Grace, the only album Jeff Buckley finished in his short life, provides a fascinating glimpse into the unrealized potential of one of the most remarkable musicians of the 1990s. The tracks, which display the singer-songwriter’smulti-octaverange and technical mastery, are bursting with the passionate energy of a musical polyglot who seemed torn between wanting to be a headbanger and a chanteuse. With inspiration from punks, poets, jazz torch singers, heavy metal guitar heroes, and Pakistani Qawwali singers, it’s a sound that embraces diversity and resists categorization.
However, Buckley was never one to conform to stereotypes. “The warped lovechild of Nina Simone and all four members of Led Zeppelin with the fertilized egg transplanted into the womb of [Edith] Piaf out of which he is borne and left on the street to be tortured by the Bad Brains,” was how he described himself in the third person in his self-penned press bio. That’s as good a description as any. He was a true music lover who followed his muse wherever it led and remained fiercely devoted to her. He once remarked, “The greatest art comes from artists who have an unquenchable, life-or-death urgency to speak their heart.” And as those artists get older, the work exhibits a genuine tranquility, a wonderful sense of relaxation, and
