Sketches for my Sweetheart the Drunk (Reissue) (Vinyl 3LP)

We'll never know for sure what artistic heights Jeff Buckley might have gone on to reach, since he was taken from us so obscenely early, with only time enough to complete one album and begin work on a second. With the help of Sketches, though, we can make some educated guesses.

This double-disc, lovingly assembled by Buckley's friends, colleagues and family, gathers together both his studio efforts and home 4-track demos for the album he was trying to complete up until his tragic drowning. The studio sessions, produced by Tom Verlaine, find Buckley downplaying his phenomenal vocal abilities somewhat, in favour of focusing on the songs, from the Zeppelinisms of The Sky Is A Landfill to the undoubtedly Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan-influenced New Year's Prayer and the beautiful, ethereal You & I.

The home demos show Buckley's more experimental, playful side, an aspect of his music presumably encouraged by his pals/heroes The Grifters, whose lo-fi masterpieces inspired Buckley to work in the same studio in Memphis. The closing Satisfied Mind, from an earlier live radio broadcast, is a touching elegy to an artistic flame that was extinguished far too soon.

Tracklisting:

1. The Sky Is A Landfill 
2. Everybody Here Wants You 
3. Opened Once
4. Nightmares By The Sea 
5. Yard Of Blonde Girls 
6. Witches' Rave 
7. New Year's Prayer
8. Morning Theft 
9. Vancouver
10. You & I 
11. Nightmares By The Sea 
12. New Year's Prayer 
13. Haven't You Heard 
14. I Know We Could Be So Happy Baby (If We Wanted To Be) 
15. Murder Suicide Meteor Slave 
16. Back In N.Y.C. 
17. Demon John
18. Your Flesh Is So Nice 
19. Jewel Box 
20. Satisfied Mind