Judee Sill
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NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS March 4, 1972 JUDEE SILL (Asylum) Still largely an unknown quantity in this country, Judee Sill is destined to develop into a powerful force in the near future and she’ll be playing dates in Britain next month including a concert with America at the Festival Hall. She has in fact the composing and tale-telling talent of a Melanie, the flair for lyrical interpretation of a Judy Collins plus a great deal that’s strictly her own. The backings are largely acoustic but augmented on a few tracks by beautifully scored strings. Judee commands considerable respect in the States, as is shown by the fact that Graham Nash was involved in the production and Rita Coolidge is one of the backing voices. Her message to us on the sleeve is “May you savor each word like a raspberry”. Well, savour each word I most certainly did. But this album deserves a bouquet, not a raspberry. It’s fine stuff. Derek Johnson. DAILY MAIL March 3, 1972 Michael Cable, Disc Reviews Judee Sill: Judee Sill (Asylum SYLA 8751) JUDEE SILL— who makes her concert debut in this country later in the month — is the first really exciting new talent to emerge on the pop scene in 1972. Her appearances with Dave Crosby and Graham Nash gave her a high advance reputation which this first album proves totally justified. Life has been far from smooth for Judee. Her father died when she was very young and her mother a few years later of alcoholism. On the same day that her brother died of pneumonia, she herself took an overdose of heroin. As a result of these experiences she turned to religion and there is a strong religious theme running through a number of the tracks on the album. The best numbers are ‘Jesus Was a Cross Maker’ and ‘The Lamb Ran Away With The Crown’ although it is probably a mistake to pick out individual songs from an LP that has few, if any, weak points. DISC & MUSIC ECHO March 4,1972. JUDEE SILL This is a marvellous album vocally and musically. She starts a song with a smooth, easy-flowing finger-style acoustic guitar and gradually the backings build up. There is a quasi-classical feel to all her songs which are inventive, difficult but have amazingly commercial hook lines that could make Greenaway-Cooke gnash their teeth with envy. On “The Phantom Cowboy” she brings in the classical backing and follows it through with a vocal fugue. It is one of those albums that is so good, that new things to say crop up every bar and one could end up saying too much. Saying no more, warning only that her lyrics are tremendously complicated, I beg you to listen to “Jesus Was A Crossmaker” which could say more about this album than a million words. GP. RECORD MIRROR: JUDEE SILL Judee Sill (Asylum SYLA 8751) Recently seen with Crosby and Nash, this girl has a very simple style and delivery that makes a fantastic, honest feeling generate. From fully orchestrated to subdued backings, her voice and the poetic lyrics suit each nicely. Best combination is light backing and her clean, timely picking out on a nylon Spanish guitar out front. She’s one of the best female clawhammer pickers I’ve heard and songs like ‘Crayon Angels’ and ‘The Phantom Cowboy’ demonstrate sheer magic. No wonder Graham William Nash (also the producer) saw something here. She’ll be as big as Joni Mitchell with no sweat. L.G. MELODY MAKER JUDEE SILL: “Jesus Was A Cross Maker” (Asylum). Here ‘tis, my favourite song from the album. More than any performance I can think of in recent times, it fills me with a protective emotion. It’s a record that should be played sparingly and with care. No deejay interruptions please, just let it be heard. A beautiful tune and performance, it has a clever construction that flows along with inspired logic. CW SOUNDS “MAY YOU savour each word like a raspberry” is Judee Sill’s sign off on the sleeve of this, her very first, album. Well it would be impossible not to savour each word — or each note either for that matter. What’s also impossible — to believe more than anything — is that fact that apparently Sill had such a hard time trying to get record companies interested in her. Their loss is Asylum’s gain. For this is a beautiful album in every sense of the word. More Judee Sill seems to have so much going for her that it’s impossible not to consider her as a contender for the same kind of place in music today as Joni has achieved. Not only does she have a pure untampered voice and very special kind of quirky pronunciation but her style of writing is quite unique. Melodically her songs are intensely strong, often breathlessly constructed jobs, lyrically she manages to bring a charm and sincerity to semi-religious sentiments so that they stand true and firm —untampered by the concessions that normal contemporary writers make in such cases. “Crayon Angels” and “The Phantom Cowboy” set the stage for her stories and the highlight of the album — a difficult choice believe me — must be “Jesus Was A Cross Maker”, the one track produced by Graham Nash.— PA MELODY MAKER JUDEE SILL: (Asylum). Judee is one of those breed of American girls who have taken to singing that one supposes were previously engaged in quietly knitting at home and rocking gently back and forth on the chair in the porch Now Judee, and dozens like her, have quietly put down their knitting, placed their spectacles firmly on the end of their snub noses, and taken up the acoustic guitar, bent on putting their bubbling thoughts into song. This musical manifestation of women’s lib has been of great value and importance, and shows that while the menfolk have been bawling their gauche and inarticulate lyrics these past four score years and ten, the Judees have been storing up a treasure house of poetry and song. Judee has a more American voice than Joni Mitchell, and she gently rolls her R’s around with an attractive swinging motion. Her lyrics have a homely but none the less imaginative quality, as she sings of phantom cowboys and Jesus. One of the best songs here is “Jesus Was A Cross Maker.” which was produced by Graham Nash. She interprets each song with a gentle firmness that probably surprises her kinfolk Her accompaniment is strictly non rock, but the orchestrations retain a funky yet tasteful flavour, and even swing a mite here and there. She tends to be rather Iimited in her choice of keys and her moods are mainly introspective, without the flashes of humour one welcomes in Miss Mitchell. But a beautiful and highly recommended album. - C.W. |