Judee Sill - Abracadabra: The Asylum Years (2006 compi of 1971-73 releases)

Taking another quick diversion now from business as usual to spotlight one of my favourite singer-songwriters.  This 2CD reissue contains Judee Sill's entire back catalogue, so thought I may as well post it all at once.  Abracadabra also adds some live recordings and fascinating demos/works in progress, making this the only Judee Sill release you'll ever need - an archive set of shelved recordings came out about a decade ago but didn't come near the magic of these two original albums.

Rather than recount the tragic lost-soul story of Judee Sill's life (plagued by addiction which would claim her life at 35), I prefer to just focus on how good her music was.  Both of these albums showcase just how unique her synthesis was of folk, blues and a dash of country with more baroque and hymnal influences from her upbringing singing in church.  Her voice carried both a homely twang and a gossamer beauty - especially when recorded in multiple overdubs on several songs.

Both albums stay in understated ballad mode for the most part, but Sill could turn up the energy too on songs like Jesus Was A Crossmaker (her best-known song, covered by The Hollies) and Soldier of The Heart from the second album, Heart Food.  Heart Food for me has an ever-so-slight edge over the self-titled debut, with slightly more adventurous arrangements (this time all handled by Sill herself), indeed much more adventurous on The Donor, seven minutes of spine-tingling overdubbed chorale.  Also on Heart Food is The Kiss, simply one of the greatest love songs ever written.

Disc 1
Disc 2

The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)

Every time I hear this album, my mind immediately goes back to a moment in a documentary programme I watched in the mid-90s about the history of rock in the 1960s.  I can't remember whether this was a series, or a one-off, or even what it was called.  The one thing I've never forgotten though is the moment it cuts away from the chaos of Altamont to a peaceful country highway, Hickory Wind starts playing, and country rock is born.  Even though the chronology's back to front* (this album predates Altamont by a year), it was still a great piece of narrative direction, and it introduced me to Gram Parsons and to Sweetheart Of The Rodeo.
* there's always the possibility that I'm remembering this completely wrong; it has been twenty years now!

All I knew of The Byrds up until then was their debut album - still good in its own way, but by 1968 Jim McGuinn was Roger, and was rebuilding The Byrds from the ground up.  Initially planning a comprehensive history of American music, along came Gram Parsons and an immersion in pure country.  Sweetheart Of The Rodeo is completely on-point in its song choices - alongside Woody Guthrie, Merle Haggard and the Louvin Brothers sits brand new material from a mythic session that Bob Dylan was then deep in the midst of, and a couple of stunning songs from Parsons himself.  One Hundred Years From Now is where it's at, folks - one of my all-time favourite Byrds songs.

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