IT’S NEVER OVER, JEFF BUCKLEY

(Check out Jonathan Marlows’s It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley movie review, it’s in theaters now. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)

Although he hardly knew his biological father, Scottie Moorhead lived in Tim Buckley’s shadow. The boy, all of eight with a keen interest in music, attended one of his father’s performance and then, after the show, was invited to spend a few days at his home. They bonded, briefly, but that was their only occasion together. His father unexpectedly passed away several months later. Gone far too soon, as it is said. Thereafter, the son opted to revert from his middle-name / adopted-name to his birth-name: Jeff Buckley.

Tim Buckley recorded nine albums in his twenty-eight years. At thirty years-of-age, gone far too soon as well, Buckley-the-younger passed with a lone album and a handful of EPs, promotional or otherwise, released during his lifetime. While the tenor-to-falsetto range was embraced by both Buckleys, the multi-talented son had considerably more in common—songwriting- and disposition-wise—with Nick Drake (three LPs by the age of twenty-six). Or Elliot Smith (thirty-four, with five solo albums and two posthumous releases). Or even Chris Cornell (four solo records; fifty-two), a Buckley friend / fan. Not a competition, admittedly.

Tragic circumstances between fathers and sons are not exactly uncommon, admittedly. Bruce Lee and Brandon, for instance, share unfortunate parallels with their premature disappearances from this mortal coil. While Tim was certainly the better-known Buckley while Jeff was alive, in the years since his death (by drowning) the awareness of the two has entirely inverted. Potentially the result of Jeff Buckley’s fairly eclectic range of vocal-inspirations—Nina Simone; legendary Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; Led Zeppelin-era Robert Plant—yet not merely limited to influences since Buckley performed and / or recorded their songs as well. Listeners these days have an immense familiarity with the younger Buckley (if primarily due to a single cover-tune) while the elder has disappointingly faded from within earshot. One could note as evidence of their respective popularity the number of documentaries released about both of these singer / songwriters. Tim has a few from long ago. Jeff has several, including the latest: It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley.

Like many non-fiction biographies of late, It’s Never Over… tends to tell its tale through association(s): in this instance, girlfriends Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser along with Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert, with occasional asides from former bandmates and friends. Fueled by the desire of Brad Pitt to make a film about Jeff Buckley, a proposed narrative version transformed into a documentary with Amy Berg (Deliver us from Evil, West of Memphis, et alia) at the helm. With the participation of Guibert, keeper of the proverbial flame (and archive), the film soars auditorily / visually / artifactually.

Perhaps with the possible tethers of access to the exceptional performance footage and candid snapshots contained herein, an illusion of a bones-and-all portrait is somewhat denuded of skeletons. Most of the bones remain buried. For instance, details of his life rarely discussed elsewhere (such as his relationship with singer Elizabeth Fraiser and their otherwise unreleased collaboration, “All Flowers in Time Bend Towards the Sun”; she memorably sang his father’s “Song to the Siren” a decade earlier) gets no mention here. A duet by two of the most beautiful voices in the twentieth century? Possibly worthy of a footnote.

Somewhat unreasonable to fault these minor details when the materials—from his sessions at the Sin-é and his subsequent tours leading up to the recording of his (uncompleted) sophomore album—that comprise It’s Never Over… are rather richly rewarding. The film serves as both an ideal introduction for those with limited familiarity of the Buckleys to long-time / long-suffering fans desperate for more details. All should celebrate an opportunity to hear these arrangements in the acoustically-optimal setting of a cinema.

The song-selections / soundtrack consists almost entirely of Jeff Buckley songs or Buckley performing the songs of others (with the exception of a couple of recordings by his father). However, the core focus revolves around the ten songs from Grace, his first-and-only genuine LP, sprinkled throughout the duration in roughly the track-order of the album. Therein, the sequence concludes with the extraordinary “Dream Brother” (the first song Jeff wrote when drummer Matt Johnson and bassist Mick Grøndahl joined the band) and arguably one of the finest compositions ever included on a debut album.

The randiness-as-religous-enlightenment “Hallelujah” originated from the inspired verse of Leonard Cohen, as the end-credits attribution illustrates, but this requires some embellishment. Buckley’s version is by-way-of John Cale from a recording that appeared on the compilation I;m Your Fan using lyrics unused in its original release.  In the three decades since it appeared as one-among-ten tracks on Grace, it has become the star around which the other songs revolve for many listeners. It continues to be played and performed in large part due to his interpretation (with thanks, of course, to Cohen for writing it and Cale for transforming it).

If your familiarity begins-and-ends with “Hallelujah” then the rest will be a revelation.

[See also Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s exceptional HALLELUJAH: LEONARD COHEN, A JOURNEY, A SONG for an even better assessment of Buckley and his role as a catalyst for its latter-day successes.]

– Jonathan Marlow (@aliasMarlow), SV ARCHIVE [SCARECROW VIDEO] Executive Director

IT’S NEVER OVER, JEFF BUCKLEY (2025) dir. Amy Berg  [106min.] Magnolia Pictures / HBO Documentary Films / Plan B Entertainment / Fremantle et alia

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