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LP
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DC 759LP
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2024 repress. "Recorded in 1995 and 1996, mostly in John Fahey's room at a Salem, Oregon boardinghouse, the performances on Proofs and Refutations prefigure the ornery turn of the page that marked Fahey's final years, drawing another enigmatic rabbit from his seemingly bottomless musical hat. Cloaked in the language of dogma, this is Fahey dancing a jig in the Duchampian gap, jester cap bells a-jingling. Right out of the gate, Fahey re-materializes before us, somewhere between Oracle of Delphi and Clown Prince at Olympus. Mounting a thundering dialectic from on high, 'All the Rains' resembles nothing else in his extensive discography -- betraying roots in everything from Dada to Episcopal liturgical chant -- and contains nary a plucked guitar note. When the lap steel of yore appears on 'F for Fake,' it serves more as soundbed for an extended sequence of vocal improvisations, running the gamut from wordless Bashoian caterwauling to free-form (but decidedly fake) Tuvan, even revealing a burnished falsetto in the process. Fahey takes on a different kind of provocation in the two acoustic guitar-based tracks closing Side 1 -- 'Morning' parts 1 and 2 -- the first of four recordings in this session that have him wrestling with the ghost of Skip James, perhaps Fahey's effort to wrench the 'bitter, hateful old creep' (his words) back into the grave. Anchoring Side 2 is the two-part 'Evening, Not Night,' the second half of his extended cathexis on James. The opening and closing pieces again feature Fahey's guitar as drone soundbed -- employing distortion, oscillation, and an altogether absurd quotient of reverb to create texture and harmonics that are --if we wanna go there -- not dissimilar to the sustained tonic clusters of Tibetan singing bowls, the hurdy gurdy, Hindustani classical music, or La Monte Young. Portions of this material appeared on obscure late '90s vinyl in the 7" or double-78 rpm format, but as a 'session' it has lain dormant more than a quarter century now. Taken together, we can now see these tracks as secret blueprints to latter-day Fahey provocations, several years prior to records like 1997's City of Refuge and Womblife."
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LP
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FOX 027LP
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The finger-picking guitarist and blues enthusiast John Fahey enjoyed a long, influential and distinguished career. Born in Washington DC in 1939 and raised in Takoma Park, Maryland, he launched his own Takoma label to issue self-produced work in the late 1950s and then delivered his master's theses on the blues of Charlie Patton at UCLA. Then, while based in the radical town of Berkeley, California in the San Francisco Bay area, began issuing filed recordings of forgotten blues legends, such as Bukka White. With his own work, Fahey began borrowing from eastern elements such as Indonesian gamelan and Tibetan vocal chanting, reflecting his interest in esoteric eastern religion, as well as birdsong, animal calls, and other naturalistic elements. This beautiful 1973 performance, delivered in the sleepy town of Sausalito, California, comprises most of Fahey's Fare Forward Voyagers LP (1973), as well as earlier material, including "Dance Of The Inhabitants Of The Palace Of King Philip XIV Of Spain", from his 1964 release, Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes.
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CD
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KH 9039CD
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Taped for broadcast on KSAN-FM, this remarkable 1973 set at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California, finds John Fahey, the master of American primitive guitar, at the peak of his mesmerizing powers, performing a series of lengthy medleys that incorporate a wide variety of influences and styles. It's presented here with rare images and background notes.
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DVD
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PTYT 037DVD
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Limited restock, last copies. Shot live for TV by the legendary German music show "Rockpalast," this DVD represents the earliest example of a complete John Fahey concert performance, given on March 17, 1978. The multi-camera filming features detailed close-ups of Fahey's playing style, giving Fahey fans a rare insight into what Pete Townshend has called the William Burroughs of the guitar. Fahey's 1978 visit to Europe saw him in fine wild form, performing an 10-track set and, as an incredibly rare bonus, a short interview with the maverick iconoclast. All-Region NTSC-compatible DVD in CD digipak. Location: Audimax, Hamburg. John Fahey: vocals, guitar.
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5CD BOX/BOOK
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DTD 021CD
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Subtitled: The Fonotone Years 1958-1965. 2012 repress now available! More than 10 years in the making, this box set features the earliest recordings and the first book ever written about one of the most influential guitarists from the 1960s and '70s, John Fahey. The five CDs feature 115 tracks, most of which are available on CD for the first time. The audio was remastered from Joe Bussard's reel-to-reel tapes to achieve pristine sound quality. As for the accompanying book, the list of scholars who contributed essays includes Eddie Dean, Claudio Guerrierri, Glenn Jones, Malcolm Kirton, Mike Stewart and John's childhood friend R. Anthony Lee. Byron Coley contributed a poem about John, and Douglas Blazek's 1967 interview with Fahey is published for the first time. Released 10 years after John Fahey's death, this set puts one of the final puzzle pieces of Fahey's career in place. Everyone can now hear where this guitar legend got his start -- a smoky basement in Frederick, Maryland. Co-produced by Dean Blackwood of Revenant, Glenn Jones, and Lance Ledbetter of Dust-to-Digital, this set is released with the support of Joe Bussard and the John Fahey Estate. The set is dedicated to John's mother, Jane C. Hayes and the late musician Jack Rose. Includes a 88-page hardcover book with 5 CDs in a separate gatefold portfolio -- all housed in a deluxe slipcase. Book measurements: 12 x 12 x 1.25 inches.
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CD
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IMPREC 183CD
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2024 restock. "The Mill Pond was originally released in 1997 as a double 7" that went immediately out of print. For its 10th anniversary, we're issuing it on compact disc housed in a deluxe letterpressed jacket and including an extensive booklet collecting John Fahey's paintings for the very first time. Limited edition. On this release, Fahey uses heavy reverb, electric slide and feedback to create an eerie mood. He gets a bit of help from Jeff Allman, who recorded the songs and adds some electronic noise in spots, and from Scott Colburn, who mixed the tracks, but this record is all Fahey. The Mill Pond is all over the place stylistically, so it should confuse those who try to pigeonhole Fahey into any one category. The Mill Pond further proves that there is only one category into which he fits: truly innovative guitar genius." "Four ecstatic, lo-fi grabs for the ring of eternity, recorded in Fahey's Oregon hotel room. Containing the first graspable evidence of John's throat-singing abilities, this represents the merging of the bull and the china shop. The crudity of the electronics and the delicacy of the stringwork makes for a wonderful match." --Byron Coley.
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LP
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TAKOMA 4447/8LP
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2024 repress. 180 gram exact repro of the original 1959 recording of the first John Fahey album (recording half of it under the moniker "Blind Joe Death"). This has the stark black & white sleeve with just the artist names in block letters. This album was famously re-recorded in both 1964 and 1967, but this is the first reissue of the more primitive debut edition (some takes not included on the 1996 Takoma CD compilation of all three versions). Referred to as the "gas station" edition by Glenn Jones, due to Fahey's manner of employment at the time. "In 1959, John Fahey's debut album Blind Joe Death became the first release from his own (and co-founder Ed Denson's) tiny Takoma label. With that release, Fahey set in motion a new era of independent guitar recording activity. The influence of Blind Joe Death extends way beyond its minimal pressing run of 100 LPs. Fahey brought a new kind of sophisticated primitivism to an international audience. His huge, closely-miked, steel-strung guitar sound reinterpreted such basic folk and blues techniques as stops, pull-offs and slides inside a musical structure that owed more to jazz than to folk music. His unique array of open tunings -- not just open G and D but also C, D minor, G minor and C drone -- and his paced, never-in-a-hurry approach to playing (some uncharitable souls might say 'dirge-like') sound like no other guitarist. Fahey wryly commented to guitarist Dale Miller 'I can make syncopation sound like death.'"
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Book
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DC 245BK
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"The publication of How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life did a great deal to spread the word of Fahey's literary talents, though sadly only a year before he died. Vampire Vultures is an unexpected gift and should ease the grief of those who thought they would never hear anything from John Fahey again. Originally a project of his own conception, it was to be an epic work that would expand on many of the characters and experiences he introduced in Bluegrass. Compiled from his private papers, Vampire Vultures includes notebook entries, short stories, and letters never sent, revealing the struggles and victories of a cult artist's life in modern America."
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