The classic album Jeff Buckley was determined to beat
There’s no real accurate way to describe Jeff Buckley to someone who’s never heard him before.
The music that he made was equal parts ethereal, heavy, and absolutely luscious, but the quality of his voice soaring above everything else defied the typical descriptions everyone attributed. When people talk about their favourite singers having the voice of an angel, this is what they’re talking about, and it’s not like Buckley wasn’t aware that he had the potential to become an all-time great.
Throughout his life, he always had an awareness of the kind of music that he wanted to hear from his own records. Grace might be the only concrete proof of the musical legend that we had among us, but judging by the kind of covers that he picked, he clearly wanted to be looked at in the same vein as the early singer-songwriters. He had the voice that would suit any metal band had he gone that route, but his heroes were also people like Van Morrison and Leonard Cohen.
When listening to the specifics of many of his tunes, it’s hard to miss a little bit of bands like The Smiths in his delivery. His lyrics were never going to be as insufferable as Morrissey could get on his records, but given the kind of guitar chops he had and his ear for strange chords, he felt like the perfect combination between ‘The Moz’ and Johnny Marr manifested as a person.
Then again, if we’re talking about influences, it’s time we stop beating around the bush and talk about Led Zeppelin. It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to hear faint wisps of Robert Plant in Buckley’s voice, and it’s clear that he was following in their footsteps when working on tracks like ‘Eternal Life’. But whereas most people see Zeppelin as this holy entity that no one could have ever touched, Buckley figured he could match what they did.
In fact, screw that logic: he could even manage to go above and beyond a lot of what Zeppelin was doing. Saying that might be an invitation to people to argue over him being a bit too overhyped, but when the guitarist was first starting to cut the tracks off of Grace, he talked about making the kind of record that would leave a handful of Zeppelin ones in the dust.
He had the utmost respect for the band, but as his former bandmate Michael Clouse said years later, Buckley was determined to make them look like a simply blues rock outfit compared to the risks that Grace was taking, saying, “He said, ‘I want to make an album that makes people forget about Led Zeppelin II’.” Even if that upsets some classic rock fans, it’s a much closer call than most would be willing to admit.
Buckley was clearly a legend at the time, and there’s no point in ignoring now that the record has achieved reverential status. In fact, there are a handful of moments on the record that cover ground that even Zeppelin didn’t land on, like sprinkling in the strange jazz chords in the middle of tracks like ‘Lover You Should’ve Come Over’ or the strange chord voicings in the middle of the title track.
It’s up to everyone’s taste as to whether the artist matched his idols, but the fact that we’re even entertaining this conversation is a testament to the kind of record that Grace is. This is a document of a man on the cusp of becoming a legend, and it’s a damn shame that it’s the only real record that got released during his life. Tunes like ‘Yard of Blonde Girls’ and ‘Vancouver’ from his next album come close to this, but there’s no substitute for this piece of art.
Never Miss A Beat
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