Drunk or not, swimming in the Mississippi with clothes on was a stupid move. And not just because it's a physical feat that would bedevil a seasoned swimmer. No, it was stupid because it was a waste of real, raw talent. In fact, it was as stupid as Grace is brilliant. Jeff Buckley's debut album is an eclectic masterpiece that showcases mind-boggling versatility, restless creativity, and a voice that should've been on the federally protected species list. It positively sprawls. And not in the sense of The Suburbs, where "sprawling" means the purposeful march to annex more of the same. There's nothing quite so systematic here. Rather, at turns, this album fitfully and listlessly spreads out a wide open musical landscape and then settles it with unsettling valleys, peaks, and plains. On the title track, it lopes. On "Lilac Wine," it drapes. On "Mojo Pin," it lingers (and malingers). Buckley wails and croons, moans and cajoles. And like any good Renaissance man, he does all of them well. His range is dizzying. "Lover You Should've Come Over" is about as romantic as songs can get (even if it likely launched a thousand John Mayers). It being 1994, a few of the tracks are weighed down by a leaden grungy crunch, but most of the arrangements are tasteful and invigorating. Particularly, the cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" - a song that seems to have been sung more than "Happy Birthday" - is a perfect compromise between restraint and exultation. It begins with Buckley letting out a weary, sighing exhalation and then, over the tones of a lone chiming guitar, he moves between sweet, whispered lows and heart-breaking, hollered highs. Here and elsewhere ("Corpus Christi Carol") he exhibits a gift for sometimes formal, sometimes jazzy enunciation that calls to mind his famous father or more modern singers like Antony. The riverboat hustlers of the Mississippi probably robbed millions of dollars from rubes and dupes over the years, but those crimes are petty next to what Big Muddy stole from music when Jeff Buckley waded in for that fateful midnight swim. Grade: A-
