Search - Mimi Farina & Richard :: Complete Vanguard Recordings

+1/2 -- Three-disc set adds previously unreleased live track

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 11/29/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Though Richard Farina is perhaps best known as a poet and author, and wife Mimi is perhaps most often remembered as the founder of the Bread & Roses charity (or for being Joan Baez's sister), the music they made in the mid-60s has shown surprising longevity. Their lasting impact of their joint work is all the more impressive, given the brevity of their recording career: the Farinas released only two albums, and performed professionally for a few months shy of two years, before Richard was killed in a 1966 motorcycle accident (as a passenger, no less!).



Vanguard's "Complete" three-CD set collects both of the Farinas' original studio albums, together with a posthumous 1968 release, "Memories," and adds seven previously unreleased recordings from the Farinas' 1965 Newport Folk Festival appearances. With all three LPs previously issued on CD, the extended Newport offerings (taken from the same festival at which Dylan so famously went electric) are the set's trump card, considerably enhancing the scant pair of live tracks previously issued on "Memories."



The Farinas' music is a compelling mix of mountain sounds (courtesy of Richard's dulcimer playing), mid-60s politics and folk-rock. In contrast to the Byrds, and other folkies-gone-electric, the Farinas leaned heavily on Appalachian, Irish and other roots music, offering numerous acoustic instrumentals in contrast to the occasional electric folk-rocker.



Their debut, "Celebrations for a Grey Day," was a template for all the music that would follow. The album mixes dulcimer-led instrumentals, guitar-based folksongs, and folk-rock that bubbles with Bruce Langhorn's amplified acoustic guitar, Charlie Smalls' vamping piano and Russ Savakus' bass. The instrumentals put the dulcimer up front, against a background guitar, autoharp, or simple percussion (including Langhorn's incredible Turkish tambourine playing on "V").



The melodies mix flavors from the Appalachians, Ireland and the Far East. The title track, for example, offers a medley of Frere Jacques, Old Joe Clark, Bonaparte's Retreat, Boil 'em Cabbage Down, and three more tunes. The Farinas' vocals - panned into separate stereo channels - enrich Richard's somewhat plain voice with Mimi's harmonies, creating a balance that shines brightly on both low-key traditional folk and upbeat electric tunes.



Richard Farina's lyrical contributions include "Pack Up Your Sorrows," a song quickly adopted by Joan Baez (among others); "Michael, Andrew & James," in memory of three slain civil rights workers; the travel escape of "One-Way Ticket"; "The Falcon," an uneasy tale inspired by the right-turn of early-60s California politics; and a song full of allegorical chance, "Reno Nevada."



Their second LP, "Reflections in a Crystal Wind," recorded a year later, offers much the same mix as the debut, but with expanded lyrical contributions, harmonica from John Hammond, and Mimi's voice moved increasingly to the fore. Standout tracks include their second rumination on the Klan, "Bold Marauder," a pair of 60s folk-rock classics, "Hard-Loving Loser" and "House Un-American Blues Activity Dream," and the bluesy "Mainline Prosperity Blues."



Their posthumous release, "Memories" is a grab-bag of tracks left in various states from their first two albums. Also included is a pair of tracks Richard produced for a Joan Baez LP that was never completed, and a pair of live tracks taken from the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Disc 3 reorganizes the running order of "Memories" by lifting the live tracks and moving them to their proper sequence among the subsequent Newport recordings.



Productions dating from their first album sessions include "Joy 'Round My Brain" (with a vocal that splits the difference between Bob Dylan and Paul Simon), and a single version of "Pack Up Your Sorrows" whose second and third verses differ from the album cut. Tracks dating from their second album sessions include the sea chantey, "Blood Red Roses," and the Southern blues, "Lemonade Lady." Also included is the Fairport Convention-styled Mimi Farina solo, "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood," and the angry waltz-time poke at Bob Dylan, "Morgan the Pirate." The latter, recorded in Nashville, features a powerful sitar-like guitar solo.



The live tracks, nine in all, greatly expand on the pair originally included on "Memories." Drawn from two of their three performances at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, they provide looser versions of songs from their first two LPs, including a nifty acoustic version of "House Un-American Blues Activity Dream," complete with introductory stage patter. "Pack Up Your Sorrows" adds Peter Yarrow to the vocal mix, and "Hard Lovin' Loser" features Bruce Langhorne (on tambourine) and Al Kooper. The one previously unrecorded track is a version of "Shady Grove," recorded with Jean Ritchie at the Festival's dulcimer workshop. For those who've loved the duo's studio catalog, these sides provide a rare opportunity to hear familiar songs fleshed out in front of an audience.



The liner notes (which include an excellent, informative essay from Todd Everett, as well as Richard's original notes from the first two albums) suggest that there is little else of releasable quality in the Vanguard vaults. Still, it might have been nice to include the non-LP instrumental, "Tuileries," that was issued on the "Pack Up Your Sorrows" collection in '99. (Of course, it would be even greater if the solo tracks Richard waxed for Elektra could also have been licensed.) Those who already own the three individual CD releases may find the price of this set a bit steep for seven live tracks. Those who haven't yet experienced the Farinas, or have worn through the original vinyl LPs (or simply have to own everything that's available!), will find this a compelling buy.



4-1/2 stars, if Amazon allowed fractional ratings."

Reflections on a Sad, Grey Day

Mark Oliva | Muenchsteinach Deutschland | 03/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Today, the name of Richard Fariña probably is best known for his insider's novel, "Been Down So Long Looks Like Up to Me," which has maintained sufficient sales to stay in print uninterrupted since its first release in 1965. The name of his wife Mimi may ring the most bells with her maiden name attached: Mimi Baez, the younger sister of Joan Baez. When the folk revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s began sharing common ground with the serious segment of rock music, the Fariñas were second only to Bob Dylan in the vanguard of that movement, but their day in the sun was doomed to be brief. Richard Fariña, his deep-running lyrics and wildly free music all died in a motorcycle accident in 1966. His recorded legacy was far too brief. It consisted of two Vanguard LPs: "Celebrations for a Grey Day" and "Reflections in a Crystal Wind," both released in 1965. There also were outtakes from these recording sessions, released by Vanguard on vinyl in 1968 on an album called "Memories" along with two tracks recorded at the famous "rain concert" during the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. The CD release followed in 1994. In 1968 Vanguard also released a 2-LP set called "The Best of Mimi and Richard Fariña," which simply was a re-release of "Celebrations for a Grey Day" and "Reflections in a Crystal Wind" in a new package. It was released again under the same name on CD with six songs subtracted in 1988. This new triple CD release claims untruthfully to be "the complete Vanguard recordings." Vanguard's vaults include not only the Newport material released in this package but also the "rain concert." The two Newport tracks released on "Memories" are missing from this allegedly complete set, which offers the same but substantially different songs from the afternoon set at the festival. The rest of the "rain concert" still remains locked in Vanguard's vaults. Most folks who will ponder buying this new set probably are familiar already with the Fariñas, and many doubtless will have at least one of their previous releases. It's tragic but true, that these wonderful recordings belong to the insiders' niche these days. They would find a much wider audience, if only people knew they were there. For most, therefore, the question will be, "Should I buy this release too?" That depends. Are you a casual Fariña fan? If so, you may not get too much more for your money, even though the price is extremely friendly. If you're in my boat, where the Fariña albums are a part of your desert isle collection, this is a must. Some of the Fariñas best work was in their complex instrumental selections. If you have the "The Best of ..." CD, you're missing six of the best - "Dandelion River Run," "Tommy Makem Fantasy," "Dog Blue" and "V" from "Celebrations" and "Chrysanthemum" and "Allen's Interlude" from "Reflections." They're back here. For the first time ever, you get all eight tracks from the afternoon set at Newport, where the duo had help from Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul and Mary), Bruce Langhorne and Al Cooper (60s Dylan releases), Fritz Richmond (Kweskin Jug Band) and Kyle Garahan. These are a mixed bag. The microphone work was unfriendly on several tracks. There's also a Newport workshop track with the Appalachian legend Jean Ritchie that frequently is drowned out by the sound of airplanes flying over the festival grounds. These things alone are worth more than the price of this new set. But there's something more that's very valuable and less obvious: Like so many 60s recordings, Vanguard's original mixes were done to make the records sound good on inexpensive record players. The bass was rolled off, etc. In this three CD-set, engineer Jeff Zayara returned to the original tapes and mixed anew for the CD era, giving us these great performances of the past with a transparency and quality of sound heretofore unknown. All that's missing are those Newport "rain concert" recordings still locked up in Vanguard's vaults. Anyone who's listened to the takes from those concerts on the "Memories" LP or CD knows that Vanguard can keep us hungry and waiting for next set, maybe called "The More Complete Vanguard Recordings.""

Lovely Collection Of Richard & Mimi's Recordings!

Barron Laycock | Temple, New Hampshire United States | 09/24/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"No one packed more memorable lyrics nor better accompaniment than did the magical sixties folk duo of Richard and Mimi Farina. Though their tenure at the top was all too short based both on Richard's other ambitions in terms of serious writing (He had just published what would soon become the runaway best-selling "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me" when he was thrown off the back of a motorcycle at the publication party for the hard cover edition of the book and killed) and time itself, given his untimely demise. Yet they seemed to be a very promising entity, with strong vocals and guitar work from Mimi and the superb song writing by Farina himself. Yet for all their ambitions this was a duo that had only a brief moment basking in the sun; their recordings spanned only a few years, and some of what is presented here is culled from the outtakes and live recordings that were previously unreleased. Surprisingly, though, given the brevity of their singing careers, there is much here that deserves a close hearing, for Farina was an eclectic and sometimes quite gifted poet and songwriter, a stylist fully as surprising and as colorful as Bob Dylan, although with a very different artistic style. There are few poems that compare with the romantic appeal of "Reflections In A Crystal Wind", for example, nor anything quite as wry and comical as his cynical "Hard Loving Loser". Indeed, his original version of "Pack Up Your Sorrows' became a sixties folk standard, and the evocative and mysterious lyrics to "Children Of Darkness' catch the sense of alienation and disenfranchisement of the sixties counterculture better than anything else I have ever heard. Another of his poems put to music, "Celebration For A Grey Day' is a good an excuse for listening to folk music as almost anything else emanating from that period. I had the chance to see Mimi years later, long after his death, and it was quite clear that she was still in the process of recovering from that time, after all those years. Ah, and what a time it was, when immortal giants like Dylan and Farina walked the earth, and many of them, with clear and strong voices and an array of amazing poems crashing from their souls rose from the crowd to sing to us of what was, what is, and what may never ever be. I still miss Richard Farina. Enjoy!"