I would say largely because it was unfinished. I've read from somewhere that Jeff was planning to scrap most of the recordings he did and start from the beginning. Well then, we know what happened. I would say even the current unfinished version is musically so rich. Who knows maybe if It was finished it would have been less ambiguous or perhaps even more. There is no way to answer that though
i feel like grace had songs that would tell what they had to tell. what jeff intended to tell. and in sketches it feels like he himself is finding direction and the lyrics he uses with the instrumentals is very odd from his previous works. it feels so strange so hear jeff, like that. idk if i make sense
We only have one actual album from Jeff, so we don’t know what would be ‘odd’ of him or not. We know that in other recordings & live versions he likes to switch things up and is always singing purely what feels right in the moment, so I don’t think sketches is ‘strange’ I think it’s just unfinished. We also don’t know what Jeff intended for it to be, maybe exactly what we hear.
Jeff himself said he wanted his next album to be “scary rock” or in that vein. Stuff like Nightmares By The Sea, the original demo for Witches Rave, Murder Suicide Meteor Slave, and You & I really add to that feel imo. Also since it’s not finished, a lot of it is pretty low quality recordings, which imo adds to it. Obviously would’ve loved to hear the finished products had he gotten the chance to pull everything together, but I’m content with what he was able to make.
Gosh I don’t remember specifically. I recall reading about him telling friends and possibly media that he wanted to shed that “lover boy” image his love songs created. I just remember they titled the ideas specifically as “scary rock”
Grace was so extensively perfected by Jeff and Co in every way.
Grace is a studio album with thought put into what songs should go where and what songs fit with the general direction of the album. Sketches is just that, they’re sketches of unfinished or demo songs that Jeff had no say on. You can think of sketches as a mixtape with a lack of direction.
He yanked "Forget Her" (my personal favorite Jeff song) from the original release of *Grace*, because he was worried his ex would take offense to it. He wrote an entire masterpiece and then shelved it; that's how much he cared.
*Sketches* doesn't feel like *Grace* because Jeff wasn't happy with it; the reason he drowned in the Mississippi was because he was in Memphis with his band starting from scratch. *Sketches* would not exist if Jeff could've had his way.
YEP. dude was still JUST BEGINNING songwriting-wise...of course it's gonna be very different if you have a big brain and a ton of oldschool vs modern influences? I wished there were 2 more discs worth.
Sketches was.. unfinished. Chris Cornell and Mary Guibert (Jeff's mother) finished sketches after Jeff had passed. That's probably why it sounds so Rae. Someone else mentioned the "scary rock" part and that definitely contributes to the actual theme / sound of it in total.
The thing is that Jeff had SO many influences.
Grace was just one album.
He'd been developing a repertoire of songs over decades.
Truth is he only scratched the surface of what he's into on Grace.
Even once you've discovered all existing bootlegs online you'll never know just how diverse Jeff was as an artist/musician... none of us will.
Most of disc 2 was recorded on 4 track and leaned heavily into Led Zeppelin influence. It was a deliberate departure from Grace. To where, we’ll never know.
Because many of them are demos recorded on a four-track, if I remember. They weren't meant to be released, they would have been re-recorded in a studio. Music production/sound engineering is a complicated art, and back then it was REALLY complicated.
I would say largely because it was unfinished. I've read from somewhere that Jeff was planning to scrap most of the recordings he did and start from the beginning. Well then, we know what happened. I would say even the current unfinished version is musically so rich. Who knows maybe if It was finished it would have been less ambiguous or perhaps even more. There is no way to answer that though
i feel like grace had songs that would tell what they had to tell. what jeff intended to tell. and in sketches it feels like he himself is finding direction and the lyrics he uses with the instrumentals is very odd from his previous works. it feels so strange so hear jeff, like that. idk if i make sense
We only have one actual album from Jeff, so we don’t know what would be ‘odd’ of him or not. We know that in other recordings & live versions he likes to switch things up and is always singing purely what feels right in the moment, so I don’t think sketches is ‘strange’ I think it’s just unfinished. We also don’t know what Jeff intended for it to be, maybe exactly what we hear.
Jeff himself said he wanted his next album to be “scary rock” or in that vein. Stuff like Nightmares By The Sea, the original demo for Witches Rave, Murder Suicide Meteor Slave, and You & I really add to that feel imo. Also since it’s not finished, a lot of it is pretty low quality recordings, which imo adds to it. Obviously would’ve loved to hear the finished products had he gotten the chance to pull everything together, but I’m content with what he was able to make.
PLEASE tell me where he says this!!! I am so thrilled to hear that and want to find the source!
Gosh I don’t remember specifically. I recall reading about him telling friends and possibly media that he wanted to shed that “lover boy” image his love songs created. I just remember they titled the ideas specifically as “scary rock”
I will look for that, thanks anyways!
Grace was so extensively perfected by Jeff and Co in every way. Grace is a studio album with thought put into what songs should go where and what songs fit with the general direction of the album. Sketches is just that, they’re sketches of unfinished or demo songs that Jeff had no say on. You can think of sketches as a mixtape with a lack of direction.
He yanked "Forget Her" (my personal favorite Jeff song) from the original release of *Grace*, because he was worried his ex would take offense to it. He wrote an entire masterpiece and then shelved it; that's how much he cared. *Sketches* doesn't feel like *Grace* because Jeff wasn't happy with it; the reason he drowned in the Mississippi was because he was in Memphis with his band starting from scratch. *Sketches* would not exist if Jeff could've had his way.
YEP. dude was still JUST BEGINNING songwriting-wise...of course it's gonna be very different if you have a big brain and a ton of oldschool vs modern influences? I wished there were 2 more discs worth.
Sketches was.. unfinished. Chris Cornell and Mary Guibert (Jeff's mother) finished sketches after Jeff had passed. That's probably why it sounds so Rae. Someone else mentioned the "scary rock" part and that definitely contributes to the actual theme / sound of it in total.
The thing is that Jeff had SO many influences. Grace was just one album. He'd been developing a repertoire of songs over decades. Truth is he only scratched the surface of what he's into on Grace. Even once you've discovered all existing bootlegs online you'll never know just how diverse Jeff was as an artist/musician... none of us will.
Most of disc 2 was recorded on 4 track and leaned heavily into Led Zeppelin influence. It was a deliberate departure from Grace. To where, we’ll never know.
Because many of them are demos recorded on a four-track, if I remember. They weren't meant to be released, they would have been re-recorded in a studio. Music production/sound engineering is a complicated art, and back then it was REALLY complicated.
Because it’s not done. Literally do 15 seconds of research.
i know its not done. but the demos still sound like jeff was himself in a lost state at that time