Dreams Come True [Enhanced]

Judee Sill | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 14, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Water
• ASIN: B00076Q05G
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #238,465 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A California folkie who trafficked in Bach and Rosicrucian spirituality, Judee Sill glimmered a bit in the '70s, before a heroin overdose consigned her memory to a select group of friends and record-collecting aficionados. Her story is both tragic and serene: After a fitful youth marked by drugs and prostitution, Sill settled into a musical incarnation in which she sounds unerringly at peace. Her voice was big and plain, yawping yet almost inhumanly delicate. Her guitar-playing was elaborate but breezy. She created the kind of mellow, mindful folk that gets filed alongside Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Laura Nyro; it's also the kind of music worth clearing a whole shelf for.

Sill died in the midst of making her third album, Dreams Come True, for David Geffen's epochal Los Angeles label Asylum Records. She never finished, but bootlegs of the sessions found homes in the hands of searchers. One of them, indie producer Jim O'Rourke, was tapped to mix the tracks into something like a finished work - packaged with a bonus disc of demos, lost songs, and video footage. Sill's songs have a way of sounding like they're never entirely finished, though. That's partly due to her strange songwriting logic, which rises and falls through trilled bridges and unsettling key changes that keep everything on edge. The other part comes from the mystical yearning wound through her lyrics and her voice, which evokes flaxen threads embroidered on the robes of post-hippies wandering with bare feet and heads in the clouds. In That's The Spirit, Sill sings over a restless mix of piano, guitar, and drums, reconciling her fate 'To sleep enraptured, waking up captured / Chills me to the bone.'

That's typical of an album on which Sill sounds like she's hardly at home on Earth, and consumed by resurrection (not to mention Resurrection). Songs like I'm Over, The Apocalypse Express, and The Living End point eerily toward her end, but Sill's darkness sounds more curious than morose. In The Last Resort, she lays her voice over glowing piano, singing wistfully of eternal hope and reminding herself that 'Every way beauty is slain, it's seen.' --Andy Battaglia, The Onion

Product Description

Singer/songwriter Judee Sill died of a heroin overdose in 1979 before she completed her third album. The eight songs that were to comprise that album are included here, freshly mixed by producer Jim O'Rourke (Wilco, Sonic Youth). This two disc set also includes many Sill rarities from the '60s and '70s, including a 12 minute five song live video clip on enhanced CD. Super deluxe packaging featuring a 72 page booklet!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Get the studio albums first, April 29, 2005

By 

Geoff Hall "Geoff Hall" (Borehamwood, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dreams Come True (Audio CD)

Although I have given this 4 stars, this has been put together with tender loving care, with packaging which is very well done and quite unique.

I have been a Judee Sill fan since her first album came out in the very early 70's. I knew of Heart Food but not until it was unavailable. Then both became available on CD last year (or the year before) and I splashed out £40 for each - they are still selling in UK shops for about that, but they are well worth the high price.

I never knew of any other material. So this is a treat. The songs are typical of the type she wrote and the album sub-title (Hi I love you right heartily here) oozes Judee Sill-speak. I think the songs mask the troubled life she must have left. You only have to read the extraordinarily informative booklet to get an idea of the life she led a tortured soul, perhaps. However, the songs fly away on the breeze but always make a soft landing.

The film footage from 1973 on disc 2 is not great quality, but is the first I have seen of her and is very enlightening and enchanting.

So if you liked her first two albums, then you need to have this little gem - but I think you need the two studio albums first to appreciate her at her very best before embarking on this package.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dynamo, May 19, 2005

By 

Lee Armstrong (Winterville, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dreams Come True (Audio CD)

Because it's so well done, this package is a welcome addition to Judee Sill's legacy. While she is unknown by much of the public, to those who really focus on music, she is a legend. The book detailing her life is revelatory. I had heard about a troubled past, but had little understanding of the depth of problems from the alcoholic mother, abusive stepfather, brother who died, prostitution & lesbianism. While I had heard about her heroin addiction, I was unaware that she'd also had committed armed robbery. The funniest quote is from Russell Giguere, one of the original members of the Association, "She told me that she got busted for armed robbery & was so nervous she actually said, 'Okay mother sticker this is a fu*k up.'" This is the stuff from which movies are made!

But her musical muse is well in tact on her "lost album," one to be sought by those for whom "Heart Food" and the self titled Asylum LP are classic listening. "The Apocalypse Express" showcases Judee's lovely sense of melody & harmony, "Here it comes with dynamos churning, Love steady burning & knowing no rest, Savage shield is twisting & turning, screaming a sermon, That's smoldering stress." "Things Are Looking Up" has Judee's lovely vocals that seem to float effortlessly, "What a spell I'm under, I've been smiling at the Earth way up here on high, Is it any wonder that my trouble disappeared & I learned to fly?" The studio demo of "'Til Dreams Come True" is beautiful just to hear Judee playing piano sans vocals.

Of the music on the second disc, it's interesting to read about the tunes in the booklet. "Dead Time Bummer Blues" is referenced as the first song she wrote and was during her incarceration, "My cellmate stole a Cadillac & she's going home tomorrow." "Sunny Side Up Luck" has Judee's lovely sense of melody that makes you wish you could have heard the arrangement she'd have developed for the tune. "Emerald River Dance" is another delightful gem, "It seems like everyone's so afraid of the ocean 'cause they can't bear the pain, but the deeper sorrow carves in the heart of your being, the more joy you can contain." Judee's home recording of the randy tale "North Country" is a hoot, particularly when you realize it was sung by bank robber and has the cooing of a small child in the background.

Judee's life was a hard one, some of it by choice. However, the religious imagery and the exquisite sense of melody give birth to the beauty of her music. While this set is for those who already appreciate her craft, it is a welcome addition to her recorded legacy. The concern footage is also welcome for giving a glimpse of her live performance. Enjoy!

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars mind bogglingly awesome, March 25, 2005

By 

dubub "dubub" (usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dreams Come True (Audio CD)

let me say that iam a true fanatical fan of those two judee sill records and that HEARTFOOD in particular is one of the pinnacles of the greatest ever records..yep along side PINK MOON BLOOD ON THE TRACKS ASTRAL WEEKS the great tragedyis that she is so unknown..nice to see uncut magazine hopefully starting some sort of huge revival ..like nick drake and brian wilson have ..i urge all readers to buy the rhinohanmade versions of the first two albums immedietly...sell the car..pawn the tv..but get those cd,s..they are limited editions.and they are both total masterpieces.Anyway when i heard about DREAMS COME TRUE icouldnt beleive it.I got a copy immedietly and it does not dissapoint in anyway..The packaging is simply beautiful with a book so lovingly put together containing many interviews with those who knew her..she obviously seems to have left a huge mark on thier lives. And even more incredible is there is video footage .But its the music and her songsthat make this wonderful release one of the most exciting cd,s in years ..yesthis is as greatas her two albums i kid you not.Okay i admit it took me a good few listens over a few days before the whole thing just really blew my mind,what an incredible bunch of songs..how on earth did this go unreleased..the whole cd is heartbreakinly beautiful and so very sad...its one of those very rare releases which i just cant get outta me head.I will let other reveiwers describe its detail as m totally inebt at being rational enough o gather my thoughts clearly enough to say how much this has knocked me out..best thing ive heard this century by the greatest female singer songwriter of all time..