"I don't want my reputation to take over. I just want to be judged on my songs. I want people to come to me because they want to, not because fashion dictates it." - J. Buckley
More than ten years after Jeff Buckley's death, it's hard to take comfort in the thought that his legacy will have been received according to his will by future generations. Indeed, Buckley owes his comeback to the use of "Hallelujah" in the film Shrek, and above all to the universal fantasy of the doomed artist's early death.
Far from the image of the poet touched by divine light who plays with detachment and simplicity, Jeff Buckley is a hard worker. To distance himself from the image of his father (Tim Buckley, an old folk king), he opened up to hard rock, progressive, reggae, jazz and bossa nova... In his early years, he didn't hesitate to sacrifice a staggering number of hours a day to music and mastery of his instrument.
"Grace" is Jeff Buckley's only album, conceived by him from the begining to the end. Reflecting his perfectionist personality, the compositions are meticulously crafted, and the arrangements and sound are just as meticulous - to the point where the rock spirit of some tracks is almost anaesthetized ('Dream Brother', whose live explosion is much more raw). The atmosphere is religious, the record is full of reverb and gives the impression of being played in a cathedral. On the menu are ten tracks that alternate between gentle and edgy, ethereal folk and raw hard rock, all sprinkled with jazzy touches. (Lilac Wine' is the obvious example, but it's in the guitar playing above all that you'll find this particular, never demonstrative refinement.
This culture of composition is particularly expressed on four tracks. First of all, 'Grace', a frenzied, light, fragile dance that swells to a joyous liberation, followed by 'Mojo Pin', the opening track that proves just how much Jeff Buckley masters the flow of his songs. We also have the sublime 'Dream Brother' and its anguished arpeggio, and finally the delicate 'Lover, You Should Have Come Over', which represents one of the finest symbioses between vocal melody and instrumental arrangement since the Beatles. Of course, it's impossible not to mention the cover of 'Hallelujah', based on John Cale's version, which differs from Leonard Cohen's in its arrangements, but above all in the addition of certain verses. Buckley's version is the one that generated the most enthusiasm and mimicry.
If 'Corpus Christi Carol' (a cover of Benjamin Britten), or 'Last Goodbye' don't generate the same enthusiasm as the aforementioned titles, "Grace" remains a flamboyant success, the fruit of the hard work of an artist who didn't like to rest on his laurels. After "Grace", he was already convinced that the next album would surpass it ("Sketches" would unfortunately remain in draft form). By putting his guts into his music in general, and into this album in particular, Jeff Buckley has carved in the stone a solid piece of authenticity out of the rock, and delivers here his last rock album. The rest is comedy, nostalgia and pious celebration.