From the Bottom of An Old Grandfather Clock [Extra tracks, Import]

Bill Fay | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 12, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Import
• Label: Wooden Hill
• ASIN: B0001DMMWK
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #604,360 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Warwick Town

2. Maxine's Parlour

3. Doris Comes Today

4. Maudy la Lune

5. Garden Song

6. Strangers in the Fields

7. Brighton Beach

8. The Room

9. We Want You to Stay

10. Camille

11. Sometime Never Day

12. Be Not So Fearful

13. Backwoods Maze

14. Cannon's Plain

15. The Sun Is Bored

16. Just Another Song

17. Morning Train

18. Parasite Child

19. Katie & Me

20. Gentle Willie

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To Be Cherished, February 19, 2004

By 

K. H. Orton (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From the Bottom of An Old Grandfather Clock (Audio CD)

I bought this on a whim. Being a huge Nick Drake fan, I was hoping for another shadowy genius in a garret. And I suppose he is. Though, what I heard was more like SGT PEPPERS on downers.

Though these are demos & outtakes, the sound quality is alot better than expected. This is amazing stuff. Imagine The Beatles & a sort of British answer to Leonard Cohen all rolled into one. Yet, his songs have their own unique style that truely sets them apart. While he displays the ability to write a catchy commercial hook, his lyrics often touch on the maudlin & at times the surreal. A name like Syd Barrett comes close if you need comparison.

"Brighton Beach" is a bleak tale of suicide. "We Want You To Stay" & "Just Another Song" borrow from the English Musical Hall tradition. Only darker than Sgt. Pepper's & far less didactic than The Kinks at the time. "Camille" brings Blanche Dubois to mind, being carted off at the end of Tennessee Williams' Streetcar Named Desire.

The melancholy anthem, "Be Not So Fearful" could be his signature tune. Apparently Wilco has even done a cover. Based on what I hear on this, I'm loathe to seek it out. Easily one of the most moving tracks on the album. "The Sun Is Bored" preceeds Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon by 10 years or so & Fay's infectious sense of melody comes to a fore on "Morning Train".

In general, the songs live up to haunting titles like, "Strangers In The Feilds". From 1st to last, this a stunning find. Well worth any import price. Indispensible for any Psyche/Folk fans out there. Personally, I am blown away by this. If hard pressed to name a favorite tune, I suppose, its "Maudie La Lune".

Suffice it to say, Fay's relative obscurity has awarded him fabled cult status. Being dubbed British Pop's answer to J.D. Salinger by MOJO magazine doesn't hurt either. But epitaphs like "doomed romantic", "tragic fate" & "disappeared" simply don't apply. Take one listen & words like "genius" just might.

Eventhough Fay's 1971 debut masterpiece & the bleak follow up, TIME OF THE PERSECUTION are now back in print, I still heartily recommend this. Though there's some song overlap, don't pass this up. There's too much amazing stuff on here you won't hear any where else. At this point, I rank this up there as one of my favorite albums.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forget the Drake Comparisions, July 23, 2005

By 

Mark A. Frumento (Cherry Hill, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From the Bottom of An Old Grandfather Clock (Audio CD)

Every other review here is correct. Bill Fay is (he is still alive) a British national treasure. Forget the comparisons to other artists, he stands on his own. His music is clearly influenced by Bob Dylan but after that everything about Fay is unique. The music is strange, catchy, melodic, psychedelic, pop etc... all at once. Grandfather Clock is my favorite of all of the CD releases because I personally feel that the raw versions of his released material are superior. However, catch the reissues of his two Deram albums and his very odd 70s recording Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the greatest "buried" treasure in the history of rock/pop, June 6, 2005

By 

P. KRET "seakret" (Boston, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From the Bottom of An Old Grandfather Clock (Audio CD)

Hyperbole? I can't get these tunes out of my head and have since bought everything he's ever touched and feel like I've come across a goldmine that I do and don't want to share..if you catch my drift. Imagine if McCartney in 1966 had taken a sombre melancholy fork in the road (read: Eleanor Rigby, For No One, Yesterday) and stashed away a chest of recordings he thought too "deep" or "pensive" for the general Beatle buying public's consumption. Well, here it is. And if you aren't completely smitten with this guy's talents by the fourth or fifth tack (try Maudy La Lune for starters; or Tiny or Sam from his "unreleased" '77 album Tomorrow, tomorrow, and Tomorrow) you have lost touch with songcraft. This is absolute. This is golden. This man deserves our respect and awe. BRAVO.