The Later late John Fahey
Geoffrey R. Balme | raleigh NC | 12/26/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Ok so most of Fahey's fans hated his later "Sonic Youth" phase.
And, Reneldo and O'Roark sort of rediscovered Fahey, the same way Fahey sort of rediscovered Skip James.
The deal is - these are live recordings of a guitar genius, who hadn't been playing in some time, and had been abusing himself for some time, and had long ago decided that everything he had done up until this point in his history - was shiit (I sometimes think it's inevitable for great musicians to hate their past - i was gratified to see gang of four reunite and bang out my faves in 2005 - but Billy Zoom is acidic about X, despite the reunion).
This double CD set repackages TWO already available CDs. What is NEW is a nice booklet (split into two parts) with some nice essays and pictures.
And the cover artwork.
If you already have 'Womblife' and 'Georgia struts, atlanta stomps' (or is it Altlanta struts Georgia stomps?) you already have this music.
it's ONE guitar - electric in front of an audience. And it's Fahey being Fahey... doing his dreamy renditions of traditional pieces as well as his own. Very unusual stuff. There's no one like him."
Worth hearing but not his best
Thelonious | West Coast, USA | 09/17/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"While this is certainly not the place to start with Fahey (the Takoma re-releases on Fantasy would be my choice) there is some fine material here, particularly on the second disc (previously released as "Georgia Stomps, Atlanta Struts..." )
One or two corrections to Geoffrey Balme's review - there are 4 tracks on here ("Hard Time Empty Bottle Blues" I - IV that were not on either of the other two CDs (they were issued on a vinyl EP, I believe) and those tracks are quite wonderful (if short) - Fahey fanatics will definitely want this release if they don't have those tracks.
Also, not all tracks were recorded live - the first CD is mostly studio stuff and is, to my mind, largely uninteresting. It comes across as aimless noodling over a dark, noisy sonic backdrop - similar in some ways to some of his old tape-collage based "Requiem" pieces for Vanguard (also not that interesting to me these days). The four blues pieces (recorded live) are quite good and "Juana" is a quite respectable piece.
The second disc is quite interesting even if not top-shelf stuff. The long, slow pieces on electric(!) guitar are quite beautiful and almost hypnotic. I'd have loved to have seen him in this phase, but alas, no such luck.
As noted by Mr. Balme, the double-booklet included here is quite wonderful.
Conclusion - if you're a completist, get this for the blues tracks and the booklet; if you want to check out his late period, try "Georgia Stomps,..."; and if you're new to Fahey, check out "Death Chants,..." or "Dances of Death" and move on from there."
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1