Great piece. As a long time Buckley listener I'm glad to see a doc coming out on him after the last one that was planned got canned. Haven't seen this one yet but I read that Dream Brother book about he and his father and that shed a lot of light on both of them. Grace is quite a special record, nothing else really sounds like it and it's interesting that a 20 something year old guy put out a record that sounded like that in the middle of the grunge era. Chris Whitley did something similarly un-grunge when he put out with Living With The Law in '92 but it's interesting that both of them wound up going in a more rock direction after these celebrated records.
It's a pretty great book and draws parallels between father and son that were pretty interesting to me. It also seems to be one of the earliest books about Buckley's life that I know of
I'm yet to watch the documentary, but I did watch the Janis one and really liked it (I was unaware of the connection). Amazing tribute you've written here, and I agree with every word you said. I love this record (what's not to love, right?). I managed to get it on vinyl not too long ago and it's sublime. I particularly liked what you said about Gen X's "I don't give a fuck" attitude having deep layers of complexity which often get overlooked or misunderstood. This is so true. I'm too young to be Gen X but I do have a lot of friends and loved ones from that generation, all from different walks of life, and what you said applies to all the GenXers I know, without exception.
Christgau also gave Black Sabbath’s debut a C. Learning he gave the same grade to “Grace” sparks a new rule:
If Robert Christgau says it’s a C, I’m probably gonna love it.
Great piece. As a long time Buckley listener I'm glad to see a doc coming out on him after the last one that was planned got canned. Haven't seen this one yet but I read that Dream Brother book about he and his father and that shed a lot of light on both of them. Grace is quite a special record, nothing else really sounds like it and it's interesting that a 20 something year old guy put out a record that sounded like that in the middle of the grunge era. Chris Whitley did something similarly un-grunge when he put out with Living With The Law in '92 but it's interesting that both of them wound up going in a more rock direction after these celebrated records.
Thanks for reading! I'm not familiar with that Dream Book about him and his father. I'll have to check that out.
It's a pretty great book and draws parallels between father and son that were pretty interesting to me. It also seems to be one of the earliest books about Buckley's life that I know of
I'm yet to watch the documentary, but I did watch the Janis one and really liked it (I was unaware of the connection). Amazing tribute you've written here, and I agree with every word you said. I love this record (what's not to love, right?). I managed to get it on vinyl not too long ago and it's sublime. I particularly liked what you said about Gen X's "I don't give a fuck" attitude having deep layers of complexity which often get overlooked or misunderstood. This is so true. I'm too young to be Gen X but I do have a lot of friends and loved ones from that generation, all from different walks of life, and what you said applies to all the GenXers I know, without exception.
Thank you! I hope you'll get a chance to see the doc. Actually seeing him sing is something else. Sublime is the PERFECT word for this album.