Jeff Buckley – You and I (Legacy, 2016)
As pleasant and genuinely competent as Jeff Buckley’s covers have always been, there’s a decidedly unflattering allure to You and I, the latest posthumous release. Made up of raw demos recorded for Columbia Records prior to his solo album, Grace, Buckley solitarily runs through a wide assortment of covers, his voice as singular as ever. If its release feels a little pointless however, it’s because it is; nearly all of these songs have appeared on better live records in one form or another. As the already modest Buckley vaults are scraped clean, the question of posthumous boundaries is once again put back into question. Few posthumous releases truly feel necessary and You and I is no different, its purpose simply to put Buckley’s name back into people’s heads. Not every single found recording is deserving of an official release.
Trial Track: “Everyday People”
5/10
