Althouse: "Just Like A Woman" by Jeff Buckley... just released on line.

January 13, 2016

"Just Like A Woman" by Jeff Buckley... just released on line.

From a album called You and I — "a collection of heretofore-undiscovered, early-'90s studio recordings" — coming out in March.

16 comments:

Laslo Spatula said...: You don't swim in the Mississippi wearing Boots.

Great Voice, Great Guitar.

Great Looks.

Song-writing: was still developing. Who knows.

Best cover ever: Big Star's Kanga Roo/

I would put Big Star's 'Sisters Lovers (3rd)' up with 'Blood on the Tracks,' only the Fear is more Present.

Also: see Holocaust.

I'll leave you to find "Big Black Car".

I am Laslo.; 1/13/16, 9:36 PM
Roughcoat said...: Ugh. Sensitive artist pretty-boy type. He laid it on too thick. I was acquainted with his father, he laid it on thick too.; 1/13/16, 9:51 PM
Christopher said...: Don't believe the comments above. The idea that Jeff Buckley was a great singer and musician who wasn't yet a good songwriter is obliterated by the perfect songwriting of "Lover, You Should've Come Over," "Grace," and "Last Goodbye." That myth is enabled by his love for a quality cover--he cobbled the definitive version of "Hallelujah" out of Leonard Cohen and John Cale--but why that should be held against him, I don't know. As for "sensitive pretty-boy artist type," well, the dumb biases in that statement mostly speak for themselves.

He only really put out one album, but it's one of the greats.; 1/13/16, 10:02 PM
madAsHell said...: Who's gonna make money off of this?; 1/13/16, 10:18 PM
Amexpat said...: Listening to Dylan covers is a bit of a hobby for me. This one falls flat - I agree with the comment above that he's laying it on too thick.

Richie Havens cover is the best I've heard of " Just Like a Woman". If I could choose one undiscovered version to miraculously come to light, it would be by Sinatra.; 1/13/16, 10:42 PM
sunsong said...: Good song. Here's another version by Barbara Higbie; 1/13/16, 11:36 PM
Wince said...: Now on MTV...

Just Like a Woman: A Benefit for North African "Refugees"; 1/14/16, 4:12 AM
rhhardin said...: It should be "You and me" unless it's an actual subject of a finite verb.; 1/14/16, 5:44 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Nice performance. Way too much reverb.; 1/14/16, 6:37 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "U and I" is a book of some repute.; 1/14/16, 7:01 AM
mikeski said...: His version of "Hallelujah" is the theme song of The Academy Of The Overrated.; 1/14/16, 7:18 AM
Bob R said...: Love the guitar tone. I like this cover better.; 1/14/16, 8:00 AM
Roughcoat said...: As for "sensitive pretty-boy artist type," well, the dumb biases in that statement mostly speak for themselves.

Well, okay. But I stand by what I said. I'm tempted to dismiss him as a poseur, but I think he was sincere in his posing. So I'll simply say he was treacly and overwrought. His rendition of "Hallelujah" is over the top in terms of laying it on thick. It needs Leonard Cohen's grit: absent that (and that is woefully absent) it is insufferably sappy. Makes me think he sang it that way to get laid by 1960s Bryn Mawr girls attending his performance at a coffee house in The Village.; 1/14/16, 10:39 AM
Christopher said...: Not sure what you mean about "1960s Bryn Mawr girls," since Cohen's version is from 1984 and Buckley's is from 1994. But I admit I'm flabbergasted by calling Buckley the one who "lays it on thick" when Cohen's got a freaking choir backing him up--as if we needed reminding what kind of word "hallelujah" is. Cohen's a legend, but "Hallelujah" is miles from his best work.

Buckley's riffing on John Cale's version, and Rufus Wainwright's post-Buckley version is more like Cale's, too. Those versions are "treacly." I think Buckley's is pretty understated.; 1/14/16, 11:28 AM
Roughcoat said...: He's copping an attitude and adopting a style that came and went long before he recorded the song. That's what I meant.; 1/14/16, 12:41 PM
Roughcoat said...: I don't like his attitude or style. If that angers you to the point where you feel obliged to insult me, well ... have fun with that.; 1/14/16, 12:45 PM