Widescreen review: Jeff Buckley Grace Around the World
June 26, 2009Julia Gaw reviews the posthumous Jeff Buckley DVD release, Grace Around the World.
There seems little point in contextualsing the late Jeff Buckley. Those tuned into mid-’90s music felt his debut Grace – the only studio album released during his lifetime – slap them freshly in the face. Then, Buckley was still known as the son of ’60s/’70s singer Tim Buckley, before the buzz around him went global. Now, 15 years after that debut, 12 after his tragic death, and nine posthumous releases later, this DVD (accompanied by live CD) may reach a new generation: those who were yet for this world when the rest of us saw this singer take to the stage in a blaze of unique musicianship, and unassuming rock-star sensibility.
The performances aren’t revolutionary; just solid, enigmatic and evocative – typical of previous Buckley releases. It further demonstrates the tragedy of his life and career ceasing so abruptly. The interview snippets inter-cutting the concert footage from various international shows offer proof that Buckley was your quintessential over-thinking artist, whose intensity would have perpetually tormented him, and his followers.
“People are all divine and eternal… I believe in people, I believe in their divinity, and I believe in the divinity of nature,” he says, as his interviewer innocently sips a strange green drink.
The word ‘iconic’ is flippantly overused in music. But when considering a musician who released only one original album while alive and who’s still being lauded a whole generation later, it’s hard to avoid.
Sony
Julia Gaw
