Search - John Fahey :: Yellow Princess

No Better Introduction To Fahey's Music

Michael K. Kivinen | Wyoming, MI United States | 03/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If I could own only one John Fahey album, it would be "The Yellow Princess," so this reissue is a real treat. This is at least the third time Vanguard has issued this album on CD-"The Essential John Fahey" and "Best of the Vanguard Years" couple it with tracks from Fahey's "Requia"-but this 2006 release restores the original cover art and Fahey's surreal, confounding liner notes. The addition of three previously unreleased tracks from 1965 would suffice to justify purchasing this version, even if you already owned an earlier edition. These include a rare example of his 12-string work, an early version of "Fare Forward Voyagers," and a lengthy slide guitar improvisation. For the uninitiated, I can think of no better introduction to Fahey's music than "The Yellow Princess." All the primary strains of his work are represented here: pre-WWII country blues guitar stylings; Indian raga; Episcopal hymns ("Commemorative Transfiguration and Communion at Magruder Park" quotes "Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones") and even musique concrete ("Singing Bridge of Memphis, Tennessee"). There is a more whimsical, evocative quality to the last-named track than one finds in Fahey's at times dissonant, abrasive later material. Reviewers elsewhere have remarked that "The Yellow Princess" features some of his best guitar work, and that the sonic quality of the recording is as if one is listening from inside the instrument. My friend Clark quotes John Fahey as having said something like, "I'm not the greatest guitarist, but I am the deepest." Let the "Yellow Princess" show you what he meant."

The Yellow Princess

Nathaniel E. Yielding | Baltimore, Md | 08/30/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I remember I was cleaning my apartment when I put this CD in the player. I am very jittery and can't stand still for long periods of time so it means something when I say that I dropped whatever I was cleaning and sat in the midle of my living room and listened to this record in it's entirety. Now, one could hypothesize that the only reason I had such a religious experience with the Yellow Princess is because it was my FIRST John Fahey listening experience and that explanation holds water. There is no way to tell if I would have the same experience had I listened to Breakdowns, Waltzes, and Military Waltzes, Blind Joe Death, or America, or any of the dozens of recordings Fahey has put out first. I will say that none of those aforementioned albums do the same thing that The Yellow Princess does. There is an overall realxed mood of the album that transports the listener to the esoteria of Fahey's mind. Especially if you read the charming linear notes. I love the way he labels his songs as well. He's not afraid to use directions and place names and combine spirtuality with whatever he finds to be meaningful and moving in his life, instead of only what religion would tell him to. In short, this is an amazing album that is guaranteed to satisfy."