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

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. 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."

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.

Reception

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." 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." 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