Why is John Fahey So Boring?

Somedays Transfiguration is my favorite of the early ones -- I feel in some ways it's the best example of what Peter Stampfel said about Death Chants when he wrote Fahey "used a traditional guitar style to play modern-based compositions in an extended way."

Other days it's San Bernadino -- I adore "Knotts Berry Farm Molly," the melodies, the backwards tapes, the way he recorded the guitar. And for all the sturm und drang over his final period, "Guitar Excursions Into the Unknown" sounds awfully similar.

Really, we need to do an artist poll. All his periods deserve reexamination.

possible artist poll title - Why Is Polling John Fahey So Boring?

Can we break it up into several micro-polls, as ogmor suggests upthread? I think that's a great idea.

I would be game for this as well. Possible micro-polls:

'classic'- all Takoma releases, Yellow Princess, Requia (even though they were on Vanguard they still seem to be of that era, to me)
middle period- FFV, orchestra, etc
wilderness years- (I would talk up Railroad for that one)
comeback years

I dunno. Whatever works for me! Let's do some Faheychat.

Can we break it up into several micro-polls, as ogmor suggests upthread? I think that's a great idea.

I'm trying to decide whether to pull the trigger on used copies of all the 80s albums I don't have on Amazon.

there is, of course, nowt wrong w/ transfiguration, &, comparing it to records by anyone else it is clearly excellent, but I always thought it was the weakest of the first six takomas, & mb voice of the turtle too - just not enough meat there, all wistful drifting downstream stuff. i admit that I love it, & there are some hot oddities on there, but the idea that someone cld survey the entire JF catalogue and think, "Truly, this collection of short vignettes of winking country is the best he had to offer" is disturbing.

anyway, I cld do a poll but I'm happy to chat about the records here. I also think fahey is well-suited to a POX type thread, although again I feel this wld be better divided by period. I'd find it more interesting of ppl enthused in detail about different tracks, created their own fahey sub-genres, traced their genealogies&c.

what's yr fav nancy mclean duet? (downfall of the adelphi rolling grist mill obv)
yr fav perverse fahey cover? (California dreaming)
&c. &c.

I'm trying to decide whether to pull the trigger on used copies of all the 80s albums I don't have on Amazon.

Hmmm...7 CDs for $35 is not too bad. You've also just reminded me that I also know nothing of Visits Washington DC. That's one of the last ones I haven't heard (along with all the xmas albums that aren't The New Possibility). Has anyone ever seen GT&C on vinyl? I'd totally drop $20 for that one alone. It never seems to turn up.

Ogmor's argument to not poll the specific eras is persuasive. In fact, the only reason I'm leaning toward the polls as opposed to keeping the discussion flourishing here is this completely annoying thread title.

it took me forever to find a copy of god, time and causality, strangely. but i did. and it wasn't expensive. $10 in a store i think. i think all the fahey albums are worth buying, certainly for the $35 pricetag. GT&C, I Remember BJD, City of Refuge, and Visits Washington DC are all, in my opinion, really good records. i also have rainforests & let go, but i never listen to this really.. i should revisit for the poll. or micro polls. or w/e.

Ian, give Let Go another try - in places, I think it's as good as GT&C (and the similarly underrated Railroad I). Worst cover art of the entire discography though.

Don't think I'm too proud to show up at the next record fair with my copy of the Handbook in tow. I will be "that guy."

"errr, errrm, actually, according to the Handbook, this is the fourth pressing - see, look at the thickness of this underline on the label."

ohhh i love the LET GO cover art

I think it's very amusing that all of this discussion is taking place on this thread Reclaim it!

City Of Refuge is really really good. It might be the only one of those I've heard. I may have Let Go, need to check & listen if I do.

i'll def listen to let go again at some point! railroad is a huge fave of mine as i have mentioned somewhere on ilx before

Ok Amazon didn't calculate shipping. Now it's $65 which isn't as appealing.

This just in: the easy melodicism of After the Ball goes down like honey.

Oh yeah, After The Ball is great.

After the Ball tho is why I don't subscribe to the idea that a record of "short vignettes of winking country" is somehow a lesser offering from Fahey -- just as a record of electric noise or concréte wouldn't be.

This is precisely why I'd prefer to poll all his work together -- you really need to consider how all these sides of Fahey--Woody Allen Big Band, Thurston Moore, Pierre Schaeffer, Charley Patton--all came from the fingers of one man.

Also, with stuff like "Beverly," "Hawaiian Two-Step," it seems After the Ball is a pretty clearly a better record than Of Rivers and Religion. -- not entirely sure why the former is always left out. Perhaps because people don't admire sequels as much. Old Fashioned Love is pretty great too.

"beverly" is definitely the first fahey song that split my mind in two. that one goes deep.

After the Ball is a pretty clearly a better record than Of Rivers and Religion

whoa whoa whoa

shit just got real

BTW just heard back from Mr. Guerrieri, author of the handbook:

Thank you for your compliments. I hope that volume 2 will be ready early next year, but as you can see with the first volume, the amount of details can accumulate and easily push back the publishing date.

I think I agree with you -- as excited as I was to get the first volume of the handbook, I'm even more jazzed about vol. 2. There are just so many crosscurrents at play.

I found a relatively cheap copy of that Transcendental Waterfall box and am very tempted to buy myself an early birthday present. Those of you who have it, what do you think of it? I heard bad things about the 4 Men With Beards pressing of America (namely that they edited "Mark 1:15"), but their Voice Of The Turtle reissue sounded swell to me. I have an early (I used to say original, but the Handbook has corrected me on that) copy of DHGB and a recent reissue of BJD, but no other Fahey vinyl from this era.

i find the thread question pretty uninteresting. ore interesting would be the question why people find him so great. i never really got the appeal, i preferred kottke. except in christ there is no east and west which i love but is it really by him?

i have it and i've been pleased....though i do not have the originals to compare to

xxp:

not a single pop or click on 6 LPs worth of material, amazing packaging, I love it. I have pretty good copies of all six OG records, but the box set blows them all away.

Wow! OK, I'm convinced. Pulling the trigger. Thanks. This will have to be one of those 'hidden in plain sight' items when it arrives because my wife will almost certainly raise an eyebrow at this expensive looking thing suddenly appearing in the midst of a financially brutal summer. "Oh, that? I've had that for YEARS. You've never seen it before? Huh."

also you get the sort odd experience of owning a John Fahey t-shirt

also also, I failed to mention that the inclusion of all the original inserts, some of which are quite large/long/detailed, is yet another bonus.

yeah, once i get set up with a halfway decent turntable that is first on my list, I think...
totally need a fahey shirt. was thinking that some of those takoma labels would make for a good shirt.

T-shirt may be harder to explain to the wife however.

http://img0.etsystatic.com/009/0/5628580/il_570xN.420320240_egbc.jpg

i guess this is an actual takoma shirt from the 70s... wonder if the next volume of the handbook will have an in-depth discussion of cotton fibers used ...

T-shirt may be harder to explain to the wife however.

― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, July 31, 2013 5:49 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, can't see myself wearing a large lime green John Fahey shirt anyway. No danger of outing myself there. Ha ha ha

i guess this is an actual takoma shirt from the 70s... wonder if the next volume of the handbook will have an in-depth discussion of cotton fibers used ...

haha, man this 1978 fahey bootleg (linked to above) is something else.

http://bluesshow.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/withguitarssm.jpg

look at this john fahey guitar holder

!!!

kinda terrifying

omfg

I guess if your goal is never to pick up a guitar again ....

good grief that model. i have some sort of diy takoma tshirt bequeathed to me by g jones, it's a kind of garish orange&purple, incredibly faded & hideously oversized on me but it is ofc a most prized item of lounge/bedwear.

NTI i am not sure how you are linking after the ball & transfiguration but i am curious. i think the three orchestra albums all have decent stuff on, not so fussed about the actual dixieland, but i love that drunken euphoric righteousness you get on in a persian market, hawaiian two step, jaya shiva shankara, om shanthi norris & almost all of of rivers&religion. rivers&religion is so fantastically slow as well - the ending of each line becomes so inevitable it feels absolutely massive. the bit in the old man river medley from about 4:10-4:40 where fahey drags time out to deliver that delicious dissonance w/ the hottest syncopation is so potent it has a kind of physiological, brain-melting effect on me like a superbly bitter or spicy taste that feels like a neural overload. i get high off those harmonies, basically.

i was just listening to old fashioned love and i kinda like the corny dixieland

or at least i think it's good and they sound like they are having fun and i feel like it's contextually interesting in the scope of his career, for someone who seemed to steel himself against genre cliches with a certain intensity embracing something like that

yeah not sure if i would want a whole album full of fahey dixieland jams, but i like them in the context of the album.
think this is my fave from rivers & religion, something about the pacing of it is just deeply heavy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1inB79hSZHw

and dry bones in the valley slays, so old fashioned love is good b/c its got that one on it

dry bones is the ultimate fahey slow-motion jam

I dig the Gastr del Sol cover of that one a lot, too.

interesting would be the question why people find him so great.

Specific feelings evoked, like most music. Trying to talk about it ultimately doesn't get anywhere. Not that it can't be fun to nibble around the edges.

I could say something like "Americana reverse domesticated for Americans people more comfortable with oud solos."