Description
This reissue contains both the 1963 and re-recorded 1967 editions of BLIND JOE DEATH.
Solo performer: John Fahey (acoustic guitar).
Producers: John Fahey, ED Denson.
Reissue producer: Bill Belmont.
Principally recorded in Berkeley, California in 1963 and at Sierra Sound Recorders, Berkeley, California in 1967. Tracks 1-9 originally released in 1963 on Takoma (1002). Tracks 10-20 originally released in 1967 on Takoma (1002). Includes liner notes by Glen Jones, Ed Denson and Chester Petranick (John Fahey).
Digitally remastered by Joe Tarantino (1996, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California).
In the early '60s, on a series of instrumental albums for Takoma Records, cult guitar hero and renegade musical icon John Fahey pioneered a unique acoustic guitar style that synthesized traditional and experimental elements. More than a folk artist, Fahey blended old time blues and country structures with progressive harmonies and melodies that drew from Indian modes and Native American music, incorporating avant garde shifts in style and texture and attention to atmospherics. An awkward attempt at labeling might define the result as Psychedelic Hillbilly Ambient.
Fahey's eclectic sensibilities are in full evidence on THE LEGEND OF BLIND JOE DEATH, supported, as always, by his masterful fingerpicking technique and sensitivity to mood and dynamics. Loping, meditative tracks such as "Slingo River Blues" and "Poor Boy Long Way from Home" contrast with unsettling, protean compositions like "Sun Gonna Shine in my Back Door Someday Blues," and Fahey's treatments of canonical tunes like "John Henry" and W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues." The album's second half includes shorter takes of the songs on the first half, but instead of seeming repetitious, THE LEGEND. plays like an uninterrupted suite of recurring themes. This is an excellent place to begin exploring Fahey's singular, retro/experimental aesthetic.
Solo performer: John Fahey (acoustic guitar).
Producers: John Fahey, ED Denson.
Reissue producer: Bill Belmont.
Principally recorded in Berkeley, California in 1963 and at Sierra Sound Recorders, Berkeley, California in 1967. Tracks 1-9 originally released in 1963 on Takoma (1002). Tracks 10-20 originally released in 1967 on Takoma (1002). Includes liner notes by Glen Jones, Ed Denson and Chester Petranick (John Fahey).
Digitally remastered by Joe Tarantino (1996, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California).
In the early '60s, on a series of instrumental albums for Takoma Records, cult guitar hero and renegade musical icon John Fahey pioneered a unique acoustic guitar style that synthesized traditional and experimental elements. More than a folk artist, Fahey blended old time blues and country structures with progressive harmonies and melodies that drew from Indian modes and Native American music, incorporating avant garde shifts in style and texture and attention to atmospherics. An awkward attempt at labeling might define the result as Psychedelic Hillbilly Ambient.
Fahey's eclectic sensibilities are in full evidence on THE LEGEND OF BLIND JOE DEATH, supported, as always, by his masterful fingerpicking technique and sensitivity to mood and dynamics. Loping, meditative tracks such as "Slingo River Blues" and "Poor Boy Long Way from Home" contrast with unsettling, protean compositions like "Sun Gonna Shine in my Back Door Someday Blues," and Fahey's treatments of canonical tunes like "John Henry" and W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues." The album's second half includes shorter takes of the songs on the first half, but instead of seeming repetitious, THE LEGEND. plays like an uninterrupted suite of recurring themes. This is an excellent place to begin exploring Fahey's singular, retro/experimental aesthetic.
Product Details
- Artist
- John Fahey
- Media Format
- Audio CD
- Label / Studio
- FANTASY / TAKOMA
- Media Content Format
- Album
- Number of Discs
- 1
Tracklisting
Disc 1:
-
On Doing an Evil Deed Blues
-
St. Louis Blues
-
Poor Boy Long Ways from Home
-
Uncloudy Day
-
John Henry
-
In Christ There Is No East or West
-
Desperate Man Blues
-
Sun Gonna Shine in My Back Door Someday Blues
-
Sligo River Blues
-
On Doing an Evil Deed Blues
-
St. Louis Blues
-
Poor Boy Long Ways from Home
-
Uncloudy Day
-
John Henry
-
In Christ There Is No East or West
-
Desperate Man Blues
-
Sun Gonna Shine in My Back Door Someday Blues
-
Sligo River Blues
-
Im Gonna Do All I Can for My Lord
-
Transcendental Waterfall, the (1959)
-
West Coast Blues (1964) - (Previously Unreleased)
