Reading Reviews

Melody Maker: September 3, 1994

Something's gotta give and Jeff Buckley gives it in loads. "Grace" is much rawer than usual, "Kangaroo" is simply lust-crazed. "When I first saw you"-he sounds almost disgusted with himself-"you had on blue jeans." He spits out the line as if blue jeans were the utmost in degradation. I swear the sky's turning red and molten electricity is swirling around our ears. And is that really Liz Fraser jumping up and down in the front row or am I finally succumbing to Festivalitis? I dunno, my hangover's turned into nervous exhaustion, someone's given me a strange pill and there's a champagne cork popping inside my stomach.

***

The Observer: September 4, 1994

By Sam Taylor

  The highlight of the weekend was, by some distance, Jeff Buckley, a 23-year-old New Yorker, whose father was cult icon Tim Buckley. Buckley Sr is remembered for his wonderous voice, angelic looks and premature death (at 28, of a drug overdose); as a result of the latter, Jeff barely knew him and is understandably tight-lipped about the astonishing genetic inheritance of That Voice.

  Buckley Jr's talent is still raw, and he and his accomplished three-piece band have an occasional tendency to over-indulge, but it's a minor criticism of a hugely impressive performance. His songs are structurally complex but harrowingly direct in terms of mood, combining the blues-rock drive of Led Zeppelin with the free-flowing emotionalism of Van Morrison's early masterpiece Astral Weeks. His lyrics are less amazing than Morrison's, but it hardly matters as they are carried above all meaning on his incredible heartbreaking wail.