Abracadabra: The Asylum Years - Judee Sill / Heart Food [EXTRA TRACKS] [IMPORT]

Judee Sill

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 26, 2006)
• Original Release Date: August 1, 2006
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Extra tracks, Import
• Label: Rhino/Wea UK
• ASIN: B000FS9KS0
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #37,854 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Judee Sill
Judee Sill was just 35 when she died of a drug overdose in 1979, never having extended what seemed to be an unlimited potential on this, her debut record, released just eight years before. With the wits of a poet and the intonation of an angel, the post-hippie Californian laced her original compositions with astral and religious imagery--and feelings of hopelessness--and then executed them with the pop lavishness of Karen Carpenter. Sill's contemporaneous acoustic folk is sparely backed, while her multitracked vocals add to the redemptive eeriness of supernatural songs like "Lopin' Along thru the Cosmos," "The Phantom Cowboy," and "Enchanted Sky Machines." That Graham Nash produced the minor radio hit "Jesus Was a Crossmaker" (and later saw it covered by his former band the Hollies) attests that Sill was running with the right crowd. But despairing lyrics like "Guess reality is not as it seems / So I sit here hoping for truth and a ride to the other side" ("Crayon Angels") suggest that Judee Sill was conscious that her life could be brief. Thankfully, she left this behind. --Scott Holter

Heart Food
Judee Sill's follow-up to her 1971 self-titled debut sadly also turned out to be her final album, yet Heart Food stands neck and neck with its wondrous predecessor as a near-flawless slice of 1970s pop-flavored Laurel Canyon folk. The production and arrangements here are much grander then on Judee Sill, with her original piano- and guitar-driven songs enhanced by strings, church organ, harmonica, pedal steel, kettle drums, and even male vocals. But no matter the song--be it the Brian Wilson-influenced "The Vigilante," the country-flavored "There's a Rugged Road," or the piano-solo delight "When the Bridegroom Comes"--it all comes back to Sill's virginal voice, which twists and teeters in varying octaves and moods, sometimes within the same track. Sadly, her deliberate songwriting style denied her any chance at a third album. Drugs claimed Judee Sill's life just five years after Heart Food, which can serve as an alluring introduction to this brilliant artist or as a proud bookend to her more-appreciated debut. --Scott Holter

Product Description
2006 two CD compilation from this under-rated folk artist containing both albums she recorded for the fledgling Asylum Records label (Judee Sill from 1971 and Heart Food from '73) plus 19 bonus tracks. This collection combines both Expanded Versions of her albums, originally issued in limited quantity by Rhino Handmade in 2004.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Sill in one package, August 18, 2006

By	Thor Maillet (Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Regardless of the shoddy slipcase that totally LOOKS budget (and really, I didn't buy this set for the slipcase) - this is an essential item in any serious music collector's library. Judee Sill went overlooked in her lifetime and it really is dumbfounding as to why when listening to these CDs. She's got a plain, yet completely touching voice -- slight twang, and remarkably similar to the motherly Kate McGarrigle -- and this voice cannot lie when lyrics are sung through it. She believes what she is singing about, and I love that. Everything you've read about her arrangements and tunes are true: they are grand, understated at times, overstated never, and utterly get under your skin even after just the first play. To get her brilliant two albums in one set for a very low price is a gift. The booklet is fabulous, great photos of Judee with sensitively written liner notes and great detail into the mastering of these CDs (particularly about 'preserving' the distortion in the masters.) The material on these discs are the exact same as the two Rhino Handmade discs released a few years ago. [and believe it or not, a bit of a better mastering job!] so stop staring at those $50+ copies here on Amazon -- unless you are a true Judee Sill COLLECTOR in the sense that you need every edition pressed ever, this is what you want. You get her two timeless records, and those great great demos and that STELLAR live performance all here for next to nothing. Lovely, brilliant, about time!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Judee is magical..., June 20, 2006

By	greenworlder (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

I bought her first album when it was released years ago. This was the age of Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and so many other wonderfully talented singer-songwriters. I thought Judee would be a star right along all the rest of them. Her spaced-out spirituals were haunting and mysterious to me. Her troubled life ended her singing career after two albums, however, and she seemed to disappear. I never purchased her second record and looked for it for years in used record stores. I continued to listen to the album I had and later read about her early death. It made me sad. I was happy, however, to learn that she wasn't forgotten when I saw her two albums re-released with great additional tracks on CDs a few years ago. Now Judee's music continues to take me to far away places. She is a classic hippie-chick songwriter of the early '70s. Listen to songs like "Lopin' Along Thru the Cosmos" or "The Phoenix" and you'll get the flavor of the times. These folk spirituals are colorful and lyrical. Her voice is pure and simple.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars judee , July 19, 2006

By	S. matz "topo" (city of angels) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

a complilation like this should have been assembled by rhino years ago. instead, rhino handmade released limited editions of sill's first and second asylum recordings as individual packages, both of which included studio "demos", and live performances as added bonus cuts.
the reissue producer gives a technical statement of how this compilation differs from all previously released versions of both albums in terms of distorted vocal levels that were/are part of the existing master tapes. for those familiar with the recordings, the distortions were part of the mixing and mastering process, and thus cannot be corrected. enough said.
the music is some of the most gorgeous, powerful, and haunting recorded material i have heard from anybody. let the music of judee sill take you away. the packaging is beautifully assembled. for those of you who could not buy the rhino handmade series, here is your chance to have most of what was issued on those limited releases.
at the price of this admission, you must pick up a copy immediately.