Jeff Buckley’s vocal virtuosity can never be replicated. 'State Of Grace' fails because it spends too much time imitating and not enough interpreting the works of Tim and Jeff Buckley.
Creating a tribute show is a risky venture. Audiences will always compare the cover versions with the originals. Not all cover versions are created equal. At the bottom of the hierarchy is the Saturday night cover band pumping out 'Jessie’s Girl' at the generic, British-theme pub. At the pinnacle are cover versions that transcend and transform the original: Johnny Cash’s 'Hurt' or Jeff’s version of Leonard Cohen’s 'Hallelujah'.
Jeff built his early career on haunting takes on the songs of others. The secret to his success was the originality of his interpretations, his vocal prowess and his palpably emotional connection to the source material. Most of the performers in 'State Of Grace' fall short in at least one area.
'State Of Grace' is the brain child of early Jeff Buckley collaborator Gary Lucas. Lucas wrote the guitar parts to 'Mojo Pin' and 'Grace'. Potentially because of this, most songs from 'State Of Grace' are musically reproduced note for note, which leaves little room for artistic re-imagining.
Also, as Martha Wainwright stated in her disclaimer, Jeff’s material is very hard to sing. Only Wainwright and Irish enigma Camille O’Sullivan had the ability to soar to the heights of the original. Their best songs were 'Lover, You Should Have Come Over' and 'Lilac Wine'; both were simply accompanied by piano, untethering them from the structures of the original tempo instrumentation.
Their male counterparts didn’t fare as well. The first two tracks of the evening (25 September) were from Tim Buckley’s catalogue. While Jeff lived his life in his father’s shadow, in death the father is in the son's shadow.
The first Jeff song was 'Forget Her' by Steve Kilbey and Wainwright. The Church frontman’s understated delivery was entirely unsuited to a song famed for the plaintive and despairing vocals of the original. While we can forgive the lack of vocal similarity, the distinct lack of passion from most performers was sinful.
When an artist dies, there is the risk that their memory will be exploited by those that existed within their orbit. 'State Of Grace' felt not like a tribute, but rather a vessel for Lucas to lament the big fish that got away.
