Why is John Fahey So Boring?

I remember Lowenthal hating on it (he hates Railroad too, the swine!) in his book, and it's generally regarded as a misstep: made when all eyes were on Fahey after signing to Reprise, he goes and makes his Dixieland album. But this one - and to a lesser extent, its follow-up After The Ball - are pretty special records taken on their own terms. Also underrated imo: God, Time and Causality and Old Fashioned Love. But On Rivers and Religion is all-time for me - I own three copies on vinyl (two original copies--one sealed--and the reissue), and I'm not the sort of person usually prone to such nerdness!

I like Old Fashioned Love, In A Persian Market is one of my favs

yeah i like the dixieland stuff! and things like "beverley" and "song" and the rivers version of "steamboat" ... that's some of my very favorite Fahey.

Yep, that's truly the best version of "Steamboat!" I love how Fahey once described it as "just a string of cliches" or something equally deprecating.

haha, yeah, like the greatest string of musical cliches of all time.

Fahey was such an amazing and harsh self-critic. Keen to get volume two when the price is less absurd, anyone know what non-discography type content there is i.e. information on mysterious figures etc.?

In A Persian Market is totally glorious and such an incredibly Faheyish thing to cover

I'm a little over two-thirds through Volume 2 and, at the risk of sounding like an ingrate, given the exhaustive and unmatched scholarship here, I wish Guerrieri had expanded this to three volumes. It's clear that Guerrieri, like most people, favors Fahey's early work. As a result, he tends to gloss over many key (imo) albums from this latter period and neglects some details while overemphasizing others. For example, there is very little about collaborators. While America cover artist Patrick Finnerty (deservedly) gets an entire two pages, there is nothing about Chris Darrow, Terry Robb, Denny Bruce, or Woody Mann, aside from their credits on specific albums. How did he meet these people? What was their relationship with Fahey like? The Darrow connection, in particular, seems like a crucial one. Similarly, Ragtime Ralph gets an entire page but Jim O'Rourke is barely mentioned.

There are also many, many pages detailing the myriad grey market 'digital only' best-of releases online, most of which just seem arbitrary (for instance, "Essential" compilations that collect the second side of one album, the first side of another, and then a track or two from Live In Tasmania). I'm not sure what the point of listing these is, especially given how little attention is paid to things like John's production work (shockingly, not even a single mention of Homegas in the index!). These digital releases all look unauthorized and cheap, with a bootlegger's attention to correct titles, etc. Who cares?

There are also far fewer album reviews from the respective periods this time, which doesn't make sense, assuming that Fahey was getting far more reviews for the albums covered in this second volume than in the first. I still have no idea what critics made of Let Go upon its release, for example. I realize Guerrieri doesn't opine much, which I appreciate, but this volume is far more reference-oriented than anything you'll want to, say, read before bedtime or something.

I know I sound like King of the Nerds here, but if ever there was a book for nerds, this is it. Anyway, my takeaway so far is that I vastly prefer the first volume; there is nothing in Volume 2 anywhere near the level of detail paid to albums like Voice Of The Turtle (which I will concede was a web that desperately needed untangling). As ever, I applaud and admire Guerrieri's tireless research and ambition here, and I'm really happy to finally have this, but I do wish, perhaps selfishly, that there was more to it.

my impression of the first volume was that it wasn't really a work of prose analysis but just a very exhaustive annotated discography. in other words unless something has really changed with volume two, i can't imagine this would be the place to turn for a deep understanding of fahey's music and the changes it went through.

i mean it seems like guerrieri has translated his intense fandom into an intense (and likely OCD) desire to compile every bit of trivia about each fahey album, but it's not like (again, based on volume one) he had much to say that would really deepen an appreciation of fahey's artistry.,

honestly it seems like precisely the sort of thing that would work 1000x better as a website than a book.

Maybe so. But I think if you consider Volume 1 a "just the facts" sort of tome, Volume 2 is even more so.

I guess I won't hold my breath for a 33 1/3 about Red Cross. HA!

yeah, the "readable" parts of vol. 1 were what I was most interested in -- while I guess I'm glad someone is doing ridiculous OCD work on labels and vinyl thickness, it's not quite my cup of tea. what i'd love is a "listener's guide" to fahey, album-by-album, with those interesting discographical details included alongside some thoughtful commentary, hostory, background, context etc.

Exactly! I'd love that, too.

Of course, now, with Steve's book, the two volumes of the Handbook, the (admittedly kinda shitty) documentary, and the internet, such a thing is totally possible; it wouldn't have been ten years ago. I mean, shit, most of the people involved in these records (or who know everything about them--Glenn Jones, O'Rourke, ED Denson, etc) are still alive. You should do it, Tyler!

of rivers and religion and old fashioned love have 'song' and 'dry bones in the valley', some of his best. i love how 'song' just gets more glacial as it goes on

I definitely put both of those in my Fahey top ten. And I put the Gastr del Sol cover of "Dry Bones...," with Tony Conrad, in my all-time top ten by anybody! I think that's my platonic ideal of a perfect piece of acoustic music.

i think a 33 1/3 book about fahey could be great!

and if you chose which LP wisely, you could easily talk about fahey's music in general since there are so many influences/motifs/etc. that carry across albums. you could trace out the lineage and permutations of a particular melodic theme or whatever.

i don't know which fahey album would have the most marquee value though

maybe "blind joe death" but that's far from his best album

Days Have Gone By would allow for a broad survey of Fahey- has studio stuff but some old Fonotone tracks on it, sound collages (with licks he'd later use in FFF), the national anthem of Finland, etc etc- all the weirdness that makes Fahey great

No wait, should be one about Voice of the Turtle!

i feel like the liner notes for that one can hardly be topped.

thanks for the mini review wimmels, your preferences seem close to my own so it's a little disappointing that guerrieri hasn't turned his formidable researching powers onto some of the curious figures around the margins of fahey's output. not having much on terry robb is absurd, he basically kept fahey going for years.

if there was a market for it producing a sort of fahey listener's guide would be my dream project. fahey resists being defined by a single album, but you could do a great 33 1/3 on any of the first six takomas, my pick would probably be days have gone by too. voice of the turtle is fahey ad absurdum which might make it seem like a meaty candidate but I suppose I just don't think it's one of his best records

in terms of the overall package, voice of the turtle is pretty rich as a mytho-personal fantasia (as shown by guerreri's analysis), but yeah, i wouldn't say it's the best one musically.

actually pretty surprising there hasn't been a 33 1/3 for him...

You should do it, Tyler!
nothing i'd like better than to spend the next few years listening to fahey records and writing about them, but i've got bills to pay!

So into Old Fashioned Love right now

finally
http://i59.tinypic.com/2j5m90w.jpg

isn't that an unofficial release?

I mean, all the copies of that record, not just this edition

DISGRACEFUL

?

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