The Best of John Fahey, Vol. 2: 1964–1983

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The Best of John Fahey, Vol. 2: 1964–1983
Best of John Fahey Vol 2.jpg
Greatest hits album by
John Fahey
ReleasedFebruary 3, 2004
GenreFolk
Length1:19:16
LabelTakoma
ProducerHenry Kaiser
John Fahey chronology
Red Cross
(2003) 		The Best of John Fahey, Vol. 2: 1964–1983
(2004) 		The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick
(2004)

The Best of John Fahey, Vol. 2: 1964–1983 is a compilation album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 2004.

History[]

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[]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic4.5/5 stars[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music4/5 stars[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide4/5 stars[6]
Tom HullA−[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[]

All songs by John Fahey unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Twilight on Prince George's Avenue" – 5:46
  2. "Frisco Leaving Birmingham" – :30
  3. "Sligo Mud" – 6:02
  4. "Orinda-Moraga" – 3:57
  5. "On the Beach at Waikiki" – 2:42
  6. "Oneonta" – 2:34
  7. "Dance of Death" – 7:39
  8. "The Assassination of Stephan Grossman" – 2:15
  9. "Tuff" – 5:07
  10. "Ann Arbor/Death by Reputation" (Fahey, Leo Kottke) – 8:10
  11. "Medley: Hark, The Herald Angels Sing/O Come All Ye Faithful" (Traditional) – 3:12
  12. "The Approaching of the Disco Void" – 6:45
  13. "Steamboat Gwine 'Round de Bend" – 4:54
  14. "The Fahey Sampler" – 13:18
  15. "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" – 3:25

Personnel[]

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[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Jurek, Thom. "The Best of John Fahey, Vol. 2: 1964–1983 > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
  2. ^ Mehr, Bob. "Sheep in Wolf's Clothing: How a high school teacher from Skokie passed for cantankerous guitar genuis [sic] John Fahey.". Retrieved October 2011. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  3. ^ Guerrieri, Claudio (2014). The John Fahey Handbook, Vol. 2. p. 256. ISBN 978-0-9853028-1-8.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Dahan, Charlie B. "The Best of John Fahey, Vol. 2: 1964–1983 > Review". All About Jazz. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
  5. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ Tom Hull. "Grade List: john fahey". Tom Hull - on the web. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
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