Among the legions of rockers who died way too young--including Jeff Buckley's father, Tim--few have approached the artistic range and seemingly limitless potential on display here. In the decade since Buckley's death, there has been such a flood of posthumous releases that it might be hard to remember that he issued only a four-cut live EP and a studio debut album while he was alive. This anthology serves as an effective introduction for the initiate, showing how Buckley could rock with the slash-and-burn intensity of Led Zeppelin on "Eternal Life (Road Version)," turn rapturous with the reverie of "Lover, You Should've Come Ove," and cover the likes of Edith Piaf ("Je N'en Connais Pas La Fin") and Leonard Cohen (his by now iconic transformation of "Hallelujah"). Completists will need this for the live versions of "So Real" and the Smiths' "I Know It's Over," previously unreleased commercially. Whether Buckley would ever have been able to balance the control that mature artistry requires and the ecstatic abandon that distinguished him, such raw talent continues to startle. --Don McLeese
Resembling at times a soft-sung Robert Plant, Buckley was an intuitive vocalist capable of dizzying arabesques and choir-boy sweetness. He is joined here by a tight band for 10 tracks highlighting his stylistic range--Pearl Jam bluesy on "Eternal Life," impossibly serene on Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," art-school noisy on "So Real," Led Zep daring on "Mojo Pin." Unorthodox, this was the debut of '94. --Jeff Bateman
