In Christ There Is No East or West: The John Fahey Albums Poll

i've only heard three or four of the early classic 60's albums, plus womblife and red cross (oh and the epiphany of glenn jones, which isn't very good). transfiguration or great bernadino win it; womblife is quite wonderful but very different

requia

days have gone by

Transfiguration for me, but I'd be hard pressed to give any coherent reason why it wins over the other 60's stuff

yea i'm thinking transfiguration. though i thought there might be people repping for any of the other early 60s ones, too, especially blind joe death chants.

america is really good, fare forward voyagers is excellent, and of the later stuff i've heard, city of refuge is cool. i've only heard a little bit off of hitomi.

*that should be blind joe OR death chants

Transfiguration and America are the only ones I have, so I don't feel like I can vote… Curious about the results, though, as I should probably get more.

This is so tough. I want to choose "the first half of Days Gone By mixed with the first half of the Yellow Princess."

Head says "Voice of The Turtle" heart sez "Death Chants, Breakdowns, and Military Waltzes."

I own an appalling amount of 80s Fahey, and I think the best one is "Railroad."

Blind Joe Death is so classic and amazing and without peer I couldn't vote for anything else.

Hitomi has my favorite JF song on it though.

I haven't heard enough of these. Really love Requia, Yellow Princess, Days Have Gone By, America, and Fare Foward Voyagers.

'Voice of the Turtle' is so great - you've got these back porch country fiddle tunes mixed with the weird psychedelia of "A Raga Called Pat", plus the two "Bean Vine Blues" songs, I love it.

Transfiguration/I remember blind joe death/ of rivers and religion/ red cross

I remember blind joe death

^^ controversial! that version of "summertime" is amazing, though.

I'm a death chants man, though looking at his discog it's entirely possible that my favorite still lurks among the unheard throng

yea same here.

i'm still voting transfiguration, but i could go with blind joe death just for "sligo river blues" alone, especially the re-recorded one he put on the later reissuing.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Womblife

Fare Forward Voyagers for me - the epic-est of his epics, among the ones I know

santa barbara oil slick! awesome awesome awesome. i love any 60s Fahey, but that one sums it up for me.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Like a wiseman once said, "John Fahey: better than therapy."
Waking up to Fahey is waking up to sunshine, sometimes.

Of the ones I've got, which is less than I'd like, "Death Chants" is my favourite - also the first I heard

that's the one I'm playing now--"When The Springtime Comes Again" really gets me, but the whole album is incredible.

how did i miss this

results are tolerable to me though

sad i missed this.

america

i have never heard of days have gone by, will have to investigate.
wish i'd picked up The Dance of Death and Other Plantation Favorites at the fmu fair, but it was kinda pricey.

Quite a few of these I've never heard, but of those I have, America. Also love the original Blind Joe Death, the Transfiguration, Oil Slick, Death Chants, Red Cross. After the Ball = sentimental favorite I might have actually voted for. Still listen to it all the time.

Like a wiseman once said, "John Fahey: better than therapy."
Waking up to Fahey is waking up to sunshine, sometimes.

― ian, Thursday, January 31, 2008 7:26 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it's unreal how true this is. i took a long, sad, stoned road trip a year ago, and decided if a person could make music like this, it was all worth it.

i'd give a non-vital body part to be able to play like him, maybe an eye or or.. a toe? maybe not an eye. definitely not a finger, that wouldn't make any sense.

I love John Fahey but threads about this kinda music always make me feel out of my depth, like I should know more about music theory or something to really get it or whatever.

i have music-theory-nerd friends who think he's boring.. i don't know, i haven't listened to every john fahey album ever, mostly just the 60s stuff, but i don't think there's so much to get, he's just sort of ineffably gorgeous or enigmatic or something, hard to transcribe into "see what he did there" music-theory bs

Yeah, I have a guitar virtuoso friend who is not into Fahey at all. This guy is a Berklee-educated Metheny disciple, mind you. So I don't think Fahey is a music theory kinda thing -- for me he's just about deep soulfulness and vision, if that makes sense. Kind of an overall sonic viewpoint that is really powerful.

yeah, that sounds otm

i really like fare forward voyagers and red cross

been playing of rivers and religion a bunch lately. really nice.

probably go back to fare forward voyagers, yellow princess, and red cross most of all.

have to third the music theory comments too. never really struck me as an academic player at all.

if anything, I sometimes do feel like I don't know enough about music HISTORY to really get what fahey is referencing/influenced by. (early bluegrass, ives, etc.) but his playing just strikes me as v. emotional, direct, and gorgeous.

When I tried to get one of my college friends, a jazz guitarist with perfect pitch, his comments were:
"It's easy to play like that." and "He keeps hitting the wrong notes."

lol, whatever dog.

I love all the Fahey. It makes me a bit sad to see no votes for "Railroad" which is imho one of the strongest of his eighties releases.

yellow princess

Sea Changes & Coelacanths is pretty great too

yea there's totally this simplicity to fahey's playing, not as in 'simple to play' but rather a 'simple, kind of straightforward beauty', i guess. just listen to 'sligo river blues' - there's just this incredibly simple elegance or beauty to it that is just really accessible.

his whole aesthetic, too, doesn't strike me as being about music theory bs at all. i mean, dude's a folk musician. he plays folk music, you know? the blues, country, bluegrass, etc. the fact that he's a pretty incredible guitarist and really really skilled is just part of it.

also, i don't think you even need to know much about 'vernacular american music' or whatever to appreciate fahey. when i first started listening to him, he was the only kind of folk music i really knew until maybe a couple years ago. actually, the deeper i got into fahey the more i got into a lot of folk music.

i mean even his 'city of refuge' avant-noise is still all blues

incredibly simple, incredibly beautiful fahey track:
http://www.last.fm/music/John+Fahey/_/Springtime+in+Azalea+City

(sorry, can't find it streaming anywhere.)

don't think this was ever formally released. downloaded it on an album called "azalea city memories and other toxic xemorabilia" and I think that's a bootleg.

fahey fans definitely need this: http://croz.fm/files/category-john-fahey.php

^^Just what I needed to get me through this monday. Thanks!

i don't think fahey's greatness was as a technician at all. i mean, he could play really well, at least when he was feeling well (and NOT in the last phase of his career, when he seemed to take the degradation of his playing as the starting point for his new style). but his genius was for his compositions, his way of pulling together many strands of melodic material and working endlessly inventive variations on same.

and speaking of which, if you haven't grabbed this, do so: http://grapewrath.blogspot.com/2008/04/roots-of-john-fahey.html

yeah, that collection is boss.

also get the county records CD "old time mountain guitar" (http://www.countysales.com/php-bin/ecomm4/products.php?category_id=&product_id=432&prev_id=4522&next_id=4617)

...which is basically the ur-fahey.

some of the azalea city memories stuff (and you're not kidding, it is beautiful) was released on the "greatest hits volume 2" CD.

http://croz.fm/files/category-john-fahey.php

-- files don't work. anyone who has already downloaded this want to post it elsewhere?

If anyone did re-up that, that would obviously be a heroic deed that would command respect.

Lots of Fahey is easy to play on guitar, the very first guitar tunes I learnt were Fahey and I have abysmal left-hand technique to this day. Retuning yr guitar for optimal economy and playing slowww and w/peculiar timing maybe helps you concentrate, helps you hypnotise yrself, which is the key Fahey process I think. I agree w/amateurist when he says old Fahey "seemed to take the degradation of his playing as the starting point for his new style."

Fahey was too lost inside himself to count as a folk musician. Sibelius was as big an influence as Blind Blake, he wasn't a part of a tradition. He drew on everything going on in the Fahey psyche, listening to the radio, reading about Being, trains, girlfriends, going to church... "I'm not a VOLK"

Maybe Transfiguration gets all the attention because of the cover. I am glad the poll is done and I do not have to choose. I was thinking of doing a poll of Fahey titles.

that Croz file should work -- just click (no right click or anything) on the blue arrow thingie next to the title ... zip file should start downloading ...

amst., the links and files worked for me this morning, and I tried again after you posted above, and they're still working.

No love for Railroad here, which, given the competition, is understandable, but ian is correct upthread in identifying this as a great, unheralded Fahey album (and the last of the JF Takoma albums). I'm a bit gun-shy posting about Fahey after the abysmal showing in my 'Fahey comeback albums' poll (seems that lately folks would rather talk about the people Fahey inspired than the man himself), but, to hell with it - anyone else really dig Railroad?

I haven't atually listened to it in a while but one of the things i remember loving about that record is how intense the playing is -- some of the pieces are really bracing.

I've listened to "The Fahey Sampler" eleven times today. Guess I'm on a kick!

I'd say his real 'classic' era would span BJD-Fare Forward Voyagers, but still some good stuff elsewhere, particularly Railroad. I actually also came around to thinking this one was very underrated the other day. I would argue that it's the last good acoustic album he did, honestly. Seems appropriate that it's the last of his Takoma albums, thematically and musically. Personally got no love for his 80s output. (In fact, I really haven't given it much of chance, would much prefer to imagine he left off with Railroad.) Is any of that stuff any good? Something about covering Layla, the fugly cover art, and trying to play like Bola Sete... eh.

Love Frisco to Birmingham, Summer Cat, and the re-working of Poor Boy Long Way From Home (can't recall the name, can't be arsed to look it up). Seems that technique-wise he was near his peak in this era. God, Time, and Causality is almost entirely composed of re-treads but I'd say his chops are similarly on display there. I recall that particular album consisted of old recordings that he passed off as new ones, and I wouldn't be surprised if those were recorded around the same era as Railroad. His best compositions were definitely behind him by the late 70s but so much of his playing in this era is so pristine/crystalline, and yes, bracing.

Yeah, I tend to stop at Railroad and pick up again with the City of Refuge / Womblife comeback run, myself, as if those others don't actually exist. Someone should make a compilation of the 'best of the worst' of those 80s years, though.

Dude loved Bola Sete! Seems so weird. I'm in touch with the author of the upcoming Fahey bio and I asked him about something that always bothered me: the fact that Fahey's avant 'reawakening' in the 90s had to do with hearing Sonic Youth, NNCK, et al,and Byron's piece in Spin. But how is it possible he was unaware of the Velvets (to only name the most ubiquitous of "experimental" rock groups) and their ilk for almost thirty years? Seems dubious.

What a mysterious guy. I can't wait to read the bio.

Upcoming Fahey bio? News to me- looking forward to it though!

Even on the Fonotone releases he had some 'avant' leanings, i.e. Western Medley, a tape loop/drone thing, and some of the snippets of Transcendental Waterfall included on those are pretty discordant. I seem to remember reading somewhere that he'd known about Cage, et. al but claimed to be 'unaware' of any alternative music movement after that. Also read an interview where he said he'd go to John Cage performances 'to laugh at it' and would get escorted out.

I think he had a propensity for myth-making, (to put it lightly), so would not doubt the 'being unawares' was just some intetionally crafted b.s. but given that he also had been flirting with and experimenting with the strange almost since the start, I would guess either interpretation is equally valid.

Good point, re: his myth-making. I'm just not sure why, if he'd been aware of Big Black (a band he apparently liked, according to Byron Coley!) when they were around, he would have released all those dull-as-dirt LPs in the 80s. I guess what I'm saying is that I believe he lacked the exposure to the weird stuff, but it's hard to imagine that he wouldn't have come across something comparatively 'out' during the 80s - Jesus and Mary Chain, Siouxie, Talking Heads...? Maybe it really was just Windham Hill shit he was exposed to during this time? Talk about living in a bubble. Then again, I realize I say this with 'post internet' hindsight and I do forget sometimes that access then isn't at all what it is now. Still...

When I say 'upcoming' Fahey bio, I mean 2014. I probably shouldn't have even said anything, but I do know that the book is being edited as we speak!

he spent a lot of that time basically homeless, didn't he? i wouldn't suppose checking out 120 minutes was part of his routine.

i like railroad, some pretty cool stuff on there. visits washington DC is solid too.
that 60s interview in that last box set has him talking about ... the Dead, I think? I'm sure he was "aware" of a fair amount of the 60s counterculture/weirdo stuff, but probably wasn't that interested in it? and by the 80s, well, who knows what he was exposed to then.
bio sounds cool -- who's writing it?

i see that i think the only thing i've heard in that fallow period between the second christmas album and womblife is live in tasmania, but that features some of my favourite fahey playing. is that a bit of an oddity from around then or am i just an undiscerning listener?

undiscerning about homeless guys and 120 minutes maybe...homeless guys watch more 120 minutes than you'd think!

one of their favorite shows iirc

I have never heard that Live in Tasmania record - not sure why I haven't. What do you like about it, stalin?

What interview are you referring to, tyler? The Fonotone box set stuff? So weird that two of my all time favorite dudes (Fahey and Beefheart) were so frequently, publicly venemous toward what is probably my all time favorite band (the Dead). Ha!

The book deal isn't actually a 'deal' yet iirc, so I can't say anything, just that it's a friend writing it, and this friend is a great writer who I have no doubt will do the subject justice.

the interview in the past comes back to haunt you box -- i think he actually says Garcia is a really good guitarist? i'll have to look at it...

Oh I thought you meant the audio interview, the stuff about the Mississippi Swampers, etc. I gotta get that box one of these days.

Don't forget to read his book 'How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life'. Yesterday I read the story 'April in the Orange' and it's amazing.

Gave God, Time, and Causality another listen yesterday, and I'm all the more convinced it was recorded sometime in the late 70s/early 80s despite its 1989 release date. A lot of the medleys contained within match up almost directly to his live repertoire at the time (for one, compare the version of Lion on here to the Rockpalast take in 1978, or the take of Red Pony w/the 'Disco Void' present on Live in Tasmania- 1980).

I also take back my accusation that is filled with retreads- while he does revisit some of his classic material, the interpretations are unique enough, and the music original to this release is in some cases unlike anything else he'd ever done- last track in particular is a stunner. And the version of Red Pony on here... god damn. I had to start the track over after the raga style intro just because it's that good. ANYWAY, the point of all this blather is to say that if you have some regard for Railroad, I'd definitely recommend giving this one a shot. It definitely stands out like a (welcome) sore thumb in the midst of his other 80s work, I'd say.

This sounds right in my wheelhouse. Thanks, global.

I have never heard that Live in Tasmania record - not sure why I haven't. What do you like about it, stalin?

just saw this - i suppose it's 'classic fahey', not really doing anything that wasn't present in his work 10+ years earlier, but it seems such a perfectly refined and distilled version of that. since i already have trouble pinpointing what it is that makes me like fahey so much i don't really know how to explain it beyond that.

I like The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick more than the Tasmania album. I'm stupid drunk so I won't try to explain why except Requiem For Mississippi John Hurt is awesome.

iirc god time & causality was presented to the record company as fresh recordings, but they were all taken from these legendary 'nut house' sessions which are from '79ish & only heard in full by the fahey illuminati. the whole album is great - fahey at his medley-best - but sandy on earth, the final track, belongs on whatever sort of hallowed Great Fahey Top 10 you might struggle to construct, a massive grinning build up and for a giddy moment John Fahey Goes Flamenco. I am jealous of anyone who gets to listen to it for the first time.