Even with a whisper, his music resonates

Jeff Buckley released only one studio album during his lifetime -- 1994’s “Grace” -- and it was an exquisite look at romantic innocence and obsession. But a new retrospective is an even more satisfying display of why he was one of the most promising artists of his generation.

Most of all, the new “So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley” CD reminds you of how astonishingly good a singer he was, someone with a strong, but subdued touch of the aggressive jazz and soul instincts of Van Morrison.

How special a singer was Buckley, who drowned in Memphis in 1997?

Until I heard his version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” on “Grace,” my favorite Cohen song was “Bird on the Wire.” But Buckley’s version was so hauntingly beautiful that “Hallelujah” since replaced “Bird” as my favorite.

Buckley’s gentle interpretation, one of 14 tracks on “So Real,” features a vocal no louder than a whisper as he conveys the intimacy and grace of the song’s search for salvation and inner peace: “There’s a blaze of light in every word; It doesn’t matter which you heard, the holy, or the broken Hallelujah.”

Jeff Buckley

“So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley”

Columbia/Legacy

The back story: Every article written about Buckley has probably mentioned that he was the son of Tim Buckley, a richly talented singer-songwriter who died of a heroin overdose in 1975 at age 28. And the young Buckley probably resented every mention, because the two had almost no personal connection. Tim Buckley’s year-plus marriage to Mary Guibert ended before their son was born in Anaheim in 1966.

“Everything I know about him was secondhand except for about a week, and then I don’t remember much,” Jeff Buckley said in a 1995 interview. “Genetics be dammed ... I have completely different musical choices.”

Buckley developed an early interest in music and moved to New York around 1990 to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter. He signed with Columbia Records after creating a buzz in folk clubs and began working on “Grace.” Though Buckley was a gifted writer, his greatest strength may have been that voice, especially live, where he rarely sang a song the same way twice. Rather, he seemed to search each time for added vocal color in an effort to fully capture the emotion behind the various themes.

The retrospective, which will be released next Tuesday, includes four tracks from “Grace” along with two numbers (including an homage to Edith Piaf, another influence) from a live 1993 EP as well as a previously unreleased version of the Smiths’ “I Know It’s Over.”

Buckley’s mother, Guibert, has been actively involved in her son’s releases since his death, and she co-produced “So Real.” Her goal was to capture the entire range of her son’s music by modeling it after the kind of tapes he assembled with music of his favorite artists. The plan worked beautifully.

One More Thing: Leonard Cohen/Elvis Costello reissues. Columbia/Legacy also has just released Cohen’s first three albums in deluxe editions as part of a 40th anniversary salute -- “Songs of Leonard Cohen,” the 1967 debut; “Songs From a Room,” the 1969 follow-up which contained “Bird on the Wire,” and “Songs of Love and Hate,” the 1970 album that featured “Famous Blue Raincoat.” All contain previously unreleased tracks.

If you want to hear Cohen’s version of “Hallelujah,” however, you’ll have to get 1984’s “Various Positions” studio album or “The Essential Leonard Cohen,” a two-disc retrospective. Cohen chose the 31 tunes on “Essential,” offering a clue to his take on his own albums. The set includes five from the debut, two from “Room” and just one from “Hate.” The album with the most tracks on “Essential” is 1988’s “I’m Your Man”; six numbers, including the marvelous “Everybody Knows.”

Hip-O Records has also just released “The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years,” a 22-track update of a 22-song “very best of” album from Rykodisc in 1994. Again, Costello selected the songs. Interestingly, he replaced three from the 1994 set with three others. The songs dropped: “New Amsterdam,” “Watch Your Step” and “Love Field.” Taking their place on the new collection: “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes,” “New Lace Sleeves” and “Almost Blue.” Hip-O has also released a companion “best of,” this one focusing on Costello’s more high-energy side: “Rock and Roll Music.”

Backtracking, a biweekly feature, highlights CD reissues and other historical pop music items.