John Fahey
Guitar Vol. 4 / The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party And Other Excursions
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500 copies. Orange vinyl Originally released in 1966. John Fahey's never recorded an album that was more thoroughly of its moment. From the groovy flute and twangy sitar accompaniment to the backwards guitar, this Birthday Party is a charmingly trippy 60s time capsule. But it isn't a two dimensional one. The album gains immense depth from the tension between his sweeping, fingerpicked melodies and discordant string-battery. It's the audible battle between yearned for rose colored luminescence and ankle blistering hellhound darkness that enables this record to transcend its hippie dreaminess. The instrumentation makes it a child of its time: flute, sitar and backwards guitar. However, the experimental soundscapes resulting from the interplay between John Fahey’s lush fingerpicking and his startling and discordant strum-thumping make this a timeless and influential work.
Format
Originally released on Takoma Records (C-1008) in 1966.
Tracks A1, A2, B2, B5 recorded at Sierra Sound Labs, Berkeley.
B1,B3, B4 and B5 are Public Domain and adapted/arranged by John Fahey
Includes a booklet.
Release notes
Originally released on Takoma Records (C-1008) in 1966. Tracks A1, A2, B2, B5 recorded at Sierra Sound Labs, Berkeley. B1,B3, B4 and B5 are Public Domain and adapted/arranged by John Fahey Includes a booklet.
| A1 | The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party | 19:00 | |
| A2 | Knott's Berry Farm Molly | 4:30 | |
| B1 | Will The Circle Be Unbroken | 5:40 | |
| B2 | Guitar Excursions Into The Unknown | 3:34 | |
| B3 | 900 Miles | 4:00 | |
| B4 | Sail Away Ladies | 6:00 | |
| B5 | Oh Come, Oh Come Emanuel | 1:55 |
- John Fahey
- Guitar, Producer, Recorded By
- Ed Denson
- Producer, Recorded By
