Personnel: Jeff Buckley (guitar, dulcimer, harmonica, harmonium, organ, tabla); Gary Lucas , Michael Tighe (guitar); Karl Berger (strings); Loris Holland (organ); Matt Johnson (vibraphone, drums, percussion); Misha Masud (tabla).

Audio Mixer: Andy Wallace.

Photographers: David Gahr; Merri Cyr.

A mercurial talent snuffed out all too soon by a tragic early death, Jeff Buckley seemed poised to carry the singer-songwriter tradition into the new millennium when he released his one and only studio album, 1994's GRACE. With his inventive jazz-influenced phrasing and sweeping, wraith-like vocals, Buckley defied easy comparisons to his late-father, `70s cult troubadour Tim Buckley. While the flurry of reissues and rehashes that have emerged after Jeff Buckley's death have generally done little to add to his legacy, GRACE AROUND THE WORLD, a collection of live recordings approximating the track list from GRACE, comes across as more than mere barrel scrapings.

Assembled from previously unreleased live concert and television appearances from locales ranging from the U.S. and U.K. to France, Germany, and Japan, the multi-disc collection provides perhaps the most comprehensive musical portrait of Buckley yet. From Buckley-penned originals ("Last Goodbye," "Grace," "Mojo Pin"), to his signature cover of Lenoard Cohen's "Hallelujah," to the seldom-performed Qawwali-influenced "What Will You Say," the powerful performances on offer are every bit as thrilling as the studio versions. And with a companion DVD interspersed with revealing behind-the-scenes footage and interviews, a more intimate portrait of the artist is unlikely to be found.

With GRACE, his first full-length statement as a bandleader, songwriter/guitarist Jeff Buckley sets out upon a road less travelled, avoiding the safe and predictable in favor of the ecstatic and the personal. Not that such obvious influences as the Beatles and Led Zeppelin have disappeared from this young talent's music. Buckley's voice is an exquisite, malleable instrument, and from his daring vaults into the upper registers to his long, enraptured middle-register ornaments and moans, he suggests the breakthroughs of a young Robert Plant or Van Morrison.

Songs like "The Last Goodbye" (with its coy slide intro and ragaish string backgrounds) and "Lover, You Should've Come Over" (with its late Beatles harmonies and Edith Piaf vocal ornaments) are powerful evocations of failing relationships ("too young to hold on, and too old to just break free and run"). "Lilac Wine" and "Hallelujah" feature his glassy, translucent guitar and poignant vocals in mystical, folkish settings, while "Dream Brother" achieves an almost Doors-like melancholy. Elsewhere, Buckley showcases his new band's power on "Mojo Pin" and "Eternal Life," which draw upon blues imagery and metaphors to create a subtle, hard-rocking atmosphere.