The album is comprised of original songs and cover versions of Buckley’s favourite artists, including Bob Dylan, Edith Piaf, Leonard Cohen and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
As for the best of the covers, certainly, his two renditions of Bob Dylan’s songs are amongst them. What makes those recordings so special is the unique intimacy that occurs from Buckley standing solo with his butterscotch Fender Telecaster with the reverb cranked way up. Buckley runs through both ‘I Shall Be Released’ and ‘Just Like A Woman’, capturing the spirit of Dylan with effortless ease.
Buckley also provides a haunting version of Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit’. The track opens with a terrific blues guitar solo, setting the scene for the sorrowful song that protests against the lynching of African-Americans in the 20th Century. The song was written by Abel Meeropol and recorded by Holiday, and Buckley would later provide a beautiful cover.
Elsewhere, Buckley continues to pay homage to the great African American artists of yore, including Nina Simone and Ray Charles. He covered Simone’s ‘If You Knew’ with another beautiful guitar introduction before exquisitely hitting the high notes in the way that only he could. As for Charles, he provided an equally astounding rendition of ‘Drown In My Own Tears’, which Henry Glover had initially written, but Charles popularised in 1956 with a single release.
Over the Atlantic Ocean, Buckley gives his respect to another of his favourites, the great Irish songwriter Van Morrison, with a ten-minute version of ‘The Way Young Lovers Do’. The track opens with just a vocal melody, seeing Buckley gracefully move across the scale. Then his iconic Telecaster tone comes in to accompany him, and Buckley manages to create an entire percussive element to the tune. Easily one of the best covers on the record.
The best cover songs on Jeff Buckley’s Live at Sin-é:
- ‘Strange Fruit’ – Billie Holiday
- ‘If You Knew’ – Nina Simone
- ‘Just Like A Woman’ – Bob Dylan
- ‘Drown In My Own Tears’ – Ray Charles
- ‘The Way Young Lovers Do’ – Van Morrison
- ‘I Shall Be Released’ – Bob Dylan
Stream the album in full below.
