So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley

Jeff Buckley | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 22, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000NOK9YK
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,658 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Among the legions of rockers who died way too young--including Jeff Buckley's father, Tim--few have approached the artistic range and seemingly limitless potential on display here. In the decade since Buckley's death, there has been such a flood of posthumous releases that it might be hard to remember that he issued only a four-cut live EP and a studio debut album while he was alive. This anthology serves as an effective introduction for the initiate, showing how Buckley could rock with the slash-and-burn intensity of Led Zeppelin on "Eternal Life (Road Version)," turn rapturous with the reverie of "Lover, You Should've Come Ove," and cover the likes of Edith Piaf ("Je N'en Connais Pas La Fin") and Leonard Cohen (his by now iconic transformation of "Hallelujah"). Completists will need this for the live versions of "So Real" and the Smiths' "I Know It's Over," previously unreleased commercially. Whether Buckley would ever have been able to balance the control that mature artistry requires and the ecstatic abandon that distinguished him, such raw talent continues to startle. --Don McLeese

Product Description

Import 14-track pressing features tracks from his two studio albums and includes two rarities, 'So Real' (Live and Acoustic in Japan - non album version/ promo single) and 'I Know it's Over' . (Previously Unreleased - Smiths cover from a session at Sony Studios that was edited for broadcast on WNEW on April 6, 1995. It was not included on the radio broadcast.) Other highlights include 'Last Goodbye', 'Forget Her', 'Everybody Here Wants You' and more. All of the tracks lifted from Grace are pulled from the remastered tracks that featured on the Legacy Edition. Sony. 2007.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More of the same while Buckley's fresher material still hasn't been released, September 26, 2007

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley (Audio CD)

Jeff Buckley was a man of immense talent snuffed out by his tragic early death. The only major effort he saw released during his life, 1994's Grace, is one of the greatest albums of all time and continues to sound fresh and exciting after more than a decade.

If Buckley is so great, why do I review this compilation so low? You see, ever since Buckley's death, a stream of CDs have come out that just regurgitate the same several songs from GRACE, while certain great recordings languish in obscurity. His performances at the 1991 concert in memory of his father Tim and his collaboration with Liz Fraser have been passed around between fans for years, and yet they are still denied a commercial release. LIVE AT L'OLYMPIA, a live recording from two Paris dates which Buckley considered his finest performances, is available in the U.S. only as an import. The only new material on this compilation, a live version of "So Real" and a cover of a Smiths tune, seem minor indeed compared to the material fans have long been waiting for.

And not only does this recording offer little new, but being marketed as a sort of introduction to Jeff Buckley means that people new to the artist will experience these tracks different than Buckley intended when recording GRACE. When artists like Radiohead have emphasized the importance of the album as a whole and have resisted issuing tracks separate from the full album, it is a pity that Buckley's estate issues GRACE tracks all jumbled up here.

I love Jeff Buckley, but frankly his legacy is being diminished by this endless stream of rehashes. If you have never heard his music before, get GRACE and prepare for a life-changing experience. But with this compilation, it's a good time even for completists to start giving up.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Very Confusing Collection, October 18, 2007

By 

Cabir Marc Davis (Amazon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley (Audio CD)

As a serious Buckley collector, I find this collection bewildering. Sure, it was released to commemorate Jeff Buckley's 10th Death Anniversary, but still, it leaves you feeling rather incomplete.

Perhaps its the collector in me, and since I've heard the songs here a million times, but I suppose this would be a good starting place for any new convert. On its' own though, its no 'Grace', and in fact, I would tell any new fan to pick up the Legacy Edition of 'Grace' instead. Its about $25 on Amazon, but you get the expanded 2-Disc Version + the DVD with the 'Making of Grace' and all the Music Videos from that era as well.

I would say - skip this, and invest in getting these three Jeff Buckley albums - "Grace (Legacy Edition), "Live at Sin E (Legacy Edition)," and "Sketches for My Sweetheart The Drunk" - I can't think of a better way to kick off a love affair with Buckley.

Note to Jeff's Mom : Where are all those rarities you keep promising us? And when are you going to get off the advertising and money-making bandwagon to give Jeff's legacy the TRUE respect it deserves?

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST INTRODUCTION TO A GIFTED BUT CHALLENGING ARTIST, June 1, 2007

By 

Thomas D. Ryan "American Hit Network" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley (Audio CD)

One of the best things about reviewing music is that it compels the writer to listen hard and fair to everything that comes out of a speaker. If you attempt to write something based solely on your own preconceptions, then a) you aren't listening, and b) you are not qualified to inflict others with your words. Jeff Buckley was the type of artist that I knew had special qualities, but there were elements of his presentation that held me at arm's length. He singing range was extraordinary, but his dramatic tendencies often overwhelmed me. Sometimes, I even found myself recoiling as he floated freely in the ether, conveying a part of his spirit that eluded me entirely. Until I understood this aspect of his art, I knew I was unqualified to review his music, but "So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley" has taught me how to listen.
The problem I had with most all previous product by Buckley - and I've heard most of them -is that they presumed you to understand Buckley's genius. "Live at Sin-e" "and "Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk" both overwhelmed me, for very different reasons. "...Sin-e" is concise, but it puts Buckley on display as a performer, and left me wondering if he was emotionally attached to the songs, or simply in love with the sound of his own voice. "...Drunk" was an embarrassment of riches, with way too much material for me to digest, especially since most of it was left unfinished in the wake of Buckley's untimely death. Only "Grace" conveyed a full picture of the man as a fully developed artist, and even that record demanded that you understand and accept his strange welding of Van Morrison's spirit with Robert Plant's histrionics.
"So Real" is by far the best place for a person to discover the beauty of Buckley's music. By culling the best bits of his recorded output and distributing them intelligently over one exceptional disk, it serves as a roadmap into the soul of an extremely gifted performer. Parts of this collection are merely brilliant; other parts are revelatory. The "Grace" selections sound every bit as good today as they did back in '94, while songs like "Forget Her" and "Eternal Life" (both from posthumous releases) are frighteningly intense and emotionally stunning. For reasons similar to those I mentioned at the beginning of this review, I recently indulged myself in the music of Leonard Cohen and I now find myself with a respect for his artistry that borders on awe. Re-hearing Buckley's version of Cohen's "Hallelujah" makes it obvious that this is a definitive performance, as if sung by a fallen angel who embraces the sanctity of this mortal coil. There are still moments of excess, but instead of histrionics, I now hear an artist utilizing every ounce of his ability to convey something that is spiritual and ethereal, but also `so real'. I know I waited too long to truly hear the elegance and raw emotion in Jeff Buckley's music. I hope you don't make the same mistake. A- Tom Ryan