Heart Food is the second album released by American singer/songwriter and musician Judee Sill

Judee Sill

Judee Sill was an American singer and songwriter. The first artist signed to David Geffen's Asylum label, she released two albums, then worked briefly as a cartoonist before dying of drug abuse in 1979.Her eponymous debut album was released in late 1971 and was followed around eighteen months...

. It was released on David Geffen

David Geffen

David Geffen is an American record executive, film producer, theatrical producer and philanthropist. Geffen is noted for creating Asylum Records in 1970, Geffen Records in 1980, and DGC Records in 1990...

's Asylum label in March 1973 to acclaim but minimal sales. Sill wrote, arranged, and produced the album, with influences from Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

 and Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

. As with Judee Sill, it was reissued by Rhino Records in 2003, featuring new liner notes and extra demos and unreleased tracks.

Songs

Some of the songs from Heart Food date back to the time of her debut album Judee Sill. "The Pearl" and "The Phoenix" (copyrighted in 1969) were originally recorded for the debut album in 1971 but were removed to make room for late inclusion "Jesus Was A Cross Maker." Instead, they were re-recorded for Heart Food. Sill had also been performing "The Vigilante" in 1971 when working as a support act.

Sill finished writing "The Kiss" around March 15, 1972, and "Down Where the Valleys Are Low" was also completed in early 1972. Songs like "The Kiss" reflect her fascination with hymnal, Christian imagery, while others, notably "Soldier of the Heart," feature much fuller arrangements. The album is dedicated to Sill's then-boyfriend David Omer Bearden, who wrote the lyrics to the solo piano song "When the Bridegroom Comes." As with her debut, Sill's lyrics bear the hallmarks of her interest in the occult

Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

 and Christian theology. The song "The Donor" features an ambitious and intricate choral arrangement built around hymnal chants of "Kyrie Eleison."

Live

Sill continued to perform live with the release of Heart Food. She debuted "The Kiss" in a BBC session on March 23, 1972, saying it was written only seven or eight days before. She also played "Down Where the Valleys Are Low" at this session, aired on April 1, 1972. Sill also performed further BBC sessions in 1972 and 1973, including a TV concert in April 1972, a Radio 1 session on February 14, 1973, where she played six songs from Heart Food, and two sessions for the BBC TV show Old Grey Whistle Test

Old Grey Whistle Test

The Old Grey Whistle Test was an influential BBC2 television music show that ran from 1971 to 1987. It took over the BBC2 late night slot from "Disco Two", which had been running since January 1970, while continuing to feature non-chart music. It was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers...

, with Sill's performance of "The Kiss" at the 1973 session available on DVD. http://kneeling.co.uk/frames2.asp?pages/jsill/default.asp

Track listing

All tracks composed by Judee Sill; except lyrics on "When The Bridegroom Comes" by David Omer Bearden

Side one

1. "There's a Rugged Road" – 3:44
2. "The Kiss" – 4:36
3. "The Pearl" – 1:55
4. "Down Where the Valleys Are Low" – 3:52
5. "The Vigilante" – 3:50

Side two

1. "Soldier of the Heart" – 3:34
2. "The Phoenix" – 2:37
3. "When The Bridegroom Comes" – 4:14
4. "The Donor" – 9:12

Cover Versions & Tributes to Sill

"The Kiss" has been covered by Neil Cavanagh on his 2008 album Short Flight to a Distant Star, and by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

Will Oldham

Will Oldham , better known by the stage name Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded under variations of the Palace name, including the Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, and Palace Music...

 on his 2004 CD single No More Workhorse Blues.
Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...

 covered "There's a Rugged Road" on her 1994 album "Cover Girl".
"There's a Rugged Road" was sung by a character in the 2010 film Greenberg

Greenberg

Greenberg is a surname common in North America, with anglicized spelling of the German Grünberg or the Jewish Ashkenazi Yiddish Grinberg, an artificial surname.Notable people with the surname Greenberg include:- A–C :...

, directed by Noah Baumbach.