Grace (Jeff Buckley album)

Music

Jeff's version of "Corpus Christi Carol" was based on a version by Janet Baker. A childhood friend introduced him to the song, and Buckley sang a version on the album as a way of thanking him.

Critical reception and legacy

Grace has been highly rated in magazines such as Q, in which readers voted Grace the 75th greatest album of all time in 1998; the same vote was taken again in 2005 and Grace then ranked 13th. In 2003, the album was ranked number 303 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2006, Mojo named Grace the No. 1 Modern Rock Classic of all Time. It was also rated as Australia's second favourite album on My Favourite Album, a television special aired by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on December 3, 2006. In 2003, Buckley's version of "Hallelujah" was ranked No. 259 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. VH1 also rated the album No. 73 on its "100 Greatest Albums of Rock & Roll" show/list. David Bowie considered Grace to be the best album ever made, and had said it would be one of his ten "Desert Island Records."

In 2006, British Hit Singles & Albums and NME organised a poll of which, 40,000 people worldwide voted for the 100 best albums ever and Grace was placed at No. 23 on the list.

In 2012, Radio Eksen, a Turkish radio channel ranked Grace No. 3 in its list named Last 20 Year's Best Albums.

On 2 April 2014 it was announced that Buckley's version of Hallelujah will be inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry.

In July 2014, Guitar World ranked Grace at number 26 in their "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.

Use in film and television

Buckley's cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" remains one of his most well-known recordings, and has been used extensively in many U.S. television series and films, including The West Wing, The O.C., House M.D., Without a Trace, One Tree Hill, The Edukators, Lord of War, Saint Ralph, and Longmire.

Accolades

* denotes an unranked list.

Singles and EPs

Four proper singles were released from the album, along with additional editions, two posthumous releases, and promo-only releases (see also: The Grace EPs).

Posthumous

Buckley's cover version of "Hallelujah" re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number 2 during Christmas 2008, following the release of another cover version by series 5 of the British version of The X Factor winner Alexandra Burke which took the number 1 slot.

Track listing

To promote Buckley's 1995 Australian tour, a two-CD edition was issued. It featured the following songs on the second disc:

1. "So Real" – live and acoustic in Japan, January 1995
2. "Dream Brother" – live in Hamburg at Club Logo, 22 February 1995
3. "Grace" – live at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, 4 March 1995 (exclusive to this release)
4. "Mojo Pin" – live at Wetlands, New York City, November 1994

Legacy Edition

Bonus disc

1. "Forget Her" (Jeff Buckley)  – 5:12
2. "Dream Brother" (Alternate Take)  – 4:56
3. "Lost Highway" (Leon Payne)  – 4:24
4. "Alligator Wine" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller)  – 3:21
5. "Mama, You Been on My Mind" (Bob Dylan)  – 3:26
6. "Parchman Farm Blues/Preachin' Blues" (Bukka White, Robert Johnson)  – 6:20
7. "The Other Woman" (Jessie Mae Robinson)  – 3:05
8. "Kanga-Roo" (Alex Chilton)  – 14:14
9. "I Want Someone Badly" (with Shudder to Think) (Nathan Larson)  – 2:36
10. "Eternal Life" (Road Version)  – 4:50
11. "Kick Out the Jams" (Live) (MC5)  – 3:06
12. "Dream Brother" (Nag Champa Mix)  – 5:24
13. "Strawberry Street" (Jeff Buckley, Andrew Goodsight, John McNally)  – 5:26*

(*does not appear in the track listing; previously unreleased, appears here in a rehearsal recording from the Knitting Factory in May 1993, with the Washington Squares frontman Tom Goodkind on bass guitar)

Personnel

Credits adapted from Grace's liner notes.