Grace

 

It's been 30 years since Jeff Buckley released his only studio album and he hasn't lost any of his brilliance since then. In the broadest sense, it is alternative rock with long, quiet passages in which Buckley's voice spans several octaves and often ends in falsetto. What makes this record exceptional is the intensity with which he performs his songs, most of which are about loss. As he didn't have enough of his own songs for a complete album, the record also includes cover versions such as Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. His version is based on John Cale's interpretation, but the way he performs it with a reduced rhythm and his extraordinary voice gives us an idea of what other masterpieces we could have expected had he not died far too early.