sphinx reviewed Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley on + 97 more book reviews
I only read this book for information about Jeff, so I skipped most of the Tim chapters.
This was an interesting read, with a lot of detail offered from a variety of sources about Jeff's life and career. The author talked to friends, lovers, bandmates, family members, and business associates to build a picture of Jeff as a person. I appreciated the author's attempt to tell everyone's story, without taking a side, since there are some conflicting viewpoints. It does become clear, though, that the author isn't really an artist at heart and relates more strongly to the businessmen in the narrative than to Jeff or his bandmates, which can be frustrating to read.
It becomes obvious over the course of the book that Jeff was surrounded by soulless blood-sucking parasites, of the lawyer and music industry variety, and much of the animalistic fighting over money at the end of the book is revolting to read about. Jeff's managers and everyone at the record label come across as really awful people with very little capacity for empathy. Jeff's frustration over lack of control of his career also becomes fully understandable in this light. He really should have gone with an indie label with a hands-off attitude, instead of a controlling, micromanaging megacorporation.
I enjoyed learning more about Jeff's creative process and the dynamics within the band, though there could have been much more detail on those aspects. It sounds like Jeff had a painful perfectionist streak that really hindered his creativity at times and that he needed a low-pressure, open-ended creative environment in which to develop ideas, which is basically the opposite of what he ended up with after getting signed.
What's very sad is the description of Jeff's mental state at the end of his life, as described by those around him. It sounds like he was really struggling with lethal mood-swings of the bipolar variety and could have used some help. His decision to call up loads of people he hadn't spoken to in years right before his death strongly indicates he was fighting off terminal depression. Unsurprising for a sensitive man who went through an emotionally damaging childhood and was under a ton of stress.
Jeff was a deep person, but the author of the book is not, and so a lot of subtlety is missed here. The author comes across as pretentious, yet not especially smart: he uses [sic] incorrectly at one point, uses the word "ironic" to mean "synchronistic", and generally gets little details wrong in a way that shows he doesn't care all that much about music in actuality (or perhaps he simply lacks contientiousness).
A good read for a Jeff Buckley fan, not a great one. My favourite book on Jeff so far is A Wished-For Song by Merri Cyr and various of Jeff's friends and bandmates. That book really captures a spark of Jeff's vitality and charisma.
3.5/5 stars for providing lots of factual details and a good timeline of Jeff's life.
This was an interesting read, with a lot of detail offered from a variety of sources about Jeff's life and career. The author talked to friends, lovers, bandmates, family members, and business associates to build a picture of Jeff as a person. I appreciated the author's attempt to tell everyone's story, without taking a side, since there are some conflicting viewpoints. It does become clear, though, that the author isn't really an artist at heart and relates more strongly to the businessmen in the narrative than to Jeff or his bandmates, which can be frustrating to read.
It becomes obvious over the course of the book that Jeff was surrounded by soulless blood-sucking parasites, of the lawyer and music industry variety, and much of the animalistic fighting over money at the end of the book is revolting to read about. Jeff's managers and everyone at the record label come across as really awful people with very little capacity for empathy. Jeff's frustration over lack of control of his career also becomes fully understandable in this light. He really should have gone with an indie label with a hands-off attitude, instead of a controlling, micromanaging megacorporation.
I enjoyed learning more about Jeff's creative process and the dynamics within the band, though there could have been much more detail on those aspects. It sounds like Jeff had a painful perfectionist streak that really hindered his creativity at times and that he needed a low-pressure, open-ended creative environment in which to develop ideas, which is basically the opposite of what he ended up with after getting signed.
What's very sad is the description of Jeff's mental state at the end of his life, as described by those around him. It sounds like he was really struggling with lethal mood-swings of the bipolar variety and could have used some help. His decision to call up loads of people he hadn't spoken to in years right before his death strongly indicates he was fighting off terminal depression. Unsurprising for a sensitive man who went through an emotionally damaging childhood and was under a ton of stress.
Jeff was a deep person, but the author of the book is not, and so a lot of subtlety is missed here. The author comes across as pretentious, yet not especially smart: he uses [sic] incorrectly at one point, uses the word "ironic" to mean "synchronistic", and generally gets little details wrong in a way that shows he doesn't care all that much about music in actuality (or perhaps he simply lacks contientiousness).
A good read for a Jeff Buckley fan, not a great one. My favourite book on Jeff so far is A Wished-For Song by Merri Cyr and various of Jeff's friends and bandmates. That book really captures a spark of Jeff's vitality and charisma.
3.5/5 stars for providing lots of factual details and a good timeline of Jeff's life.
