Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk

Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk
Studio album by Jeff Buckley
Released	May 26, 1998
Recorded	Summer 1996, New York; Spring 1997, Memphis
Genre	Rock alternative rock experimental rock lo-fi (disc two)
Length	91:46
Label	Columbia
Producer	Nicholas Hill Tom Verlaine
Jeff Buckley chronology
Live from the Bataclan (1996) Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk (1998) Mystery White Boy (2000)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The A.V. Club	(Favorable)[2]
Pitchfork Media	(8.9/10)[3]
Rolling Stone	[4]
Slant Magazine	[5]

Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk is a collection of polished studio tracks and four-track demos recorded by Jeff Buckley. Buckley was dissatisfied with material recorded in the summer of 1996 and early in 1997 and continued working on demo recordings to refine his sound. The album was to be titled My Sweetheart, the Drunk, but was never finished, as the rest of the band were traveling to meet Buckley at the time of his death. The album was released posthumously on May 26, 1998 (see 1998 in music). Despite its unfinished state, the album garnered many positive reviews; The Onion's AV Club called it "frustratingly incomplete, but mostly remarkable." The album's original sessions were produced by Television frontman Tom Verlaine.

"My Sweetheart the Drunk" was the working title that Buckley used while writing and recording the album. The title was intended by his mother and sole heir of his estate, Mary Guibert, to be rendered with parentheses, as Sketches for (My Sweetheart the Drunk). This was because Jeff's work was not finished, and therefore was just an outline, or "sketch," of what would have been released.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Jeff Buckley; except where indicated

• Disc One

1. "The Sky Is a Landfill" (Jeff Buckley, Michael Tighe) – 5:09
2. "Everybody Here Wants You" – 4:46
3. "Opened Once" – 3:29
4. "Nightmares by the Sea" – 3:53
5. "Yard of Blonde Girls" (Audrey Clark, Lori Kramer, Inger Lorre) – 4:07
6. "Witches' Rave" – 4:40
7. "New Year's Prayer" – 4:40
8. "Morning Theft" – 3:39
9. "Vancouver" (Jeff Buckley, Mick Grøndahl, Michael Tighe) – 3:12
10. "You & I" – 5:39

• Disc Two

1. "Nightmares by the Sea" [Original Mix] – 3:49
2. "New Year's Prayer" [Original Mix] – 4:10
3. "Haven't You Heard" – 4:07
4. "I Know We Could Be So Happy Baby (If We Wanted to Be)" – 4:27
5. "Murder Suicide Meteor Slave" – 5:55
6. "Back in N.Y.C." (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford) – 7:37
7. "Demon John" (Jeff Buckley, Michael Tighe) – 5:13
8. "Your Flesh Is So Nice" – 3:37
9. "Jewel Box" – 3:37
10. "Satisfied Mind" (Red Hayes, Jack Rhodes) (recorded 1992.10.11 WFMU) – 6:00

International (non-US) editions of Disc 2 include the bonus track "Gunshot Glitter" (Jeff Buckley) as Track 7 for a total of 21 tracks. The Japanese edition of Disc 2 also includes the bonus track "Thousand Fold" (Jeff Buckley) as Track 11 for a total of 22 tracks.^[6]

Personnel

• Jeff Buckley - guitar, vocals
• Michael Tighe - guitar
• Mick Grøndahl - bass
• Eric Eidel - drums
• Parker Kindred - drums
• Benjamin Goldstein - ?
• Chris Theodore - Security
• Producers: Nicholas Hill, Tom Verlaine
• Engineers: Jeff Buckley, Michael J. Clouse, Ray Martin, Irene Trudel
• Assistant engineers: Jim Caruana, Joe Lizzi, David Seitz
• Mixing: Tom Cadley, Michael J. Clouse, Mary Guibert, Tom Verlaine, Andy Wallace
• Mixing assistant: Steve Sisco
• Art direction: Nicky Lindeman, Gail Marowitz
• Design: Nicky Lindeman, Gail Marowitz
• Photography: Merri Cyr
• Liner notes: Bill Flanagan, Mary Guibert

Charts

Album

Singles

Miscellaneous

• Swedish doom metal band, Katatonia, recorded a cover of "Nightmares by the Sea", which appeared on the Tonight's Decision album and then later on their The Black Sessions compilation.
• Jambi's Revenge recorded a cover of "Nightmares by the Sea" on their album Origins in 2010.
• The USA original series The Dead Zone (based on the Stephen King novel of the same name) used "New Year's Prayer" as its theme song for the first three seasons.

References