Occupying a dark netherworld between unfinished album and recordings of posthumous legacy, Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk tells the musical story of Jeff Buckley’s final year.
In 1994 Buckley’s debut album Grace was welcomed into the world with critical acclaim. Sadly, what many hailed as the talented artist’s arrival would be too quickly followed by his tragic departure. Jeff was always at pains to distance himself musically from the influence of estranged father Tim Buckley, who had died of a heroin overdose aged 28. Yet it was from Tim that he inherited his multi-octave falsetto, expressive song-craft and restless drive to explore his musical inspirations.
Perhaps some of Buckley’s pull came from not only his raw musical talents but also his ability to merge classic singer-songwriter sensibilities with the inspirations of those who sat on the fringes of popular music. Jeff charted his own musical trajectory, drawing on a wide-ranging field of interest; but it was artists like Nina Simone, Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn and Patti Smith who captured his imagination and still stand as his most striking influences.
Anticipating the herald of rock-revival acts like The Strokes in the 2000s, Buckley was also enamoured with the CBGB’s scene of ‘70s New York. While working with Patti Smith on her 1996 album Gone Again, Jeff had come into contact with Tom Verlaine. Verlaine was best known for his work in Television, another iconic albeit tumultuous CBGB’s influence. Buckley and Verlaine’s formative meetings paved the way for a project later titled My Sweetheart The Drunk.
Coming off of a whirlwind year of touring, Buckley was expected to return to the studio in 1996. His label Columbia desired a glossy and slickly produced follow-up to Grace. Both a deeply personal artistic statement and burgeoning commercial success, Grace cast a long shadow on Buckley as an artist.
A breakthrough debut is often the result of years of hard work. The follow-up is often expected to eclipse the original or else see the artist relegated to the footnotes of musical history. Buckley could not have known that Grace would paradoxically defy his sparse discography to cement his musical imprint in the decades to come. To allay label concerns, high-profile names like Butch Vig (the man behind Nirvana’s Nevermind) or U2 producer Steve Lillywhite were promptly suggested. Yet Buckley had his own vision. It was stripped-back punk sensibility, which would later emerge with of Flesh is Nice, which he desired.
Tom Verlaine was unfamiliar with Buckley’s music, but regardless took up the unexpected offer to produce. Columbia was naturally furious but laid down enough money to cut four tracks in New York. Despite Verlaine’s temperamental and at times overbearing manner, tracks Morning Theft, Vancouver, You & I and The Sky Is A Landfill came from these sessions.
The most telling takeaway from TheSky Is A Landfill and these other New York tracks is Buckley’s resistance to the notion of himself as a sensitive pop balladeer. Darkly introspective lyrics showcase his anxieties of becoming pigeonholed by industry, media and fans. These sessions left Buckley unsatisfied, the tracks were a far cry from the sound of his gritty vision of the past.
True to the notion of artistic temperament, Buckley was wracked with self-doubt even amidst the global affirmation of his obvious musical gifts. While highly spontaneous, he was often failing to reconcile this creativity with a notorious sense of perfectionism. Another recording session in Manhattan followed in early 1997, but Buckley again left unsatisfied, and the album was not considered finished.
His friendship with Memphis indie outfit The Grifters germinated the idea that the album could be recorded in the idyllic rural setting of Memphis, Tennessee. He retreated to a sparsely furnished cabin in early 1997 and frequented local bars to perform new tracks. Giving recording another try, Verlaine and Buckley’s band joined him in February. The foreboding Nightmares By The Sea, Everybody Here Wants You, New Year’s Prayer and the Nymphs cover Yard of Blonde Girls were hastily recorded in two takes.
Verlaine stayed on to work solo with Buckley on Opened Once, but a distressed Buckley had reached a long-resisted conclusion: he would need another producer to realise his musical vision and so he opted to switch back to Grace producer Andy Wallace. Some legends even suggests that Buckley was planning to gather his new producer and his band in Memphis to exorcise Verlaine’s tracks via ceremonial burning.
During this time Buckley was also continuing his work in isolation. He began using a 4-track recorder and sharing tapes with his band in New York. These recordings form some of his most compelling material. I Know We Could Be So Happy Baby (If We Wanted To Be) and Genesis cover Back In N.Y.C. were captured in isolation, later to be joined by Demon John, Your Flesh Is So Nice and Satisfied Mind. The tracks brim with lo-fi buzz. Another solo addition in Jewel Box shimmers with some of the unsettling ambience of Grace, while also arrives at something electrifyingly new.
Some measure of success must have been recognised in these tracks as Buckley re-summoned his band in May 1997 and members of the group were already en route to Memphis when they heard the news of his death. On May 29, 1997 Buckley died by way of accidental drowning. With the band poised to arrive, Buckley and a roadie took an impromptu swim in Wolf River Harbor, a channel of the Mississippi River that Buckley had frequented during his stay. His body was found several days later.
Surviving his father by two years, Buckley was only 30 years old at his passing. Lyrical references to bodies of water, seas, oceans and many more take on a darker meaning in the wake of his demise. Nightmares By The Sea sucks the listener deeper into dark contrivance with lyrics like “I’ve loved so many times/And I’ve drowned them all/From the coral graves they rise up/When darkness falls.”
When an artist dies their work becomes forever frozen in time. It is for this reason that an early death will often etch the artist more deeply in the fabric of history, long before their musical legacy becomes convoluted or falls subject to the ebbs and flows of creativity or contemporary taste. So came Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk, a posthumous album.
The album was released in 1998 at the insistence of Jeff’s mother and sole heir Mary Guibert. The parentheses of ‘Sketches For’ would be added to its working title to reflect its partial completion.The album is laced with remorse, not only for its own unrealised potential but also as a reflection of the turmoil Buckley himself was facing. There was debate as to what could be done with the recordings but Mary Gilbert mooted all ideas, presciently requesting that all of the material be collected rather than divided into the Verlain-Wallace periods.The tracks were left as they were at the time of Buckley’s death with no additional overdubs or mastering.
Peeling back the bombast, there’s plenty of eerily haunting and sinister moments such as the suite of You & I and Nightmares By The Sea. The album closes with the gospel-tinged cover Satisfied Mind, which his mother played at his funeral. This mixture of maternal instinct and musical acumen served as the singer’s musical epitaph, replete with the hauntingly lingering lyrics “The wealthiest person is a pauper at times/Compared to the man with a satisfied mind,” a longing for the peace of mind he so often strove to achieve.
Posthumous releases are always in part a commercial motivation. But they can at the very least provide context or a last gasp of presence. This album does more. It strips back the conventions of commercial music and looks into Buckley’s mind. It’s the journey towards a new direction on the cusp of realisation, but through untimely circumstance deprived. Buckley had a grand arching vision for his second album which this material failed to satisfy.
It’s a product of notorious perfectionism, the death of one concept and the birth of another. It may be a sketch but it is equally a portrait of the artist from whose hand it comes. The raw materials of some unrealised vision, which remains without articulation. Where Buckley burnt away so quickly though, others have taken up his vision. Despite cutting only a single complete album, Jeff Buckley remains remembered as one of the most influential artists of the 1990s.
Buckley had a grand arching vision for his second album which this material failed to satisfy. It is a product of notorious perfectionism, the death of one concept and the birth of another. Its sheer number of creative trajectories are almost impossible to arrange absent their driving creative force, and this album acknowledges this. A sprawling 20 tracks end up making the final cut.
The divergent diversity of Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk might embody uncertainty, but it also delves deeply into the creative side of Buckley’s mind. Whether he could accept it or not, this was an artist on the verge of possibility.
Image: Wikipedia
It is now less than a month until the release of the Jeff Buckley rarities compilation You And I. A collection of original recordings and covers by Buckley, unearthed by Sony Music and identified as his first studio session. Out of the ten previously unreleased tracks, the listing has already been announced and includes an early recording of Buckley’s original song Grace, plus covers of Bob Dylan’s Just Like A Woman, and other versions of tracks by Sly & The Family Stone and Led Zeppelin.
Two Smiths covers have also been confirmed; I Know It’s Over and The Boy With The Thorn In His Side, both from The Smiths’ 1986 album The Queen Is Dead. Buckley’s rendition of the former is now accompanied by a new video clip produced especially for the cover. Directed by Amanda Demme, and with Amy Redford (daughter of actor Robert Redford) as executive producer, the clip premiered this week on Rolling Stone.
Image via Virgin Media
The song itself unfolds with Buckley’s inimitable delicacy. With the original already imbued with Morrissey’s particular brand of poignant melancholy, Buckley’s bare acoustic and vocals bring a sense of beautiful and cheerful sadness; the same depth of emotion that set Buckley apart as one of the most affecting artists in living memory. Touched by the same emotive feel in his music, Redford commented that, “When I first heard Jeff, he gave me permission to feel fully and with contradiction. He inspired me to fight for authenticity, and to feel confidence in simplicity. To collaborate on these songs coming to life, and to see the community of people who Jeff touched, has been a privilege.”
The clip portrays the quiet struggle of a mother whose child refuses to sleep in his own bed. It’s a familiar story, told through graceful, desaturated cinematography with subtle nods to Jeff Buckley throughout. In the private world of mother and son, wooden blocks marked with the initials “JB” and as the young boy strums his guitar to grainy live footage of Buckley. Hear the recording and watch and video below.
You And I is set to be released March 11 via Sony Music.
As we entered into the city, I opened my eyes for the first time in a long time. The winding fire escapes that all twisted around the buildings gave it a distinctively European feel, while the road signs that hung up above the intersection were plastered in a language that none of us could quite understand.
Our bags were dropped off at the hostel and we immediately went out into the city to explore our new surroundings. Banks of snow covered the walkways, which narrowed our space and meant we shuffled down the streets in neat little pairs. I’d been sick for the last few days, and was chilled to the bone as the wind swept past. It had been around -30 degrees for the last week or so, and Montreal offered no respite from the cold snap we had endured at home.
As we walked the streets I tucked my chin into my coat, and lodged my hands deep into my pockets with the kind of certainty that hinted that they would be lucky to ever come out again. I didn’t care where we went, just as long as we went inside somewhere soon. Eventually, the stubbornness of a few was worn away by the wind and they agreed to duck down into the nearest bar we could find.
It was the type of bar you’d imagine would have thrived during the 1920’s Prohibition era in America- secret and minimal. In fact in many ways it looked like it was transported right out of that time, even down to the decrepit furniture and the severe lack of any lighting fixtures. A layer of dust coated the floor and there was a snooker table positioned near the entrance, but it looked as if it doubled as a driving range for golf during the holiday periods, as large chunks of felt had been dug out of it. The barman was a beast of a man, who cleaned his wine glasses with a tea towel with such disdain that you’d have been forgiven for assuming that the glass had done or said something particularly nasty to him beforehand. But all this wasn’t the first thing I noticed as I pushed open the doors to the bar. It was the music. More specifically it was Jeff Buckley’s song Lover, You Should’ve Come Over that leaked out of the jukebox, that I noticed first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXe1jpHPnUs
My friend soon handed me a scotch, because everyone knows if you’re sick you don’t have to buy your own alcohol, and I knocked it back. It’s hard to tell entirely due to the general haziness of memory, but I could have sworn that before the alcohol even touched my lips I had already felt slightly warmer inside. There was something about Buckley’s voice that felt so familiar and comforting in the cold. We were inside a bar, so of course, it was warmer than being out on the streets, but that wasn’t it. There was something else there.
His was a sound built out of dark nights in New York where he held residency in small bars in the East Village, playing to a few music lovers and drunks every week. It was a sound that seemed to wallow in self-reflective pain, yet somehow also felt perfect for warming up a cold evening. The ideal accompaniment to a time where you’re lost, you’re not feeling your best, or you need a little reassurance.
We stayed for hours at the bar; sitting on the faulty stools, trying to avoid eye contact with the barman, and listening to Jeff Buckley light up an otherwise dull room long since he had passed away. Other songs came on after his, but there was a desperate craving to return to his sound at every opportunity. I didn’t have much change but whatever little amount I did have, I spent it all that night playing exclusively Jeff Buckley songs on the jukebox as the crowd of people gradually began to thin.
After we left the bar at sometime early in the morning, we walked home through the empty streets that would normally be so lively. The odd car would pass by, but essentially we were out on our own. We got back to the hostel and I immediately went to bed and put Jeff Buckley’s Grace album on my headphones. As I lay there with a head full of alcohol, and dosed up on an obscene amount of medication, it finally struck me how truly amazing his debut was.
The first few notes of Mojo Pin lull you into a false sense of security before a torrent of drums and guitars pound away as the chorus hits. It’s a serious statement of intent from a man who had a reputation as a sensitive soul. “Born again from the rhythm, screaming down from heaven,” he sings in his trademark trembling falsetto that immediately grasps you and refuses to let go throughout the record.
Last Goodbye is as gut wrenching as it gets- the act of separation laid bare as the track almost dares you to get through it without thinking about all the past loves you’ve had throughout your life. A self-depreciating time travel through all those key moments in the past that have got you to where you are, and makes you wonder how different things could have been.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtS0rwQK_pI
So Real dips in and out with pulsating tension. The lyrics so evocative you can almost feel the fabric of the city dress and smell the soft scent of perfume as Buckley recounts the woman of his affection in vivid detail.
Then of course there’s Hallelujah, a cover of Leonard Cohen’s track that always features in the list of best cover versions ever. He traded in the electronic sound of the original for an altogether more fragile rendition, which build and builds as Buckley’s soft finger picking of his guitar backs his voice as he walks along the thin line between pleasure and pain. “I used to live alone before I knew you,” delivered with such an intensity that only love could conjure then ultimately fracture.
Perhaps the lyrics that perfectly sum up Grace though is on his cover of Lilac Wine. “I lost myself on a cool dead night, I gave myself in that misty light, was hypnotised by a strange delight.” The words accurately reflecting what it is that is so appealing about Buckley. They capture exactly how you feel when you listen to the record. It conjures images of lonely dark streets where even the street lamps refuse to work, while a figure up ahead edges ever closer on the pavement. You can’t make out the face, but the shadowy image alone sends your mind racing as you fantasise about all the possibilities that the unknown may offer.
The fact that he only completed one full album is still as sad now as it was then. It’s easy to get caught up in the what if’s, but it should be easier still to recognise and enjoy just how good Buckley’s debut album is. While it’s now viewed with a certain mythical sadness, it shouldn’t deter you from the fact that it still remains a rare gem capable of hypnotising you and sending you spiralling back into the pain or comfort of long gone memories.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quJO5ZXzSb4
In just two months’ time a long–lost collection of ten never-before-heard Jeff Buckley songs will be released.
Recently found in Sony’s vaults, as staff attempted to curate a special anniversary edition of his stunning debut album Grace, ten songs (a collection of covers and original cuts,) will be released on the highly anticipated You and I on March 18th.
The album will feature songs recorded in Buckley’s formative years, before he had even released his first, and only, completed album. The tracks date back to three days in 1993, when the singer decamped to Shelter Island Sound studio with producer Steve Berkowitz.
Previously, Buckley had been a club regular in New York, where his bewitching performances created a mad scramble from record executives as they tried to sign him. This collection looks to capture the singer when he was at his most vulnerable and raw, a time when he was yet to fully realise his endless potential.
Singer and guitarist Ben Harper has noted that Buckley was the most talented performer he had seen. “Never have I seen such infinite musical potential in anyone,” he said. While U2 front man Bono described him as a “pure drop in an ocean of noise.”
Despite the singer’s tragic passing, he still remains an important piece in music history, and he is often cited as a major source of inspiration for many musicians today such as Adele who admitted that, “he was always around me.”
One of the bands that are covered on the album is legendary 1970’s rock group Led Zeppelin. Guitarist Jimmy Page has heard the record and was keen to point out that what he heard, was “undeniably a glimpse of a musical genius at work.” While his former front man Robert Plant concluded that “it was mind altering – his voice. Spectacular singing.”
This year will mark 19 years since the enigmatic Buckley lost his life in the Mississippi river, but his memory and legacy have clearly long since lived on.
You can listen to his Bob Dylan cover here:
A cover version of Bob Dylan’s Just Like A Woman by the dearly missed Jeff Buckley has just been released online.
The release comes in the wake of a soon to be arriving album titled You and I. The album will be comprised of unreleased tracks by Buckley, mostly taken from his 1993 sessions at Shelter Island Sound Studio where he made his seminal record Grace.
The tracks were found in Sony’s vaults by staff members when they were looking for additional material to add to the 20th anniversary addition of the singer’s mesmerising first and only studio record, Grace.
The singer tragically died in 1997 when he drowned in the Mississippi River, while going for a night swim. At the time he was busy recording his sophomore album, but unfortunately never managed to finish it.
The album Sketches for my Sweetheart the Drunk was released posthumously in 1998. It was the start of a string of releases that would keep Buckley in the public’s mind, and remind them of his prolific but sadly unfulfilled talent. Despite the minimal output during his lifetime, Buckley remains as a key figure in music with his guitar work and phenomenal voice sighted as an inspiration by many of today’s musicians.
You and I has been overseen by Buckley’s mother Mary Guibert and will feature two previously unheard and original tracks by her son, along with a range of covers from bands such as Led Zeppelin and The Smiths. The album is scheduled for release on March 11th this year.
The track listing for the album is below:
Just Like A Woman (Bob Dylan cover)
Everyday People (Sly & The Family Stone cover)
Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Cryin’ (First recorded by Louis Jordan)
Grace Calling You (Jevetta Steele cover)
Dream Of You And I
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side (The Smiths cover)
Poor Boy Long Way From Home (Bukka White cover)
Night Flight (Led Zeppelin cover)
I Know It’s Over (The Smiths cover)
Despite only releasing one studio album during his lifetime, Jeff Buckley remains one of the most celebrated musicians in recent history. And even though Grace was the only release from Buckley before his tragic death in 1997, an appetite for his music has lead to the compilation of a sizeable posthumous catalogue. Comprised of demos and live recordings, one of the saddest aspects of his early passing was the incredible promise in this music that he never had the opportunity to formally record.
But it has now been announced that yet more material by Buckley has been unearthed in the vaults at Sony Music. Almost part of music mythology, YOU AND I contains recordings from Buckley’s first studio session, the existence of which has long been rumoured. The release is comprised of ten tracks of never before heard material, performed solo by Buckley. Containing mostly covers, including Bob Dylan, The Smiths and Led Zeppelin, YOU AND I also showcases the first ever recordings of Buckley’s Grace and another original, Dream of You and I. Adam Block, President of Legacy Recordings made this comment on the release:
“As we began to explore how we might celebrate the 20th anniversary of Jeff Buckley’s Grace, the vault–as it still occasionally and unexpectedly will–presented us with an unbelievable gift: this “lost” cache of studio recordings from the period… We quickly realized how remarkable they were. They offer an incredible, rare glimpse of an artist, alone, in the sacred space that is the studio. There’s an intimacy and an honesty to the performances that’s literally breathtaking. YOU AND I is an important addition to Jeff’s recorded legacy and will be a thrill for both his devoted longtime fans and newcomers alike.”
Showcasing Buckley’s rare and beautiful voice, as well as his exceptional talent as a guitarist, YOU AND I will be impatiently awaited by the huge number of Jeff Buckley fans. Set for release on March 11, 2016 on Columbia / Legacy Recordings / Sony Music Entertainment Australia. The album was also overseen by Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert, and is available to preorder here.
Tracklist:
1. Just Like A Woman (Bob Dylan cover)
2. Everyday People (Sly & The Family Stone cover)
3. Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Cryin’ (First recorded by Louis Jordan)
4. Grace (original)
5. Calling You (Jevetta Steele cover)
6. Dream Of You And I (original)
7. The Boy With The Thorn In His Side (The Smiths cover)
8. Poor Boy Long Way From Home (traditional blues song, Bukka White cover) 9. Night Flight (Led Zeppelin cover)
10. I Know It’s Over (The Smiths cover)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3adFWKE9JE&w=420&h=315]