John Fahey - The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death

1959's self-released Blind Joe Death had an enigmatic spare cover that read "Blind Joe Death" on one side and "John Fahey" on the other. The playful 20-year-old "American primitive" guitarist had created an alternate identity: that of the obscure, unknown guitar great Blind Joe Death. The album's material was influenced by the down and dirty country blues of Mississippi John Hurt, Bukka White, and Charley Patton, all manner of old-timey vernacular sound, and 20th-century classical music. This haunting release only contains one of the original recordings; the rest are far more nimble-fingered versions from 1964 (and from '67). As expertly compiled on this disc, Transfiguration presents an opportunity to crawl inside the head of a master musician just as the world of sound unfolds before him. By the time the listener hears the sparkling '67 cuts, a magical, syncretic transformation has occurred. The idiosyncratic artist revisits these plaintive, resonant songs yet again in 1988 on the moody I Remember Blind Joe Death. --Mike McGonigal Amazon.com essential recording

One of Fahey's best

This album is great and should be a must for those who like more traditional Fahey. i myself love all of his stuff, yes even Womblife and City of Refuge. "On the sunny Side of the Ocean" might be my favorite Fahey composition ever and the album is worth buying for that alone. IF YOU LIKE OR PLAY THE ACCOUSTIC GUITAR YOU MUST OWN THIS ALBUM! October 24, 2005

One of the best Acoustic Guitar cds I have ever heard

I put off buying a John Fahey cd for a long time, and choose this one because of the title. This is a different John Fahey than the one I saw in concert at a record store in Austin in 1999 or 2000. When I saw him, he played electric guitar in a very minimalistic style. He did no fingerpicking or old time music at all. I find this cd very restful and it gives me a feeling like finding an old photo album from 100 years ago at a country thrift store and looking at the yellowed and faded photos of men with strange facial hair and women in corsets.
Although I mostly prefer electric guitar music, I play this cd a lot. I think people who like John Fahey would also like Tony McManus, Leo Kottke, Adrian Legg (saw an incredible concert by him in San Francisco a few years back), Rooster Kiev (blues meets mid-eastern dance music)and let's not forget Doc Watson!

September 28, 2005

For Guitarists and Acoustic Lovers Alike

I've played guitar for 30+ years, and I was exposed to John Fahey very early on. His "Blind Joe Death" album (along with Ry Cooder's early albums) changed the way I looked at technique and tone. They made we want to find similarly obscure (if not weird) tunes and bring a personal touch to them. If you're not a guitarist, you're still going to love this very excellent album (though I'm not a big fan of Track 1). Fahey equally rewards both the casual and the careful listener.

If you play guitar or are into music theory, the outstanding liner notes include guitar tunings for each track. Some of these tunings are unique to Fahey. Unlike Kottke, for example, most of Fahey's tunes aren't difficult to play -- if you're going to try, having the right tunings will help immensely. Fahey is not flashy or fast -- he's about atmosphere and creative touches that most guitarists wouldn't think of. I probably prefer "Blind Joe Death" to this CD, but not by much. This is elegant, creative, and unusual guitar music. August 19, 2005

Great acoustic guitar

Without realising the spine of my albumn had disintegrated, the ancient disc slipped through my thumbs to the floor. The faintest thwack, but, alas, two tiny fragments remained on the floor, ruining the perfection of a thirty year plus piece of Fahey. And damn it, it was my favourite Fahey! Not that I have the exhaustive repository of a true fan or the professional guitar knowledge. And not that I find anything but willful obsfucation in his need for masking as Blind Joe and the feigned erudition of liner notes that go nowhere. But if the jokes helped him stabilize sufficiently to make these delicate and eloquent compositions, then bless him. I also have some things with a dixie-sounding ensemble on 'River & Religion' and
'Old Fashioned Love' with its incomparable and transporting version of,'A Persian Market'. And the surprisingly sprightly'Christmas Albumn'. But this one is very atmospheric stuff and a rich complement to those two early, rurally inspired and similarily resilient Band albums. Looks like I'll have to upgrade to CD. January 30, 2005

Distinctly John Fahey

In nearly every review of John Fahey, the remark is made that he spawned the career of the famous, inimitable Leo Kottke. While I do not intend to disparage Kottke, and listen to "6 and 12 String Guitar" quite frequently, John Fahey should be listened to because he is John Fahey, and "The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death" should be listened to because, quite simply, it is the best finger-picking guitar record I have ever heard.

Comparing Fahey to Kottke is, for fans of jazz, like comparing Thelonious Monk to McCoy Tiner, or, for fans of rock, imagine someone comparing Jimi Hendrix to Kurt Cobain. Sure, the first two played piano in a distinctive, personal, and prolific style, and the second two were both amazing guitarists. But skill and style are quite different, and although both Kottke and Fahey are finger-picker guitarists of similar skill, the emotions and styles they convey are quite different.

That being said, "Transfiguration" is an incredible album unlike any other I have ever heard. Fahey plays guitar with a brooding deliberateness that other guitars can only approximate. Kottke comes close on tracks like "Busted Bicycle," but that only scratches the surface of things that Fahey accomplishes on this record. I can listen to it for a week straight and not need to hear anything else; the range of emotion that it conveys is that wide. Whereas Kottke is fun to listen to, or Hendrix is emotional and Monk is unique, Fahey is pretty much everything.

I highly endorse this album and wish I had heard it sooner. December 28, 2004

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