25
YEARS OF
Grace *
A n A n n i v e r s a ry T r i b u t e t o Jeff Buckley’s Classic Album *
Merri Cyr with j e f f a p t e r
25
yeArs of
Grace
Jeff Buckley made only one album, b u T T h e o n e h e m A d e h A s p r ov e d To b e s e m i nA l .
Grace emerged at a time when grunge gripped the charts. Buckley’s refined melodies and wide vocal range made him stand apart from his contemporaries. His rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is arguably the most memorable version ever recorded. His talent awed industry giants and moved the hearts of fans spanning generations. Grace made clear a remarkably talented force had come upon the world, and it promised a wellspring of astonishing music for years to come. But Buckley’s untimely death in 1997 left his fans to wonder about all the sonic magic that could have been and to hold dear the few but brilliant songs he left behind. In the wake of his passing, Buckley has continued to garner new fans and influence countless artists. And while a number of posthumous releases of unpolished, deep cuts have helped satiate listeners over the years, it is his official studio album Grace that reverberates with timelessness: at its release in 1994, the album sounded like nothing that had come before—and no album has repeated its essence since.
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3
25
yeArs of
Grace
Jeff Buckley made only one album, b u T T h e o n e h e m A d e h A s p r ov e d To b e s e m i nA l .
Grace emerged at a time when grunge gripped the charts. Buckley’s refined melodies and wide vocal range made him stand apart from his contemporaries. His rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is arguably the most memorable version ever recorded. His talent awed industry giants and moved the hearts of fans spanning generations. Grace made clear a remarkably talented force had come upon the world, and it promised a wellspring of astonishing music for years to come. But Buckley’s untimely death in 1997 left his fans to wonder about all the sonic magic that could have been and to hold dear the few but brilliant songs he left behind. In the wake of his passing, Buckley has continued to garner new fans and influence countless artists. And while a number of posthumous releases of unpolished, deep cuts have helped satiate listeners over the years, it is his official studio album Grace that reverberates with timelessness: at its release in 1994, the album sounded like nothing that had come before—and no album has repeated its essence since.
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3
From
25 years of
G ra ce
MATT JOHNSON Drummer: Jeff Buckley, St. Vincent “T he creATive process ThAT yielded ‘d reAm b roTher ’ wAs unique and very heartening for me. While recording the basic instrumental track, no lyrics or melodies had been composed. I remember feeling like, ‘This is a B-side, at best.’ I was happy with the instrumental track. But, without vocals, it seemed comparatively lifeless when placed next to the other tracks. Then, one day at Mick Grøndahl’s house, I heard the vocal. That was an important moment in my life. That was an instant where I could clearly see the transformative power of the human imagination. The lyric/melodic choices, and their contrapuntal
rhythmic placement, were simultaneously totally unexpected, deeply satisfying, and delivered with a charismatic conviction that could make the sale. “I can’t overemphasize the quality of Jeff’s gift. In my short initiation period of playing with him, I was to encounter certain phenomena that were as yet completely unknown to me. I have always been sensitive to music. But that sensitivity was never party to the type of effects that I perceived with Jeff. From prehistory, music has been entwined with ritual, initiation, trance/ transcendence, contemplation, and ultimately the journey beyond the conventional assumed constraints of the body and mind. Jeff had the most developed sense of this potential in music of anyone I’ve ever known.”
Photographer Merri Cyr was there along the way. she hAs documenTed buckley’s cAreer from his dAys at the East Village coffee shop Sin-é to his iconic Grace cover shoot to his rigorous tour around the world as he promoted his unprecedented debut. In 25 Years of Grace, Cyr joins forces with Jeff Buckley biographer Jeff Apter (A Pure Drop: The Life of Jeff Buckley) to produce an illustrated tribute to this classic album in celebration of its twentyfifth anniversary. The book features brand new interviews with Buckley insiders—Matt Johnson, Mick Grøndahl, Michael Tighe, Gary Lucas, Karl Berger, Andy Wallace, George Stein, Steve Berkowitz, and others—revealing the details
4
about Buckley’s signing to a major label, the role of the band in creating arrangements, finding the right creative direction for the multifaceted songsmith, the songwriting process and final song selections, key meetings and collaborations, recording techniques, memorable moments in the studio, and more. The book also includes reflections about Buckley and Grace from an array of music artists—Butch Walker, Pete Yorn, Jimmy Gnecco, Glen Hansard, Holly Miranda, and Lenny Kaye, to name a few. Lavishly illustrated with many never-before-seen photographs, 25 Years of Grace takes a fresh look at the making and legacy of this classic album.
5
From
25 years of
G ra ce
MATT JOHNSON Drummer: Jeff Buckley, St. Vincent “T he creATive process ThAT yielded ‘d reAm b roTher ’ wAs unique and very heartening for me. While recording the basic instrumental track, no lyrics or melodies had been composed. I remember feeling like, ‘This is a B-side, at best.’ I was happy with the instrumental track. But, without vocals, it seemed comparatively lifeless when placed next to the other tracks. Then, one day at Mick Grøndahl’s house, I heard the vocal. That was an important moment in my life. That was an instant where I could clearly see the transformative power of the human imagination. The lyric/melodic choices, and their contrapuntal
rhythmic placement, were simultaneously totally unexpected, deeply satisfying, and delivered with a charismatic conviction that could make the sale. “I can’t overemphasize the quality of Jeff’s gift. In my short initiation period of playing with him, I was to encounter certain phenomena that were as yet completely unknown to me. I have always been sensitive to music. But that sensitivity was never party to the type of effects that I perceived with Jeff. From prehistory, music has been entwined with ritual, initiation, trance/ transcendence, contemplation, and ultimately the journey beyond the conventional assumed constraints of the body and mind. Jeff had the most developed sense of this potential in music of anyone I’ve ever known.”
Photographer Merri Cyr was there along the way. she hAs documenTed buckley’s cAreer from his dAys at the East Village coffee shop Sin-é to his iconic Grace cover shoot to his rigorous tour around the world as he promoted his unprecedented debut. In 25 Years of Grace, Cyr joins forces with Jeff Buckley biographer Jeff Apter (A Pure Drop: The Life of Jeff Buckley) to produce an illustrated tribute to this classic album in celebration of its twentyfifth anniversary. The book features brand new interviews with Buckley insiders—Matt Johnson, Mick Grøndahl, Michael Tighe, Gary Lucas, Karl Berger, Andy Wallace, George Stein, Steve Berkowitz, and others—revealing the details
4
about Buckley’s signing to a major label, the role of the band in creating arrangements, finding the right creative direction for the multifaceted songsmith, the songwriting process and final song selections, key meetings and collaborations, recording techniques, memorable moments in the studio, and more. The book also includes reflections about Buckley and Grace from an array of music artists—Butch Walker, Pete Yorn, Jimmy Gnecco, Glen Hansard, Holly Miranda, and Lenny Kaye, to name a few. Lavishly illustrated with many never-before-seen photographs, 25 Years of Grace takes a fresh look at the making and legacy of this classic album.
5
GLEN HANSARD Singer-songwriter: The Frames,The Swell Season “i o p e n e d fo r J e f f in a place called Wetlands in Dublin. He had a sampler of Grace, which he gave me that he was really proud of. He was saying how it cost a fucking bomb to make, but he was really into it. You have to understand that I only knew him as a bloke from LA that was in a hair band [Group Therapy], so I was saying to him, ‘This is fucking amazing; you’re huge.’ All these fucking journalists who wouldn’t talk to my band [The Frames] were all over him like flies. These guys, cynical old bastards, were starstruck, which made it clear he was special. “My estimation of the Jeff Buckley story is this: He was a man who was a lover of women, a great singer, who travelled the world, had brief fame and then he was gone. And that’s just how some people are. He was a humanist, very much about the people who were in the room at the time. A good spirit.”
A N DY WA L L AC E
Producer: GrAce (Jeff Buckley), nevermind (Nirvana), vivA lA vidA or deATh And All his friends (Coldplay), and others
“sTeve berkowiTz wAs The one that put it together. He immediately recognized Jeff as a unique and superb artist, but in need of some formation. Steve thought that Jeff and I should meet and talk; he thought we’d be a good combination. I tended to work on creative, left-of-center-type records, and perhaps they were drawn to that. “Jeff and I met and hit it off right away. We had a good chemistry and he seemed pretty confident that I would treat his music and his ideas with a lot of respect and care, and also bring a lot of energy to the project. I think Jeff was in a situation where he didn’t quite know what to make of meeting producers. He was gratified that I wasn’t some guy who was telling him what to do and how it was going to be. I was totally open-minded and wanted to hear what Jeff had to say. “The next phase for me was to go and see Jeff at Sin-é. As soon as I walked in and saw him play, I recognized this incredible ability
6
Jeff had to perform and entertain and talk with an audience—all at the same time. He had people laughing; he was almost like a Robin Williams-like comedian, but it was all musical. He’d be doing funny takes of people’s songs, stuff like Led Zeppelin—and then it might morph into something like ‘Hallelujah.’ He had this magical ability to weave all these things together, and all with just his voice, a Telecaster and this little amp. No stage; there were tables set right up against him. “I hadn’t heard any of Jeff’s original material and after a few songs he went into ‘Grace.’ I thought, ‘Wow, that’s interesting.’ The whole song blew me away. I think I was with George Stein and I turned to him and said, ‘Where did that song come from? Did he write that song?’ George said he did and I said to myself, ‘A-ha! This is incredible.’ To this day it’s one of my all-time favorite songs.”
7
GLEN HANSARD Singer-songwriter: The Frames,The Swell Season “i o p e n e d fo r J e f f in a place called Wetlands in Dublin. He had a sampler of Grace, which he gave me that he was really proud of. He was saying how it cost a fucking bomb to make, but he was really into it. You have to understand that I only knew him as a bloke from LA that was in a hair band [Group Therapy], so I was saying to him, ‘This is fucking amazing; you’re huge.’ All these fucking journalists who wouldn’t talk to my band [The Frames] were all over him like flies. These guys, cynical old bastards, were starstruck, which made it clear he was special. “My estimation of the Jeff Buckley story is this: He was a man who was a lover of women, a great singer, who travelled the world, had brief fame and then he was gone. And that’s just how some people are. He was a humanist, very much about the people who were in the room at the time. A good spirit.”
A N DY WA L L AC E
Producer: GrAce (Jeff Buckley), nevermind (Nirvana), vivA lA vidA or deATh And All his friends (Coldplay), and others
“sTeve berkowiTz wAs The one that put it together. He immediately recognized Jeff as a unique and superb artist, but in need of some formation. Steve thought that Jeff and I should meet and talk; he thought we’d be a good combination. I tended to work on creative, left-of-center-type records, and perhaps they were drawn to that. “Jeff and I met and hit it off right away. We had a good chemistry and he seemed pretty confident that I would treat his music and his ideas with a lot of respect and care, and also bring a lot of energy to the project. I think Jeff was in a situation where he didn’t quite know what to make of meeting producers. He was gratified that I wasn’t some guy who was telling him what to do and how it was going to be. I was totally open-minded and wanted to hear what Jeff had to say. “The next phase for me was to go and see Jeff at Sin-é. As soon as I walked in and saw him play, I recognized this incredible ability
6
Jeff had to perform and entertain and talk with an audience—all at the same time. He had people laughing; he was almost like a Robin Williams-like comedian, but it was all musical. He’d be doing funny takes of people’s songs, stuff like Led Zeppelin—and then it might morph into something like ‘Hallelujah.’ He had this magical ability to weave all these things together, and all with just his voice, a Telecaster and this little amp. No stage; there were tables set right up against him. “I hadn’t heard any of Jeff’s original material and after a few songs he went into ‘Grace.’ I thought, ‘Wow, that’s interesting.’ The whole song blew me away. I think I was with George Stein and I turned to him and said, ‘Where did that song come from? Did he write that song?’ George said he did and I said to myself, ‘A-ha! This is incredible.’ To this day it’s one of my all-time favorite songs.”
7
LENNY KAYE Guitarist: The Patti Smith Group “in 1995, Jeff wAs There in The lounGe of elecTric lAdy’s Studio A, awaiting to be where Patti Smith reassembled her band to make the album that would be Gone Again. He added a vocal soar to ‘Southern Cross’—oh live or fly, a metaphor for his life— and joined us when we sat cross-legged in the studio to perform ‘Fireflies.’ When we took a break to make a surprise appearance at Lollapalooza, on Randall’s Island, Jeff knelt by the side of the stage, looking at us intently, as if to absorb our determination, and the ghost dance we willed to live again. “Lastly, I remember that moment when we heard he had vanished into the Mississippi, disappearing into its legendary currents like Huck Finn or Mike Fink, another American folk tale and parable ascending into myth. We hoped to hear that he had miraculously surfaced downriver, sitting there waiting to be found, playing his guitar. “He was still missing when my daughter, Anna, performed her graduation dance recital from junior high school. She had chosen Jeff’s ‘Hallellujah’ to choreograph, and in her whirl and pirouette, I could hear Jeff’s voice, urging her on. Letting us know he would continue the dance, the joyful noise in our hearts.”
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LENNY KAYE Guitarist: The Patti Smith Group “in 1995, Jeff wAs There in The lounGe of elecTric lAdy’s Studio A, awaiting to be where Patti Smith reassembled her band to make the album that would be Gone Again. He added a vocal soar to ‘Southern Cross’—oh live or fly, a metaphor for his life— and joined us when we sat cross-legged in the studio to perform ‘Fireflies.’ When we took a break to make a surprise appearance at Lollapalooza, on Randall’s Island, Jeff knelt by the side of the stage, looking at us intently, as if to absorb our determination, and the ghost dance we willed to live again. “Lastly, I remember that moment when we heard he had vanished into the Mississippi, disappearing into its legendary currents like Huck Finn or Mike Fink, another American folk tale and parable ascending into myth. We hoped to hear that he had miraculously surfaced downriver, sitting there waiting to be found, playing his guitar. “He was still missing when my daughter, Anna, performed her graduation dance recital from junior high school. She had chosen Jeff’s ‘Hallellujah’ to choreograph, and in her whirl and pirouette, I could hear Jeff’s voice, urging her on. Letting us know he would continue the dance, the joyful noise in our hearts.”
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M erri C yr, author of A Wished for Song: A Portrait of Jeff Buckley, is widely recognized as the official Jeff Buckley photographer, having shot the iconic Grace cover photo and countless other images of the artist. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Jeff A pt er is the author of the Jeff Buckley biography A Pure Drop: The Life of Jeff Buckley, as well many other books, including Tragedy: The Sad Ballad of the Gibb Brothers. He lives in Australia.
25 years of Grace:
An Anniversary Tribute to Jeff Buckley’s Classic Album Merri Cyr, with Jeff Apter ISBN 9781617136382 / HL00151649 March 2019 BISAC: MUS035000 Backbeat Books Music 12” x 12”, 224 pages, Hardcover U.S. $50 World Rights
“‘Lover, You Should Have Come Over’ reduces me to tears every time. It is in my mind a perfect song. . . so raw and vulnerable and beautiful and perfectly expressed. . . .” HEATHER NOVA Singer-songwriter, Poet
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