I thought we could have a discussion about the merits or otherwise of the posthumous releases by Jeff Buckley. Just to remind you of the incredible amount of stuff released since his death in 1997:
(Sketches for) My Sweetheart The Drunk (1998)
Mystery White Boy (2000)
Live at L’Olympia (2001)
Songs To No One 1991-1992 (2002)
The Grace EP’s (2002)
Live at Sin-e - Legacy Edition (2003)
Grace - Legacy Edition (2004)
Grace Around The World (2009)
You and I (2016)
The first 2 are both great (the live in Chicago dvd is remarkable). That’s all the additional material that really needed releasing
Remember buying Sketches when it came out, and disc 1 is still absolutely amazing, even if it is only studio demo stuff. disc 2 a bit more hit and miss, but that first disc is up there with the best of his stuff. ‘You & I’ especially.
Also had Mystery White Boy (on minidisc as well!), which was enjoyable at the time, but haven’t gone back to it a lot in the past 19 years.
I didn’t really bother with much else until the Sin-e expanded thing, which I thought had some great moments, but was just far too long. Not a massive die hard though, so probably not aimed at me.
There is some amazing stuff on ‘Live at Sin-e’ in amongst some of the dross. His covers of ‘If You Knew’ & ‘If You See Her, Say Hello’ in particular.
Some great stuff on Sketches and the second disc of Grace was interesting too. The rest just seemed to be rebadged, repackaged cash ins.
Well the two I mentioned were probably rebadged, repackaged cash ins too.
What a voice though
Oh yeah, the second disc of ‘Grace’ had ‘Forget her’ & ‘Mama, You Been On My Mind’, which were both great.
I know Jeff didn’t like it and wanted it scrapped, but Disc 1 sounded like a completed album to me. ‘The Sky Is a Landfill’ and ‘Everybody Here Wants You’…can’t believe he wasn’t happy with those.
i’ve always loved this version of “i shall be released” he played down the phone to a US radio station
This is pretty nifty
The sin-e legacy edition was amazing, I thought. the later ones can all fuck off
god yeah, i still love that album
Wow, Jeff Buckley on minidisc! I remember these days well.
Loads of great stuff on Sketches…
Morning Theft is my fave. The “Meet me tomorrow night…or any day you want” always gets me.
haha, yeah there was a local record shop that did cut price minidisc albums after (I’m assuming) the big labels realised no-one was buying them and cut their losses. ended up with some amazing albums on a very niche format.
I took Disc 1 as a worthy follow up and at least half of disc 2 is genuinely great. Some real highlights. Loved the Nina Simone cover on disc 2 of mystery white boy too. Don’t tend to get too upset by “celebrity” deaths (because I don’t know them personally) but really felt this one while at uni.
Imight be wrong but I think it was only Sony/Columbia that released pre-recorded mini discs as they came up with the format
He’s dead?!
The Paris live medley of Je N’en Connais Pas la Fin and Hymne à l’amour (from the 2002 ‘Grace EPs’ set but originally part of '96’s Live From The Bataclan) still has without question the single most surprising and exciting audio recording of live audience reaction i’ve ever heard in my life. Since i first heard it i’ve been baffled and amazed by the extremes of emotion the crowd seem to go through; at times appearing to be almost different crowds edited together from different gigs, such is the roller-coaster-ing of their reaction. Saying more spoils it for anyone who hasn’t heard it but… it’s completely jaw dropping. I’m not even the world’s biggest Buckley fan or anything but… jesus it’s nuts.
I wish there was a record of the full show.
Always liked the version of Parchman Farm on the Legacy Edition of Grace