The Revenge of Blind Joe Death: The John Fahey Tribute Album
| 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 Primitivism, New Acoustic | |||
| Label | Takoma | |||
| Producer | Jon Monday | |||
| Tributes to John Fahey chronology | ||||
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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.
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
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| 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
- 1 2 Deming, Mark. "Revenge of Blind Joe Death > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
- 1 2 Spicer, Daniel. "Revenge of Blind Joe Death > Review". PopMatters. Retrieved May 2, 2010.