Jeff Buckley’s One Completed Album Needs Even More Modern Recognition

As you dig back into the music of the 90s, along with everyone else who’s feeling nostalgic, one album stands out as a record simultaneously tempting to forget about and necessary to remember. Jeff Buckley’s Grace is better known for surrounding details beyond the music itself. Primarily, one of the featured cover songs, “Hallelujah,” brought the simple arpeggiated sound used today in versions to its first commercial peak. Only a couple of years from turning 30, Grace will soon surpass the age of its creator, so we all need to find a copy of this essential album to step past the nostalgia phase into long-overdue recognition for great music.

Jeff Buckley died in a tragic accident a few years after the release of Grace, making this album his only completed record. His death represented an incredible loss of potential and perhaps heightened critics’ memory of the album, which initially received mixed reviews. Thankfully, Grace is more than just a sad story; it’s a cathartic document of an unflinching singer/songwriter who channeled every emotion he could muster into the album. Buckley’s classic rock influences, as well as the folky aspirations drawn from his father Tim Buckley, brought the album together as an instant summation of every sound that was considered an established legacy by the early 90s.

The best fact about Jeff Buckley’s Grace is the amount of praise received from other artists. The most famous story was that David Bowie called Grace the best album ever made, coming unexpectedly from one of the world’s great rockers. Bob Dylan also said that Buckley was one of the great songwriters of the 90s, and Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant also expressed their admiration for Grace. Those who have heard the album know that Led Zeppelin was a significant influence on the sound of Grace.

Time to revive more than just “Hallelujah” for everyone’s 90s music revisit! Grace is available on all streaming services.