Hallelujah

Do yourself a huge favor and go buy this album right now!

Jeff Buckley was born in California's Orange County in 1966 and died in a tragic drowning accident in Memphis on May 29, 1997. No drugs or alcohol were involved.

His debut album, "Grace", was released on August 23, 1994. "Grace" is one of those albums that you can just put on and play while you're doing stuff around the house if you want and that's all fine and good. But if you put this recording on and sit down to listen, I mean really listen, preferably in headphones, you will find it to be absolutely transcendent & transporting. This album is capable of taking you completely away to a strange, yet utterly beautiful place. That is something very rare indeed and is also why "Grace" is easily one of the very best records of the 1990's.

The first song that caught my attention was "Last Goodbye", with its less than subtle Led Zeppelin influence. But this is no copycat wannabe. Musically, it is completely original. The music rocks hard when it needs to and floats ethereally when it should. It also sounds completely organic, like this is how the band sounded live. No antiseptic, artificial, Pro-Tool'd tweakage is evident anywhere. I love that.

But then, there's the vocals. Jeff Buckley had a way of putting you directly in touch with his musical soul using his multi-octave vocal range. His voice was, by turns, sweeping, intense, gentle, wracked with heartbreak and bursting with joy. He could soar through difficult, emotional phrases like a bird on the wind. I've never heard any other singer, male or female, who could do what Jeff Buckley did.

Today's song at hand is Jeff's now famous cover of the Leonard Cohen song, "Hallelujah", that is certainly a highlight of "Grace".

Ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro, who recorded an instrumental take of "Hallelujah" said "When you hear Jeff's version, it's so intimate that it's almost like you're invading his personal space or you're listening to something private you weren't supposed to hear". I agree. Enjoy.

There's a book about the song that my wonderful wife picked up from the library, entitled "The Holy Or The Broken" by Alan Light. The book details the sojourn of "Hallelujah" from being just another song on a 1984 Leonard Cohen album entitled "Various Positions" that Columbia brass did not even want to release; so much so that they sold it off to an indie label, to the modern standard that it is today, though the song is often mishandled to the detriment of both the song and the performer. Bono has gone as far as apologizing publicly for his rendition, which he felt was ruined by the excesses of an overpowering trip-hop production. That recording, done around the time of U2's album, "Pop", appeared on a Leonard Cohen tribute album, "Tower Of Song", an overblown, big name project which is best left alone.

John Cale

Leonard Cohen's original draft of "Hallelujah" had at least 15 pages of verses. Not 15 verses, 15 pages! It proved a very difficult song for Cohen to nail down to its essence. It took a cover version by former Velvet Underground bassist, John Cale to distill the song to the 5 verse form we know and love. Cale's version first appeared as the closing track on a 1991 Cohen tribute album called "I'm Your Fan". Cale's recording has also appeared on the soundtrack album for the TV show "Scrubs" and was featured prominently in the movie, "Shrek".

It was Cale's edited rendition of the song that got Jeff Buckley's attention. Buckley first heard the "I'm Your Fan" album at a friend's house while he was appearing weekly at New York club called Sin-'e in 1992. It was soon added to his repertoire as a set closer.

About his selecting the song for the album, Cale said "I remember going to (see Cohen at) the Beacon in New York. I hadn't heard the song before and it just knocked me sideways". Cale said in the same interview that he had known Cohen for some time, yet was unaware of "Hallelujah"; further proof of the obscurity of "Various Positions", even among Cohen's acquaintances. Later, Cale said he called and asked Cohen to send him the lyrics. "I had one of those old fax machines. I went out to dinner and upon my return, my floor was covered in paper!"

Here's a live performance of "Hallelujah" by John Cale from 1992. It's not that far removed from Cohen's original, just distilled to its essential elements. This performance strikes me as more of a recitation than anything coming from somewhere deep or personal. But it was a major step along the way in the song's development.

Leonard Cohen's version can be heard as an old man looking back on what once was. But Jeff Buckley turned it around into a young man's first discovery of the power of love, the power of sex, and the connection between sexuality and spirituality, which is David's theme in the Psalms. That's not a cover version. That's a transformed song. Leonard Cohen wrote it and John Cale edited it, but Jeff Buckley owned it.

It took Cale, Buckley and a host of well meaning attempts by pros and pretenders alike to show Cohen the best route to the power of his own composition. The song has demonstrated that it works best when handled with the utmost care, lest it collapse under the weight of ponderous orchestrations. It would be the same as wrapping mist in stone. The song also does not work well with a calculated approach, be it falsely dramatic or datedly stylistic. It demands all of the naked, confessional honesty of the moment that the performer can muster; as if it will break if mishandled. Most American Idol types don't seem to understand that.

Here's Leonard Cohen, live at Montreal Jazz festival in 2008.

So where can you find all this stuff? Allow me to hook you up.

The book, "The Holy Or The Broken" by Alan Light, can be found at Amazon, your local Narnes & Boble, or with any luck, your public library. It's a detailed and entertaining book but it reads quickly and may just be way more info than you needed to get the gist of how it all went down.

Jeff Buckley's posthumous releases are all fine and good, but "Grace" is a must own. There's a standard single cd version available, but I'd really recommend that you spring for the 3 disc Legacy Edition with extra songs & a DVD documentary. It's worth it, just do it.

You can still find the entire Leonard Cohen catalog at Amazon, including an import box set for about $33 that contains all 11 of Cohen's studio albums. A bargain, in our humble opinion.

The indie tribute album, "I'm Your Fan" is available used, but is pricey in new condition, due to the popularity of John Cale's rendition, which is likely his most popular recording ever, except for his work with The Velvet Underground. The other Cohen tribute, "Tower Of Song", is still available, but unless you have to have absolutely everything by the artists involved, I'd skip it.