Rocking Horse Records autographs

  “Jeff came into the shop in, I think ‘96 and he bought a whole stack of CDs. You know, up to (shows hands from low stomach and up to his neck). This was when the CDs came in little sleeves so it would have taken ages to input them. I said, “This will take a while, how about you sign this?” Then Jeff started to graffiti on his own album cover, drawing a moustache and eyebrows, as well as signing it.

  Later that night before he went on stage in Brisbane, music was playing in the club. It was a black satanic, devil music CD. People were quite freaked out and probably thinking why on earth he was listening to it but I knew exactly what it was. I thought with a smile, ‘Yeah, I know what that is. He bought it from the shop today.’

  There was a black out that night and I think he sang ‘Hallelujah’ without any lights or instruments.”- Rocking Horse Records owner, Brisbane, Australia

Via IG

Linda's autograph

Courtesy of Linda Longdar on FB: "Newcastle Workers Club. Don't remember the date but do remember meeting him in the carpark afterwards. He was so gracious to the fans and spoke to everyone waiting there.  He wrote this autograph after first writing 2 for my friends. He joked that we must be planning to sell them but they wouldn't be worth much."

Caution: big footsteps!

By Jörg Feyer

September 13, 1994

Submitted by Wil Gielen

Translated by me

In the Knust today Tim Buckley's offspring Jeff introduces himself

  When sons want to follow in the huge footsteps of prominent fathers, they regularly fall short, and not just in the pop business. Here in particular, however, Julian Lennon and Jakob Dylan are not the only ones who can sing a (lamentation) song about this. There must be a few exceptions to this rule.

  If all is not mistaken, Jeff Buckley could become one. The songwriter met his biological father Tim only once a few months before his overdose end in 1975. Previously, Buckley the elder had secured pop history books with five-octave vocals and convention-free compositions.

  Buckley, the younger, shares his producer's sense of drama, but otherwise sees himself more influenced by his stepfather, who was heavily into Led Zeppelin. On the album "Grace" Jeff, the singer, sounds like Robert Plant from the time machine. While his songs, for all their force, never slip into raw excess and always retain a fragile elegance. Hopefully also today (21.00) in the Knust.

Daily Examiner write-up

Huddersfield Daily Examiner: September 2, 1994

By Claire Horton

  LIVING UP to a family legacy is always a problem for up-and-coming stars.

  Jeff Buckley had the almost impossible task of trying to compete with his legendary father, Seventies folk-jazzer the late Tim Buckley.

  Buckley grew up singing and from when he left home at the age of 17, flirted with rock and reggae. After an aborted attempt at poetry, he realized music was his vocation.

  His poetic side is fully explored on his debut album Grace-which is being given a live airing at Manchester Hop and Grape tomorrow.

  With a heartbreaking voice and some astounding material, Buckley's Reading appearance last weekend was touted as one of the festival highlights.

  Grace weaves together influences as diverse as folk, Led Zeppelin style pomp rock, jazz and eastern chanting.

  Buckley has also opted for an unusual selection of covers-Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, Benjamin Britten's Corpus Christi Carol and Elkie Brooks' Lilac Wine.

  Anyone with the audacity to take on all three of the above and make them truly HIS deserves to go far.

The son rises on a bright musical career

The Birmingham Post: August 18, 1994

By Simon Evans

  As naff concepts go, the offspring of dead rock stars trying to make their own career in the music business has to be near the top of the list.

  They do after all suffer the disadvantage of being saddled with a famous name and perhaps even certain congenital musical similarities. And while the surnames of Julian Lennon and Ziggy Marley may have opened a few doors that otherwise would have remained closed, their subsequent musical careers, such as they are, have been overshadowed by the achievements of their respective fathers.

  Jeff Buckley is different. For while the record company may be careful not to allude to his musical background he cannot escape initial comparisons with his late father Tim Buckley, the rock, folk and jazz singer, who died of a drug overdose in 1975.

  Actually, Jeff Buckley only knew his father for a few days having being brought up by his mother, a classically trained pianist and cellist. He once described himself as "rootless trailer trash" born in southern California", and his love of music sustained him through childhood. He taught himself to play guitar and by the age of 17 had left home and made his way to Hollywood where he started playing in rock and reggae bands.

  In 1990 he was in New York, playing with, among others, former Captain Beefheart guitarist, who co-wrote Mojo Pin, from Buckley's debut album Grace, which has just been released on Columbia records.

  Some indication of Buckley's considerable talent was first given earlier this year when he released a four-track CD of a live performance in the East Village, New York.

  But nothing could have prepared us for Grace. The record is aptly titled, for it takes the listener to some strange but wonderful places, mixing folk, hard rock, jazz, eastern and choral music. It is a staggering achievement, and although Buckley's vocal tone is at times reminiscent of his father, the range of influences on show are all his own.

  Led Zeppelin is the most obvious, particularly in the dynamics of slow-burning ballads exploding into guitar fury. But there are also traces of Van Morrison and The Cocteau Twins in the album's moments of soulfulness and delicacy, such as the old Elkie Brooks' number Lilac Wine, which is given a complete overhaul.

  But the self-composed material more than holds its own with the likes of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, also covered on the album, suggesting Buckley is a writer of much promise.

  The album was recorded in Woodstock late last year and is Buckley's first with a band that includes Mick Grondahl on bass and Matt Thompson on drums. He will be bringing them over for a brief tour that takes in Edwards Number 8 in Birmingham.

  It may well be the first and last time to see Buckley in such a setting because a commercial breakthrough can only be a few airplays away.

Jeff Buckley plays Edwards Number 8 on August 31.