John Fahey - Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes

This inspired collection reissues all the music from John Fahey's genre-expansive, groundbreaking 1964 disc Death Chants and its (mostly) rerecorded version from 1967. On both discs Fahey's finger picking is nimble and awe-inspiring, his head afire with ideas both revolutionary and musically pure. His goal was to reconcile a love for American primitive folk traditions and 20th-century classical music; by 1967 he'd largely succeeded. Death Chants is one of the most intense, life-affirming, and visionary recordings of the 1960s, and the clear (and thankfully not digitally messed-with) sound plus context-heavy, insightful liner notes by Byron Coley make the reissue a must even for folks who own the original artifacts. --Mike McGonigal Amazon.com essential recording

Simultaneously familiar and alien

From the fingerpicked opening notes of "Sunflower River Blues" (on the '64 version), you know you're in for a really special treat. Fahey's picking is at once familiar--we've all heard fingerpicked acoustic blues with octave bass note repetition, but we've never heard it like Fahey does it (unless, of course, you own other John Fahey records). This album's a great example of John Fahey's unique guitar technique after he'd had a few years to solidify his style and really start taking risks.

What makes Fahey so unique is less his technical skill (though he does possess pretty wicked chops--listen to wild harmonics on the 1967 version of "America"), and more his compositional prowess. He was adept at blending familiar blues with classical ideas (ideas, not music directly). The result is complex, strange melodies and weird chord changes that sound otherworldly, but are still as accessible and easy to listen to as folk music.

Just listen to the loping, heavy bass picking of "Stomping Tonight . . ." it's blues, the melody is catchy and hummable, but it seems to come from some unknown land. That's what I love about Fahey's music the most--there's something magical and unreachable about it that is melancholy and mysterious. This is music that anyone can enjoy--you don't have to be a guitar enthusiast, and you don't already have to like instrumental acoustic guitar. I recommend this album to anyone who likes folk, blues or rock (i.e. pretty much everybody), so give it a listen and let it work its subtle magic on you. January 12, 2007

beautiful heartbreaking solo steel guitar

Fahey was both innovator and traditionalist. In his earliest days (and this CD is part of those days) he portrayed himself as a legendary character much like the blues players of old - a Blind Joe Death character. What's nice about Fahey is that he's not contented to just pick the traditional pieces, he's also not trying to wow you with flashy skills. He's very into the sound of the instrument and meticulous about giving you a sturdy recording of straight up guitar noise.
He likes to wander off in his playing and it's those meanderings that really can bring the haunting to some of his work.

the cover art is intresting - the fact that he was self publishing this stuff is fascinating at that (late 50s early 60s), and the fact that his pen left us some very cryptic and fanciful prose is worth the look too. Fahey was a total package. A real artist. November 10, 2006

More essential music for guitar lovers.

There are a few solo stringed intrument players or "pickers" who are real GIANTS. We all have our favorites, and not everyone's "list" will be just the same. But I can say here without reservation and without fear of contradiction that John Fahey should be on just about everyone's list. He was an inventive master, a gifted synthesist who took standard folk-blues progressions and reinvented and reinvigorated them into his "American primitive guitar" style.
I'd rather hear Fahey's fingers sqeaking on the strings than most other guitarists playing. This album (1967 version) is a personal favorite of mine. It is surpassingly haunting. This is music that stays with you: once you've heard it, really LISTENED to it, you don't even need to put the record on. The music is so archetypal you can re-play it in your HEAD indefinitely.
Fahey was a great genius. His contribution to American music and American folk guitar is inestimable. The release of this album on CD has been long anticipated and is extremely welcome, and a double treat because you get to listen to the original 1963 version and the (more familiar) 1967 version. March 7, 2006

Fahey at His Best

A gem of a CD, not only re-releasing a classic LP, but including earlier versions of many of the songs. Several of the numbers here, 'Some Summer Day', 'Stomping Tonight on the Pennsylvania-Alabama Border' -- how about that for a title? -- and 'When the Springtime Comes Again', are exquisite examples of what beautiful music can be played on a solo six-string acoustic guitar. April 4, 2003

In short, a miracle . . .

I cannot imagine having been without these pieces, auditory equivalents of Wyeth paintings-- wondrous strange indeed. This is work that can change one's life-- and it has certainly shaken my very foundations. The older recordings are eerier than those from the '67 sessions, which sound more beautiful. Sometimes, however, the strange is more powerful than the beautiful. What is this "otherness" he achieves? Listening to this album, I can almost smell death. July 16, 2001

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