Twenty years ago today, August 23, singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley released his only completed studio album Grace, a heavenly yet subtly psychedelic collection of covers and original songs that would introduce the music world to one of its all-time greatest vocalists. Sadly, Buckley would pass away in 1997 at age 30 before he could complete another album, but he still managed to release one classic during his short life. To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Grace, here are the album's ten songs ranked.
10. Eternal Life
One of three songs on Grace to be written solely by Buckley, "Eternal Life" has an aggressive, hard rock tone absent from all of the album's other songs, which isn't exactly Buckley's strong suit. As the rest of the album proves, he was much better at singing and writing achingly beautiful ballads than rock songs.
9. Lilac Wine
The album's first cover is "Lilac Wine," which was written by James Shelton in 1950 and has been performed by a number of artists, including Nina Simone and Miley Cyrus. Like Grace's other two cover songs, "Lilac Wine" is one of the album's gentler tracks, with a gorgeous vocal performance from Buckley, though my only complaint is that it can get just a little too sleepy at times.
8. Last Goodbye
Another Buckley-penned track, "Last Goodbye" was the album's second single and biggest commercial success. Despite its melancholy lyrics, it's still the album's most upbeat and straightforward song, with an awesome slide guitar intro and a bassline that pretty much represents all of the '90s for me.
7. Corpus Christi Carol
The final cover song to appear on Grace, "Corpus Christi Carol" was originally a choral song written by Benjamin Britten, based on a traditional Middle English poem. Sung almost entirely in an angelic falsetto, Buckley provides arguably his single greatest vocal performance on his version of the song.
6. Mojo Pin
Grace's opening track "Mojo Pin" sets the album's dreamy, psychedelic template perfectly, creeping in with Buckley's gorgeous falsetto and arpeggios before gradually building to a psychedelic freak-out to close out the song.
5. Grace
Because of his otherworldly singing abilities, Jeff Buckley's stellar guitar playing is too often overlooked. Buckley's finest guitar playing on Grace comes on the album's title track with a flurry of intricate hammer-ons, pull-offs, and precise picking. The vocal track is mind-blowing as well, of course, particularly in the song's soaring climax.
4. Lover, You Should've Come Over
I should hate "Lover, You Should've Come Over." It's a long, sappy love ballad that sounds like it would have been written by John Mayer (he apparently covered it), but it's so undeniably beautiful that I can't bring myself to hate it. It's certainly the best song that Buckley ever wrote on his own.
3. So Real
The guitar riff played in the verses of "So Real" is so eerie and hauntingly beautiful that the rest of the song could have just been Buckley tuning up, and it would still be one of my favorites. It's the sort of chord sequence that's so cold and ghostly that it sends a chill down your spine when you hear it.
2. Hallelujah
Yes, "Hallelujah" has been completely ruined by pretty much every tasteless singer/songwriter over the last twenty years, so it's difficult to listen to Jeff Buckley's version with fresh ears. Still, the reason why it's still so widely performed is that it's an incredible song, and Buckley performed it better than anyone (including its writer Leonard Cohen, whose version is actually pretty schlocky and awful, and this is coming from someone who loves Leonard Cohen).
1. Dream Brother
The best song on Grace is its last, "Dream Brother," written by Buckley along with his bassist Mick Grøndahl and his drummer Matt Johnson. Like album opener "Mojo Pin," it's a dream-like and psychedelic track that slowly builds over the course of its five-and-a-half minutes, giving the album a sort of surreal bookend. It also boasts the album's best chorus, which provides the album's only reference to Buckley's father Tim Buckley, a famous singer/songwriter who was largely absent from his son's life before dying in 1975. "Don't be like the one who made me so old," Buckley sings, "Don't be like the one who left behind his name."
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