Why is John Fahey So Boring?

Claiming it is from "Newbury Comics and Takoma". Who would Takoma be at this point?

Concord Music Group?

In 1979, Fahey sold Takoma to Chrysalis Records, owned by Terry Ellis and Chris Wright, which had artists such as Blondie, Pat Benatar, and Huey Lewis.[3] Jon Monday continued as General Manager of the label for Chrysalis until 1982 when Chrysalis sold the Takoma catalog. During the Chrysalis years, Takoma released albums by The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Maria Muldaur, Canned Heat, Mike Bloomfield, and T-Bone Burnett. The catalog was purchased in 1995 by Fantasy Records,[1] which in 2004 was taken over by the Concord Music Group. Fantasy has a handful of the Takoma recordings on the market as CDs as of this writing in 2007.

Howdy ILM, what record has Fahey at his most "slack key"?

Alternatively, his most "slack key" tracks in your opinion would be nice.

Note: I don't necessarily consider "Hawaiian Two Step" to be particularly slack key, would you dis/agree?

although he loved his tunings fahey was not of a v slack key disposition imo. hawaiian two step is a cover of Spanish fandango (i think fahey knew the john dilleshaw recording) which is probably originally euro-african. closest fahey gets to slack key in vibe might be on the sunny side of the ocean, which iirc he wrote on piano aged 14 & quite possibly totally oblivious to slack key

https://images.eil.com/large_image/JOHN_FAHEY_THE+BEST+OF+JOHN+FAHEY+1959-1977-416332b.jpg

underrated photo imo

TS: Sandy Bull w/ Squirrel vs. John Fahey with Stuffed Wolverine

some (I believe) never before seen footage cropping up around FB. seems there might be more of this to come. late 70s, filmed in his house. hopefully will make it to youtube...

yeah i was just watching that, i haven't seen it before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dDs7UMy7Mo

very nice. late 70s/early 80s?

guess early 80s -- this is great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV5bBvQfE1Y

also of the utmost importance

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hJWc2AwO_iE/WEwSSedkzZI/AAAAAAAAFZo/qBJ3gJOAZrAVzKeRT-_eBBkWQYm62JJegCLcB/s1600/gd1969-01-17.caption-el_gaucho-19690117p01.jgmf.jpg

check the caption -- that would be a tough choice.

oh! they are on youtube! i couldn't find them. awesome stuff. hadn't watched the steam engine train one yet.

i'd go check out fahey first, nothing to say you wouldn't be able to catch both in the same night especially given the predilections of both artists

Christmas has truly arrived.

first four a half minutes are great especially

what is that first four and a half minutes? just a typically big prelude/intro from that era? i recognize the last portion

full video is up- it's a joy. could honestly just watch him tune and bullshit with the crew for the whole video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vObBlcBn7UQ&t=2s

Is it down?

Lol "The Santana Blues Band"

hmmm not sure what happened with the embed, maybe they disabled. try adding this to end of youtube url

watch?v=vObBlcBn7UQ&t=2s

severely underrated/slept-on fahey is 'old fashioned love'

Yep. Phased production on some of those duets is pretty sweet too.

yep, tons of compression and phaser going on. and 'dry bones in the valley' is top tier fahey

air getting crisp, it's fahey weather

https://archives.library.illinois.edu/archon/index.php?p=digitallibrary/getfile&id=13212

https://i.imgur.com/Bbc0U3n.jpg

well played ogmor

fahey looking pretty healthy in that picture

nothing to add here, but yeah: fahey fucking owns.🤘

Worth noting that almost all of Fahey’s Spotify catalogue has fucked up audio that sounds like it’s partly underwater.

There's an excellent essay on Fahey by Ian Penman in Fitzcarraldo Editions' It Gets Me Home This Curving Track.

I slept on Days Have Gone By Vol. 6. This is so good.

Finally watched the doc in Prime last night – it left me wanting more. So I’m digging back into the first volume of the handbook and cursing the fact that Vol. 2 is $57(?!?!).

I think I heard there is a new edition of volume 2 coming out soon

Worth noting that almost all of Fahey’s Spotify catalogue has fucked up audio that sounds like it’s partly underwater.
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, September 14, 2019 12:56 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

these are weird comps with like corel 1998 clip art for covers. they applied some strange panning and reverb also, and some of them aren't even albums. one has studio outtakes i haven't heard anywhere else. not sure what bizarre publishing/licensing shenanigans went into those ending up there

if fahey had a 33 1/3rd book i think it should be about days have gone by

I think I heard there is a new edition of volume 2 coming out soon

Some days I wonder if “Funeral Song for Mississippi John Hurt” is the best thing he ever did. The transition to the B-section at 1’04” is just glorious.

On others, I feel like the man may have said it all with Blind Joe Death. I mean, those dissonances on “Sun Gonna Shine on My Back Door” ... or the melodic and rhythmic variation on “Sligo River Blues” ... in 1959? At twenty years old?

Fuck.

has there ever been a fahey albums poll? i have like, idk, fifteen albums and still kind of feel like i don't know THE DEFINITIVE one.

ahh, yes there has!

so, i see i have three of the top ten.

(sigh)

those results are demented. NTI are you thinking of running the big Fahey poll that you've had in the queue for years?

I'd probably vote Red Cross if this was tomorrow (and I had to pick *one*). Or America.

of the ones i know, i'm partial to the yellow princess. the version of america i have is the two disc vinyl reissue that is still somehow abridged i guess?? but yeah: it's pretty solid.

gonna have a relisten of transfiguration of blind joe death right now!

those results are demented. NTI are you thinking of running the big Fahey poll that you've had in the queue for years?

unpopular opinion: all fahey songs are the same song.

that song just so happens to be awesome is all.

but yeah, a fahey poll would be a gargantuan task.

uh you haven't heard Red Cross huh

or City Of Refuge

or The Mill Pond

etc

I would treat different versions, renamings and live versions as remixes: aggregate scores but note which version gets what. mb have a side poll for medleys (tho quite what counts is ambiguous so I'd leave it open) (a cpl of medleys wld probably/hopefully show up in the main poll too). wonder if it would be worth sending out the bat signal to the Fahey Yahoo list, would be v intrigued to hear the opinions of ppl who have heard like 25+ Fahey albums

as for fahey songs being the same, on one hand there is all sorts of disparate stuff being pulled together w/ fahey, even on the same song, that he normally doesn't get credited for & ppl will instead compare anyone who plays mellow alternating bass in an open tuning with notes played more or less at random over the top to fahey. on the other hand: i agree w/ austin and there's a good reason the first bit of guitar instruction in vampire vultures was to contemplate the notion of the eternal snake

lol i was just making fun re: nti's observation of how difficult a fahey poll would be because of the numerous guises he put song into.

I do agree that there is a certain contemplative, searching spirit that remains present in his work regardless of external stylings

Just was gifted The Transcendental Waterfall: Guitar Excursions 1962-67 (blue!) vinyl box of the first six records on 4 Men With Beards. Has really nice packaging reproducing the original Takoma records – thick cardboard sleeves, liner note inserts, a poster, postcard and green fluorescent(!) T-shirt. Takoma probably has my favorite label stickers too:

https://www.cvinyl.com/images/labels/takoma3a.jpg

want!

was sure this was a New Possibilty revive...it remains the only xmas music I can handle repeated listens of

@NTI: ISO pic of tshirt pls?

How’s the sound on that set? I’ve heard not-great things about some of 4MWB’s reissues.

Awes thread, don't recall it! Thisun's good too Search and Destroy: John Fahey
For inst:
At a friend's urging, I've finally checked out some Faheytronica: part 1 of my first-listening notes:

after googling started with Requia, "Requiem For Molly," in four parts.
Part 1 turns out to be very handsome, perhaps courtly but not genteel solo guitar,
the other three parts include "sonic collages." as online sources put it ( with which he is assisted by music writer Barry Hansen, AKA Dr. Demento, maestro of the syndicated novelty radio show). "Collage" is especially appropriate because the news reel etc. bits sound like animated newspaper clippings, maybe wiggling envelopes sometimes, and mainly I like the way their contours and the pacing of placement---also the cadences and intonation of spoken word and other sounds, Hitler and bombers and so on, go with the guitar sound. Fahey said later he didn't like the results, though did consider this experiment a valuable "learning experience." It's not that different from other "underground" tracks you find on LPs of that era, '67 or so, in terms of choosing what we'd call samples, but I haven't heard any other American artist from that neck of the woods--the rock folk weirdo neck---who made it all work as this kind of ambient experience, social commentary and hipster humor aside, although I guess those might be in there too (first listening)

Probably better though--not as dependent on my own quirks/glosses of hearing----is "The Singing Bridge of Memphis Tennessee," from The Yellow Princess: much more sophisticated, in terms of no newsreel, newspaper clippings glued on, just what does indeed sound like a singing bridge---of steel guitar strings, various other metals used in constructing a bridge over a body of water, maybe some water effects pulled in, vibrations and whistles and other nice things (incl vocal?), all layered and merged, just attached and distinct enough. It's based in part on "Quill Blues" by Big Boy Cleveland, and may incl. some of that original recording (think I saw that statement or speculation somewhere)

The Epiphany of Glenn Jones is all over the place,
Conceptually I totally dig the opener, "Tuff, " right away, although the glacial zen groove trek had me nodding a bit, so it turns out even good drones can do that, h'mm.
"Gamelan Collage" different enough to keep me awake, but lost me sometimes,
"Maggie Campbell Blues" quite splendid courtship again,
"New Red Pony" is heavy smokey red rock, awright,
"Out Puppet Selves" is UFO Bebe Barron dub plate equiv of op art, which I like: if you're gonna go this way, bear down on the basic texture FX, awright again.
"Gamelan Guitar" like a real good dream I forget right after it's over (but I can go back again to this dream, yay).
This version of "Come On In My Kitchen" is discreetly tweaked, also tweeked, just enough to enhance it in ways prob unnec but v enjoyable.
"Magic Mountain" is back to the science fiction soundtrack, but much more varied than "Out Puppet Selves," and a little too soft-focus for me, so far.
The spoken word-based closers go on very long, though I like that, even though Fahey keeps ending up with nothing, even when the pretty lady persuades him to board the bus to scenic Exstinkyville, he eventually (very eventuallly) remembers "the basic dialectic of life," or some kind of dialectin and sings a hearty "No-o-o," then an equally hearty "Ye-e--e-s," continuing while the band makes noise around him.
Next will be City of Refuge, Womblive, The Mill Pond EP, located here and there, mostly posted track by track on YouTube. The albums I'm talking about above are all on Spotify, at least the version we get over here. (Meaning America; guy I was responding to is in Europe.)

― dow, Tuesday, 26 April 2016 22:25 (three years ago) link

Pt. 2, dammit! (Maybe some of this will sound better as I listen more; despite what I said toward the end, I did keep all of City and Womblife)(Snapped up The Mill Pond EP from WFMU)

Starting again with City of Refuge, which chronologically I should have listened to before Epiphany, which Glenn J. meant as a corrective to the former, to save his hero and help him find a way to say the new thing he was trying to say. Later, he also writes, he decided both albums what Fahey meant them to be: photographs of him at the time they were made. However, after hearing City, I gotta say, "Thanks GJ and Cul De Sac (and God I wish you could have pulled him back from Womblife, although The Mill Pond works fine")!---but I'm getting ahead of myself).
CoR: "Fanfare" is well-named: flourishes, with buzzy picking and strumming and chopping.
The second track seems more like tuning up and/or down, who cares, ditto for the title.
"City of Refuge I"' is 20-odd minutes long, first half feat. ominous peg-twisting and whatnot. The second turns up a skeletal pattern, then a sunny stroll-along, and then somewhat merges the two motifs, in a natural way: you go for a stroll, you and your shadow (not the song of that title, just the thing that happens). Wanders off somewhere, but with a good edit, hey.
"Chelsey Silver, Please Call Home" starts promisingly, the silvery Classic John, but gets a little too reliant on basic devices and reminds me that one reason he was trying new directions was diabetic nerve damage in fingers (ouch, ouch ouch just thinking about it)
Nevertheless, "City of Refuge III," with evocation of silver bells and chimes calling insistently over an earthly shuffle, is very fine, and the only one of these YouTubes I bothered to download.
Womblife has some kinda nice drone lullabys and doppler-shift x sealife imitations at times, but most of it's rubbish; I'd call it heavy new age, but not that heavy. "Juana" reverts to the more popular JF: crisp Spanishy morning sounds, cogent back and forth of a and b melodies, even underselling lyricism or at least fluidity, but another one that could use an edit: 12 minutes, jeez
The Mill Pond EP! Wasn't expecting much, but true avant garage, as Crocus Behemoth would put it, with vocal and other sweaty bristley Radio Shack Popular Mechanics bits and kits from Dad's abandoned workshop, returning via cyberTibet understages, more like whole underlives--- attention-grabbing/holding, viable moments and passages flashing by. Another scribble mentions " a good motif for soundtrack of Japanese folk-horror art film, or Roger Corman's remake, " and "Garbage" suggests more of the 50s UFO-huffing found on The Epiphany's "Out Puppet Selves," but also with traces of Hendrix emulating that kind of soundtrack,and suspense as the saucer reverb inches toward liftoff/spinoff. Some tracks may use elements of each other, and for the climax, Fahey seems to be chanting while eating his way through his guitar----which reminds me of Andy Beta's testimony, one of the very best of its kind and flavor:
http://www.villagevoice.com/music/looking-for-blind-joe-death-6400465

(Later I remembered to tell him about delta-slider.)

― dow, Tuesday, 26 April 2016 22:29 (three years ago) link

great posts & 'Faheytronica' is a fine coinage

The Singing Bridge of Memphis Tennessee definitely has a straight sample from Quill Blues - https://youtu.be/kTdIMR9bGpM - & I think it's my favourite of these efforts, alongside A Raga Called Pat, though the guitar is still obviously the star of the latter

The Epiphany of Glenn Jones is probably the strangest Fahey album, it really is all over the place & I don't love most of it but Fahey's voice/monologue/dialectic on the last two tracks is just incredible to me, love the live recordings when his introductions become circuitous and oblique for the same reason & the trio recording where he reads from the liner notes to the first album, his voice has got that same heft

― ogmor, Wednesday, 27 April 2016 00:45 (three years ago) link

xp to ARB:

https://img.discogs.com/2xsw5dfjhGcid87CeXiG8Ll2DQI=/fit-in/596x379/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-4159606-1357275142-1344.jpeg.jpg