Legacy Recordings Pays Tribute To Jeff Buckley with Grace Around The World
Greg Yost
Posted On June 12, 2009
Jeff Buckley
Grace Around The World
Legacy Recordings
Friday, May 29, 2009 marked the 12th anniversary of the accidental drowning that silenced Jeff Buckley’s stunning voice forever, making it a great time to reflect on the tremendous impact he made in music with only one fully-realized studio album.
Legacy Recordings must be thinking the same thing because on June 2 the label released Grace Around The World, an audio/video set that re-casts Buckley’s landmark 1994 debut album Grace by presenting live versions of nine of the LP’s original 10 tracks.
Culled from tour stops and TV performances from 1994 and 1995, both the CD and DVD from Grace Around The World offer a wealth of previously unavailable live content. Along with concert performances from New Orleans, Louisiana and Frankfurt, Germany, the bulk of the live material on this set comes from television broadcasts by the BBC, JBTV in Chicago and various MTV channels in America and Europe. The rarity of these performances makes this set essential listening for Buckley fans.
Along with the live CD and DVD, the Deluxe Edition of Grace Around The World contains a bonus DVD with the film “Amazing Grace: Jeff Buckley.” Available for the first time outside of theaters, this hour-long documentary from the filmmaking duo of Laurie Trombley and Nyla Bialek Adams both pays tribute to Buckley while also taking a look at his legacy from a fan’s perspective.
Although this film, which was showcased at film festivals across the globe following its release in 2004, is not a hard-hitting feature, it does offer some rare performance clips and interesting interviews with Buckley’s friends and family, along with members of his band.
Ultimately, the short length of Jeff Buckley’s career left us with very little beyond his studio work and a handful of recorded live performances. That is why the material included on this new Legacy Recordings set is so valuable. Kudos to the label and executive producer Mary Guibert (Buckley’s mother) for putting together a compilation that pays fitting tribute to a special artist.
— Greg Yost
