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CD Review by Ian Chiclo JEFF BUCKLEY Mystery White Boy: Live ’95 - ’96 Columbia · Twelve live recordings of material largely taken from Grace, as well as a 10-minute version of Alex Chilton’s "Kanga Roo." Icarus drowned when he flew too near the sun. When Jeff Buckley was swallowed by the Mississippi in 1997, it ended a career which was on the way to becoming legendary. With only one full-length record to his credit, Columbia pieced together another – 1998’s posthumous studio release Sketches for My Sweetheart The Drunk. The album was a mere fragment of Buckley’s talent and little more than a curiosity. Mystery White Boy, on the other hand, captures the essence of Buckley’s wild spirit – the singer balanced on the fine line between genius and madman. With his Robert Plant vocals, Buckley takes a song from a whisper to a scream at the drop of a Leonard Cohen reference, and the entire time you get the idea that his band has no idea what is going to happen next. This is a fitting conclusion to a career which flew too close to the sun. 4/5

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