Tír Na HiFi

I got a Rough Trade album club membership for Christmas from Mrs. Sloop and after an initial underwhelmed listening this is really growing on me.

If you're spotifying go for disco compilation and ballad of brick lane.

Apart from the Titanic dirge and the sub lilly rosemary and the jack of hearts "tin angel" this is a very enjoyable return to form with a wonderful groove rhythm and beat.

Came late to this as it was a Christmas present but i'm glad it didn't pass me by.


SJB

Not to many peoples liking and can be hard work, but I can't resist

I didn't give this enough consideration when it came out this year.
It is really excellent album and an excellent sounding album no compression or "Pro Tools sound"

Philip Glass even makes an appearance

cybot wrote:About time I listened to this anew....Her voice on Crayon Angels is something to behold. Sad the way her life turned out...

'Phoney prophets stole the only light I knew,
and the darkness softly screamed'

Nice choice, Dermot.   Judee's music is a wonder to behold but it can take a while for it to seep into your soul.  There is a wonderful sense of purity and sincerity in her singing that, quite simply, transcends time.  Those lines from Crayon Angels that you quote say so much to me about her life to come.   When I hear that album in particular I will always think of Judee's heartfelt dedication to David Geffen -  "David Geffen I love you" - inscribed on its sleeve and of the trust she put in him by turning down offers from Atlantic (among others) by signing with his record label, Asylum.  So much of her life is bound up in that album (and its successor, Heart Food), that her music can be a painful listen.  

Have a listen to this song, Emerald River Dance -



I believe it was recorded in the late Sixties but only came to light in the posthumously released collection, Dreams Come True.  It's one of those songs that passed me by initially but I'm finding myself listening to it a great deal recently. The line, "The deeper sorrow carves in the hollow of your being, the more joy you can contain", strikes me as crucial to an understanding of Judee's life, and the importance she ascribed to her music as a conduit for transcending the difficulties in her life.

And this performance, a home recording of a cover of The Beatles' Blackbird, is so touching.



Although McCartney wrote the song about the civil rights movement in America, Judee makes it her own.  The lines, "Blackbird singing in the dark of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly, all your life you were only waiting for this moment to arrive", seem to take on a deeper, more personal resonance.  She seems to be singing about herself putting the darkness of her past behind her as she devoted herself to her fledgeling songwriting career .  And the reference to flying into "the light of a dark black night" seems to look forward to a retreat to darkness in her final wilderness years.

A 24/96 rip from DVD-A disk of the 40th. Anniversary edition.

Auditioning a silver isolator USB cable from Elija Audio
Best I've ever heard the album.

I came to the fold very late in life....

Despite some incredibly cringy lyrics heavy metal style it's very entertaining stuff...!!!

I love the Maiden now. Can't believe I missed them all through my teenage years.

Diapason wrote:I love the Maiden now. Can't believe I missed them all through my teenage years.

I know...!! we tried pretty much everyone else!

mcq wrote:

cybot wrote:About time I listened to this anew....Her voice on Crayon Angels is something to behold. Sad the way her life turned out...

'Phoney prophets stole the only light I knew,
and the darkness softly screamed'

Nice choice, Dermot.   Judee's music is a wonder to behold but it can take a while for it to seep into your soul.  There is a wonderful sense of purity and sincerity in her singing that, quite simply, transcends time.  Those lines from Crayon Angels that you quote say so much to me about her life to come.   When I hear that album in particular I will always think of Judee's heartfelt dedication to David Geffen -  "David Geffen I love you" - inscribed on its sleeve and of the trust she put in him by turning down offers from Atlantic (among others) by signing with his record label, Asylum.  So much of her life is bound up in that album (and its successor, Heart Food), that her music can be a painful listen.  

Have a listen to this song, Emerald River Dance -



I believe it was recorded in the late Sixties but only came to light in the posthumously released collection, Dreams Come True.  It's one of those songs that passed me by initially but I'm finding myself listening to it a great deal recently. The line, "The deeper sorrow carves in the hollow of your being, the more joy you can contain", strikes me as crucial to an understanding of Judee's life, and the importance she ascribed to her music as a conduit for transcending the difficulties in her life.

And this performance, a home recording of a cover of The Beatles' Blackbird, is so touching.



Although McCartney wrote the song about the civil rights movement in America, Judee makes it her own.  The lines, "Blackbird singing in the dark of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly, all your life you were only waiting for this moment to arrive", seem to take on a deeper, more personal resonance.  She seems to be singing about herself putting the darkness of her past behind her as she devoted herself to her fledgeling songwriting career .  And the reference to flying into "the light of a dark black night" seems to look forward to a retreat to darkness in her final wilderness years.

Paul,

Apologies for the radio silence! Thanks for all of the above. Hope to listen to some of it later.....