Customer Reviews

The Best of John Fahey 1959-1977

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John Fahey excels as performer and composer in this outstanding compilation of his distinctive brand of solo, finger-picked, steel strung acoustic guitar blues and folk.

This well selected set covers a period when Fahey was really sharp and focused.

Melodic, original, engaging solo instrumental pieces, played with attack and gusto - Fahey always thumb and finger picked a full loud sound out of his dreadnought Martin guitar.

The instrumentals are a fusion of traditional blues and folk and John Fahey's gutsy reinventions of both - here we have striking metal strung guitar sounds and strident melodies.
Many of these sharp, punchy, lively, highly original guitar pieces will become favourites you'll feel compelled to hear again and again.

This re-release comes remastered and with three new bonus tracks (tracks 16-18) making it a must buy.

This single-CD best-of has a fair amount of material in common with Rhino's 2-CD "Return Of The Repressed" collection, but is a more compact and cohesive reading of the first half of Fahey's career. Stunning acoustic guitar work with the undying creativity that Fahey infused into all his work. If you haven't heard Fahey's work before, this is an excellent starting point; exploration into his original, full albums is also highly recommended.

One of the most inventive guitar players you'll ever hear on a compilation chosen by none other than Fahey himself. The CD adds thee highly generous bonus tracks to the original, including the 23-minute "Fare Forward Voyagers" -- a jaw-dropping passacaglia of sorts that never dips in invention or interest for its entire length.

I am a major fan of John Fahey because he plays music that sounds like a guitar, rather than songs that can be played on guitar. Some of his albums feature songs that may sound obscure to the uninitiated, but this one is very approachable and really showcases his best. One of my all time favorite guitar albums.

I have spent some time lately listening to a couple of Windham Hill and Narada antholgies.
And I hereby promise that it will never happen again!
Very high quality technically recorded, nicely presented and packaged and introducing some of
the very most skilled craftsmen on the guitar today.
And what is presented on those records will, with a few exceptions, make a nice background
sound tapestry in any shopping center or elevator...

To try to compare these with the album that is on review here, The Best of John Fahey 1959-1977,
would be like trying to compare Liberace with Glenn Gould....there are thousands of light years
between them!
I am usually not very fond of anthologies type "Best Of..." but this one have some points worthy
of mentioning.
The original vinyl version was issued in 1977 in that period when Fahey was selling out his record
company to Chrysalis. The reason for its issue could most likely have been because of the fact that
the early "Death albums" were no longer reprinted since circa 1972 and the later 60s albums were also
out of print since circa 1975 and finally America and Fare Forwards had survived only the original
TAKOMA issues in one edition each. So by 1977 most of the old TAKOMA catalogue was out of print!
Therefore this issue authorized by Fahey and the selection of the music to be included was made by
himself.... which makes this almost to be considered as a classic original TAKOMA Fahey album!
The original vinyl issue had the first 15 tracks presented here and the cd reissue adds tracks 16
to 18.
This album concentrates heavily, especially if viewing the original vinyl, on music from the first
three TAKOMA albums, Blind Joe Death, Death Chants and Dance of Death. And especially noteworthy is
that here is no material from the Christmas Albums and neither from the two albums from end 60s The
Great San Bernardino Birthday Party and Days Have Gone By. On the other hand two numbers are present
from the Fahey/Kottke/Lang anthology from just two years earlier and which still was in print! And
these two are rerecordings of titles originally from Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death and Days Have
Gone By.
The cd reissue, which actually is the one on review here, then also includes one track each from America
and Fare Forwards Voyagers.
Added is also Desperate man Blues from Dance of Death.
The music itself here has been dealt with in more or less detail in other reviews so it seems no point
in repeating but that it is of course absolutely magnificent... and some slight further margin remarks:
A few notes "about this and that": The title "1959-1977" is somewhat misleading as the oldest recordings
present here are from 1964! They are the selections from Dance of Death, which were recorded in Adelphi
Studios in Maryland august 1964, and not as is stated in the liner notes on this cd at Sierra Sounds
Berkeley in 1967!
The mentioning of 1959 in the title most surely refer to the fact that the original issue of Blind Joe
Death was from 1959 but rerecorded and rererecorded in the 60s (for those interested I recommend reading
my review on The Legend of Blind Joe Death).
One interesting thing about track 11, Give me Cornbread When I'm Hungry, is that it is missing its coda! That story goes as follows: Original vinyl issue and reprints up to early 70's had a somewhat loosely attached "coda " or "finale" which was Fahey's rendition of Doc Boggs' Country Blues aka Darling Corey.
This was never specified in the titles lists of those records. But somewhere along the line on later
editions,this charming piece of music disappeared...never to return again! For Fahey collectors, for sake of completion, worth mentioning is that track 12 and track 15 are 1977
rerecordings of earlier 1962 Dance of the Inhabitants , with a somewhat broader and more majestic sound and also somewhat speedier tempo in this rerecording, and 1973 Hawaiian Two-step, here titled Spanish Two-Step, from Reprise Records After The Ball, which is in fact Fahey's rendition of John Dilleshaw's Spanish Fandango from the 20s, and not a Fahey original as sometimes is proposed.
As a detail of curiosity...and too much curiosity can kill the cat (just ask Erwing Schrodinger on that topic!)
...I am utterly curios to the fact why there never were any specified recording datas for the Fahey music on the Fahey/Kottke/Lang anthology...not on that record itself and neither on the two tracks included here! They are Revolt of the Dyke Brigade rerecorded from Days Have Gone By and On the Sunny Side Of the Ocean rerecorded from Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death. And it is fascinating that Fahey always was able to perform such impeccable beautiful versions of older material more than ten years after first presented!
My proposition is that these two are outtakes from the America recording session at Larrabee Studios 1971... but too much curiosity can have serious consequences for the poor cat!
And while still on the subject of the America sessions...Henry Kaiser suggests in his otherwise very nice liner notes, that the composition America is Fahey's only recorded work performed on 12-string guitar.
It is true that America already from its earliest recorded version 1963 and then via the 1967 and finally the 1971 version undoubtedly was for 12-string guitar. But let us not forget that the 1965 ELEKTRA Fahey Sampler "Themes and Variations", which is in fact When the Springtime Comes Again included here, on its way to becoming the epic Mark I:15, is performed on 12-string. And also that on The Downfall of the Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill of 1962 Fahey performs on 12-string in duet with flautist Nancy McLean. And finally that Fahey on at least one or more of the recordings for Fonotone from 1958 and onwards performed on 12-string guitar!
Aside from some small discrepancies, dealt with above, the liner notes are nice, also included respects payed by some of Fahey's contemporaries... Kottke, Lang, Winston etc.
And I really enjoyed the final writings "Roots" by Fahey himself....a reminder of those insane hilarious liner notes he used to write for the early Takoma albums...
This is in fact a very good compilation....for those not familiar with Fahey it is an excellent introduction to his early albums and for those already hooked...the two rerecordings not earlier available...

Put Your Past Ahead Of You...said chief karlsson

P.S. It is very peculiar that when I have finished a manuscript on Amazon and really checked out the margins and distances between lines etc. It still looks like crap when finally entered!!

Fabulous guitar instrumentals! I'm not a guitar expert by any means,but I recommend this to any bluegrass/guitar fan. Amazing complex picking!

I listened to John Fahey when I was in High School and college. Haven't heard much of him since but purchased a CD. A fine bit of Classical Guitar.