Search and Destroy: John Fahey

a little more info
DTD-21 : Late September / Early October 2011
Edited by Glenn Jones
88 page book with 5 CDs
115 tracks, most available on CD for the first time
A co-production between Dust-to-Digital and Revenant
http://www.dust-digital.com/fahey

Apologies if this is mentioned elsewhere, but don't recall seeing it here, & they've got a lot of money still to raise in the next few days:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/963556219/in-search-of-blind-joe-death-the-saga-of-john-fahe

(I'm nothing to do with the movie, just interested in seeing it get made)

Hmmmm, just over 9 grand needed with 28 hours to go.

I have probably heard it a hundred times but "Sun Gonna Shine In My Back Door Someday Blues" is probably my favorite thing by Fahey ever -- the perfect balance of blues, dissonance and rhythmic hypnosis.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m1kvbphaBmw/TngYVLEY71I/AAAAAAAABiM/7gJlrIEzK2w/s1600/tumblr_lqr1p665z41qg4e4uo5_1280.jpg

As I've always found Fahey to be particularly enjoyable when listened to on a record-by-record basis (as opposed to comps), I've now spent the last month buying every record of his used on Amazon that I didn't own already.
I think the most exciting thing about it is listening to all the different renditions of songs at different points. Like, "Wine and Roses" on Dance of Death is revisited, raga-style as "The Approaching of the Disco Void" (from Live at Tasmania) and again, post rocked out as "The New Red Pony" (from The Epiphany of Glen Jones.

Or "When the Springtime Comes Again," which returns as part of the epic "Mark: IV" on America.
And those are just his own pieces. Part of what's so interesting is that you really hear Fahey the Musicologist come out in Fahey the Composer -- see www.faheyfiles.com for a complete listing, but reading thru his career and seeing the connections and how all the strands, riffs, melodies and patterns become mutated and regurgitated is pretty remarkable. Given how zonked out Fahey was for so much of the 70s and 80s, I actually wonder how much of it was subconscious.

rip

http://www.wowwee.com/static/images/PaulyD.jpg

i think this is out now?, is up on the honest jon's site.

Just got this. Looks amazing.

that kickstarter funded doc upthread is a go, apparently

yeah the box set is out. kind of pricey but i'm going to go for it.

so what the hell is THIS box? Volumes 1-6 reissued?

"John Fahey - The Transcendental Waterfall: Guitar Excursions 1963-1967 6xLP box set $124.99 (4 Men With Beards)"

he Transcendental Waterfall - Guitar Excursions 1963-1967 is a 6-LP box set drawing from John Fahey's best, and most influential, period. Included in the set are Blind Joe Death, Death Chants, Breakdowns And Military Waltzes, The Dance of Death and Other Plantation Favorites, The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party, The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death, and Days Have Gone By, all reissued on 180 gram vinyl with deluxe tip-on jackets. Also included are a t-shirt, poster, and a postcard, all of which are housed in a deluxe box with stunning graphic design. An amazing package featuring some of the most important guitar solo recordings of the 20th century. Limited to 2000 numbered copies!

expensive times to be a fahey fan. hoping to get the dust to digital box for xmas. will shell out for it if i don't.

mmmmmm those are all great records. worth owning. cheaper and easier than trying to get originals.

also a postcard

i think i might feel weird wearing a t-shirt with john fahey's face on it.. any pics?!?!

important records do a cool fahey t-shirt (all their shirts are next to nothing, also, so)

http://importantrecords.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/product_node/apparel/fahey_tee.jpg

originals of those recs are really $20+ these days? jeez.

http://www.popsike.com/php/quicksearch.php?pagenum=1&searchtext=john+fahey&incldescr=&sortord=ddate&thumbs=&currsel=

fonotone box saving my life

Picked it up the other day as a birthday gift to myself!

happy birrrrrthday indeed.
box was mentioned ... on some other thread, can't remember now. but it is fantastic, really a beautiful thing. there are some recordings on there that are just curiosities (mostly anything where john sings), but also tons of magical sounds that can rank with his best stuff. it's funny, having dug pretty deep into the post-fahey acoustic guitar landscape, he still sounds the best, even if some of his followers are technically "better" players. not sure what it is -- fahey's compositions are often these monumental, impeccably constructed creations. hearing some of the early versions of some well-known tunes on the new box only drives this home.

I really wanted this before. Now want it even more.

some of the tunes w/ fahey's singing as blind thomas are A+

HERE COMES BIG JEAN PAUL SARTRE, HE'S GOT THE BLUES TOO

so what the hell is THIS box? Volumes 1-6 reissued?

"John Fahey - The Transcendental Waterfall: Guitar Excursions 1963-1967 6xLP box set $124.99 (4 Men With Beards)"

― sleeve, Friday, October 28, 2011 10:20 AM (4 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ugh. fuck a format fetishist. you can get all those records on CD for like half that much.

still want the fonotone thing though, goddam it's pricey.

not only can you get them on those Fantasy CDs, they all have a shit-down of bonus material

grr shit-TON, i mean (how did that happen)

that transcendental waterfall thing obv has awesome music but i happened upon all of those takoma lps at a store in l.a. (all in pretty pristine shape) and snapped em up for $40 total.

yeah, i bought the first four for $50 a few years back, they're around

I bought all of early ones except Days Gone By about six months ago used on Amazon as well as the single disc comp of Of Rivers.../After the Ball. I don't think I paid more than $7 for any of them and got most for, like, $2 meaning the shipping was more than than the CDs.

Quick note, the version of "Tuff" that appears on the Cul De Sac collab is indeed Fahey. The one that appears on the 1977-19whatever "Best of" is a Charlie Schmidt song that is totally different. I really do dig Fahey's version. Been awhile since I've listened to the other one.

Some of this live John Fahey (on Sea Changes and Coelacanths) reminds me a bit of Durutti Column. Does Reilly have any known (long-standing) admiration for Fahey? I suppose a guitar is going to sound a little like a guitar in general.

listening to this new to me concert from 1975 on wolfgang's vault: http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/john-fahey/concerts/great-american-music-hall-august-08-1975-1st-set.html
so great. the intro to "red pony" sounds like fahey's about to go full on metal.

IN SEARCH OF BLIND JOE DEATH: THE SAGA OF JOHN FAHEY
A documentary on folk, blues and beyond music legend John Fahey, native of Takoma Park, Maryland.

Two shows only! Oct. 26 & 27, 1:00 p.m. near Washington D.C. at the AFI Silver - 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring

www.afi.com/silver

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2014/01/31/listen-john-faheys-strange-mixtapes-for-a-record-store-clerk/

yeah we were freaking out about those over on the post-Takoma thread

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Death-Fahey-American-Guitarist/dp/1613745192

oh cool that's exciting!

Yeah, gonna check that out at some point!

Listening to "Vol. 6 Days Have Gone By" for the first time in a while by the way UMS, thanks for plunking that in my head.

anyone know steve lowenthal? how should i calibrate my expectations? days have gone by is def a transitional record, has the last of the really good old recordings on, he was turning professional about then, has his sound collage stuff, by the time he got to voice of the turtle that early takoma shtick had bulged to byzantine, ridiculous, self-parodying levels (yellow princess was a different thing). days have gone by is mb the best fahey though, first 6 tracks are pretty much all incredible classics.

looks like he is the dude behind this label: http://www.vdsqrecords.com/
so he'd probably fit in over on the ilx brigade thread

has he written much before?

his mfa? http://books.google.com/books/about/In_Christ_There_is_No_East_Or_West.html?id=86QppwAACAAJ

that looks interesting... i'm very curious about the format, how much will be stitched-together interviews, how much narrative there'll be...

Think Lowenthal might also be one of the people behind Swingset (which I have only read a couple of times, so not sure how much that means):

http://swingsetmagazine.com/about/

Issues of Swingset I bought were pretty cool, mostly just interviews and reviews of weirdo stuff, but he has been at "it" since 2001 at least if he is the same guy.

looks promising! will read.

Verrrrry late to the party here, but a good portion of this Fahey Fonotone Years box set is terrific. I was misled by an early listen to those, err, admittedly tough "Blind Thomas" tunes and a friend who referred to the box set as 'unnecessary,' but I'm finding most of it engrossing and much of it at least on par with a lot of Fahey's best early stuff.