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An angel descended to earth, a voice from another world, a pure soul, extremely sensitive, music that comes from the heart, from deep within, that digs into you and after listening leaves you amazed and dumbfounded, almost unable to believe that someone can reach such heights, you just can't believe it..
This was Jeff Buckley.
This live released in May 2000 at the behest of his mother Mary Guibert and guitarist Michael Tighe enhances all the qualities of this artist who, if he were still with us, would deserve the top step of the podium without discussion for ability, technique, vocal range, interpretation, and whatever else comes to mind..
It begins with "Dream Brother", the piece starts softly, quietly, an almost imperceptible guitar arpeggio, then drums and bass join in, everything flows slowly and envelops you in a magical and cathartic spiral, before Jeff’s voice comes in, softly... accompanying the rest at the same volume.. He always starts softly, then, as the piece grows, finds the courage to explode into impossible, inhuman, otherworldly high notes. The piece is performed to perfection and Jeff is astounding.
It continues with the more lively "I Woke Up in a Strange Place", where Jeff's voice becomes more irreverent and boisterous, yet always unique. Definitely well executed. "Mojo Pin", the third track, leaves you stunned just for the initial vocalization, where you understand that this man had almost total control over his instrument, (and also over the other... let’s not forget he played the guitar while singing, and how he played it!). The piece is identical to the original on 'Grace'. The wild scream clears immediately afterward, moving to an almost divine purity and a vocalization that would make the best opera singers envious. "Mojo Pin" was written after a dream the artist had, and there could not be better music and voice to describe it. Immense..
We move on to "Lilac Wine", a cover written by Jack Shelton, and here Jeff sends shivers down your spine with how he interprets the song, perhaps better than in his studio performance with Grace. It leaves the listener incredulous and speechless when it ends.. The fifth is "What Will You Say", a hypnotic and lilting piece, where, as usual, all the instruments build up as the song evolves, exploding with Jeff into a piercing and implausible high note. Very beautiful and engaging.. "Last Goodbye" is executed with masterful skill and exquisite technique, Jeff plays with the notes and the registry shifts so skillfully as to give you goosebumps. Everyone follows him and follows the notes of his magical guitar as if they were fused with him into a single instrument, they are no longer a band of distinct elements, they are one person..
"Eternal life" begins with a distorted guitar that recalls Hendrix's virtuosity, then launches into the artist's most electric, grunge piece if you will. Beautiful, played a tone above the original, intense.. The voice is intentionally rough, he could also do this with his strings, roughening it and adding a bit of vitriol, only to clean it and return to warble among the stars, bouncing from one to another.. The musicians are great, especially the drummer who gives his best here.. We get to "Grace" and what can we say? The initial interlocking arpeggio of the two guitars is sublime, everything flows like a river that, little by little, due to the beating rain, swells and overflows its banks, devastating in the intensity of the execution. Perfect. The final high note, although not as long as the studio version (but the note reached is the same..) leaves you incredulous and what he does after even more so. It ends with a nightingale-like vocalization that honestly, after using his voice like that, seems impossible.. But He succeeds where human nature stops..
"Moodswing Whiskey" is the strangest track on the record but fills this live well. "The Man That Got Away", a splendid voice and guitar, and "Kanga-Roo", with a spine-chilling finale, are two covers that Jeff performs masterfully and without flaws. The record ends with "Hallelujah/I Know It’s Over", moving, practically almost identical to the recorded version on 'Grace', except in the finale, needs no comments, but should just be listened to with the heart..
12 tracks, how long a record should be.. Twelve gems that convey where he had reached and where this small but immense man with his voice and his guitar could have gone if the Wolf River hadn't taken him.
Goodbye Jeff, pure soul with an angelic voice, play and sing with your father Tim, finally you’ve been reunited and will be together forever, even if not in this world..
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Dream Brother (08:48)
There is a child sleeping near his twin
The pictures go wild in a rush of wind
That dark angel he is shuffling in
Watching over them with his black feather wings unfurled
The love you lost with her skin so fair
Is free with the wind in her butterscotch hair
Her green eyes bloom goodbyes
With her head in her hands and your kiss on the lips of another
Dream brother
With your tears scattered round the world.
Don't be like the one who made me so old
Don't be like the one who left behind his name
'Cause they're waiting for you like I waited for mine
And nobody ever came
I feel afraid and I call your name
I love your voice and your dance insane
I hear your words and I know your pain
Your head in your hands and her kiss on the lips of another
Your eyes to the ground
And the world spinning round forever
Asleep in the sand with the ocean washing over
03 Mojo Pin (06:06)
I'm lying in my bed, the blanket is warm
This body will never be safe from harm
Still feel your hair, black ribbons of coal
Touch my skin to keep me whole
If only you'd come back to me
If you laid at my side
Wouldn't need no mojo pin
To keep me satisfied
Don't want to weep for you
I don't want to know
I'm blind and tortured
The white horses flow
The memories fire
The rhythms fall slow
Black beauty, I love you so
Precious, precious silver and gold
And pearls in oyster's flesh
Drop down we two to serve and pray to love
Born again from the rhythm
screaming down from heaven
Ageless, ageless and I'm there in your arms
Don't want to weep for you
I don't want to know
I'm blind and tortured
The white horses flow
The memories fire
The rhythms fall slow
Black beauty, I love you so
The welts of your scorn, my love, give me more
Send whips of opinion down my back, give me more
Well it's you I've waited my life to see
It's you I've searched so hard for
Don't want to weep for you
I don't want to know
I'm blind and tortured
The white horses flow
The memories fire
The rhythms fall slow
Black beauty, I love you so
04 Lilac Wine (05:19)
I lost myself on a cool damp night
I gave myself in that misty light
Was hypnotized by a strange delight
Under a lilac tree
I made wine from the lilac tree
Put my heart in its recipe
It makes me see what I want to see
And be what I want to be
When I think more than I want to think
Do things I never should do
I drink much more that I ought to drink
Because it brings me back you
Lilac wine
Is sweet and heady
Like my love
Lilac wine
I feel unsteady
Like my love
Listen to me
I cannot see clearly
Isn't that she
Coming to me
Nearly here
Lilac wine
Is sweet and heady
Where's my love
Lilac wine
I feel unsteady,
Where's my love
Listen to me
Why is everything so hazy
Isn't that she
Or am I just going crazy, dear?
Lilac wine
I feel unready for my love
Feel unready
For my love
05 What Will You Say (07:34)
It's been such a long time
And I was just a child then
What will you say
When you see my face?
Time feels like it's flown away
The days just pass and fade away
What will you say
When they take my place?
It's funny now
I just don't feel like I'm a man
What will you say
When you see my face?
My face...
Mother dear, the world's gone cold
No one cares about love anymore
What will you say
When you see my face?
Father do you hear me?
Do you know me?
Do you even care?
What will you say
When they take my place?
My heart can't take this anymore
What will you say
When you see my face?
When you see my,
See my face...
I can feel your time crawling
To a slow end
I can feel my time crawling
To a slow end...
Mother dear, the world's gone cold
No one cares about love anymore
What will you say
When you see my face?
Father do you hear me?
Do you know me?
Did you even care?
What will you say
When you take my place?
Well it's so funny now
I just don't feel like I'm a man
What will you say?
06 Last Goodbye (04:58)
This is our last goodbye
I hate to feel the love between us die
But it's over
Just hear this and then I'll go
You gave me more to live for
More than you'll ever know
This is our last embrace
Must I dream and always see your face
Why can't we overcome this wall
Baby, maybe it is just because I didn't know you at all
Kiss me
Please kiss me
But kiss me out of desire, babe
And not consolation
You know it makes me so angry
'Cause I know that in time
I'll only make you cry
This is our last goodbye
Did you say "No, this can't happen to me"
And did you rush to your phone to call?
Was there a voice unkind in the back of your mind saying
"Maybe... you didn't know him at all"
You didn't know him at all
You didn't know
The bells out in the church tower chime
Burning clues into this heart of mine
Thinking so hard on her soft eyes and the memory
Offer signs that it's over
It's over
07 Eternal Life (05:58)
Eternal life is now on my trail
Got my red glitter coffin, man
Just need one last nail
While all these ugly gentlemen play out their foolish games
There's a flaming red horizon that screams our names
And as your fantasies are broken in two
Did you really think this bloody road would pave the way for you?
You better turn around
And blow your kiss hello to life eternal, Angel
Racist everyman, what have you done?
Man, you've made a killer of your unborn son
Crown my fear your king at the point of a gun
All I want to do is love everyone
And as your fantasies are broken in two
Did you really think this bloody road would pave the way for you?
You better turn around
And blow your kiss hello to life eternal
Oh
There's no time for hatred
Only questions
Where is love?
Where is happiness?
What is life?
Where is peace?
When will I find the strength to bring me release?
And tell me where is the love in what your prophet has said?
Man, It sounds to me just like a prison for the walking dead
And I've got a message for you and your twisted hell
You better turn around and blow your kiss goodbye
To life eternal Angel
Angel
08 Grace (05:38)
There's the moon asking to stay
Long enough for the clouds to fly me away
Well it's my time coming
I'm not afraid to die
My fading voice sings of love
But she cries to the clicking of time
Of time
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
And she weeps on my arm
Walking to the bright lights in sorrow
Oh drink a bit of wine we both might go tomorrow
Oh my love
And the rain is falling and I believe
My time has come
It reminds me of the pain
I might leave
Leave behind
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
And I feel them drown my name
So easy to know and forget with this kiss
I'm not afraid to go but it goes so slow
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
09 Moodswing Whiskey (05:36)
Mood swing whiskey
Drank it all in the morning
Waiting for the dark to move in
Sitting in my step-sister's kitchen
Horseflies on the window sill
Eyes trained on the lemon king
And wishing it were a gun
I'm thinking of our wedding rings
Trapped inside the heater
Spring water on the floor of this
Sex starved room
The nightmare's fires burn
The waves of bliss
I tried to stop it with my hand
I was lost in the kiss
With you
Mood swing whiskey
Your bliss, the actress,
Bliss, the assassin
Bliss, the abyss
Did a crazy shot of whiskey
In about zero to sixty
All i could see was the beer
I face the future with a drink in my right
Eyes to the sparkling gloom
Body naked, afraid, and amazed
Say boost me up to your junkyard paradise
Boost me up to your junkyard paradise
With a sweet-ass photo of you
She cheated, and she lied, and you stole her
Stung my tongue just like
Sweat from her shoulder
Ooh, mood swing whiskey
Your love, the destroyer
Love, the destroyer
Love, love...
Yes mood swing whiskey has my brain
Only you can break this chain
Are you here in my bed again
Can you hear my love again (x4)
Run down the subway station babe
I'm packing my rod
All and present histories erased
I am a punishing god
Mood swing whiskey
Yeah the leaves are made of
Messy things again
And i said this is all the headless acrobats
Faces crushed in the circus dust
All for the law of gravity
And the price of admission
Beautiful loser warm hearts have let you down
Beautiful loser warm hearts have left you
Oh no, you...
I think of mankind in quotation marks
Ever since i took a drink from you
This is for all the headless acrobats
Faces crushed in the circus dust
All in the name of gravity
And the price of admission
Beautiful loser while eyes have let you now
Beautiful loser while eyes have let you now
Cause you're beautiful
I think of mankind in quotation marks
Ever since I took a drink of you
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Other reviews
By cappio al pollo
"Mystery White Boy is the quintessential live performance collection of Jeff Buckley."
The bonus disc features "an interesting reinterpretation of 'That's All I Ask' by Nina Simone, who was often honored during his performances."
