HEART FOOD by JUDEE SILL

The second album Judee Sill made proved to be her last. A notoriously slow songwriter, this enjoyable outing took its toll on Sill during its making, turning her back to her recently kicked heroin addiction and away from the desire to create more music.Instead of using an outside arranger for the strings (as she did on her previous album), Sill did all of the work herself. Her lack of formal training and the immense amount of orchestral overdubs certainly would have made such an outing a hardship for anyone. It's a stellar example of the kind of singer/songwriter fare the music industry was mining in the early '70s. The supporting cast of top L.A. studio musicians solidifies Sill's unique brand country-flavored pop, which moves from introspective meanderings to loping rock, often within a single song.