I just picked up an original copy of this record before — which I have lusted after for years — and have already listened to it twice since my workday ended. I remember three or four years ago, seeing a copy at the WFMU Record Fair for $60 that was in worse condition than this copy, and passing on it. I always thought I’d find a clean original. Alas, the one I wound up with has a mint disc with a very-good-plus cover. I’m content with it. Finally.
Julian Cope’s Head Heritage does a nice job of outlining the tragic life of Judee Sill, and providing some details on “Heart Food”:
“For anyone who isn’t familiar with the luckless set of circumstances that gave rise to Judee’s muse, the tragedy of her life makes the likes of Kurt Cobain or Nick Drake’s misfortunes seem so lightweight as to be almost insignificant. Heavily affected by the premature deaths of both her father (from pneumonia) and brother (in a car crash), and driven by a pathological dislike of her allegedly abusive stepfather, by her late teens she had already developed a heroin habit severe enough to force her into a dissolute lifestyle which encompassed armed robbery (for which she was incarcerated in reform school for several months) and spells of prostitution.
“After her career ended (some say due to a falling out with powerful Asylum mogul Geffen over the bisexual Sill’s alleged outing of him), the ongoing car crash unfortunately began to blossom into a full-scale pile-up. Sill broke her back in a climbing accident, but due to her history of drug addiction the hospital to which she was referred refused to provide her with painkillers. The inevitable result was that she began scoring opiates off the street again and died from a heroin overdose aged just 35.
“On Heart Food…Judee had opted to take over the arranging chores herself, making for a more tasteful and less self-consciously ornate listen. It is largely for that reason that it is the better of the two albums. As XTC’s Andy Partridge points out in his sleevenotes for the Water re-issue of “Heart Food”, the mere fact that someone as fucked-up and resolutely unhippyish as Judee Sill could produce such sublime, celestial and yet gut-wrenchingly soulful music is one of life’s more enduring puzzles, but we should be eternally grateful that she did.”
Rhino re-issued Heart Food in a limited edition as part of their Rhino Handmade series. That was put together six or seven years ago, and yet somehow I’ve never seen a copy firsthand. Oh well, for now I’m content to finally own this incredible record.
Judee Sill
Heart Food
(Asylum, 1973)
01. There’s A Rugged Road
02. The Kiss [MP3]
03. The Pearl
04. Down Where The Valleys Are Low
05. The Vigilante
06. Solider Of the Heart
07. The Phoenix
08. When The Bridegroom Comes
09. The Donor
