Rhino Handmade
1971
Judee Sill
About This Album
Judee Sill's first Asylum album -- in fact, the first album recorded for the label in 1971 -- is, like its companion, 1973's Heart Food, an album of mythic proportions. Given that Ms. Sill died in 1979 at the age of 35 of a drug overdose, her work has been shrouded in mystery and apocrypha. Rhino Handmade has issued limited editions of both recordings; they're available for the first time on CD, and both are brimming over with bonus material (on Judee Sill [Expanded], demos and live tracks make up almost another album's worth of material), handsome packages with oodles of photos, complete session details, and a pair of brilliant essays by journalist Michele Kort, Laura Nyro's biographer.

Ms. Sill's sound is the epitome of Laurel Canyon's easy, groove conscious folk rock, but it would be a horrendous mistake to leave it there. Ms. Sill explored multiple avenues to get her songs recorded as she heard them. She wrote string and horn charts right out of the Bach manual for Baroque, she layered a warm nylon string guitar over everything, and employed pedal steel, gospel music, and straight rock structures in her songs. She also wrote lyrics and melodies that, once they were laid down, were and still are profound beyond the pale.
Track List (try tracks 5,6,7 and 9)

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