Replay: Jeff Buckley, Grace, 1994

Like most artistic masterpieces, Jeff Buckley's only proper studio album, Grace, was not well-received when it emerged in August 1994. Despite the extraordinary hopes some had for Buckley--son of beloved singer/songwriter Tim Buckley, who died at age 28 in 1975--it was an underwhelming presence among the alt-rock heavyweights that year.

But Buckley had his fans, and among the most passionate were his fellow rock musicians (like Jimmy Page, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello and U2). By the time he drowned in the Mississippi River near Memphis in 1997, Grace had become a word-of-mouth phenomenon. Grace has only gone gold in the U.S., but it stands as one of the most influential albums of the 1990s. You can hear Buckley's expressionism in vocalists like Thom Yorke and Damien Rice and soundscapers like PJ Harvey and Joseph Arthur. Fitting, given the inspiration he saw in acts like Nick Drake, Van Morrison and Soundgarden.

Grace recently has been expanded in a commemorative package, which includes another disc full of covers and unreleased tracks, and a DVD with live performances and a documentary. It is a worthy acquisition because, studio cuts and leftovers alike, it consistently exhibits an artistic beauty so inherent in Buckley. Free of studio trickery and packed with human vulnerability, Grace feels natural in vision and skill, resonant in both jubilance and pain.

Much has been said about the original album itself--the spooky grandeur of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," the jangly conviction exuded on the title track--but on this particular version, the tracks of note are the supplemental ones. Most anticipated is the ballad "Forget Her," swapped out for the original's "So Real" at the last minute. It's a superior track, though Sony's hopes of a posthumous hit seem far-fetched. The highlight of the second disc might be "I Want Someone Badly," a soul song written by Shudder to Think that unearths another dynamic to Buckley's seven-octave personality, which this package so bountifully presents.--Mike Prevatt