A Very Late Correction

Good evening, faithful readers!

Way back on 9/10/11, I made another mistake! The Pullman WA Tull performance I referred to was on the '25th Anniversary Box Set', NOT "A Little Light Music". Apologies to all of you who rushed to purchase ALLM and were sorely disappointed!

Fahey Part 3

And once again, serendipity! Found a used copy of Fahey #3, "The Dance of Death and Other Plantation Favorites" at Everyday Music in Bellingham (probably the one I sold them a year or two ago...) It's great -- what was I thinking? DOD has more dissonance mixed into the traditional, so maybe I wasn't used to it at the time, and one or two songs sound like John's still tuning up, but still a good album. One thing I have noticed working through the canon is that to me, the early records were in black and white, and John slowly added color when he wrote his own material. Later releases added some studio refinements (echo) and uh, oh -- many more musicians. But that's further down the line. Now, back to our story..

"The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death" continues the awful record cover tradition, and oddly enough, it's not on Takoma, John's label, but Riverboat Records, John's other label -- huh? I don't get it, but it's considered John's 5th album, even though some sources say it was recorded before #4. I'll leave that to the scholars. Bottom line: to me, it's the last of John's 'traditional' albums, and one of his very, very best. (He'd still do trad, but he'd experiment more, and his songs were becoming more John than the source material.) Surrealistic moment: "Tell Her to Come Back Home" -- wait, that sounds familiar, where have I heard it before --- oh jeez, Andy Griffith sang it on the porch on "The Andy Griffith Show" where it was called "Get On Home, Cindy Cindy"!

#6, "Days Have Gone By", features so many of my favorites: "Night Train of Valhalla", "The Revolt of the Dyke Brigade" (he's since apologized for the title), "A Raga Called Pat - Part One". He gets more experimental here (or weird, depending on your perspective). "A Raga Called Pat - Part One" mixes in snippets from the railroad sound effects classic "Steel Rails Under Thundering Skys" (yes, that's how they spelled it). Then "A Raga Called Pat - Part Two" adds bird songs. No, not chirping, but squawking -- egrets??  Sounds like "Last Train to Okefenokee Swamp".  And here the traditionalists break camp...

John Fahey Again

First of all, a correction or rather an explanation: the mistakes in track listings I ranted about on "The Best of John Fahey" were evident on my old 1979 edition; it's since been remastered with 3 bonus tracks, so I assume the problem has been corrected. But still... 

So here's where it all started for most of us: "The Legend of Blind Joe Death" (hereafter referred to as BJD), the first in the true canon of John Fahey (Revenant Records resissued some of the fake 78s he recorded, but I think those were mostly hokum and novelties.) BJD was recorded in 1959, and John sold LPs from the gas station where he worked at the time, and he later re-recorded most of the tracks in 1963 and again in 1967. The CD version of BJD features both the 1963 version and the 1967 version, and they both have their charms, 1963 sounding dusty and a little tinny, and 1967 has better sound and more refined picking. These are all traditional (or traditional sounding, at least!) There's also a bonus track of the 10+ minute track from 1959 "The Transcendental Waterfall", but to me, it lacks the cohesion of John's later experiments in longer forms. BJD is a great album, and if you were going to limit yourself to 2 or 3 Fahey albums, this would certainly be a top contender.

"Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes" is the second album, and the first of too many with awful covers (I seem to remember it having an altogether different cover, but that may have been another reissue.) This too contains 2 versions of the original, one from 1963 and the other from 1967. Again, the 1963 tracks gain in atmosphere what they lack in fidelity. This one's also trad, and another for 'must have' contender. Song titles continue John's whimsical/arcane references.



Sadly, Volume 3 is currently missing from my collection (but a lot of it ended up on "The Best of John Fahey"). When I had a copy, I never listened to it as much as some others, but I' guessing I was wrong in my assessment, so it may be time to reevaluate "The Dance of Death and Other Plantation Favorites".

I think this may be where I came in; my college girlfriend had a copy from an old boyfriend. John started experimenting more with Volume 4, called "The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party and Other Excursions". The title track is 19 minutes long, and there's some backwards guitar on "Knott's Berry Farm Molly", plus flute and organ (separately) on other tracks. This doesn't usually pop up on 'John's Best' lists, but I've always liked it a lot. Later I heard John's Christmas guitar album, and a collection with labelmates Leo Kottke and Peter Lang, and my collecting days began in earnest.

Remembering John Fahey: A Work In Progress

Hoo-wee. So many albums, so little time! As someone said once, you either have one John Fahey album or you have at least ten. I fell headlong into Category 2, so I need to do more homework before reporting back on my suggested Fahey purchases. To repeat an earlier review, "Return of the Repressed" captures tracks across the spectrum, but it falls off near the end when it includes John's post-illness tracks. BUT it's the best collection to date. Buy it. I'll pay you back if I'm wrong (all three of you followers!)

Still, it may try to include too much, but jeez, this collection (The Best of John Fahey 1959-1977) ... No problem with the tracks selected, excellent in that regard...but the track list on the disc is wrong. The songs listed are all on the CD, but NOT in the order presented. Think I'm being a bit anal? This is on Takoma Records, which John Fahey founded, and they can't get the track listing right on his first "Best Of"??!? 

Talk about a prophet in his own country getting 

NO RESPECT!! 

More to come --- mostly recommendations, not rants! 

Latin Jazz, My Latest Homework Assignment

This starts in the middle of things, or rather, it gained momentum in the middle. I borrowed this from the library in Anacortes and loved it, so of course I had to get a copy. I knew nothing really about latin jazz (and still don't really), but I've explored Brazilian music and this was kinda in the ballpark.

Then a week or so ago, I borrowed "Psychedelic Blues" by Poncho Sanchez from the library after hearing the title track on NPR.

Well, there's really nothing 'psychedelic' about it as far as I can hear, but I did get to hear the fantastic "Willie Bobo Medley" which featured "I Don't Know", "Fried Neckbones and Some Homefries" and "Spanish Grease". "Fried Neckbones" was a bonus track on one of the remastered/reissued early Santana albums (it may have even been part of their Woodstock performance. Speaking of Woodstock, did I mention that the version of Santana's "Soul Sacrifice" -- the highlight of the film for me --- was actually an edited version. Eventually the full version was added to the reissue of the first Santana album -- if memory serves -- and it's like 2 minutes longer! But here's the catch -- the edited version is better! Just that much trimming of the boring parts of the drum solo elevated that track to genius! But back to our story...) Okay, so Santana is aware of Willie Bobo, and "Spanish Grease" really sounds like Santana's "No One to Depend On" with different words -- what's going on here?

So I dusted off this great Latin comp I'd forgotten about:

and it's full of some latin jazz stars that I'd heard mentioned in interviews with Carlos Santana. Hmmm, this is getting interesting... So I did what every library-type person would do:

I checked out a book. This one's by John Storm Roberts, who I'd heard about from his record label Original Music, which specializes in traditional music of the Caribbean and, you guessed it, Latin America.

Music geek that I am, this is my idea of heaven. I get to explore this fascinating genre of music with a book at my side giving me guidance and pointing out the connections between all these great artists. This will certainly keep me busy for a while, but I'll report back on my findings soon.

American Primitive Guitar and John Fahey

I try not to be a completist, but lately I've noticed CD prices dropping to ridiculous levels, and I've mentioned before that the window of how long a CD stays in print seems smaller all the time, so if I can fill in some gaps in my collection, now's the time.

I also now have a working CD player in my car, so I'm freed from the tyranny of radio for now, but as much as I've complained about it, I have heard some great things, some of which lead to even better things. Case in point: KSER played a track from one of the "Imaginational Anthem" guitar anthology CD series, and I was curious about others in the series. They're mostly compilations of semi-known and fairly unknown acoustic guitarists that could be generally placed in the John Fahey school of what he sometimes referred to as "American Primitive Guitar", a rural pre-war blues/ragtime/folk/gospel amalgam of styles, of which Fahey stands Colossus-like above the crowd.

I listened to snippets of the series, but Volume 6 really grabbed me; it's the Rosetta Stone of the Fahey style. I knew that Fahey's interest in old 78s informed his musical direction, but his was more than just a copy -- he added classical touches, Dixieland and subtle dissonance to forge his own very individual style.  But Volume 6 collects, as the liner notes say, the "primordial universe that spawned and nurtured Fahey". Drawn from 78s by Riley Puckett, Sam McGee, Sylvester Weaver and more (with some politically-incorrect titles like "Darkey's Wail" and "Tramp's Waltz"), this is the stuff that set Fahey on his journey. They sound like rough drafts of later Fahey works, and of course, in a sense they are, and some ("Knoxville Blues") Fahey even covered.

I took a jazz appreciation class years ago, and I couldn't understand why we had to spend so much time listening to Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong when I wanted to get to Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Duh. It helps to know the foundation first. This "Origins of American Primitive Guitar" helps me get some insights into John Fahey's music, and I'll listen with more informed ears.

The label that issues the "Imaginational Anthem" series is Tompkins Square, and they do a great job. The tracks are mastered from 78s, so there is some surface noise and you'd never call it 'high fidelity', but after a few minutes of listening, you get used to it. Sure, I would have liked more than 14 tracks, but really, this is more about quality than quantity.

More on John Fahey soon!

John Martyn, Postscript

As Island Records releases remastered versions of John Martyn's classic albums, I've slowly replaced some of my favorites. As more and more people abandon CDs for downloads, the window of opportunity to buy CDs at reasonable prices gets smaller and smaller, and once they've gone out of print (again), prices start climbing. I missed the boat replacing some old reggae albums, and now used copies are big bucks. Same with NRBQ (I assumed that being on Rounder Records would give NRBQ unlimited shelf life -- not so much!)

So I sprung for the 2009 remaster of probably John Martyn's best, most consistent album, "Solid Air". Sounds great, of course, but there's a second disc of alternate takes, live tracks and unreleased-until-now bonus tracks. (Island has taken this to extremes lately -- there's like a 17-disc Martyn box with somewhere close to 3 hours of bonus material. Even if I did win the lottery, I'd have to devote the rest of my life to listening to it all.) That being said, there are 2 bonus tracks on the "Solid Air" set that I really enjoy: "In the Evening" and especially "When It's Dark", 8:36 of pure perfection. I have no idea why it wasn't included on earlier versions of "Solid Air", maybe because you can hear the germ of another song that ended up on John's next album. Whatever the reason, I certainly glad it finally made its appearance.

"The Tumbler" was John's second album, and there's no remaster yet. For me, it illustrates "you can't go home again". It's a nice album, but having followed John's career since, it's a bit light and unfinished compared to where he went later. I think if I'd heard it when it initially came out, I'd hear it with more nostalgic affection, and the blemishes would be endearing rather than slightly uncomfortable. Still, it was nice to hear on some of our beautiful summer days lately.