Obnoxious Listeners - Latest Comments in Grace | Jeff Buckley

Re: Grace | Jeff Buckley

katienoel11 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:35:40 -0000

just had an AMAZING.. 15 year anniversary of the release of Grace-- tribute concert in Nashville last weekend. Closing my eyes-- the fellow sounded EXACTLY like Jeff & I'm one of those obsessive buckley listeners. We miss you Obnoxious L boys. Hope to talk to you soon indeed! We are currently posting a few new songs we whipped up in the studio for an Art Institute classes project. Hope all is glorious-- the site seems to be doing quite well!

with the most love,
katie & all of pilots wish
www.myspace.com/pilotswish

Re: Grace | Jeff Buckley

Dan — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:36:12 -0000

Great feedback John! I definitely agree with you. There's nothing
wrong with a man singing in falsetto, in fact women don't even have
falsetto. It's actually pretty hard to master since you have little to
no volume control of falsetto, unlike your head voice (I don't hear
enough of that).

What Jeff had was fanastic, it's a shame he didn't get to leave more
with us.

I didn't realize vibrato was controversial, but I can see it being
that way. It can be viewed as a cheap way to hold a note... If used
improperly.

Re: Grace | Jeff Buckley

John — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:16:36 -0000

I heard that criticism when I tried turning a friend onto this album, myself.

She also couldn't stand his upper register. Some people have got a real beef with guys who sing high-pitched. Roger Daltrey of the Who used to slag off the Bee Gees when they were hot, saying they wrote great songs but "Why the fuck do they sing like that?" I don't get it. To me (and I've written and recorded a few tunes, myself, including thick stacks of multitracked harmonies) the register you sing in is a crucial part of the song. To make the vocal lower, you'd have to change the key -- which changes the whole atmosphere of the song -- or else sing a whole octave lower, and some melodies just don't work if they're pitched in too low an octave. Like, if your lead vocal wants to hang around the major seventh of the chord it's on, it may work up high, but it can sound like crap if it's too low, like you're just way too flat. I am, in fact, a baritone, so I have to be careful about what lead lines I compose for myself, and I like to add interest with high-pitched harmonies or backup vocals, which sound much better than when I try to sing high pitches as a soloist.

I must admit, I usually prefer less vibrato than Buckley does on this album, and the Beach Boys (as individual singers as well as group harmonies) are a great example of singers who put out straight, smooth notes most of the time. That's what makes their harmonies so powerful. But in the case of the particular songs on _Grace_ (the original album, at least), Jeff's frequent vibrato is fairly appropriate. I mean, a lot of these songs sound like they're MEANT to be anxious, and the vibrato lends to that enormously. Jeff Buckely was the kind of artist, you *knew* he was gonna grow and go off in many different directions and styles, so I'm pretty sure that, had he lived, he would have continued to develop and refine his art, and that would doubtlessly have meant more judicious use of vibrato.

I didn't know it until a few days ago, but in the classical music community, vibrato is a very, VERY controversial topic!

John

Re: Grace | Jeff Buckley

John — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:56:12 -0000

Good call. It's "Lover, You Should Have Come Over" that really nails me down. "So Real" can haunt me for hours after listening, too. I need the Legacy edition . . . I just have a hard time making myself buy an album I already own. The songs you mention are among the best tracks, too, although somehow I'm entirely immune to whatever charm "Hallelujah" has. Even the lyrics just get on my nerves, which is surprising, because it's the words that are usually the strength of any Leonard Cohen song. But there's a live version on Mystery White Boy that segues into "I Know It's Over", one of the greatest Smiths songs ever.

I just found your site today, and I'm diggin' on it.

John

Re: Grace | Jeff Buckley

Dan — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:29:37 -0000

I kind of agree... he did seem to play up his voice from time to time.

Re: Grace | Jeff Buckley

blank — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:22:11 -0000

Anyone else think he's a little too liberal with his use of vibrato in that first sound clip? I think it should be used to highlight certain notes instead of entire phrases.