Yup, still dead

The more the label/estate continue to milk Jeff Buckley's legacy to the point of quite disagreeably obvious money-grabbing desperation, the less I like him. Now, I know this shouldn't reflect on his music but it's hard to see the CDs on the shelf as a separate entity. Today marks ten years since Jeff took one of the most ill-advised paddles in history, and predicatably enough some people scent cash.
I went through a period of loving his stuff. I played 'Grace' for an age, then I picked up 'Sketches...' and 'Mystery White Boy'. And then 'Live A L'Olympia', then 'The Grace EPs', then the 'Sin-E - Legacy Edition' and most recently the 'Grace - Legacy Edition'. In addition I have the 'Live In Chicago' DVD. Most of these purchases involved the notion of potentially seeking out some unheard majesty to match the marvels of his debut album. Nothing was ever quite that engaging. These days, 'Live At Sin-E - Legacy 2CD set' is the one I derive most pleasure from. The random wittering and wandering into tunes aside, there's plenty of outstanding playing and singing on this set and it captures his talent more purely than any other release, in my book at least.

Now you can say, 'well, nobody forced you to buy all of that' and you'd be quite right. But anyone who's even vaguely obsessive about music knows what it's like as a collector and I even bought that 'Songs To No-One' guff featuring Gary Lucas. However, I've drawn the line recently with all of this 'So Real' marketing.
They've released a 7" of 'Hallelujah' this week!! Oh look, here's some more collectible shite for you. Oddly enough, it's a £3 7" rather than a more conventional 99p job. Strange that. In addition there's the 'best of' CD, 'So Real', with conveniently added traces of unreleased material to try and get another purchase. Not this time thanks. They've even repacked the 'Live At Chicago' DVD with the same sleeve as the CD best of, and yet in the most clear example of the constant money grabbing, when you turn it over, the back sleeve is the original artwork from the first version of the DVD, looking more than a little out of place.
Still adore 'Lover, You Should've Come Over', mind.

This is adapted from a post I made earlier today on the fabulous Elvis Costello fan forums. You can find that thread here.

A shit day for CD Wow! I notice. They'd better still send me my Dylan 'Don't Look Back' Deluxe Edition. Oh, and naturally I'm deeply sorry for any employees who may lose their jobs, their families, close friends, occassional aquaintances and the person who sells them their fresh veg each week. Although, I'm most concerned about the DVD.