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25 Years Of Grace: An Anniversary Tribute to Jeff Buckley's Classic Album
Jeff Buckley made only one album, but the one he made has proved to be seminal. Grace emerged at a time when grunge gripped the charts. Buckley’s refined melodies and wide vocal range made him stand apart from his contemporaries. His rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is arguably the most memorable version ever recorded. His talent awed industry giants and moved the hearts of fans spanning generations. Grace made clear a remarkably talented force had come upon the world, and it promised a wellspring of astonishing music for years to come. But Buckley’s untimely death in 1997 left his fans to wonder about all the sonic magic that could have been and to hold dear the few but brilliant songs he left behind.
In the wake of his passing, Buckley has continued to garner new fans and influence countless artists. And while a number of posthumous releases of unpolished, deep cuts have helped satiate listeners over the years, it is his official studio album Grace that reverberates with at its release in 1994, the album sounded like nothing that had come before—and no album has repeated its essence since.
Photographer Merri Cyr was there along the way. She has documented Buckley’s career from his days at the East Village coffee shop Sin-é to his iconic Grace cover shoot to his rigorous tour around the world as he promoted his unprecedented debut. In 25 Years of Grace, Cyr joins forces with Jeff Buckley biographer Jeff Apter (A Pure The Life of Jeff Buckley) to produce an illustrated tribute to this classic album in celebration of its twenty-fifth anniversary.
The book features brand new interviews with Buckley insiders—Matt Johnson, Mick Grøndahl, Michael Tighe, Gary Lucas, Karl Berger, Andy Wallace, George Stein, Steve Berkowitz, and others—revealing the details about Buckley’s signing to a major label, the role of the band in creating arrangements, finding the right creative direction for the multifaceted songsmith, the songwriting process and final song selections, key meetings and collaborations, recording techniques, memorable moments in the studio, and more. The book also includes reflections about Buckley and Grace from an array of music artists—Butch Walker, Pete Yorn, Jimmy Gnecco, Glen Hansard, Holly Miranda, and Lenny Kaye, to name a few. Lavishly illustrated with many never-before-seen photographs, 25 Years of Grace takes a fresh look at the making and legacy of this classic album.
In the wake of his passing, Buckley has continued to garner new fans and influence countless artists. And while a number of posthumous releases of unpolished, deep cuts have helped satiate listeners over the years, it is his official studio album Grace that reverberates with at its release in 1994, the album sounded like nothing that had come before—and no album has repeated its essence since.
Photographer Merri Cyr was there along the way. She has documented Buckley’s career from his days at the East Village coffee shop Sin-é to his iconic Grace cover shoot to his rigorous tour around the world as he promoted his unprecedented debut. In 25 Years of Grace, Cyr joins forces with Jeff Buckley biographer Jeff Apter (A Pure The Life of Jeff Buckley) to produce an illustrated tribute to this classic album in celebration of its twenty-fifth anniversary.
The book features brand new interviews with Buckley insiders—Matt Johnson, Mick Grøndahl, Michael Tighe, Gary Lucas, Karl Berger, Andy Wallace, George Stein, Steve Berkowitz, and others—revealing the details about Buckley’s signing to a major label, the role of the band in creating arrangements, finding the right creative direction for the multifaceted songsmith, the songwriting process and final song selections, key meetings and collaborations, recording techniques, memorable moments in the studio, and more. The book also includes reflections about Buckley and Grace from an array of music artists—Butch Walker, Pete Yorn, Jimmy Gnecco, Glen Hansard, Holly Miranda, and Lenny Kaye, to name a few. Lavishly illustrated with many never-before-seen photographs, 25 Years of Grace takes a fresh look at the making and legacy of this classic album.
- GenresMusicNonfiction
256 pages, Hardcover
Published October 31, 2019
48 people want to read
About the author
Merri Cyr
4 books3 followersMerri Cyr is widely recognised as the official Jeff Buckley photographer, having shot the iconic Grace cover photo and countless other images of the artist. She lives in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 10, 2024
ik wou dit boek echt niet uit hebben, so I read just a few pages each morning, en ik ga dat gewoon opnieuw doen. Jeff Buckley heeft een heel speciale plek in mijn hart. zijn muziek doet iets wat niemand ooit eerder gedaan heeft en zal doen, er is niets dat dat evenaart. en nu ik dit boek gelezen heb weet ik dat zijn persoonlijkheid net zo uniek was. de fotografie van Merri Cyr is (licht uitgedrukt) prachtig en door de grootte van het boek kan je je echt verliezen in elke foto; ze heeft Jeff zodanig vastgelegd dat hij in elke foto een beetje tot leven komt. sommige foto’s hebben me tranen doen laten, echt heel pakkend. yeah, this was a very good buy
April 15, 2020
Absolutely beautiful photos are really the highlight of this book - Merri Cyr really did an amazing job truly capturing the moments of Jeff’s life and career. The interview format got a little tiresome in terms of the content, I more enjoyed the little excerpts towards the end as they felt less formulaic.
December 20, 2025
I guess people who would read this are mostly there for the photos of Jeff Buckley but I found the oral histories of his collaborators and peers around the time of his artistic emergence the most compelling.
August 23, 2024
Jeff Buckley will always have a special place in my heart
December 5, 2019
This book was a Best of the Best for the month of December, 2019, as selected by Stevo's Book Reviews on the Internet / Stevo's Nobel Ideas. You can find me at http://forums.delphiforums.com/stevo1, on my Stevo's Novel Ideas Amazon Influencer page (https://www.amazon.com/shop/stevo4747), on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Stevo4747), on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brocksteve/) or search for me on Google for many more reviews and recommendations.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews