Product Description

During his 30 years, Jeff Scott Buckley lived many lives: suburban loner, music school misfit, and rock and roll gypsy. His real life was only revealed after his tragic death, 10 years ago in the Mississippi river, hours before he was due to start rehearsals for the follow up album to "Grace". Jeff Buckley's friends, peers, enemies, lovers, collaborators and others all speak of the Jeff Buckley they knew, or in some cases, they thought they knew. The contents of his many personal letters are revealed for the first time. His struggle with writers block is explored as is his ongoing battles with the concept of stardom, his desire for escape and the attempts to deal with the unavoidable legacy of his equally gifted father, Tim Buckley. Even after his death 10 years ago, he is still influential - Radiohead and Coldplay readily confess to his influence on their craft and Bono once said 'Jeff Buckley was a pure drop in an ocean of noise.'

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116272 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 300 pages

About the Author
The former Music Editor of Australian Rolling Stone, Jeff Apter is the author of the critically and commercially successful books, Fornication: The Red Hot Chili Peppers Story, Never Enough: THe Story of The Cure, A New Tomorrow, The Silverchair Story, amongst others. He lives in Sydney with his wife, two children and a heft music collection.

Customer Reviews

Thoughtful insight into Jeff Buckley
A Pure Drop is a clear-eyed exploration of a complex character. Apter treads gently as he reveals Jeff Buckley to be more than just high voice, the curly hair and killer looks. Buckley's relationship with his mother and father and the impact that has on his art, his interaction with fellow musicians and the lovers in his life are carefully and considerately examined. What appeals most about the book is that the respect Apter clearly feels for his subject never outweighs the impartiality with which the facts and conversations are presented. A great read which should appeal to absolute fans of Jeff Buckley's music and also those who simply enjoy a well written biography of an interesting and too short life.

A must-have for a fan of Jeff Buckley
As a solid Jeff Buckley fan, this new biography was a must-have for me and I finished reading it in no time. I really enjoyed Jeff Apter's work a lot. He concentrates on Jeff Buckley's lifepath while giving us sufficient information on his surroundings and the time frame to make the picture complete. Also, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that Jeff Apter gave a couple of new faces in Jeff-Buckley-bio-land a voice, like The Frames' frontman Glen Hansard who has some great things to share about his late friend. In many ways, this biography is complementary to David Browne's "Dream Brother", which I liked a lot too. Only, half of Browne's book tells the story of Tim Buckley. I was glad to read his story too, but sometimes it even got a bit boring since the links with his son Jeff Buckley are rare, but those are the facts.
"A pure drop" seems to me as a result of thorough research and comes from an author who is obviously used to writing about music. I think he does Jeff Buckley's story nothing but honour, as did David Browne. Yet I feel that this new biography goes further in the details and has more stories told by many persons who were close to Jeff. There's also a 10 page long 'coda' that shines a light on all the posthumous releases that Jeff Buckley's music got to see since 1997, combined with good arguments on the critique that certain persons have towards these releases.
I would strongly recommend this book to any Jeff Buckley fan. It offers fantastic stories and a huge amount of facts on the life of this unbelievable artist, as well as on the ever interesting and lived-through and warm though often complicated person that he was.

New insight into the world of Jeff Buckley
A Pure Drop: The Life of Jeff Buckley is engaging and enlightening, even if you do not know the musical contributions of Jeff Buckley. For those who are very aware of the gift and many talents that Jeff left behind, you will obtain "feelings and emotions" as shared by those who knew him, worked along side him and lived life with him.