Live at Sin-e EP
CD, 1993, 6599682
CD, 1993, 6599682
| Tracklist: Disc 1: 01. Mojo Pin 02. Eternal Life 03. Je N'en Connais Pas La Fin 04. The Way Young Lovers Do Notes: | Original Sin-e EP, released some 10 years before the expanded 2cd set. American CD #: 44K 77296 Australian CD #: 659968 2 European CD #: ABB 61 XCD American MC #: 44T 77296 American LP #: 44 77296 "[The Sin-E EPP] pretty much serves a few functions. It's like a love letter to that place. I love Sin-E (a popular East Village coffee house). Anything can happen there, and it usually does. It could be like some really crappy chick on a stool with an acoustic guitar or it can be Marianne Faithful walking in and doing a set at 1 o'clock in the morning." -- Jeff Buckley (Aidin Vaziri Interview) "Buckley signed with Columbia at the end of 1992 due in large part, he says, to his personal connection with A&R man Steve Berkowitz, a long-haired hipster whose shank of chin hair makes him look like an Egyptian pharaoh and whose love of blues and R&B manifested itself in his weekend gigs as guitarist "T. Blade." Berkowitz advised a slow build for Buckley, doing everything possible to avoid hype. They rejected offers of interviews with fashion magazines and photos for the Gap, and determined to take the pressure off the first album by preceding it with an EP recorded live and solo at Cafe Sin-e. The four-song EP was recorded in a marathon set at Sin-e last August. Andy Wallace, who had mixed Soul Asylum, Guns N' Roses and Nirvana was brought in to produce. The recording gear was set up in a small pub two doors down. During Jeff's set the Sin-e regulars were joined by top brass from Columbia/Sony. Jeff, who seemed to be in an exceptionally light-hearted mood, played just about every song in his eclectic repertoire. The three hour-plus set provided plenty of examples of the lessons Jeff had learned about including the audience in his show. A couple of hours along, a bag lady wandered in and stood staring at Jeff, who began singing to her (to the tune of the old Hollies hit, "Long Cool Woman"), "She was a short black woman." She took offense and started squawking at him. Jeff noted that her squawks sounded like Howlin' Wolf and sang Wolf licks back at her in a bizarre Howlin'/hecklin' duet. When a waitress quieted her down, someone else yelled out a request for something by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. If it was a dare, they picked the wrong boy. Buckley is a big fan of the Pakistani singer and launched into a monologue about his hero, as well as a generous sampling of Nusrat's music. At this point a few of the Sony execs began peeling the labels off their beer bottles and staring at their watches, but there was a good hour left to go. During that night's version of Astral Weeks' "The Way Young Lovers Do," Jeff surprised everyone by launching into a scat-solo. He'd never done it before, but the tape caught it and the song made the final EP selection. (Buckley was relieved when it proved too eccentrically played and sung to be edited down.) Jeff played and played, the tapes next door rolled and rolled. Perhaps aware that some of the record execs were there because they had to be, Buckley began strumming "The End" by the Doors and reciting, "'Jeff?' 'Yes, Sony?' 'We want to fffff-fgggg you!' 'Wo! Ugh!'" The Sony bigwigs smiled. By the end of the night Buckley, Berkowitz and Wallace knew they had plenty of good material from which to pull four songs. Everyone felt great, although when one bystander joked to Buckley that he had just given Sony a couple of boxed sets worth of music to stick in their vaults, Berkowitz stopped smiling long enough to warn the big-mouth, "Don't tell him that." " (excerpt from the article 'The Arrival of Jeff Buckley: A Talented Young Musician Learns to Navigate the Record Business While Protecting His Music', Bill Flanagan, Musician, February 1994, p97-101) "In the liner notes to Live at Sin-e, Jeff gives a shout-out to Tree Man. Let me tell you the story I witnessed one night at Sin-e. Tree Man was an older, African-American homeless guy who hung out in the East Village. He stuck tree branches that he found in parks in the back of his shirt, so they rose behind his head. He often walked around and talked to himself. He would beg for change in the local bars, cafes and restaurants, no matter what was going on, and, at Sin-e, his entrance would instantly shut down whoever was playing, since the place was so small. One night, Jeff was doing his Monday night gig at Sin-e, and Tree Man walked in and started loudly asking each table for change. I don’t remember what song Jeff was playing, but he stopped when it became impossible to continue. Instead of getting mad or frustrated, Jeff started talking to Tree Man, asking him where he was from, etc. Tree Man was kind of crazy and not that lucid, but Jeff managed to get him to tell him that he was from Mississippi. Jeff asked him if he grew up singing the blues. Tree Man said yes. Jeff asked him what songs he liked to sing. Tree Man named a couple of songs, and Jeff knew one of them. He invited Tree Man to the mic and started playing the song on his guitar. Tree Man, to everyone’s astonishment, started singing, and he was pretty damn good. A soulful, rough, gravelly voice. Tree Man sang the entire song, accompanied by Jeff on the guitar and backing vocals, and when they finished, the place exploded in applause. Jeff passed the tip bucket and asked people to “pay” for the performance, and people started throwing significant money in the bucket. Jeff asked the waitress to bring Tree Man a sandwich, which she did. Jeff collected the money from the hat, gave it to Tree Man, and the old guy walked out into the night like nothing happened. It was one of the most magical musical moments I’ve ever experienced. - Gregory Smith |