How great is/was Judee Sill?
I Have been aware of Judee Sill since I read the book Hotel California a couple of years ago (sorry but the authors name escapes me!) and I very much enjoyed the BBC 4 documentary of the same name. For various reasons, I never seemed to get round to buying any of her releases but recently I saw a double CD anthology of her time at Asylum and took the plunge. I have listened to this CD several times and have been completely agog at the quality of the music. The compilation I have is basically the 2 albums recorded for the label with various outtakes and live tracks. Normally, I tend to skip through the extras but in this instance I was compelled to listen right through. The live recordings are particularly good, her warmth, humour and intellegence really shine through seemingly so at odds with her ultimately untimely, very tragic end. If you have not discovered this truly great artist then I urge you to do so, those already in the know will surely concur with eulogy.
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Just wonderful
Top tip - on emusic there are a couple of her albums if you fancy a cheap punt. The Live in London BBC Recordings is highly recommended. Whisper it but she's always ticked my box more than her one time contemporary Ms Mitchell. Wouldn't be without either of them in my record collection though.
Thanks
I have seen the BBC sessions CD so I will get that. I am not a fan of Joni Mitchell, to be honest her voice puts me off and I have always found her rather twee. I will now duck for cover!
It's becoming fashionable ...
in certain circles to say Judy Sill/Laura Nyro are better than Joni Mitchell. This is just plain wrong.
Don't let Sven hear you say that.......
And he admits to being a fashionista.
Tough
I think Judee was an all together more authentically tragic individual - terrible drug problems, resorted to prostitution to support her habit, then was found dead after lying there for several days because noone noticed she was gone. Joni used to moan about being rich in Paris, and these days seems to be making a career out or moaning about people not liking her not very good recent works, much as I love her earlier albums.
You could be right but..
I just do not like Joni Mitchell's music, I can assure you it has nothing to do with fashion just a personal matter of taste on my part.
comparisons
These comparisons and statements of who is better than the other are just based on plain lazy assumptions. All three of these writers are so different with their own distinct styles. I enjoy all of them.
Laura Nyro would just about be my favourite, the Tenderberry trilogy is an amazing piece of work plus her earlier stuff is pretty stunning when you consider she was just 17 years old when she composed that materail.
I too have only just discovered Judee Sill with the same aforementioned double CD, her music certainly had stood the test of time, not sounding dated at all. I love the instumentation and the multi-tracked vocals. It's growing on me.
Joni Mitchell, to me has grown in the same manner as Dylan, Van, Neil Young etc as an artist who has continued to evolve and produce interesting work. If there is anything that bugs me about her lately, it is the whole "I'm an artist" affectation which I personally find a little offputting. She sure gives short shrift to the "music biz" which is fine by me. However given the brilliance of the majority of her output she is forgiven (as I'm sure she will be absolutely thrilled to hear.) I rate "Hejira" and "Travelogue" over "Blue" which I think now sounds a bit like student/bedsit music, but maybe that's because I'm just getting old.
People tend to bracket them together more because they had long, hippy girl hair, played piano and wrote their own material, rather than actually listening to their music and that is a shame.
Agreed!
My earlier post was a little hasty, sorry. Agree with your argument re comparisons, they usually do no one any favours. Am getting a little sick of the Mitchell bashing re her grumpiness though. This in itself is just plain lazy and a just a tad sexist, something she's been battling all her career.
Why is it sexist? Is it the
Why is it sexist? Is it the assumption that an equally grumpy, pretentious or precious male artist would not be criticized in the same way? Not too sure about that.
This is brilliant...
She's great
I bought her anthology (which is excellent) at the same time as a Laura Nyro comp which is equally superb.
Generally....
Is it me or were the 70s a remarkably fertile period for singer-songwritery, certainly as compared to today? Or is it just that record companies were more flush and threw deals around with greater abandon, with many an artist then unsung (ho de ho)now being exhumed and found to be really rather better than expected.
Or will the Word Irregulars of 228 be wowing to great lost you tubers and my spacers of today?
Maybe
.....but recently I've been really enjoying Fionn Regan and Jeffrey Foucault, both acoustic guitar wielding songwriters.
Incidentally I saw JF at the end last year and he was brilliant - sorry I've posted this fact before - but here's a great clip which reminds me of the gig. Terrific.
Foucault's
Stripping Cane album is staggeringly good, and Ghost Repeater almost as good.
He's capable of story songs that are SO good they stack up against things like Guy Clark's "Randall Knife". Just superb.
This is true.
And I guess Malcolm Middleton and David Ford, 2 of my current faves count as well. In the Jeffrey Foucault vein, add Damien Jurado and James McMurtry.
OK Retro, name names.
Give me a title or two each from these chaps if you wouldn't mind.
I presume you mean the brits.....
...as James McMurtry has had quite a few complimentary postings of late, and Damien Jurado I first heard on a Word coverdisc, I think.
Malcolm Middleton, erstwhile member of Arab Strap, dour dundonian duo. I only came across him recently, swiftly purchasing his latest, Sleight of Heart, a fairly stripped down set of mainly his own songs. Less depressing, I am told, than his usual melange of disgust and self-loathing: an earlier LP was entitled as to include his diet of anti-depressants, alcohol and cigarettes......
David Ford, again perhaps I am late to him. Go to hell, perhaps the most beautiful "f*** off, you bitch for dumping me" song I have ever heard, was also on a recent cover disc.The parent CD, Songs for the Road, is similarly tuneful melancholy, with Song for the road being even more of a cracker than GTH.
Hoist by my own petard.
That'll teach me to actually listen to the Word cover CDs when the mag comes out, instead of saving them up for ages for a "new material" binge session.
Here is a link you may not have come across, by way of a thankyou:
http://www.archive.org/details/jfoucault2003-04-05.flac16
Ta v much
Unfamiliar with this site, which is presumably the one you refer to elsewhere, as you suddenly realised you could or would never have the time to listen to it. That's a thank you? With my habit??
I have Ghost Repeater and think it v good indeed.
I agree
I think the Seventies were arguably the best decade in music especially for the singer-songwriters many, of which are being rediscovered. I quite like a lot of the Laurel Canyon scene type of music and I believe that a lot of people were given deals who would have no chance today!
Judee Sill
There is a fabulous archive of material available in MP3 format on the web for anyone curious about Judee's music.
Here's the link:
http://www.webnoir.com/bob/music/