Jeff Buckley Classic or Dud?

"Woke Up In A Strange Place" anyone? He's just killing me now on all fronts. "What Will You Say". I haven't played him in a long, long time. And it feels so good.

I figured this board would be the type to try to knock him down a peg, so I'll step in and say huge classic.

Grace is amazing, and to a lesser degree, Sketches....

who knew he was so cute!!

jeff's always had a curiously massive following here in sydney so in my high school days i was subject to that whole adoring female crowd obviously just in it for his looks

i saw him on a cover at the record store the other day and kinda flipped

It's "Mr. Buckley" to you.

Yeah he was pretty good looking. I liked him more for his music than his looks, but yeah.

His music turned him into Medusa.

the popularity of buckley, although he has some good songs, seems out of proportion. cheers to him covering one of my favorite genesis songs - back in n.y.c.

but buckley reminds me of elliot smith and weezer in the blown out of proportion department. which I mention these two bands rather than artic monkeys and that kind of music because I totally disregard anything similar as crap, so kudos to weezer and elliot smith for being in the same sentence with buckley. all of which is below par (in the enjoyment factor) in my book.

by the way, quasi is the weezer that weezer should have been. and mates of state sucks.

Elliot Smith? PUHLEEZ. Elliot Smith had less musical talent in his little finger!

At least Alfred's hatred of Buckley was expressed in easy, forthright terms.

I don't give a shit. I will defend Jeff Buckley to the death. I don't care about his mother or his father or the screaming girls. He wasn't perfect, but certainly capable of a brilliance rarely seen on this earth.

Elliot Smith? PUHLEEZ. Elliot Smith had less musical talent in his little finger!

Not sure what this means?

I don't give a shit. I will defend Jeff Buckley to the death. I don't care about his mother or his father or the screaming girls. He wasn't perfect, but certainly capable of a brilliance rarely seen on this earth.

seconded.

except I'd recommend that you take the time to care about his dad, who on the whole was a more interesting artist. there's some real dross in his catalogue, it's true, but his highs are far higher than his son's.

ILM continues to severely underrate elliott smith. you are going to be hard pressed finding a contemporary musician who writes better, more immediate hooks than this guy. plus he has an extremely high number of great songs.

jeff buckley on the other hand is fair game for criticism as far as i'm concerned. the man had talent, but it was only sparingly reflected in his musical output. tim buckley is another matter altogether since he has an astonishingly good catalogue of music and was highly varied and creative in his approach.

What it means is, Mouthy, Elliot Smith was a fucking flea on the arse of Jeff Buckley in terms of talent goes.

And frankly I don't want to hear from bitter straight men about how Jeff Buckley was ripe for criticism because your girlfriend or ex-girlfriend liked him or whatever. Be objective for chrissakes. Throw his looks out the window and THEN judge the music.

What it means is, Mouthy, Elliot Smith was a fucking flea on the arse of Jeff Buckley in terms of talent goes.

In which case do you mean "Buckley had more talent in his little finger than Smith had in his whole body" then? Not picking; it just literally made no sense to me.

I used to like Buckley a lot. Not listened in a while. They did VERY different things though, I feel. Buckley couldn't have done a song like Baby Britain anymore than Smith could have done... Mojo Pin, maybe. Comparing the two, particularly in such... snide and severe terms, just seems very inappropriate given that they're both dead.

As a straight man I'll be the first to point out that I appreciated him for his looks as much as his music. I chose to see him at the Hot House in summer '94 based purely on the fact that I'm a Tim Buckley fan. I took a date and while I wasn't sure about his originals, his singing was transcendent, as were his covers of Van Morrison, Big Star and Nusrat. My date was practically drooling, and I probably had the best sex of my life at that point after the show. Thanks Jeff!

I think he suffered from writer's block, partly because of being under the suffocating shadow of his father, trying to do his own thing but having a similar voice and looks. He was definitely more of an interpreter than songwriter. I saw him two more times, and probably would not have tired of him had he lived. He definitely didn't complete his artistic arc like his father seemed to have before his death.

Coincidentally I'm reading the Dream Brother book right now.

He definitely didn't complete his artistic arc like his father seemed to have before his death.

exactly

If everyone who says how much they love Grace had actually bought Grace at the time it would have gone quadruple platinum instead of one week at #50 due to titans like Tony di Bart, Doop and Wet Wet Wet.

I bought it about a week after he drowned.

I chose to see him at the Hot House in summer '94

the Hot House in Chicago?

I bought it shortly after it came out as i heard it at my mates and loved it.
Already had some Tim Buckley cds.

there comes a point in music that no matter how well written, well executed, or amazing talent with an instrument; the musician's songs are still for the most part boring. Thats why talent only means so much.

Another factor that must be heavily considered is the singer's voice. Does it make you sleepy (jeff buckley), does it sound whiney or bright eyesy (elliot smith), is it nasaly (neutral milk hotel). No matter how much talent is present, the singer's voice can destroy any hope of ever liking their music.

Yeah, Hot House in Chicago when it was still on Milwaukee Ave. I also saw him at Green Mill, Uncommon Ground, and Metro (documented on DVD). So it was three more, not two more times, oops. He was extremely drunk at the Green Mill, but still performed well.

xp: how does well written and well executed = boring?

surely boring songs are by definition badly written and performed? in other words, not all poor songs are boring, but all boring songs are poor.

amend: badly written and/or performed

You're right, Mouthy. It didn't make much sense. It just seemed to in my drunken brain at the time.

no. take king crimson for example. extremely talented, well executed, and lots of well written songs. but that doesn't stop me from thinking that lots of these songs are crappy anyways. hence, there is something more than just talent, execution and writing. There is the overall song and whether or not it is appeasing or not.

yngwie malmsteen songs, as a whole, suck balls.

Jeff Buckley was the Zach Braff of his era.

Ouch. Now THAT'S an insult.

I remember quite liking his music at the time, but I can't remember any instance in the last several years wherein I felt like hearing any of it.

no. take king crimson for example. extremely talented, well executed, and lots of well written songs. but that doesn't stop me from thinking that lots of these songs are crappy anyways. hence, there is something more than just talent, execution and writing. There is the overall song and whether or not it is appeasing or not.

yngwie malmsteen songs, as a whole, suck balls.

suit yourself. my contention would be that if the overall song is 'crappy' or 'sucks balls', that there is something lacking in its writing and/or execution, or at least something about its writing and/or execution that doesn't appeal to you.

there's no objective standard for judging a song's writing or execution - it's only measurable in your response to it.

With Liz Fraser anyone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ0QSpdnHJE

Let's face it.... his dad was both more talented AND made much greater use of that talent.

JB's music is pretty lazy really I think- sure, he's got a nice voice, but there's not much there beyond that.

VHAHAHAAHAH

so typical!

hahahahhha

Jeff Buckley was the Zach Braff of his era.

Lol. Perhaps instead he's the Mark Paul Gosselaar of his era. Though I suppose they kind of shared an era.

I agree with those upthread who praised "Jewel Box". I think that might be his best self-penned toon, wishy-washy lyrics notwithstanding. At least that's what I thought when I drunkenly extolled its virtues to a friend on a summer night in 2003 while eating raspberries.

some jock did "Last Goodbye" at karaoke night this week, it was LOL worthy

I never got this guy. He's fine when he covers a good ballad, but when he does a rock song, to me it doesn't sound that far from David Cook. Maybe it's b/c I never listened to him back in the day, when the 90s alt-rockness of it all wouldn't have bothered me.

I'm with you Mark, i can tolerate the ballads but the "rock" songs are just grating. Best thing he did was the Leonard Cohen cover, which is sublime. The rest i can pretty much take or leave.

a lot of unexpected people seem to like Jeff Buckley... but I listened to Grace for the first time a couple months ago, and thought it was pretty middle-of-the-road.