Eternal Life

by

Jeff Buckley

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This is, perhaps, one of the best EP's available to showcase Jeff Buckley's musical prowess and diversity. The "Road Version" of the title track is harder than most "hard rock" or "alternative" bands that fall within these labels. I think, given the empathic nature of Jeff's music, it lends the song an edge that most other "harder" bands lack; there's also a maturity in his sound and songwriting that seems infinitely wise beyond his youthful countenance. My two favourite tracks, however, are the live/acoustic renditions of "Last Goodbye" and "Lover You Should've Come Over". Both songs are beautifully crafted and powerfully moving. The recording quality is immaculate (probably live-in-studio) and the performances are electric! Essential listening for devoted and casual fans alike.

If you're just a casual Jeff Buckley fan I can't really recommend hunting down all his singles and EPs as it will get expensive and they're not easy to find. There aren't any b-sides on them anyway, except for "Lost Highway" on the "So Real" single. Here we have the "Eternal Life" single. Track 1 is the album version, nothing new. Track 2 is the "Road Version" of "Eternal Life", and it's played faster and harder. The "Mystery White Boy" live album's "Eternal Life" is played exactly the same way....so nothing really new. Track 3 and 4 are "Last Goodbye" and "Lover....", acoustic and live. This IS a good CD. I will not deny that. But I don't understand why Columbia put out all these EPs and singles and didn't include actual b-sides. There are a lot of songs, perfectly good songs Jeff recorded in the studio that could have been used but for unknown reasons his record company thought no one would notice that they were rehashing the same songs OVER and OVER.