A new album of previously unheard Jeff Buckley recordings, entitled You and I, is due out March 16 of next year via Legacy Recordings, NPR reports. Most of the forthcoming album's tracks are covers, including The Smiths' "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" and "I Know It's Over," Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman," Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People" and Led Zeppelin's "Night Flight." Check out the full tracklist at the end of this article.
According to Pitchfork, the 10-track posthumous release compiles songs Buckley recorded early in his career in order to show producers the sound he had in mind for his debut album, 1994's Grace. In addition to a number of acoustic, lo-fi covers, the forthcoming release includes a few early demo versions of classic originals including "Grace" and "Dream of You and I."
It's been 18 years since the singer-songwriter drowned in the Mississippi river after releasing only one studio album, so the fact that there's any new material left to uncover at this point is intriguing in itself. His following has always been rather cultish, and he remains best known for his covers in which he totally reworks a song and makes it sound like a Buckley original. Watch his cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," below.
As NPR points out in their report, while the new album is coming in the midst of today's 1990s revivalism, Buckley doesn't exactly fit the mold. The Gen-Xer learned his art in NYC, not the Pacific Northwest, and cultivated a more jazz-inspired alt-rock sound than the fuzzy punk-infused rock of the grunge era. His particular brand of crooning is more reminiscent of female contemporaries like PJ Harvey and Tori Amos, or Fiona Apple a few years later. It's worth viewing the forthcoming release through such an historical lens because when the songs were recorded, most alt-rockers weren't exactly covering Dylan and Zeppelin.
You and I tracklist:
01. "Just Like A Woman" (Bob Dylan cover)
02. "Everyday People" (Sly & The Family Stone cover)
03. "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Cryin'" (First recorded by Louis Jordan)
04. "Grace" (original)
05. "Calling You" (Jevetta Steele cover)
06. "Dream Of You And I" (original)
07. "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" (The Smiths cover)
08. "Poor Boy Long Way From Home" (traditional blues song, Bukka White cover)
09. "Night Flight" (Led Zeppelin cover)
10. "I Know It's Over" (The Smiths cover)
