Another interview conducted by Steve Harris, this time done in Japan in January, 1995...hidden in plain sight from me until today...❤🙏 The transcript can be found here ☺
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Meeting: The Grace of Jeff Buckley
Le Progrès, February 12, 1995
by Thierry Meissirel
Translated by me
He arrived quietly, with a large glass of coffee in his hand, and collapsed into an armchair in the backstage area of the B52. He'd obviously rather have gone for a shower and a sandwich. But he put on a good show and immediately put his interlocutors at ease: a few transfixed fan-interviewers, hesitant English.
Bombarded as the "future of rock 'n' roll" and author of the best debut album in five years by all the trendy rockers, Jeff Buckley has managed the miracle of not giving in to the pressure. "I will have really succeeded, as you say, when a next album will be recorded. And success is what interests me." Although he admits he doesn't write on tour, Jeff Buckley has forged himself a real, close-knit group that allows him to work on his writing in a more collective way. "Most of Grace's songs were written when I was playing alone. But it's a coincidence: I've been in a band longer than I've been alone with my guitar."
Yet it was while playing alone in a bar in his adopted city, New York, that Tim Buckley's son was discovered by the bigwigs of the record industry. After recording this much praised debut album "in the worst studio in the world" he embarked on a world tour. "Apart from the guitarist, who I recruited by making him lose his job, the other musicians were fans who came to offer their services. And the power came on right away." This was followed by a series of concerts in the USA, then in Japan. "Every show is different. I don't have a very precise song order. I like to change every night."
When asked how he survived the onslaught of raucous rave reviews of his album, he simply evokes-angrily-the famous American journalist who wore him down in the Village Voice: "album without a unit, too diverse, he said." And a young journalist from a fanzine, who covered him with praise when he played alone in front of twenty people and who didn't have harsh enough words when Grace came out. "She found him overproductive, emphatic, heavy."
While he got some hurtful criticism, Jeff Buckley still had some reason to be pleased. This way he was able to meet his masters: Dylan, Lou Reed...and Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. And the two former Led Zep members offered him the first part of their world tour. "It's a great honour. But I can't. I don't want to play in front of huge halls or stadiums. If Plant and Page were playing B52, I'd want to, but if not, I'd rather go to sleep..."
If he's dreaming of resting, he's still a long way off. After a European tour, he will have to work on his second album. A real challenge: "I'll try to write happy songs."
by Thierry Meissirel
Translated by me
He arrived quietly, with a large glass of coffee in his hand, and collapsed into an armchair in the backstage area of the B52. He'd obviously rather have gone for a shower and a sandwich. But he put on a good show and immediately put his interlocutors at ease: a few transfixed fan-interviewers, hesitant English.
Bombarded as the "future of rock 'n' roll" and author of the best debut album in five years by all the trendy rockers, Jeff Buckley has managed the miracle of not giving in to the pressure. "I will have really succeeded, as you say, when a next album will be recorded. And success is what interests me." Although he admits he doesn't write on tour, Jeff Buckley has forged himself a real, close-knit group that allows him to work on his writing in a more collective way. "Most of Grace's songs were written when I was playing alone. But it's a coincidence: I've been in a band longer than I've been alone with my guitar."
Yet it was while playing alone in a bar in his adopted city, New York, that Tim Buckley's son was discovered by the bigwigs of the record industry. After recording this much praised debut album "in the worst studio in the world" he embarked on a world tour. "Apart from the guitarist, who I recruited by making him lose his job, the other musicians were fans who came to offer their services. And the power came on right away." This was followed by a series of concerts in the USA, then in Japan. "Every show is different. I don't have a very precise song order. I like to change every night."
When asked how he survived the onslaught of raucous rave reviews of his album, he simply evokes-angrily-the famous American journalist who wore him down in the Village Voice: "album without a unit, too diverse, he said." And a young journalist from a fanzine, who covered him with praise when he played alone in front of twenty people and who didn't have harsh enough words when Grace came out. "She found him overproductive, emphatic, heavy."
While he got some hurtful criticism, Jeff Buckley still had some reason to be pleased. This way he was able to meet his masters: Dylan, Lou Reed...and Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. And the two former Led Zep members offered him the first part of their world tour. "It's a great honour. But I can't. I don't want to play in front of huge halls or stadiums. If Plant and Page were playing B52, I'd want to, but if not, I'd rather go to sleep..."
If he's dreaming of resting, he's still a long way off. After a European tour, he will have to work on his second album. A real challenge: "I'll try to write happy songs."
Jeff Buckley: An Angel Passes
Le Progrès de Lyon, February 10, 1995
By Y.R
Translated by me
"I'm tired of these old hippies coming to meet me hoping to find my father. I'm bound to disappoint them," says Jeff Buckley, who is not just another daddy's boy. His father, Tim Buckley, an American singer from the early 70s, left home before his son was even born. He had gained notoriety with his sad poems played with a mix of rock, folk and jazz. Then he died of a drug overdose in 1975. Jeff Buckley only met him once, shortly before he died.
Today, even if their voices are similar, the son's notoriety owes nothing to that of his father. In a hardly different register, he composes and sings very well on his own.
The title of his album Grace sums it all up in one word. Jeff Buckley is touched by grace, he has the physique of a young first romantic, and above all an angel's voice, ample and delicate, crystalline, in fact rather rare in a man.
Fleeing the immense familial California where his past suffocated him, Jeff Buckley settled in the narrow streets of New York's Lower East Side, a neighborhood of outsiders where he is rebuilding his roots. In Lyon, the "B'52" and its 800 seats is already too small to welcome this rising star: the concert has been sold out for a long time. Fortunately, it is almost a given that Jeff Buckley will be one of next summer's stars at Fourvière.
By Y.R
Translated by me
"I'm tired of these old hippies coming to meet me hoping to find my father. I'm bound to disappoint them," says Jeff Buckley, who is not just another daddy's boy. His father, Tim Buckley, an American singer from the early 70s, left home before his son was even born. He had gained notoriety with his sad poems played with a mix of rock, folk and jazz. Then he died of a drug overdose in 1975. Jeff Buckley only met him once, shortly before he died.
Today, even if their voices are similar, the son's notoriety owes nothing to that of his father. In a hardly different register, he composes and sings very well on his own.
The title of his album Grace sums it all up in one word. Jeff Buckley is touched by grace, he has the physique of a young first romantic, and above all an angel's voice, ample and delicate, crystalline, in fact rather rare in a man.
Fleeing the immense familial California where his past suffocated him, Jeff Buckley settled in the narrow streets of New York's Lower East Side, a neighborhood of outsiders where he is rebuilding his roots. In Lyon, the "B'52" and its 800 seats is already too small to welcome this rising star: the concert has been sold out for a long time. Fortunately, it is almost a given that Jeff Buckley will be one of next summer's stars at Fourvière.
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Starfish Room review
Mucchio 1995 205
By Elizabetta Mustillo
Submitted by Sai
Translation by me
Two young rebels shared the favor of a not very large but enthusiastic audience during a show held at the Starfish in Vancouver.
The performance of rising star of American music Jeff Buckley was preceded by Brenda Kahn's performance, committed to the promotion of an album that should be released soon with the title Destination Anywhere. The young singer-songwriter gave life to an opening show in which she was mastered by an aggressive fundamental vocality (even though managed almost carelessly) and the dry and incisive sound of the guitars. Kahn has proposed to a rather meagre audience a series of love songs with a beloved flavor, demonstrating a remarkable ability to produce fast and tight rhythmic pieces, even though there were some touching melancholy intimacies during the show.
But the highlight of the evening had come, of course, by the performance of the 26-year-old son of the unforgotten Tim Buckley. He presented himself to the public with a deeply melancholy expression on his face, which has helped to create an undoubtedly seductive romantic image for him. The concert that included in the setlist almost all songs from the album Grace, that the artist debuted with a few months ago, began with the unmistakable notes of the title track, and then continued with the performance of the various Dream Brother, Eternal Life, Lilac Wine, So Real that have made Grace one of the most interesting records released recently.
Attention was immediately drawn to Buckley's intense voice, also because this one clearly appeared to be his privileged expressive tool, and the only one involved in the game of upheaval, of freedom of interpretation. Except for an Eternal Life more convulsive and angry than ever before, the interpretation has always been very controlled, almost as if to express the need to focus more on the inner dimension or perhaps instead precisely that of counterbalancing a tension that was released in a devastating way from every performance.
This sort of balance has been broken anyway, towards the end of the concert, from a very anarchic version of Lover, You Should've Come Over (resumed immediately afterwards in a more conventional, but certainly no less poignant way) which provided the audience with an eloquent example of how inner torment can take the form of the dilation of sounds into slow agony, as well as the torture of the vocal cords.
And precisely with this exploration of vocal possibilities brought to exasperation Buckley has shown that he belongs to that category of musicians (Jimmi Hendrix in the lead) who materialize the pain and anxiety in the physical torment of the strings of their instrument. During a devastating encore, loudly demanded by the audience, he has increased the dose in this regard, following a full-immersion in the dimension of slow vivisection of the soul a cold and angry hard rock, like a Scottish shower. And that's how Jeff Buckley proved it, without a shadow of a doubt, to seduce his audience rather than an intriguing young poet's accursed image.
By Elizabetta Mustillo
Submitted by Sai
Translation by me
Two young rebels shared the favor of a not very large but enthusiastic audience during a show held at the Starfish in Vancouver.
The performance of rising star of American music Jeff Buckley was preceded by Brenda Kahn's performance, committed to the promotion of an album that should be released soon with the title Destination Anywhere. The young singer-songwriter gave life to an opening show in which she was mastered by an aggressive fundamental vocality (even though managed almost carelessly) and the dry and incisive sound of the guitars. Kahn has proposed to a rather meagre audience a series of love songs with a beloved flavor, demonstrating a remarkable ability to produce fast and tight rhythmic pieces, even though there were some touching melancholy intimacies during the show.
But the highlight of the evening had come, of course, by the performance of the 26-year-old son of the unforgotten Tim Buckley. He presented himself to the public with a deeply melancholy expression on his face, which has helped to create an undoubtedly seductive romantic image for him. The concert that included in the setlist almost all songs from the album Grace, that the artist debuted with a few months ago, began with the unmistakable notes of the title track, and then continued with the performance of the various Dream Brother, Eternal Life, Lilac Wine, So Real that have made Grace one of the most interesting records released recently.
Attention was immediately drawn to Buckley's intense voice, also because this one clearly appeared to be his privileged expressive tool, and the only one involved in the game of upheaval, of freedom of interpretation. Except for an Eternal Life more convulsive and angry than ever before, the interpretation has always been very controlled, almost as if to express the need to focus more on the inner dimension or perhaps instead precisely that of counterbalancing a tension that was released in a devastating way from every performance.
This sort of balance has been broken anyway, towards the end of the concert, from a very anarchic version of Lover, You Should've Come Over (resumed immediately afterwards in a more conventional, but certainly no less poignant way) which provided the audience with an eloquent example of how inner torment can take the form of the dilation of sounds into slow agony, as well as the torture of the vocal cords.
And precisely with this exploration of vocal possibilities brought to exasperation Buckley has shown that he belongs to that category of musicians (Jimmi Hendrix in the lead) who materialize the pain and anxiety in the physical torment of the strings of their instrument. During a devastating encore, loudly demanded by the audience, he has increased the dose in this regard, following a full-immersion in the dimension of slow vivisection of the soul a cold and angry hard rock, like a Scottish shower. And that's how Jeff Buckley proved it, without a shadow of a doubt, to seduce his audience rather than an intriguing young poet's accursed image.
Friday, May 15, 2020
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
American Legion Hall Review
Music Connection Magazine, Vol. XIX, No. 11, 05/29/95-06/11/95
By Julia Rubiner
Submitted by Sai
Jeff Buckley
American Legion Hall
Hollywood
8 out of 10 stars
Contact: Kris Ferraro, Columbia Records: 310-449-2500
The Players: Jeff Buckley, guitar, vocals; Michael Tighe, guitars; Mick Grondahl, bass; Matt Johnson, drums.
Material: Jeff Buckley presented a generous, often-riveting set culled primarily from his recent release, Grace, rounded out with new compositions and well-chosen covers. Highlights included the sweeping "Grace," "Last Goodbye" (with its astonishing falsetto break) and the soulful "Lover, You Should've Come Over." Customized renditions of "Lilac Wine," Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and a punk-inspired reading of the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams" were outstanding. Buckley, known fir his idiosyncratic remaking of songs by others, reinterpreted his own compositions as well, lending them an extemporaneous feel that built on the power of the studio versions.
Musicianship: Few singers in any genre can raise the hairs on the back of one's neck like Buckley; his voice is a phenomenal instrument. His performance made it clear that the intense-filled tenor distinguishing his recorded work is no studio trickery. He moved seamlessly from a hard rock scream to an angelic cry to a sensual whisper, the elasticity of his voice rendering the audience spellbound. His sidemen, too, were worthy of praise. Standing stage left, the players faced Buckley instead of the audience. They accompanied the singer in the most literal sense of the word, escorting him through an array of dizzying dynamic shifts-sometimes in a single song. Buckley himself is an accomplished guitarist, mostly content to lay down rhythm onstage but rising to a tasteful lead on occasion.
Performance: Lit from the front from a single yellow light, Buckley opened his set with an a capella Middle Eastern freestyle. He continued in this vein for some time, his huge shadow dominating the space beneath the Legion Hall's massive proscenium arch. This dramatic mood lightened, however, as Buckley cracked jokes between songs, performed tricks with his guitar, mocked the British press, lambasted People magazine, and generally charmed the crowd. Though he remained rooted to his patch of turf, his emotional delivery and body language -head tossing, shoulders tensing-made him fascinating to watch.
Summary: in another era, Buckley would have been the muse of a composer of oratorios, the unearthly beauty of his voice dedicated to the glory of God. Today, he seems on his way to the pantheon of rock gods. Perhaps his real strength is is versatility, which allows his vocal prowess to encompass both early-century art song and full on rock pyrotechnics. Best of all though, the man knows how to put on a show.
By Julia Rubiner
Submitted by Sai
Jeff Buckley
American Legion Hall
Hollywood
8 out of 10 stars
Contact: Kris Ferraro, Columbia Records: 310-449-2500
The Players: Jeff Buckley, guitar, vocals; Michael Tighe, guitars; Mick Grondahl, bass; Matt Johnson, drums.
Material: Jeff Buckley presented a generous, often-riveting set culled primarily from his recent release, Grace, rounded out with new compositions and well-chosen covers. Highlights included the sweeping "Grace," "Last Goodbye" (with its astonishing falsetto break) and the soulful "Lover, You Should've Come Over." Customized renditions of "Lilac Wine," Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and a punk-inspired reading of the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams" were outstanding. Buckley, known fir his idiosyncratic remaking of songs by others, reinterpreted his own compositions as well, lending them an extemporaneous feel that built on the power of the studio versions.
Musicianship: Few singers in any genre can raise the hairs on the back of one's neck like Buckley; his voice is a phenomenal instrument. His performance made it clear that the intense-filled tenor distinguishing his recorded work is no studio trickery. He moved seamlessly from a hard rock scream to an angelic cry to a sensual whisper, the elasticity of his voice rendering the audience spellbound. His sidemen, too, were worthy of praise. Standing stage left, the players faced Buckley instead of the audience. They accompanied the singer in the most literal sense of the word, escorting him through an array of dizzying dynamic shifts-sometimes in a single song. Buckley himself is an accomplished guitarist, mostly content to lay down rhythm onstage but rising to a tasteful lead on occasion.
Performance: Lit from the front from a single yellow light, Buckley opened his set with an a capella Middle Eastern freestyle. He continued in this vein for some time, his huge shadow dominating the space beneath the Legion Hall's massive proscenium arch. This dramatic mood lightened, however, as Buckley cracked jokes between songs, performed tricks with his guitar, mocked the British press, lambasted People magazine, and generally charmed the crowd. Though he remained rooted to his patch of turf, his emotional delivery and body language -head tossing, shoulders tensing-made him fascinating to watch.
Summary: in another era, Buckley would have been the muse of a composer of oratorios, the unearthly beauty of his voice dedicated to the glory of God. Today, he seems on his way to the pantheon of rock gods. Perhaps his real strength is is versatility, which allows his vocal prowess to encompass both early-century art song and full on rock pyrotechnics. Best of all though, the man knows how to put on a show.
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Journal entry on Tim: 8/19/95
One of, I think, the most beautiful things he's ever written...funny, heartbreaking and warming, moving, and poignant all at once: a journal entry from August 19, 1995 for those who haven't read it, or just want to read it again...a must read, I think, especially for anyone questioning his feelings on Tim and that side of the family ❤
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Europe 1 Radio
A performance done for Europe 1 Radio broadcast in France on January 19, 1995. ☺ I think he's in top form and full of fire here; definitely one of the best he's done and a don't miss in my opinion...enjoy!
Setlist:
1. So Real
2. Chocolate/Mojo Pin
3. Grace
4. Last Goodbye
5. Eternal Life
6. Je N'en Connais Pas la Fin
2. Chocolate/Mojo Pin
3. Grace
4. Last Goodbye
5. Eternal Life
6. Je N'en Connais Pas la Fin
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