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December 12, 2006
I see that we have a poll of the top ten favourite Australian albums of all time, courtesy of the ABC. Suprisingly, the top 3 albums are:
Pink Floyd --- Dark Side Of The Moon
Jeff Buckley ----Grace
Radiohead ----Ok Computer
Even more suprisingly, the Rolling Stones only come in at no 95 with Sticky Fingers.
Cheryl Lawrie, commenting in The Age, says that 'the fact a relatively obscure album such as Grace came in at number two seemed to give the poll a certain authenticity.Nonetheless, it was surprising. Jeff Buckley's music was always critically acclaimed, but he's never been mainstream.'
Lawrie goes on to say that what is intriguing about this album is the depth of naked spirituality in the album. It might even be better described as religious:
This is a collection of psalms for the non-religious, putting its faith in a redemption it has serious doubts about. I'm not sure we knew we were like this. It surprises us when other people feel so deeply and ask these kind of questions. But Grace asks them with a rawness and beauty that it doesn't seem we have to sell our souls to listen to. This...is best expressed through music and Grace is one of those albums that does it exquisitely.
Se adds that we might not want to ask these questions or acknowledge this pain, but since we do we may as well have the voice of an angel singing them for us.
Lawrie then makes an comment I find puzzling:
Our favourite records are the ones in which we find ourselves. And we do find ourselves in these songs ----a complicated, raw and spiritual version of ourselves that's too confronting to look at often. But we need it to be there, even if we're sceptical of it. We are, after all, quite comfortable with dismissing organised religion with the heartfelt passion and anger of Eternal Life, and then being converted in the next breath with the anthemic, addictive Hallelujah. We're not really sure what it is we're being converted to, but that's not the point. There's something deep within us that finds its mirror here. We really mean it, even if just for the six minutes of the song.
I'm not sure that Grace made it to number two because it holds a mirror to our lives in that somehow we find ourselves in it; or that it defines us and we recognise ourselves in the song of another.
Who is this 'us'? The people who voted in the poll? Australians as a people? The music loving public? The cultural elite? Do we immerse ourselves in music? Or is that only one mode of reception?
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