When JFK Jr died there was an overwhelming sense of unfairness. His dad was the president, was asssassinated, the least the benign powers who rule the cosmos owed his son was a long life. Junior was 38 years old when he died in a plane crash.
Tim Buckley OD’d before he was 30 years old and his son? Jeff? Didn’t our benignly neglectful big man in the sky owe Jeff an old age. Perhaps. But I guess god was distracted because Jeff died at an even earlier age.
Jeff is something of a touchstone for post-grunge alt-rock. Daddy Tim an avant-garde folkie with a voice reminscent of his son.
And both have that operatic swing Bryan Ferry mines so well. Ferry covers Buckley Seniors “Songs For The Siren” from his upcoming Olympia to excellent effect. With Brian Eno on synthesizer and a virtual whose who of guitar prog division Phil Manzanera, David Gilmour, Nile Rodgers, Jonny Greenwood, all of the originals folkiness is displaced for a dark dancry Mamouna vibe.
It works great and you can listen to it on Stereogum