My dear friends at Sony have once again gifted me with a fantastic piece of music history to enjoy and share with my audience. The deluxe 2DVD-1CD edition of Jeff Buckley: Grace Around The World arrived at my doorstep on Monday, and it could very well arrive at yours in the near future. I’m going to give away the package to one lucky Swan Fungus user now that I’ve watched it and penned my review. All you have to do is answer this week’s poll question and you will be automatically entered into a drawing to win the 15th anniversary “Legacy” set. Remember: you must be a registered Swan Fungus user to win.
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To say that I enjoyed Jeff Buckley Live In Chicago would be an understatement. Since catching footage of the performance on local access television when I was in high school, and subsequently purchasing the DVD, I can’t even fathom how many times I’ve viewed it. Truly, that is a remarkable portrait of an otherworldly artist. The first time I watched Buckley play “Hallelujah” I was moved to tears. I’ve allowed so many friends to borrow it — and shown it to so many more — the disc has pretty much taken on a life of its own. At one point I had portions of the included EPK (electronic press kit) memorized. You know, the really cool, deep quotes every 17 or 18 year old would love to be able to carry around in their back pocket for just the right social situation.
When I first learned about this new deluxe DVD package, I was adamant about the fact that I needed a copy. I must have e-mailed my contact at Sony fifty times asking if they’d shipped my copy yet. It took a little longer than expected, but the package finally reached me this week. Having nothing to do today other than mail a letter and eat, I decided to spend the afternoon exploring the contents of Grace Around The World.
The program opens with a British studio performance of the album’s title track. The rendition is a little sludge-ier, dare I say grunge-ier than the album version. Buckley is clad in a leather bracelet and adorns a chain wallet. Ah, the ’90s! So cheesy! The first five minutes of the performance are nothing noteworthy, but once Buckley let’s go and unleashes that voice, I remember why I adore the man’s music so much. Before it can fade out, the program cuts to interview footage from 1994. I sometimes cringe while watching old interview footage of his because — as unpretentious and honest as he sounds — he often says borderline over-dramatic things about his music that lend an air of silliness to it all. “The song itself is…it’s an elegy… to no one (snicker), about — I always describe it as not fearing anything, anyone, any man, any woman, any war, any gun, any slinger, arrow aimed at your heart by other people because there is someone finally who loves you for real, and you can achieve a real…state of grace through somebody else’s loving you.” Then he uses the phrase “making love” in the next sentence. Dork! I get the idea and all, but geez guy, relax a little bit. You’ll live longer. Oh, wait…
The rest of the performances really don’t differ much from those on the Live In Chicago DVD, but they’re still fun to watch. “Eternal Life” is dedicated to “our pedophile.” I wonder who the hell that is.
I need to talk address some issues I have with the set. It’s been marketed as the very best live performances of the songs on Grace, but the disc contains one performance from the Chicago DVD and doesn’t actually contain live versions of all the songs on the album. “Corpus Christi Carol” has been replaced with “What Will You Say.” I don’t mind the leniency, but it would have been great to see how he performed that song live. Furthermore, if you’re going to include “Forget Her” in all the more recent releases of the album, why not try to track down footage of him performing that number? Or what about live tunes from the previous Legacy Edition, like “Kanga-Roo,” “Moodswing Whiskey,” “I Woke Up In A Strange Place,” or any of those songs that were staples of his live shows during the two years in which he toured in support of Grace? Of the ten songs, three come from one concert, and two from another. That’s half the program. Are you really going to tell me that they couldn’t find footage of those songs from any of the other shows that were taped during the two-year tour?
The bonus features include an interview conducted on Buckley’s tour bus by Merri Cyr, an interesting addition to the DVD because he seems more like himself here than in the interview segments which separate the musical performances. The other live videos are alright, and the brief VH1 snippet about the band’s tour bus seems like an add-on, included simply for the “haunting” quote where Buckley says he can’t see himself in ten years after his bandmates describe where they’ll be in in that amount of time.
The second DVD is the short (60 minute) documentary Amazing Grace. The first non-Jeff Buckley person we see is David Fricke. I had to stop from turning it off as soon as I heard his voice, but I decided to go with it and try to enjoy the film. Dear documentary filmmakers, it is possible to create an interesting picture without inserting David Fricke into your narrative. There’s cool footage of him performing “Satisfied Mind” acoustic at the Knitting Factory to a small crowd. There’s a lot of reused footage from the Cabaret Metro performance on the Chicago DVD, a lot of stuff from his electronic press kit (included on the Chicago DVD), and some stuff from the Live At Sin-e bonus DVD. The shining moments of the film are the confessions from people who were inspired by the artist — not the talking heads, family members or friends who do their best to recall the legacy of the man. Listening to dancers, composers, painters and others — who might never have met the man but cite him as an inspiration — tells us so much more about the impact of his life and music than a simple concert DVD. Amazing Grace makes this package worthwhile. If they fleshed out the documentary with more information about Buckley’s childhood and the start of his music career (Gary Lucas-era and early solo career), this could make for a fantastic full-length movie.
The CD is the same as the first DVD but just the audio, minus the last five tracks. Are those money-hungry cunts going to keep pulling shit like this? Give us something new and interesting if you want us to seriously keep the disc in our car or something. Don’t cop out and charge more money for the audio of the DVD. If I want to listen to the songs from Grace I’ll either put on the CD or pick from one of the previous live releases, all of which sound ten times better than this disc. Fuck that. If you don’t already own the CD, I guess you’ll appreciate having it, but it would have been way more interesting (and worth actually buying) if they released a complete, new live show like Live A L’Olympia or Mystery White Boy to accompany the two DVDs.
The whole package comes with a 24-page booklet, a 2-sided fold-out poster, three photo print postcards and a backstage laminate. Very cool artwork. Much time and love and labor probably went into making these.
I admit a lot of this probably sounds jaded, but I’m much more bored by life than I was when I was 17. Feel free to turn down the sarcasm a few levels or ignore some choice passages and you’ll get what I enjoyed.
Jeff Buckley – What Will You Say? (live at dem Sudbahnhof, Frankfurt, 2/24/95)
