The Best of John Fahey, Vol. 2: 1964–1983 is a compilation album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 2004.
| The Best of John Fahey, Vol. 2: 1964–1983 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Greatest hits album by | ||||
| Released | February 3, 2004 | |||
| Genre | Folk | |||
| Length | 1:19:16 | |||
| Label | Takoma | |||
| Producer | Henry Kaiser | |||
| John Fahey chronology | ||||
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History edit
The second volume of The Best of John Fahey was assembled by American guitarist and composer Henry Kaiser. The album included three unreleased tracks from 1991; “Twilight on Prince George’s Avenue,” “Sligo Mud”, and “Tuff” which were assumed to be from an album Fahey recorded for Shanachie Records titled Azalea City Memories that was never released.[1] However, it was later uncovered that the three songs were not Fahey recordings, but recordings of guitarist "Charlie Schmidt, a 42-year-old high school teacher who lives in Skokie... as part of a prank Fahey hoped to play on Shanachie, his label at the time."[2][3]
The liner notes include a reprint of a letter that Fahey wrote to Fantasy Records regarding his thoughts on how they should handle his catalogue of recordings.[4]
Reception edit
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [5] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [6] |
| Tom Hull | A−[7] |
Music critic Thom Jurek of Allmusic praised the album, "This is, in some ways, better than the original best-of, because it comes from the heart of a fan as well as the vision of a master musician."[1] From his review for All About Jazz, critic Charlie B. Dahan called it "...nothing more than a guitarist and his instrument communicating stories of love, passion, humor and despair with flesh and blood; wood and wire. It is music at its most basic, yet most complicated."[4] Both praised the song selection and liner notes by producer Henry Kaiser.
Track listing edit
All songs by John Fahey unless otherwise noted.
- "Twilight on Prince George's Avenue" – 5:46
- "Frisco Leaving Birmingham" – 3:30
- "Sligo Mud" – 6:02
- "Orinda-Moraga" – 3:57
- "On the Beach at Waikiki" – 2:42
- "Oneonta" – 2:34
- "Dance of Death" – 7:39
- "The Assassination of Stephan Grossman" – 2:15
- "Tuff" – 5:07
- "Ann Arbor/Death by Reputation" (Fahey, Leo Kottke) – 8:10
- "Medley: Hark, The Herald Angels Sing/O Come All Ye Faithful" (Traditional) – 3:12
- "The Approaching of the Disco Void" – 6:45
- "Steamboat Gwine 'Round de Bend" – 4:54
- "The Fahey Sampler" – 13:18
- "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" – 3:25
Personnel edit
- John Fahey – guitar
Production notes
- Henry Kaiser – producer
- John Fahey – producer
- ED Denson – producer
- Bill Belmont – liner notes
- Doug Decker – producer, engineer
- Barry Hansen – engineer
- Gene Rosenthal – engineer
- Joe Tarantino – remastering
- Jo Ayres – photography
- Linda Kalin – booklet design
- Jamie Putman – artwork, art direction
References edit
- ^ a b c Jurek, Thom. "The Best of John Fahey, Vol. 2: 1964–1983 > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
- ^ Mehr, Bob. "Sheep in Wolf's Clothing: How a high school teacher from Skokie passed for cantankerous guitar genuis [sic] John Fahey.". Retrieved October 23, 2011.
- ^ Guerrieri, Claudio (2014). The John Fahey Handbook, Vol. 2. p. 256. ISBN 978-0-9853028-1-8.
- ^ a b Dahan, Charlie B. "The Best of John Fahey, Vol. 2: 1964–1983 > Review". All About Jazz. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
- ^ Sheffield, Rob (2004). "John Fahey". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). London: Fireside Books. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ Tom Hull. "Grade List: john fahey". Tom Hull - on the web. Retrieved September 10, 2020.