The Revenge of Blind Joe Death: The John Fahey Tribute Album
The Revenge of Blind Joe Death: The John Fahey Tribute Album is a tribute CD to guitarist John Fahey released in 2006 by Takoma Records.
| The Revenge of Blind Joe Death: The John Fahey Tribute Album | ||||
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| Compilation album by Various artists | ||||
| Released | August 22, 2006 | |||
| Genre | American Folk, Blues, American primitive guitar, New Acoustic | |||
| Label | Takoma | |||
| Producer | Jon Monday | |||
| Tributes to John Fahey chronology | ||||
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History
This John Fahey tribute album was produced by Jon Monday, former art director and later vice president and general manager of Fahey's label, Takoma Records. It contains a collection of interpretations of Fahey compositions and original compositions played in Fahey's style. All the performers were either friends, students, collaborators or label-mates of Fahey.
The final song, recorded to sound like a scratchy 78 rpm record, is credited to Blind Joe Death himself, Fahey's alter-ego during his early career. The actual performer is not revealed.
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [1] |
| PopMatters | [2] |
In his Allmusic review, critic Mark Deming praised the album and many of the performances, but also wrote "... the sense of creative adventure and musical risk that was so much a part of John Fahey's music is largely missing, and a number of the guitarists here offer renditions that are so close to the sound and style of the original that they seem almost pointless except as a show of technique..." and that it is "a well-intentioned labor of love, but its polished surfaces lack the edgy textures that were so important to Fahey's work"[1]
Daniel Spicer of PopMatters singled out specific performances as "less successful" as others, but called the album "commendable and hugely enjoyable tribute to a unique giant of American music." He singles out George Winston's harmonica version of "Sally Goodin" as "a relentless, barrage of percussive blowing that whips up a dark vortex of drones and overtones, dragging the listener down to a tiny point of non-existence. It really must be heard to be believed."[2]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sunflower River Blues" | John Fahey | Dale Miller | 3:13 |
| 2. | "Sally Goodin" | Traditional | George Winston | 2:44 |
| 3. | "St. Louis Blues" | W. C. Handy | Michael Gulezian | 4:34 |
| 4. | "The Alligator Walks Sideways on Sunday" | Alex de Grassi | 2:53 | |
| 5. | "Desperate Man Blues" | Traditional | Charlie Schmidt | 3:38 |
| 6. | "Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace of King Phillip XIV of Spain" | Fahey | Canned Fish | 4:08 |
| 7. | "Sun Gonna Shine on my Mardis Gras" | David Doucet | 3:38 | |
| 8. | "Thinking of John Fahey" | Country Joe McDonald | 2:12 | |
| 9. | "In Christ There Is No East or West" | Traditional | Peter Lang | 2:09 |
| 10. | "Joe Kirby Blues" | Fahey | Terry Robb | 3:06 |
| 11. | "The Yellow Princess" | Fahey | Sean Smith | 5:35 |
| 12. | "Steamboat Gwine Round the Bend" | Fahey | Henry Kaiser and John Schott | 7:10 |
| 13. | "Red Pony" | Fahey | Nick Schillace | 3:25 |
| 14. | "Assassination of John Fahey" | Stefan Grossman | 4:17 | |
| 15. | "& 50 Cents Gets You a Cup of Coffee" | Rick Ruskin | 3:29 | |
| 16. | "Requiem for John Fahey" | Phil Kellogg | 3:03 | |
| 17. | "Days Have Gone By in the Halls of Valhalla" | Andrew Stranglen | 2:37 | |
| 18. | "On the Banks of the Owchita" | Fahey | Nels Cline and Elliott Sharp | 3:42 |
| 19. | "Jesus is a Dying-Bed Maker" | Traditional | Pat O'Connell | 3:56 |
| 20. | "John Henry" | Traditional | Blind Joe Death | 2:24 |
References
- Deming, Mark. "Revenge of Blind Joe Death > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
- Spicer, Daniel. "Revenge of Blind Joe Death > Review". PopMatters. Retrieved May 2, 2010.