Mick Houghton – “Judee Sill: Spirited Away” (2005)
Taken from an April 2005 issue of Uncut magazine comes this overview of the unjustly-forgotten Judee Sill. Written by Mick Houghton…
Until recently, Judee Sill and her two Asylum albums were all but forgotten. Her story is so tragic as to be nearly unbelievable, the antithesis of the Californian dream, even though she recorded for California’s dream label. But a resurgence of interest has prompted the appearance of the meticulous Dreams Come True, a collection of unreleased material that includes her final work-in-progress album, mixed by left-field auteur, Sonic Youth member and long-time Sill aficionado Jim O’Rourke. Finally, it helps tell Sill’s complete story, both through the eyes of those who knew her and through her own stunning music.
Sill signed to David Geffen’s newly founded Asylum Records — the label that epitomised mellow West Coast rock — in 1970. Asylum’s roster included The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell and Linda Ronstadt, and Geffen had already masterminded the careers of Crosby, Still & Nash and Sill’s kindred spirit Laura Nyro. But unlike her distinguished labelmates, Sill’s career failed to ignite. Eighteen months after 1973’s Heart Flood, and having endured three Read the rest of this entry »
The Beat Patrol 