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A Pure Drop: The Life Of Jeff Buckley
Author: Jeff Apter
Publisher: Omnibus Press
256 pages
 Writing about a subject like Jeff Buckley is somewhat dangerous, caught up as Buckley's image is in a trap of nauseating mythologising which tends to over-romanticise his short career because of his death. This has never been helped by the fact that Buckley himself played a little fast and loose with the truth when it came to biographical details, giving any writer tackling this difficult subject a tough job. Thankfully, Apter has done his research and, while he provides no new insights into Buckley's personality (as it seems that, quite genuinely, no one really knew the man), the resultant tome is well -written and structured.
Apter begins tracing Buckley's family history with an impressive amount of detail. Naturally, a moderately detailed overview of Buckley's father Tim's short yet productive career is included. In fact, this section threatens to take over the book, as the elder Buckley comes off as even more enigmatic and mysterious than his offspring.
The most interesting material here is that covering Buckley's formative music school years, when he studied guitar in Los Angeles, and the various bands he was involved with. Anecdotes are certainly the order of the day, with just about everyone who knew Buckley at the time pitching in a funny, sad or (oh dear) ominous story. One particularly nice revelation was that of Buckley's friendship with Frames front man (and later star of 'Once') Glen Hansard. Hansard's recollections pepper the book throughout, and are at all times respectful and shockingly honest, without ever falling into the sentimental or the maudlin.
One rather sour note however, is Apter's treatment of some of Buckley's influences. Whilst not particularly obvious on his recordings, Buckley was exceptionally passionate about progressive rock and jazz fusion. Apter tends to look on these genres with spite, singling out Yes and Weather Report for particularly harsh criticism. It's disrespectful and doesn't help the tone of the book.
Also unfortunate (though less critically so) is the coverage of Buckley's legacy. Relegated to a 'Coda', as it's named, it doesn't go into any real depth about the handling of Buckley's music after his death, a massive oversight considering that Buckley has probably sold more records posthumously. Other biographies of similarly posthumously popular artists such as Dann's eloquent book on Nick Drake, 'Deeper Than The Darkest Sea', have spent considerable space examining similar issues, much to their overall benefit. It's a shame that the same level of detail has not been employed here.
However, aside from these minor flaws; 'A Pure Drop: The Life Of Jeff Buckley' is a well-written history of a man who was, at the best of times, highly enigmatic. It's not the ultimate insight into the Buckley persona, but such a thing couldn't possibly exist. As such, it's mostly well-constructed, meticulously researched and promisingly unsentimental. Even those not overly interested in Buckley's music will find his strange lifetime curiously intriguing.
Patrick Lang
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