Jeff Buckley - Live at Sin-E: Legacy Edition (Bonus Dvd)
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Free Music Notes for Live at Sin-E: Legacy Edition (Bonus Dvd)
Free Music Review: Superb historical document
Hit: 5 Stars
When Jeff Buckley's debut album, "Grace", was released, listeners were amazed at the power and maturity of the music. Criticisms were often made about the rambling quality of some of the pieces, but it seemed as if Buckley had emerged fully formed from the head of his father. Of course, little could be further from the truth-- Buckley had a history long before "Grace" appeared, a pedigree in New York's downtown scene-- from jumping into John Zorn's Cobra performances (Buckley can be heard briefly on "Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory", long out of print) to his work with Gary Lucas to unaccompanied performances-- just his voice and guitar. When Buckley was signed to Columbia, they made the odd and remarkably wise decision to capture him in his then-natural element-- at Sin-e on St. Mark's Place in the East Village. His two days of performance that were recorded were boiled down to about 25 minutes and released as the "Live at Sin-e" EP. This material has been expanded on this "Legacy Edition" to well over two hours of material.
The performance is-- you know, given it and Buckley's place in history, it's tempting to call it flawless, but it's really not. What it is though is utterly engaging and, for a then-totally unknown artist being recorded by his new record label, it's awfully brave. Buckley mixes originals and covers as diverse as Led Zeppelin, Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, traversing genres intuitivity and naturally. All in all, it's a lot of fun, fairly goofy (his Miles Davis impression is priceless) and at times, completely brilliant. And yeah, Buckley rambles now and again, and a couple of the pieces are a bit tedious-- but any time I think of it in this light, something comes on that's of such stunning beauty ("Twelfth of Never") or incredible power ("Strange Fruit", which threatens at Billie Holiday's original in terms of power of performance).
One thing it's not though is polished, and this is ok, because it's really quite exciting and engaging in its own way, but not being polished, it's not a good place to start for newcomers.
I'm guessing the recording was remastered for this release (truth to be told, I never got the original EP), because the sound is fantastic throughout. The bonus DVD isn't really a high selling point for me, all told it's about ten minutes long, with brief interview snippets (from the same session that produced the "Making of Grace" and the video press kit on "Live in Chicago". The live clips on here (a snippet of "The Way Young Lovers Do", a performance of "Kick Out the Jams", and the reading of a goofy poem by Buckley titled "New Year's Eve Prayer"). All of this is wrapped in a multi-panelled digipack in a plastic sleeve. The liner notes include essays from Mitchell Cohen (who saw Buckley a number of times at Sin-e and other clubs), Mary Guibert (Buckley's mother) and producer Steve Berkowitz.
Again, as nice a package as it is, it's not a good place for newcomers (start with "Grace"). For the converted, this is essential listening. Highy recommended.
Free Music Review: The perfect venue for a near-perfect performance
Hit: 5 Stars
General Observations:
-- Sin-e is acoustically perfect. This is apparent from the opening number, an a capella performance. Seriously, the venue could not possibly have provided a better sound quality, which is amazing for a coffee shop.
-- There are unfortunate ground hums throughout the recording. The first becomes quite noticeable during "Grace", gets loud around "The Twelfth of Never" and lasts, at varying levels, throughout the first set. The second gets loud around "The Suckiest Water" and lasting through the second set.
No song is ruined by it, and it is mostly faint, but you will notice the ground hum on a high-end sound system.
-- If you dislike Jeff Buckley's tendency to wander off during a song, testing out unscripted, unexpected and sometimes un-listenable guitar or lyrics, you'll want to pass on this album.
He doesn't reinvent every song in this performance, but he does tinker quite a bit, especially during the second set and especially during longer songs.
For example, you won't recognize this album's "Hallelujah" as the studio version. I think it's far superior to the studio version, but you might not.
You'll recognize "Calling You," "Drown In My Own Tears" and "The Twelfth of Never" as fairly faithful renditions; you won't recognize "Just Like A Woman" as a Bob Dylan song; you'll barely recognize "Strange Fruit" as Billie Holiday's signature.
On the other hand, you'll love your introduction to Qawwali via Buckley's performance of "Yeh Jo Halka Halka Saroor Hai," but most believers in Sufi would probably consider the performance heresy.
Top Tracks:
-- "Sweet Thing" alone is worth the purchase price. Every fan knows Buckley's great gift is the ability to make a song his; it's especially true of this Van Morrison tune.
It has replaced "Forget Her" as my favorite Buckley tune, and for the same reason: A perfect mix of joy, sadness, and longing.
-- "Night Flight" was previously released on the EP version of this album, and it's no wonder. Passionate, aggressive.
-- "Calling You" is an incredible demonstration of Buckley's virtuosity; I would say the same of "Je N'En Connais Pas la Fin" but I believe that as angelic as Buckley's voice may be, that song should be sung by ladies only.
-- This recording concretely proves that "Mojo Pin" was meant to be played live and in the tone / tenor of the moment. It's a song that changes meaning depending on Buckley's mood, and his mood changes at least twice during this one take.
Free Music Review: Special Nights In Aspic
Hit: 5 Stars
The first official release by Jeff Buckley was the EP Live At Sin-é, which came out in November 1993, and consisted of four songs recorded in the midst of the Greenwich Village scene in which he had been nurturing his formidable talents, just Jeff and his guitar in front of an intimate regular audience. Two of the songs were originals - Mojo Pin, the result of an earlier collaboration with Gary Lucas, and Eternal Life. Both of these songs were to turn up on his debut album, Grace, recorded that autumn. The other two were Edith Piaf's Je N'en Connais Pas Le Fin and Van Morrison's The Way Young Lovers Do. They were selected from recordings made at Sin-é on 17 August 1993 and probably would have been all we ever heard of these events had it not been for Jeff's tragic death just one album into his career.
Jeff's posthumous releases have been sensitively curated by his mother, Mary Guibert, first with the sketches and outtakes of what would have been his follow-up album My Sweetheart The Drunk, and then with selections of live recordings on CD and DVD, and an expanded edition of Grace, and so far they have served to enhance his reputation and status.
For this release, the Sin-é tapes of that nights plus an earlier night on 19 July have been edited into an assemblage that resembles one whole concert, complete with the between-song interplay with the audience. It makes a fascinating document of an assured performer, at the outset of a major career, enjoying performing, enjoying a relaxed relationship with a responsive audience. Although the banter is comical and spontaneous, the actual performances are intense, emotional and fully focused, and at times one forgets that Jeff is alone on the stage with only his electric guitar due to the range of sounds in his musical palette. The material is eclectic, with much of the material from Grace set against wide-ranging external material that he himself was exploring, ranging from three Bob Dylan songs, Billie Holiday, Led Zeppelin, Ray Charles and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the latter apparently as a result of a shouted request, and in whose music Jeff had a deep musical and spiritual interest. These were special nights, and it is a privilege to re-live the experience from this release, which also includes a bonus video disc, thankfully a DVD rather than CD-ROM, of an interview with Jeff and extracts from a return to Sin-é on New Year's Eve 1996, just months before his death on 29 May 1997
Free Music Review: soul boy
Hit: 5 Stars
I could write something similar to this about any Jeff Buckley album, but instead of going through them all and repeating myself, I'll just say a lot here.
Jeff Buckley, for me, has always been one of those draw-a-line-in-the-sand artists. A sort of test, like; love Buckley (and we can be friends) or hate him (and you will be buried in the back garden with the others).
I first saw him when I was 15, at Glastonbury festival. At the time, all I can remember thinking was "wow, he can sing high". Since then, of course, JB has gone on to be one of the biggest and most sorely missed 'cult' artists of our time.
I was faintly worried about this whole 'Legacy Edition' thing, it seemed at first another way of wringing some more $$$ out of the tiny body of Buckley's work.
Do I really need another SLIGHTLY different version of Hallelujah? I asked myself.
The answer is, of course, yes, yes, yes, buy it, for God's sake. There are 21 tracks here, as well as between-song chatter (although these are called 'monologues' on the CD track listing- one 'monologue' entitled Good Night Bill goes like this-
JB- "Good night, Bill"
... and then the next song starts.)
However, most of them are often really funny- a sufi interpretation of Smells Like Teen Spirit, and a one man impression of Miles Davis'[...]Brew being particular highlights.
And, of course, THAT voice, THAT electric guitar, THOSE songs.
This is the man on his own, browsing through his own tunes and covers he loves, twisting, bending and whipping them into a frenzy. Strange Fruit as hard, stabbing blues. Just Like A Woman becomes a whispered lament over soft slide guitar. Calling You, from the film Baghdad Cafe, is as powerful and otherworldly as what has almost become his signature piece, Hallelujah (also featured here; a majestic, rage-against-the-dying-of-the-light version).
SO! The point is, there are SO FEW truly original, talented and affecting artists available in the mainstream... and Jeff Buckley is one of them. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to your children, and your children's children's children to have something like this in the house. Buy his album. Buy all his albums.
...Actually, I'm definitely not sure whether to get the Grace Legacy Edition. But thats more because I already own Forget Her- The Song Jeff Didn't Want You To Hear....
Free Music Review: My favourite Jeff release ever
Hit: 5 Stars
I've been a Jeff Buckley fan for about 2 years now, and I am probalby his biggest fan that can say "I don't like Grace"Hear me out. I find Grace to be a very boring album. It's atmosphere is very dull, but the songs are fantastic. Each individual disc of Sketches stands on its own as being better than Grace. However, I've always seen Jeff as a jazz artist in the fact that his interpretations of other people (who suprass him in writing talents) are always far better than the original songs. combine his voice and guitar skills with tyhe words of a fantabulous songwriter like van morrison (har har... come on) and you've got a beautiful song.
My favourite release of his has always been Live at Sin-e, so when I heard that this album was coming out I nearly s*** a brick. You get the 4 original songs plus 30 more. Not only are his songs great, and the interpretations, but his "musical impressions." I laugh so hard everytime I hear his Miles Davis impressiosn on this, or his Jim Morrison, or his Edith Piaf from Mystery White Boy. He either covers the song perfectly for a brief instant ("the end" by the doors) or a complete ambiguous cover that sounds like everything the artist has recorded (his miles davis impression... his voice sounds like every miles davis solo, but not any specific one.)
This is truly an excellent buy. My ONLY complaint is the DVD. I knew it was just a bonus, so I didn't take off a star, but i was expecting a high quality bonus DVD (what was I thinking, Mary Guibert was involved. never expect quality in the actual release). It's 10 minutes long, and the 2 performance clips are great. But the interview is just from the Grace EPK, and most of it is available on MWB. But its a HORRIBLE interview. It seems so rehearsed and dramatic and pretentious. It doesn't seem at all like the jeff you can see and hear from live tapings. Its a scripted "this is a very important interview for my career" interview.
But still... this is fantastic. I drove across the border into Detroit to buy it so that I could have it 2 weeks before my Canadian counterparts. I had to... I've been waiting for it for so long (again, thanks Mary)