Tír Na HiFi

This is special. Ken Stringfellow, formerly of The Posies and, latterly, the reformed Big Star and REM, performs the best cover version of Judee Sill's immortal Crayon Angels I have ever heard. The Fleet Foxes' version gets the kudos but this eclipses it completely in my view. Lost in the moment, apparently oblivious to his audience and consumed by a sense of reverence for the song, this is an intimate, deeply personal performance (performed sans mic, by the way) which really communicates the essence of this song. Listen to the way he shouts out the crucial line, "Phony prophets stole the only light I knew", a line really needs to be shouted out from the heart to convey the requisite sense of bitterness about a betrayal that was yet to come into Judee's life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fU00KN3fnc

Excellent recommendation MCQ...though Judy Sills original warms me here on a cold night in Columbus, Nebraska.

That's exactly as it should be, Sligolad. Nothing can replace the sincerity and fragility of Judee's voice. Nobody can communicate her songs like she could but it's always good to see modern artists spread the word about this sorely-underappreciated singer. I think back to Will Oldham's gorgeous version of The Kiss which is probably one of the most difficult songs of all to cover, but the approach is similar to Stringfellow's: simple, unadorned, sincere and unsentimental is the key to communicating the gentle naivete that is at the heart of Judee's songs. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEAZMNbAuMI

Honestly, it still surprises me how little-known Judee's music is. It is my earnest wish that in my lifetime she will earn the same critical reputation that Nick Drake's recordings currently enjoy. The difference between the public reputation of these two singers is that Joe Boyd has always been generous in his public advocacy of Nick's music whereas David Geffen had absolutely no interest in reissuing Judee's albums until Rhino released them on CD in 2003. The real tragedy is that in the intervening years since their belated CD release, it has become sorely evident to more and more people just what an extraordinary mountain of talent was neglected in the artist's own lifetime.

How far we've come......or not?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BPvBEl ... ata_player

Great video.

I just can't get this song out of my head. For a Rainbow was recorded for a Judee Sill tribute album a few years back by Bill Callahan. The sheet music for this song was found among Judee's posessions after her sad passing. She never had the chance to bring it to fruition but Callahan does an inspired job. He understands the soul of the piece. The vocal performance may well be more Callahan than Judee but the result is something very close to a masterpiece. To think that Judee was carefully working on this in the blackness of her wilderness years is, my God, so very sad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73Y1YimQa5U

Nice one Dermot....I particularly enjoyed that; simple but very effective.

fergus wrote:Nice one Dermot....I particularly enjoyed that; simple but very effective.

Thank you Fergus! Would you believe I never even heard of them until last Tuesday when I missed their little gig in Tower by a measly five minutes! But they were still there milling around the stage when I arrived and I couldn't get over how gracious, humble and funny they were towards their fans. Lovely, lovely girls all the way from Watford.....Their debut album is out now.

Fuzzy video but the sound is fantastic. What are gorgeous voice.

Sorry maybe the one below is better. Video focused and sound just as good