Review of You & I

The history of the origins of Jeff Buckley is shrouded in mythology, a bit 'like the character. His "Hallelujah" is a song from a thousand lives and continues to attract periodically several generations of listeners - indeed it would be good there was a moratorium on other cover of that song, which is constantly repeated, as if anyone could add something to the immortal version son Tim. But Buckley were really not understood until it was alive. The Buckley mythology is largely posthumous.

The facts, however, say that his beginnings were complicated; that beginning was also difficult not to allow a full understanding of who he was and how good he was, between '93 and '97, the year of his death. The release of "You and I", in stores March 11 is not just another posthumous publication. It 'a piece of those origins - and a good record regardless.

As noted, "You and I", is a collection of eight covers and two original songs recorded at the Shelter Island Sound Study of Steve Addabbo in February 1993 and recently discovered.
Buckley in '92 he started playing at Sin-é, a small Irish cafe in New York (he had brought his friend Glen Hansard, at that time famous for her role in "The Committents" by Alan Parker, but this it is another story). The record companies noticed him and made to queue to listen to it and put it under contract. Eventually, in October of '92, he signed to Columbia, and was taken under the wing of Steve Berkowitz.

But Jeff was undecided on what to do with his music, he did not become the new alternative rock star, and felt a lot of pressure on him. So at the beginning of '93, four months after the signing of the contract, there were no definite plans for the future. They took him into the studio and from there do these sessions - largely unpublished. The idea was to leave it free to play, so that he himself and sbloccasse. Then it was decided to launch it with a low profile, with an EP (the "Live at Sin-é", in fact, at the end of '93) and then finally get to "Grace" in September '94 - but generated a lukewarm reaction .

The so-called "Addabbo sessions" are themselves the subject of mythology once: something was leaked on the net, within states that were also engraved the first demo of "Grace".
Original "You and I" contains the title track of the debut album and "Dream Of You And I", perhaps the most touching thing about the disc: it is not a song, he tells Buckley and plays the idea of a song, he explains, and is the sound picture of the time when you finally let go - as well as having a beautiful melody.

Cover songs on the disc, many are already known and loved in other versions: "Calling you" (the soundtrack of "Bagdad Café" - one of the pieces in which Jeff pulls better his voice), to "Just like a woman "Dylan and" Night flight "of Led Zeppelin, played thick at Sin-é (and included in the Legacy Edition of 2003) to the two covers of the Smiths" I know it's over "and" the boy with the thorn in His side ". Others were far less known, if not entirely unknown, as "Everyday People" by Sly & The Family Stone, not surprisingly used as the launch of the song.

What makes it unique, "You and I", in a posthumous discography inevitably overcrowded, is the quality of the recordings, both in purely sonic terms (it has been done a great work of restoration), both in terms of content. E ', in fact, an original disk, not just a historical document.

And 'yet another post-mortem exploitation? Of course, you can also read as well. This operation is done with care, and one of the most important of his death. But if you think this way, you should read the liner notes of the mother Mary Guibert, who always took care of the operation. Are disarming: you can be found after the Tracklist.

TRACKLIST:
"Just like a woman"
"Everyday people"
"Grace"
"Calling you"
"Dream of You and I"
"The boy with the thorn in His side"
"Poor boy long way from home"
"Night flight"
"I know it's over"