The remaining two songs are where this collection sets itself apart from a "greatest hits" mentality into the realm of the fan compilation. "Forget Her," a Grace-era b-side that also appeared on the Legacy Edition, has long been one of my favorite Jeff Buckley songs. A straight-driving impassioned blues with little of the Middle Eastern meets Zeppelin flavor of his debut, it has the dual distinction of being more singable and more direct than most of his early output, presaging the slow jam of "Everybody Here Wants You" and other late tracks.
- Age of Jeff Buckley on May 29, 1997 when he drowned: 30
- Age of Tim Buckley, Jeff's father, when he died of a drug overdose on June 28, 1975: 28
The final track, a never-before-heard live performance of the Smiths' "I Know It's Over," wraps the compilation in the mystery of Jeff Buckley's passing, what Mike Doughty calls in the liner notes his "effortless ability to become a myth, a legend." Where the Mystery White Boy live recording included "I Know It's Over" in medley with "Hallelujah," here that striking first lyric, the finest line that Morrissey ever wrote for Jeff Buckley, stands on its own and makes you catch your breath with the unfairness of it. Because the rest of the collection is a testament to his brilliance and range as an artist, performer, and songwriter, the ending hurts all the more ten years on. At least we have more to remember him by now than we did then.
Lyrics in Jeff Buckley originals and covers that presage his death by drowning:
- "This body will never be safe from harm" ("Mojo Pin")
- "As their shoes fill up with water" ("Lover, You Should Have Come Over"
- "Asleep in the sand with the ocean rushing over" ("Dream Brother")
- "Just like the ocean, always in love with the moon/It's overflowing" ("Opened Once")
- "Stay with me under these waves tonight" ("Nightmares by the Sea")
- "Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head" ("I Know It's Over")
Buckley fans are nothing if not opinionated. So Real comes close to meeting my high standards for a single-disc compilation, though there are a few changes I'd make — as a fan, I'll always want more rarities. What would your greatest hits of Jeff Buckley look like?
Article comments
1 - Tim Jarrett
OK, so if there are no other best-of compilations, I'll go first.
Ground rules: keep to the same number of tracks, fourteen, as _So Real_.
1. "Mojo Pin" (Live at Sin-E version)
2. "Eternal Life" (Mystery White Boy version)
3. "Last Goodbye" (album)
4. "Opened Once" (album)
5. "Woke Up in a Strange Place" (acoustic radio show version)
6. "All Flowers (In Time Bend Toward the Sun)" (Jeff Buckley/Elizabeth Frazer version)
7. "I Want Someone Badly" (with Shudder to Think)
8. "I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain" (with Gary Lucas from the "Greetings from Tim Buckley" show--Jeff's first big-scale public performance)
9. "Forget Her"
10."Yeh Jo Halka Halka Saroor Hai"
11. "Hallelujah"
12. "Everybody Here Wants You"
13. "Witches Rave"
14. "Dream Brother"
2 - JC Mosquito
Jeff Buckley is an artist I rarely play - his music is so wonderful, I can take it only in small doses. Just last night I listened to Halelljah from Mystery White Boy and did what I always do - turned off the stereo & the electronics, put the guitars away, and went to bed. I know exactly what Oscar Peterson felt like the first time he heard Art Tatum - just give up - you'll never even hope to come close to this.
But in the morning I always feel better that such a talent walked the earth, if only for a short time. Greatest hits? Couldn't even begin to pick one. His Arabic blues cover (can't remember the artist's name right now) from Sin E is pretty cool, though, as the aforementioned Hallelujah.
3 - Marcelo Baeza Sequeira
maybe his soul knows that his first album was finally the last and for this reasons he tried to put all the universe only in one hour.
take a look of my review of Grace