Jeff Buckley love

[schmifty]

So, a big Jeff Buckley discussion developed on another thread and rather than have the issue overtake that thread, I'm taking it here There's a Silverchair thread on the Jeff Buckley boards, so why not vice-versa? I'm sure there have been other Jeff threads on here, but here's a new start.

And so here is my catch-up megapost response to the topics we started in the other thread...

According to wikipedia, these are the albums released (I'm not sure which one it is that you wanted to mention too...):
1993 Live at Sin-é [EP]
1994 Grace
1995 Live from the Bataclan [EP]
1998 Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk
2000 Mystery White Boy
2001 Live a L'Olympia
2002 Songs to No One 1991-1992
2002 The Grace EPs
2003 Live at Sin-é (Legacy Edition)
2004 Grace (Legacy Edition)
2007 So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley

Live at L'Olympia was the one I couldn't think of. I've never heard it actually.

dang! I didnt' even know about the Bataclan one or Songs to No One! I'm going to have to check those out..

Oh dear I have almost all of those. Except I will not buy So Real (of course) and passed up Live from the Bataclan when I saw it in a store recently.

I finally got Live a L'Olympia last year. I never was very interested in it until I bought it and found out the story behind it. Wow! So amazing. It has to do with how the French fans really took on Jeff as their own and he felt very connected to them, and L'Olympia is a place where many of his most revered musicians have played, so this concert was an over-the-top emotional experience for him. It definitely comes through in the performance. Very high-energy and emotional. I thoroughly recommend this one!

Songs to No One. Oh dear. I have this one. I would say... don't buy it. I actually deleted most of its songs out of my iTunes. I've rarely ever had to do that. The material just... doesn't work... It's a collaboration between Jeff and Gary Lucas (who obviously was a help to Jeff's career, yes). But the material doesn't work to the point where, when Chris Cornell fans heard that Gary Lucas might be involved with the next Chris project, the boards were like "NOOOOOO! Wasn't that the guy who made that awful stuff with Jeff Buckley? NOOOOOOOO!"

Just my 2cents

And I really love the Sin-e Legacy Edition... it's worth it for Yeh Jo Halka Halka Saroor Hai alone And anything with Jeff's crowd interaction on it is Priceless!

That's just what I was thinking when I turned it on I also love the version of Mojo Pin from live in chicago, that was the first thing I ever heard/saw of Jeff Buckley...

Ooh, I would love to hear stories of how people first heard Jeff's music

Check out the last few seconds of this video (or the whole thing if you're up to it). But at the end when he says "What do I want people to get from the music? Whatever they want, you know.."
and then he looks right into the camera and says "Whatever you like"
that part KILLS me! You have to watch it to see what I mean:

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseacti ... oid=383034

gaaaaaaahhhhhhhh

lol I already have that vid on my computer for quite a while and I have watched that last part sooo many times, I know exactly what you mean! I love his eyes, you can tell what kind of a person he is by just looking at his eyes. Like you said, you can see how soulful he was!

Yeah I had that interview/doc on my myspace for the longest time.
It really sucks how many videos of him were removed from youtube There were some great ones at one time.

Aargh! Yeah I have that "Whatever you like" interview in my Youtube favorites, so I just went to watch it and it's GONE. In fact all of the Jeff vids that used to be in my favorites are gone. I wonder why they've been taken down?

Sometimes I wonder what he'd be doing these days if he were still alive. I think we'd have a lot more wonderful music in the world.

Aaah. I used to wish Jeff would go a little darker with his material, and when I got the first Ours album, with all the influence Jimmy Gnecco took from Jeff, I kinda subconsciously thought of it as the newest Jeff material. It would've been cool to hear him do goth-tinged stuff

what are some of your favorite songs/albums?

Aah! Huge question! um um um...
Album: I guess I will have to say Grace. Imagine if he had let Forget Her stay on there, though! Ahh! That would put it way over-the-top. Although I guess if Forget Her had stayed, So Real would have never been written (that's the one he wrote with Michael Tighe to replace Forget Her, right?). So I'll leave it the way it is
I love Mystery White Boy, too. Imagine if he had studio-recorded some of those songs for My Sweetheart the Drunk, rather then leaving them as tour-only. Studio versions of What Will You Say, I Woke Up in a Strange Place, Moodswing Whiskey... would be amazing.

Songs: off the top of my head... Vancouver, I Woke Up in a Strange Place, What Will You Say, Moodswing Whiskey, Kanga-Roo, Yeh Jo Halka Halka Saroor Hai.


And... what does everyone think of Mary Guibert's announcement that they will be making a movie about Jeff's life? Somewhat based off the Dream Brother book (which I have but am barely started on... ) Many fans are clamoring for James Franco to star as Jeff, but I don't think he's right, despite the facial similarities.

[ViolentDreams]

You've probably seen this before, but I thought I'd post it anyway: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hQquqlr1HZk

Jeff does a telephone interview and ends up doing a cover of "I Shall be Released" with a group of musicians (again, over the phone, which is great because his voice still sounds so clear).

[*shinytuna*]

dangit...I tried quoting you schmifty, to respond better, but I suck at that.

Thanks for the advice on Songs for Noone, very good to know. I've seen a few performances of him w/Gary Lucas on youtube, and it was obvious Jeff was just getting his feet wet. He hadn't yet discovered his own voice fully. But of course, that experience for him was necessary. I'm just not too interested in exploring it further

After reading your post, I went straight to amazon.com and bought L'Olympia Can't wait to hear it!

I agree with you on Yeh Jo Halka Halka Saroor Hai, it's my favorite on that album as well! I love how when he first starts singing it, you hear chuckles in the audience, like they think he's just fooling around. I'm sure they were surprised to hear him carry through with the whole song. Did you know he and Nusrat died within months of eachother? Since hearing that song, I've always referred to Jeff as my Elvis

I first heard Jeff on our local public radio station, I'd say about a year and a half ago. It's the only radio I listen to...commercial-free, listener supported...they play every genre of music out there, and steer clear of mainstream ClearChannel shite. I kept hearing them play the song "Forget Her", and each time I'd hear it I'd turn up the volume at the end in hopes of catching his name, because his voice was so gorgeous and soulful and I wanted to hear more from him. I think it was the 4th or 5th time I heard that song when I finally caught his name. The DJ said "And that was the late, great, Jeff Buckley." My heart sank in learning that I had been admiring someone who wasn't around anymore, and as soon as I got to a computer I started reading up on his life, and how he died, and I became youtube-obsessed with all his videos and just fell in love very fast and hard
To give you a better idea of how awesome the radio station is, on the anniversary of his death, they played nothing but Jeff all day long!

I first heard about the movie several months ago...it was supposed to have been out last year, so I'm not sure what's going on with it. I honestly have a hard time thinking of someone who would be right for the part. I think Matt Bellamy from Muse definitely has the voice, he just doesn't look much like him. I've read that Matt is a big Jeff fan too.

Have you read Dream Brother? It was pretty interesting, especially reading about the weeks/months leading up to his death. He sure didn't seem to be acting himself.

[*shinytuna*]

You've probably seen this before, but I thought I'd post it anyway: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hQquqlr1HZk

Jeff does a telephone interview and ends up doing a cover of "I Shall be Released" with a group of musicians (again, over the phone, which is great because his voice still sounds so clear).

Yeah I've heard this before, it's so great!!!!

[feeble fables]

First of all, schmifty, I just want to say that I love you dearly!! We now have an actual Jeff Buckley thread

Songs to No One. Oh dear. I have this one. I would say... don't buy it. I actually deleted most of its songs out of my iTunes. I've rarely ever had to do that. The material just... doesn't work... It's a collaboration between Jeff and Gary Lucas (who obviously was a help to Jeff's career, yes). But the material doesn't work to the point where, when Chris Cornell fans heard that Gary Lucas might be involved with the next Chris project, the boards were like "NOOOOOO! Wasn't that the guy who made that awful stuff with Jeff Buckley? NOOOOOOOO!"

Hmm... all of sudden I'm not so sure anymore that I want to listen to Songs To No One I have yet to hear bad song from Jeff....

And I really love the Sin-e Legacy Edition... it's worth it for Yeh Jo Halka Halka Saroor Hai alone And anything with Jeff's crowd interaction on it is Priceless!

Ah that comment just totally made me put on that song again That one's just awesome!

That's just what I was thinking when I turned it on I also love the version of Mojo Pin from live in chicago, that was the first thing I ever heard/saw of Jeff Buckley...

Ooh, I would love to hear stories of how people first heard Jeff's music

So, how did you come across his music?
I remember my first JB experience very clearly, even though I was quite drunk when it happened I was watching television at like 2 am and this music program was on: Night of the Pop Music (translated). So as I was watching it, they played the video of Mojo Pin from Live In Chicago, and I was completely blown away!! His voice was so intriguing and I thought there was incredible emotion in the performance. So after seeing that, I had already fallen for Jeff's music completely. And even more after I got my hands on Grace the next day

I love Mystery White Boy, too. Imagine if he had studio-recorded some of those songs for My Sweetheart the Drunk, rather then leaving them as tour-only. Studio versions of What Will You Say, I Woke Up in a Strange Place, Moodswing Whiskey... would be amazing.

Oh my, that sure would be amazing!!

And... what does everyone think of Mary Guibert's announcement that they will be making a movie about Jeff's life?

Ehm... I'm actually not so sure about it. It will be great to see some more of Jeff Buckley (esp if it's new stuff), but I keep wondering what Jeff would've thought of it. I'm not all too sure he'd be happy with a movie like this being made...

And damn it, I still want to read Dream Brother!
Oh and, shinytuna, I also became quite Jeff Buckley-obsessed as soon as I discovered him. I guess that once you've heard some of his music and love it, you immediately want to see and hear as much of the man as possible...

[grindcorelilfury]

are there any live versions of nightmares by the sea, opened once, yard of blonde girls, witches rave, or any of the songs of disc 2 from sketches floating around.

[Melzawelza]

Ohh i love jeff. such a beautiful man with a beautiful voice that we'll never hear again

[schmifty]

You've probably seen this before, but I thought I'd post it anyway: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hQquqlr1HZk

Jeff does a telephone interview and ends up doing a cover of "I Shall be Released" with a group of musicians (again, over the phone, which is great because his voice still sounds so clear).

No i have NEVER heard that before! The first part was hysterical, i thought it was Jeff doing a voice, but i guess not. (or maybe it was? have you ever heard that story from some music biz guy who said he had Jeff over his house one day and the kids were watching Looney Tunes, and off-the-cuff, Jeff went right up beside the TV and, right in time with it, said every word and did every musical bit, from memory? )

back to the vid - that's amazing that he just pulled a musical performance out of nowhere like that he sounds SO COOL through a phone btw... jeff singing + old song + through a phone = lo-fi romantical gorgeous

wow that was so good i had to favorite it. i think i'll use it as an introduction for Jeff virgins from now on! f*ck auto-tune!

After reading your post, I went straight to amazon.com and bought L'Olympia Can't wait to hear it!

aw that's awesome! i hope you love it! it's just priceless to me to have another version of What Will You Say, and although i wish I could hear him do a serious version of Kashmir, the jokey one on here is just brilllliant

I agree with you on Yeh Jo Halka Halka Saroor Hai, it's my favorite on that album as well! I love how when he first starts singing it, you hear chuckles in the audience, like they think he's just fooling around. I'm sure they were surprised to hear him carry through with the whole song.

Haha I KNOW that's one of my FAVORITE parts of the song - the people laughing like he's just joking! I had already heard of his love for Nusrat before I'd heard the song, so the first time I heard those laughs I thought "Aww naw f*ckers you don't even KNOW, buckle your effin seatbelts cuz Jeff is for REAL about this!"

Did you know he and Nusrat died within months of eachother?

Nooo I did not... but the 10th anniversary of Jeff's death was this summer and it was a very strange day for me to go through.. it gave me some really... dark ideas...

Since hearing that song, I've always referred to Jeff as my Elvis

aww! yeah hearing Jeff describe Nusrat as "my Elvis" really helped me understand how he saw Nusrat. Have you ever heard some Nusrat stuff? The influence on Jeff is SO CLEAR. And yet in Jeff's music you would never pick it out as a "Middle-Eastern" influence... many parts of Nusrat's songs make me go "wow that is SO JEFF, you could have squeezed that little melody into any song on Grace" etc. And there's one backup-type singer that sings with Nusrat sometimes that sounds EXACTLY like Jeff. Once I was watching a YouTube vid of a Nusrat performance and I kept hearing Jeff. I thought "Wow, Jeff got to perform with Nusrat once? That's AMAZING!" and I looked all around the posse trying to find him. Nope, it was another guy that sounded SO MUCH like Jeff. It was creepy!

aargh i have to run, i'll tell my first-time-i-heard-jeff story when i get back! and i have a bunch more stuff to reply to!

[Bridg]

Mucho love for Jeff! Though I still really need to get more of his stuff.

[*shinytuna*]

Yeah, I've heard a little of Nusrat's music. After finding out how much Jeff loved him, I had to! (along with The Smiths and Nina Simone!)
And you're right, his influence is obvious.
Here's a pic of them together...a monumental day for Jeff I'm sure!

[*shinytuna*]

[bah]

Wow, random, i was in the biggest jeff phase today. Probably listened to everything of his i own over the course of the day...

I think he's my favourite artist...

[hysteric2006]

i used to love jeff when i was about 20 but i dont listen to him anymore but he sure did have a voice

[bah]

I dare you to listen to Grace right now...

[feeble fables]

So, after reading all this stuff you guys said about Jeff Buckley, I was completely in a Jeff Buckley mood, so today I bought Grace, the Legacy Edition!! I thought I knew just about all of Jeff's songs, but apparently I missed a few... I like the bonus dvd too by the way And I have fallen in love completely with Forget Her. It's not like I hadn't heard it before, but somehow I totally love it now; I just keep playing it
Anyway, just thought I'd share...