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Years ago I had the vinyl version of this album and lost it in a move. I was happy to find it available on Amazon, as it is one of my favorite John Fahey albums. Absolutely beautiful music.
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2016
i can still remember the happy saturday in NYC when i bought the CD reissue of this album at an 8th st/east village shop for $23.00 i had been searching for it for years, having worn out my vinyl copy.
i'm old so i remember john fahey from the beginning, 'Song of the Turtle' and Blind Joe Death, etc. as a guitarist i was way into Fahey, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, primarily, so I knew what John was about.
Anyway, I digress.
EVERY NOTE ON THIS ALBUM IS PURE AMERICA. every tune, every performance conjures up creeks running along the edges of farms, and dirt roads and horse drawn wagons and men in straw hats and women in long skirts. AND I DON'T MEAN THAT IN SOME faux,contrived 'ironic' bulls*** way. this is the real deal, real american music.
it's a gorgeous, evocative album that feels genuine and holds up. masterpiece
This disc is IMHO, one of Fahey's best in both execution and in vision. Time magazine agreed with me, when it named this recording to its Top Ten List of 1972. Unfortunately, the 2000 initial pressings didn't sell that well. I'm glad I bought one of them.
The first of two albums that John Fahey recorded for Reprise in the 1970's---`After the Ball' was the second. Both featured orchestral accompaniment by a crew of Dixieland jazz greats hand-picked by Fahey and producer Denny Bruce.
`Of Rivers and Religion' has only eight tracks, but each one is outstanding in a different way.
Track 1, `Steamboat Gwine Round de Bend' is a slow, sliding delta blues tune in which you can almost envision the steamboat drifting thru the turgid river on a hot Mississippi day. When I had this on vinyl, I'd turn down the tracking and play it even slower. Wish I could do that on my CD.
`Medley: Deep River/Ol' Man River' When Fahey plays hymns and sacred music, he seems to offer up his playing as in prayer, regardless of whatever beliefs John had at the time. Fahey loved medleys, and became particularly adroit at blending tunes together. I believe Kottke picked that up from him. The medleys on this disc are two of JF's finest.
`Dixie Pig Bar-B-Q Blues' An elegantly arranged piece of deliberate, fingerpicking guitar accompanied by 4-string banjo strumming ,mandolin, and fiddle, all of them interlacing their melodies, without colliding with each other.
`Texas and Pacific Blues': Dixieland instruments back a pair of slide guitar/dobros and 4-string banjo, while a trumpet plays the lead blues melody, as majestic and proud as a Preservation Hall performance.
`Funeral Song for Mississippi John Hurt': A best-known JF tune, recorded many times, but always with reverence and respect for Hurt and his music. This is JF's clearest recording of the song. You can hear every Fahey finger striking every string.
`Medley: By the Side of the Road/I Come, I Come' One of the most beautiful sounds that can be heard on a guitar occurs at the point of where `By the Side of the Road' transitions to `I Come, I Come'.
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2009
I own most of John Fahey's recordings, and I have many favorites, but this is near the top of the heap. It's a striking record for several reasons, perhaps most obviously because it features Fahey working with other musicians (a rarity at this point in his career). It's also one of his few recordings for Warner/Reprise, after a long stint with his own label, Takoma, and a few with Vanguard. I love the recording quality he gets on "Of Rivers and Religion." The mike is apparently placed very close to Fahey's guitar, making the listener's experience much more vivid - his harmonics ring out beautifully, and all the little details (including lots of fret noise) are very present. It's almost like having him in the room with you. One major shortcoming of the Vanguard recordings was the quality of recording, which always seemd too "distant" for my taste. "Funeral Song for Mississippi John Hurt," which was recorded for Vanguard as "Requiem for John Hurt," receives a superior reading here, and the album closer, "Song," is one of my favorite super-slow Fahey numbers. Probably the best known item here is "Steamboat Gwine 'round de Bend," a soulful slide piece. Interestingly, Fahey himself found it to be full of cliches. Perhaps he knew what he was talking about, but one of Fahey's greatest attributes was the ability to take familiar sounds (even cliches) and imbue them with freshness and mystery.
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2007
This is truly one of Fahey's finest albums. Some tracks solo, some with a small "orchestra."
BUT...do yourself a favor and purchase the 2-fer on Rhino UK of OF RIVERS & RELIGION and AFTER THE BALL on a single disc. Really, you'll be much happier. It has Rhino's terrific re-mastering, courtesy of Bill Inglot (Collector's Choice seems to have done a simple transfer with no re-mastering), much more complete liner notes, courtesy of Sid Griffin, and a slipcase. At this writing it's available right here on Amazon USA -- you don't even need to pay the import shipping.
This album may not be as consistently STRONG as some of Fahey's solo instrumental records, but it is the equal of any in inventiveness. John's use of a "folk" orchestra here seems prefectly appropriate, a worthwhile extension of his guitar style. Here the orchestra picks up where the moody, evocative overtones of John's solo guitar leave off. The orchestra's brass captures some of the very same moods and timbres Fahey's solo guitar captured on the earlier instrumental guitar records. Fahey really knew what he was doing when he put this orchestra behind him. Yes, his guitar work is a bit "buried" in the mix, but the sound has the same effect: haunting and very memorable.
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