Audio CD review:
John Fahey - After the Ball

John Fahey - After the Ball

Band: John Fahey Title: After the Ball Rating: Release Date: 11 September, 2001 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Horses 2: New Orleans Shuffle 3: Beverly 4: Om Shanthi Norris 5: I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free 6: When You Wore A Tulip (And I Wore A Big Red Rose) 7: Hawaiian Two-Step 8: Bucktown Stomp 9: Candy Man 10: After The Ball

Customer Reviews Before buying this particular item... Some tracks solo, some with a small "orchestra. This is another of Fahey's finest albums. " BUT. . . do yourself a favor and purchase the 2-fer on Rhino UK of OF RIVERS & RELIGION and AFTER THE BALL. Really, you'll be much happer. The albums are stylistically similar, making it a seamless collection of tunes. It has Rhino's terrific re-mastering, courtesy of Bill Inglot (Collector's Choice seems to have done a simple transfer with no re-mastering), much more complete liner notes, courtesy of Sid Griffin, and a slipcase. At this writing it's available right here on Amazon USA -- you don't even need to pay the import shipping. . Surprisingly Distinctive Between Kottke releases, hungry for more of this type of music, I sought out Fahey and Peter Lang to satisfy my lust. I became interested in John Fahey while in college through the credit Leo Kottke gave to Fahey in liner notes and in covering several Fahey tunes. Some Kottke fans can't make the transition to Fahey's slow tempo, and sometimes weird offerings. But I kept on listening because I heard an inner voice in the eccentricity of Fahey's music. Among Fahey fans, this disc is not particularly popular because as with 'Rivers and Religion' (my Fahey favorite) he uses a Dixieland/ragtime orchestra on several cuts. But he uses it well, and sprinkles it judiciously throughout the recording. Now that bands like Squirrel Nut Zippers have risen in popularity, there might be a new audience for this disc. Fahey was always trying to do something interesting with his music. Here he's picked the tunes, the musicians and the arrangements and pulled it off. New Orleans Shuffle (2) in the Squirrel Nut Zippers instrumental style, with solos of guitar, clarinet, and cornet. I wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free (5) is played with the reverence and precision a church hymn should. After the Ball (10) evokes images of the last number in a long night for 30's dance band. But there's plenty of classic Fahey for the purists, and it's quality stuff. The acoustic tunes on *After The Ball* are more up-tempo than the funereal sound many people think of when Fahey's name comes to mind. Horses (1) is a jaunt with a bouncy, happy canter and a few flashes of Fahey's fancy fretwork. Beverly (3) starts out beautifully sinister and slow, then quickening in tempo and alternating again until it rises to satisfying finish. Om Shanti Norris (4) is my all-time favorite John Fahey tune for its intricacy of musical patterns. It's a delicate, blusesygrass mantra, done like a vocal round. It is like what a musical Jackson Pollack painting would be--- banjos providing a basic melodic drop cloth upon which slide guitars dribble ever so lightly, and Fahey's finger-pickin' good licks embroider their own patterns over all. When You Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose (6) A pleasant, happy song that evidences the influence Fahey's style had on the early Kottke. Hawaiian Two-Step (7) It's a shame this song is on such an obscure record, because it undoes the damage to ukulele music by Arthur Godfrey and Tiny Tim. Bucktown Stomp (8) acoustic guitar, with a little calliope/organ thrown in for good measure. Why didn't somebody use this for a TV commercial backdrop? Candy Man (9) A happy-go-lucky interpretation of the traditional tune. Richie Unterberger wrote the interesting liner notes to the Collector's Choice Music CD, adding historical anecdotes of the production and marketing response to this recording and are worth reading. And if you like American music, this disc is well worth purchasing. . You can see a complete list of all John Fahey discography, or go back to the John Fahey tabs