Sketches (For My Sweetheart the Drunk)

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.com ---- Perhaps the most talented "son act" in pop music, Jeff Buckley combined the often harrowing eclecticism of estranged papa Tim Buckley ( /exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/156167/%24%7B0%7D ) with the rock acrobatics of Robert ( /exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/26383/%24%7B0%7D ). This posthumously released collection of four-track demos and sessions helmed by Tom Verlaine ( /exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/74000/%24%7B0%7D ) indicates that Buckley's astonishing full-length debut, Grace ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000029DD/%24%7B0%7D ), was no fluke. The young singer-songwriter puts his falsetto to good use on an extraordinary collection of original material, from the soulful "Everybody Here Wants You" to the psychedelic "Murder Suicide Meteor Slave." And while his bluesy take on Porter Wagoner ( /exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/36044/%24%7B0%7D )'s "Satisfied Mind" may not be as revelatory as his earlier version of Leonard Cohen ( /exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/8441/%24%7B0%7D )'s "Hallelujah," this album offers ample proof that Buckley was among his generation's most gifted voices. --Bill Forman Review ------ Jeff Buckley’s death was so rife with rock-star symbolism--he drowned after playfully jumping into a Memphis marina only to get swept away by a Mississippi undertow--that it’s easy to forget that he never quite became one. The two-disc Sketches collects Buckley’s work-in-progress--selections from the awkward Verlaine sessions plus the aforementioned demos--into a typically mercenary and reputation-tarnishing memorial. Tempering his bluster into sultrty quiet storm probably seemed like a smart move for this sad-eyed sex symbols. But "Everybody Here Wants You" is strictly sub-Spandau Ballet balladry. Sketches is more unneeded proof that, in rock & roll, dead men ultimately tell whatever tales they’ve committed to tape, no matter how inconsequential or unfinished. -- Spin Though the posthumous Sketches contains only rough drafts of tunes intended (and a few deemed inadequate) for the singer's follow-up to the outstanding 1994 debut Grace, its musical shimmer and emotional resonance compensate for missteps and a lack of polish.... From the salacious rock of Your Is So Nice to a forlorn cover of Porter Wagoner's country ballad Satisfied Mind," Buckley demonstrates a stylistic range and vocal honesty that few '90s singer/songwriters share. -- USA Today [A] terrifying blend of the sparklingly wide-eyed and the sighingly world-weary.... Trans his acrobatic musical suppleness into the human physique and Buckley would have been Olympian. -- NME [A] testament to Buckley's role as a lifelong student of rock history.... [An] incomplete, yet affecting, farewell. -- Entertainment Weekly [I]t's the clarity and punch of these [Tom] Verlaine versions [of Buckley's songs] that help bring out the promise of Buckley's rock-punctuated folk style.... -- The Los Angeles Times [The late Jeff] Buckley had a trove of material prepared for his next album.... Powerful, impassioned and haunting, [these songs] are a sadly fitting legacy--sketches of what might have been. -- People