SONG OF THE DAY - Its ROCKTOBER 30th, which makes it 1994, and todays pick of Favorite Albums Through The Years, would be the full length debut of an artist, who sadly, would be with us all to briefly. Jeff Buckley, raised as Scott Scottie Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Born in Anaheim, California, Buckley was the only son of Mary Guibert and Tim Buckley (a singer-songwriter who released a series of highly acclaimed folk and jazz albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s), but was raised by his mother and stepfather, Ron Moorhead, in Southern California. Buckley was brought up around music. His mother was a classically trained pianist and cellist. He began playing guitar at the age of five after discovering an acoustic guitar in his grandmothers closet. After graduating from high school, he moved north to Hollywood to attend the Musicians Institute, completing the one-year course at the age of 19. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by playing cover songs at venues in Manhattans East Village, such as Sin-é, gradually focusing more on his own material. After rebuffing much interest from record labels and his fathers manager Herb Cohen, he signed with Columbia, recruited a band, and set about recording what would be his only completed studio album. GRACE was released on August 23, 1994. While the album initially had poor sales, peaking at number 149 in the U.S., and received mixed reviews, it gradually acquired critical and popular acclaim and has now sold over 2 million copies worldwide. In addition to seven original songs, the album included three covers: Lilac Wine, based on the version by Nina Simone; Corpus Christi Carol, from Benjamin Brittens A Boy was Born, Op.3, a composition that Buckley was introduced to in high school, based on a 15th-century hymn; and Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, based on John Cales recording from the Cohen tribute album, Im Your Fan. Buckleys rendition of 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, and Saint Ralph. (To me, personally, its the definitive version of the song, too.) The album won appreciation from a host of revered musicians and artists, including members of one of Buckleys biggest influences, Led Zeppelins Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Bob Dylan named Buckley one of the great songwriters of this decade, and, in an interview with Village Voice, David Bowie named GRACE as the one album he would take with him to a desert island. Buckleys voice was a particularly distinguished aspect of his music. He possessed a tenor vocal range that ranges between three and a half to four octaves. He made full use of this range in his performance, particularly in the songs from GRACE, and reached peaks of high G in the tenor range at the culmination of Grace. Corpus Christi Carol was sung entirely in a high falsetto. The pitch and volume of his singing was also highly variable, as songs such as Mojo Pin and Dream Brother began with mid-range quieter vocals before reaching louder, higher peaks near the ending of the songs. His singing would influence a generation of artists who would follow him. Buckley also played guitar in a variety of styles, and his songs were written in various guitar tunings which, apart from the EADGBE standard tuning, included Drop D tuning and an Open G tuning. For todays song selection, going with the song Last Goodbye - a tune that shows off the full range of Jeffs vocal capabilities, as well as his guitar playing, including some slide work in the songs intro. youtu.be/BtS0rwQK_pI
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 12:10:51 +0000
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