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

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

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

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
Allmusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[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. 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. 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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