Music

The good, the bad and the weird posthumous album releases

On the eve of the release of another album by Jeff Buckley, we look at some other posthumous album releases, from Otis Redding to Amy Winehouse, from 2Pac to Jacko

2Pac’s fourth album suffers from poor mixing and too many obviously unfinished songs

Tony Clayton-Lea's face
Tony Clayton-Lea
Thu Mar 10 2016 - 17:00

Musicians may die but their music doesn't. On the day that Jeff Buckley's You and I posthumous album is released, we take a look at other examples – the good, bad and weird.

GOOD
Otis Redding: The Dock of the Bay (1968)
The victim of an airplane crash at the age of 26, Redding's soul voice has been imitated but never bettered. His songs also highlight his skills as a natural, conversational storyteller.

Gram Parsons: Grievous Angel (1974)
Released four months after Parsons' death (from a heroin overdose), Grievous Angel was judged an abject commercial failure, but has long since been regarded as country's primer for rock.

Joy Division: Closer (1980)
Released three months after the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis, Closer (as well as its funereal cover) copper-fastened the appeal of the Manchester band. In a word? Sepulchral.

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Elliott Smith: From a Basement on a Hill (2004)
Regarded by some as an album of suicide notes, Smith's unfinished final record may present the singer-songwriter in a gloomy light, but the album is a reminder of his intensity as a songwriter.

BAD
Queen: Made in Heaven (1995)
Four years after the death of Freddie Mercury, this multi- million seller gathered together pre-existing songs. Think OTT amplified all the way to 11.

2Pac: Until the End of Time (2001)
The fourth posthumous album (left) from Tupac Shakur suffers from poor mixing, too much multi-tracking, and too many obviously unfinished songs.

Amy Winehouse: Lioness (2011)
Unreleased songs, demos and, according to the New York Times' Jon Pareles, "just the scraps of what might have been".

WEIRD
Michael Jackson: Xscape (2014)
Jackson's second posthumous release was viewed as more a batch of cast-offs (from as far back as 1983) than anything else. And did Sony (Jackson's record label) release the album to tie in with its (then) latest smartphone?