My Man on Love [Alternate Version][#][*] - Judee Sill,
Intro/The Vigilante [*] - Judee Sill,
Lady-O [*] - Judee Sill,
Enchanted Sky Machines [*] - Judee Sill,
The Archetypal Man [*] - Judee Sill,
Crayon Angels [*] - Judee Sill,
The Lamb Ran Away with the Crown [*] - Judee Sill,
Jesus Was a Cross Maker [*] - Judee Sill,
Track Listings (19) - Disc #2
There's a Rugged Road - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
The Kiss - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
The Pearl - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
Down Where the Valleys Are Low - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
The Vigilante - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
Soldier of the Heart - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
The Phoenix - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
When the Bridegroom Comes - Judee Sill, Beardon, David Omer
The Donor - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
The Desperado [*] - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
The Kiss [*] - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
Down Where the Valleys Are Low [*] - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
The Donor [*] - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
Soldier of the Heart [*] - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
The Phoenix [*] - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
The Vigilante [*] - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
The Pearl [*] - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
There's a Rugged Road [*] - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
The Donor [Alternate Mix][#][*] - Judee Sill, Sill, Judee
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 com... more »bines both Expanded Versions of her albums, originally issued in limited quantity by Rhino Handmade in 2004.« less
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.
CD Reviews
Essential Sill in one package
Thor Maillet | Waltham, MA United States | 08/18/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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!"
Judee is magical...
greenworlder | Boston, MA | 06/21/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Judee
S. matz | city of angels | 07/19/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Best thing in 2006
Bruce P. Barten | Saint Paul, MN United States | 08/08/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I discovered Judee Sill in internet activities. Buying this 2-CD set was my first opportunity to hear her singing at a volume and sound quality that I can appreciate. On some Warren Zevon web page, I found words and chords for "Jesus Was a Cross Maker," a Judee Sill song that was on his `Mutineer' CD in 1995. The original version by Judee Sill that I found at MySpace.com introduced me to her abilities as a Gospel pianist, which are particularly powerful on the renditions of "Enchanted Sky Machines" that are on Disc One of this set.
"Crayon Angels" has one of the lines that gives me one of the biggest Judee Sill laughs I've had in the last month. After the false prophets caused her heavenly visions to disappear:
"the angels came back and laughed in my dreams,
I wonder what it means.""
Spectacular
Matt Jones | Athens, GA | 03/21/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The tragic loss of Judee Sill has been recounted by nearly every review (on Amazon and elsewhere), so rather than recapitulate the narrative of absence, I want to focus on the music itself, in particular Sill's guitar/piano, voice, and lyrics after a brief aside about influences...
On numerous occasions, Sill claimed to draw inspiration from three sources: Pythagoras, J. S. Bach, and Ray Charles. Whether this anecdote made good fodder for the press (and certainly a lyricist of Sill's ability could come up with a good aphorism) or a serious musical statement remains unclear to the present day. Pythagoras--ancient mathematician, philosopher, and music theorist--devised a tuning system based on string ratios with immeasurable influence on Western music. In evoking this particular name, Sill may be acknowledging the eldest roots to musical practice, or perhaps she is interested in the mystic/religious aspects of Pythagoreanism. Similarly, J.S. Bach was devoutly religious man, who dedicated all of his compositions to the glory of (his) god. Bach was also a keyboard virtuoso, genre-crossing composer, and pedagogue. Known as one of, if not the master of fugal writing/counterpoint, Bach wrote music of amazing complexity, and his influence emerges in a number of Sill's compositions: the fugato ending of "The Lamb Ran Away with the Crown," or the polyphonic climax of "The Donor." Even some of her accompaniment figures on guitar and piano exude brief, glittering passages of Baroque inspiration. Sill's piano licks on a number of tracks bear the imprint of soul/r&b/gospel legend Ray Charles. For evidence, listen to "Soldier of the Heart" and "Jesus was a Cross Maker."
Vocally, Sill is less flexible than some of her contemporaries, but the "severity" of her singing, its nasality, the near absence of vibrato, and the perfect articulation of each pitch paradoxically imbue her singing with vulnerability. Sometimes, it seems her insistence on communicating through melody, accompaniment, and lyric leaves her more exposed than Sill intended or listeners expect. Make no mistake, Sill is an excellent, intelligent, and expressive singer, but her voice (like Nico, to draw one parallel) exploits the affective potential of austerity over excess.
Judee Sill's lyrics rank among the best of any popular musician. Like Joni Mitchell, she finds the universal within the particular then renders eloquent portraits with an economy of language that is as startling as it is poignant. In "The Phoenix," for example, she sings "Ever since a long time ago I tried to let my feelings show. I'd like to think I'm being sincere, but I'll never know," an unexpected twist akin to the sort of surprise that appears in Joni Mitchell's "All I want," when she says "I hate you some. I love you some. I love you when I forget about me." She employs religious-mystic-Christian imagery in a number of her songs, and like Laura Nyro, her relationship with a Christ-like figure and some kind of devil maps as easily onto romantic scenarios as it might on spiritual quests, redemption narratives, or struggles with demons (including, apparently, Sill's long-time drug addiction). Meaning hides just behind the language, and in these ambiguous or liminal spaces, she invites us to construct our own meanings.
If it hasn't come across yet, I must say: I like Judee Sill very much. I consider her two albums, collected here, and the second compilation of unreleased material (Dreams Come True) major works of the singer-songwriter genre whose influence, thanks to these reissues, is finally beginning to be understood.
Track Listings (22) - Disc #1