Sketches (For My Sweetheart the Drunk)
Perhaps the most talented "son act" in pop music, Jeff Buckley combined the often harrowing eclecticism of estranged papaTim Buckleywith the rock acrobatics ofRobert Plant. This posthumously released collection of four-track demos and sessions helmed byTom Verlaineindicates that Buckley's astonishing full-length debut,Grace, 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 onPorter Wagoner's "Satisfied Mind" may not be as revelatory as his earlier version ofLeonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," this album offers ample proof that Buckley was among his generation's most gifted voices.--Bill Forman