a comment that Phil Freeman posted in response to my Fahey thing below got me a little worried. he wrote that the only Fahey he had heard was a track of detuned experimental guitar, something that JF was experimenting with a bit in his late career. basically during this time, Fahey was throwing a lot of stuff against the wall to see what stuck and though most of it's very rewarding, i'm worried that all some folks know of him is this late stuff, which in my opinion really needs to be heard in context of his early awesomeness, which is obviously very experimental for its time, though not in the least bit difficult to listen to.
as i said below, the hands-down best intro to Fahey and the thing that i'd recommend to anyone who hadn't checked him out, is Rhino's 2-CD anthology "Return of the Repressed." it's plenty available on Amazon. buy it, ok? i'd go so far as to say that it's the best single-artist compilation i own. it covers an enormous amount of ground and doesn't become useless once you start buying up the original discs, as so many comps do.
anyway, though, as an expedient alternative, if you've only heard late Fahey or (gasp) never heard him at all, please enjoy this YouTube clip of a 1978 performance in Germany. he plays one of his most gorgeous pieces, "On the Sunny Side of the Ocean," which originally appeared on 1965's "The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death" (you didn't really need to know that; i just really wanted to type that title). the playing will kill you, but also check out a) his thick-glasses-and-elbow-patches look and b) his hilariously dry pregame patter, delivered in that high, wobbly voice of his, which made everything that came out of his mouth sound sarcastic. anyway...
ok, more soon, including King vs. Kubrick.
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