Audio CD review:
John Fahey - City of Refuge

John Fahey - City of Refuge

Band: John Fahey Title: City of Refuge Rating: Release Date: 11 February, 1997 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Fanfare 2: The Mill Pond 3: Chelsey Silver, Please Come Home 4: City Of Refuge I 5: City Of Refuge III 6: Hope Slumbers Eternal 7: On The Death And Disembowelment Of The New Age

Customer Reviews Most innovative album in years But what sets this album apart is his courage to experiment which most people of his age are usually afraid to do. If you don't think that there are great songs on this with some great guitar playing then you obviously didn't listen to cuts like Chelsey Silver, Please Come Home or City Of Refuge III. They usually want to give something to people that they can immediately understand, that they don't have to think too much about. Well, to Fahey, it's all about art, just like it's always been to him. Yeah, there are moments of noisy self-indulgence, but if you really listen, it's all just emotion. That's really all he's ever done, just played his emotions. backporch Sonic Youth Sounds like some weird cross between Derek Bailey and John Cage maybe. For certain it has little to do soundwise w/ Fahey's more traditional guitar stylings, but plenty of assocation and reference to his earlier experiments in musique concrete. I especially enjoy the opening overture, which sounds like Fahey jamming with an old noisy refrigerator motor. This CD is grating at times but I've got a lot of respect for Fahey for announcing his 'comeback' with such a thoroughly uncompromising disc of new material. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY I can't give it away. Whatever this is it is absolutely unlistenable. I have some of Fahey's earlier work which is fabulous. I lost touch with his work and actually kind of forgot about him. Then I heard the stories of his illness and his mental breakdown. Well evidentally it's all true if this is any indication. The liner notes are but a small peek into what it must be like to be Fahey as he rants on about being missunderstood. Is it any wonder? Instead of buying this may I suggest you slam your head in a car door about seven times. You'll enjoy it much more than you would listening to seven seconds of this. . You can see a complete list of all John Fahey discography, or go back to the John Fahey tabs