Jeff Buckley was a mess of contradictions: a perfectionist who believed in spontaneity, a man who was at once humble and vain, a musician who shunned his father's tumultuous legacy while creating one of his own. These are some of the reasons why he took his time writing and recording the material for his second album, laboring over many songs for months at a time. Given such painstaking methods, it shouldn't have been a surprise that recording was an equally fastidious process. Buckley recorded enough material for an album with producer Tom Verlaine, but deciding that the results weren't quite right, he scrapped them and moved to Memphis to record the album again. He reworked a few songs as home demos as he prepared to cut the album, but it was never made -- Buckley died in a tragic drowning accident before entering the studio. As a way to enlarge his legacy, his mother and record label rounded up the majority of the existing unreleased recordings, releasing them as the double-disc set Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk. Excepting a few awkward moments and middle-eights, it's hard to see why Buckley rejected the Verlaine productions that make up disc one. The material isn't necessarily a progression from Grace; it's more like a stripped-down, edgier take on the sweeping, jazz-tinged goth folk-rock that made the first album so distinctive. Neither the nearly finished first disc nor the homemade demos and re-recordings on the second disc offer any revelations, but that's not necessarily a disappointment. Sketches adds several wonderful songs to his catalog, offering further proof of his immense talent. And that, of course, is what makes the album as sad as it is exciting.
Treblezine is up to 1998 in the best albums of 90's feature:http://treblezine.com/features/164.html&page=4I selected Jeff Buckley's Sketches and my review is below:http://treblezine.com/reviews/2817-Jeff_Buckley_Sketches_For_My_Sweetheart_the_Drunk.htmlJeff BuckleySketches for My Sweetheart the DrunkColumbia1998On the cusp of Y2K came the final release of original material by the late great Jef...
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yowza~ this is why i love itunes shuffle...it takes time and some randomness for me to take a second listen to something amazing. listenon a related note, is anybody familiar with the semi-local band called 'morning theft'? they circulate more often around boston but are playing nyc soon. am wondering if they sound better live than what i heard on myspace. UPDATE: oh-my-my, buckley fans must he...
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Seriously, what's wrong with this picture? There is a 3 degree temperature difference between Los Angeles and Upstate NY. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?! And here I thought I'd never need my snow boots again when I moved west.
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Ahh yes, don't we all wish this song was about us. Night time music at it's finest.
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MOG is growing so fast(which is awesome) so I like to post this song every couple of months. The first time I heard this song I was rendered speechless. And through the course of my life...the good, the bad and the ugly...this song has meant different things to me at different times, and I still lean on it when I have moments of doubt.I consider this song my mission statement. It really has bec...
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Treblezine is up to 1998 in the best albums of 90's feature:http://treblezine.com/features/164.html&page=4I selected Jeff Buckley's Sketches and my review is below:http://treblezine.com/reviews/2817-Jeff_Buckley_Sketches_For_My_Sweetheart_the_Drunk.htmlJeff BuckleySketches for My Sweetheart the DrunkColumbia1998On the cusp of Y2K came the final release of original material by the late great Jef...
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The last bonus track from Japanese edition of Sketches is this heartfelt song that Jeff wrote for his paramour Joan Wasser. Enjoy!
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I am sure a lot of people who read my blog think that I am beating a dead horse. But there is a method to my madness. I was SO miserable for SO many years trying to meet other people's expectations...and I know that there has to be a lot of people out here just like me.There is a reason I am moving to California to start over. I needed to get as far away from my family as i possibly could. Don'...
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"There's room for us both to fly. Tell the man I'm never coming back again. Tell the man I'm never coming back again. Why should you notice at all? Gone again beside you will fall Down to the sea out of the skies Of gold cards and casual tears I have only come to see you shine"I finally found one of the last songs Jeff Buckley ever recorded in Memphis before he died. Added as a bonus tra...
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I've been busy composing a needlessly lengthy entry on my weblog (http:vassifer.blogs.com) about this track, but I haven't finished it yet. In any event, here's the song I'll be posting about. I'll provide a link to same, if I ever complete it. Regardless, this track blows a new part in my hair (not least because the late Mr. Buckley manages to replicate the proggy sonic sprawl of vintage Gene...
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So, it's almost 5AM and I meditated on a comment of an attractive young lass yesterday who inquired as to what I DID on my weekends...and I...couldn't answer something concrete, and it's been bothering me, even now, at 5AM and so I decided to put on some Jeff Buckley (Sketches of Sweetheart the Drunk), and ponder this and stare at a famous painting of Icarus on my wall. Here is what I came up w...
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Ahh yes, don't we all wish this song was about us. Night time music at it's finest.
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yowza~ this is why i love itunes shuffle...it takes time and some randomness for me to take a second listen to something amazing. listenon a related note, is anybody familiar with the semi-local band called 'morning theft'? they circulate more often around boston but are playing nyc soon. am wondering if they sound better live than what i heard on myspace. UPDATE: oh-my-my, buckley fans must he...
More >
Seriously, what's wrong with this picture? There is a 3 degree temperature difference between Los Angeles and Upstate NY. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?! And here I thought I'd never need my snow boots again when I moved west.
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And that is all I really have to say.(God, that was lousy.)
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There's something haunting about Jeff Buckley.He was taken all too soon, from the world.His lyrics read like poetry, connecting a human to the depth of others.His lilting voice carries smoothly across airwaves, and strikes a chord in my soul.His music makes a lump form in my throat.I love him with something deep within me."So I wait for you, and I burn. Oh, will I ever see your sweet return?"I ...
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 "Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk")
