Alright everyone, here we are at my top ten favorite albums of all time. As you can see my list encompasses a diverse range of musical tastes. I think my top ten reflects that as well. Before we get to it, I will realist the 40 albums I have listed thus far:
50. Faith No More - Angel Dust
49. Kamelot - The Black Halo
48. The Heavy – The House That Dirt Built
47. A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step
46. Pearl Jam - Ten
45. Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
44. The Who - Tommy
43. Mastodon - Laviathon
42. Outkast - Stankonia
41. Van Halen - 5150
40. Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
39. Coldplay - Parachutes, A Rush of Blood Through The Head
38. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
37. Childish Gambino - Camp
36. Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
35. P.O.D. - Satellite
34. Rob Dougan - Furious Angels
33. The Robert Glasper Experiment - Black Radio
32. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
31. Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
30. Dream Theater - Octavarium
29. Creed - My Own Prison, Human Clay
28. The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
27. Radiohead - OK Computer
26. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
25. Pink Floyd - The Wall
24. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
23. Alter Bridge - One Day Remains
22. Dream Theater - Images and Words
21. Radiohead - In Rainbows
20. Oysterhead - The Grand Pecking Order
19. Daft Punk - Discovery
18. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
17. Daft Punk - Alive 2007
16. The Mayfield Four - Second Skin
15. Led Zeppelin - II
14. Alter Bridge - Fortress
13. Queen - A Night At The Opera
12. U2 - The Joshua Tree
11. Michael Jackson - Thriller
#10
Grace
Jeff Buckley
1994
There are certain songs you remember hearing for the first time, and the impression was so strong. For me, it was listening to my uncle's copy of Jeff Buckley's
Grace and him singing along "Hallelujah." IFor most people my age, their very first time hearing "Hallelujah" was in the movie
Shrek performed by John Cale. I distinctly remember trying to correct my fellow classmate in middle school when the movie first came out that it was a covered off of Jeff Buckley. My teacher than corrected me saying Jeff Buckley covered the song that was originally by another singer-songwriter by the name of Leonard Cohen. Cohen song was personal, lamenting his own private struggle with faith and love. Buckley's takes the concept and turns it universal. He draws out every little dramatic up and down to theatrical heights. He made the blueprint that every person with a guitar, a dream and a full string section could follow to leave people watching in tears.
I'm not here to talk about "Hallelujah", because the entire album is beautiful. With his ridiculous vocal range of three and a half octaves and his lush music production,
Grace showed what made Buckley so special. He was extremely talented, impulsive, and personal. Another attribute was his place in time. In a time when music was getting dirty and explicit, and his music was clean and fresh.
Grace has a very solemn, jazzy feel that is brought some brightness in the form of Buckley’s vocal melodies. Due to amount of range Jeff possesses he is able to single handedly change the mood, or evoke some otherwise unseen emotion, in the various points of his songs. Buckley’s lyrical intensity feels very sincere and honest in comparison to the anger and contempt most bands were releasing during the time of this albums release.
While most of the songs do seem to be centered on the loss of love, or problems with relationships, his flawless imagery and wording really add to the beauty of the album. Instead of falling into the pitfall of criticizing the spouse, like most modern pop-punk bands seem to do, Buckley is able to examine the entire situation of the relationship as well as his problems, and this is made most evident in the song "Lover, You Should’ve Come Over" specifically in the line “
Well maybe I'm just too young/To keep good love from going wrong”.
The album starts off with three catchy and uplifting songs in the form of "Mojo Pin", "Grace", and "Last Goodbye." Then we get to the middle of the album where we can find his covers. He possesses the ability to turn cover songs into songs that are all his own, which helps these covers blend in perfectly with the rest of the album’s sound. Besides "Hallelujah", we have Jeff's take on James Shelton's "Lilac Wine" and Benjamin Britten's "Corpus Christi Carol", both which are beautiful takes. "Eternal Life" and "Dream Brother" switch from the depressing mood that has been established. I'm also going to mention the posthumous track that was on the Legacy Edition of
Grace in 2004, "Forget Her", because it's one of the most beautiful, personal songs that he wrote in his short career.
All in all, rarely has a debut artist come onto the scene with the impact of a Jeff Buckley. Alas the tragedy is that his musical legacy was impromptly halted. Jeff Buckley accidentally drowned in May of '97, which makes this album and his subsequent, unfinished release
Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk that much more precious. However,
Grace was his one fully realized album during his all-too-brief stay with us on earth, and that album is one of the most passionate and spiritual albums I have ever heard.
Favorite Tracks:
Hallelujah,
Lover, You Should've Come Over,
Forget Her,
Last Goodbye,
Grace