Grace

by

Jeff Buckley

Edit

Grace is the only complete studio album by Jeff Buckley, released on August 23, 1994 (see 1994 in music). While the album initially had poor sales, only peaking at #149 in the U.S., it received wide critical acclaim. It has now sold over 2 million copies worldwide. An extended version of the album (subtitled Legacy Edition) celebrating its tenth anniversary was released on August 24, 2004, and it peaked at #44 in the UK.

Buckley's cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" remains one of his most well-known songs, and has been used extensively in many U.S. television series and films, including The West Wing, The O.C., One Tree Hill,The Edukators and Saint Ralph. In 2004, this version was ranked #259 on Rolling Stone's article "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The cover re-entered the UK chart at number 2 during Christmas 2008, following the release of another version by X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke which took the number 1 slot.

Buckley's version of "Corpus Christi Carol" was based on a version by Janet Baker. A childhood friend introduced him to the song, and Buckley sang a version on the album as a way of thanking him.

Grace has been listed as a highly rated album in many popular magazines, such as Q magazine, where readers voted Grace the 75th greatest album of all time; the same vote was taken again towards the end of 2005, this time Grace being placed at 13. In 2003, the album was ranked number 303 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2006, Mojo Magazine named Grace the #1 Modern Rock Classic of all Time. It was also rated as Australia's second favourite album on My Favourite Album, a television special done by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation aired on December 3, 2006. Grace re-entered the Top 50 album charts in Australia at number 44 for the week of 29 January to 5 February 2007, 13 years after its original release date. It is currently certified 6x Platinum in Australia.