4 The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party by John Fahey

4 The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party

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4 The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party

Features

Audio CD (October 24, 2000)

Original Release Date: October 17, 2000

Number of Discs: 1

Label: Takoma

Catalog Number: 6508

Reader Reviews
At last this magnificent recording appears on C.D. It is quite simply one of the greatest records of guitar music ever put together. The title track is a 19 minute tour de force, a tone poem, a saga of huge emotional range. Of all Fahey's extended compositions this is perhaps the most complete, the most satisfying and perfectly structured. There are moments of joyful optimism, gentle nostalgia, troubled uncertainty and sheer nightmare ( courtesy of some superb, haunting bottleneck). The piece draws to a close in the calm resignation of a simple, beautiful theme......but then the nightmare bottleneck returns right at the end, just when we think the darkness has lost its power. Incredible! The recording also features KNOTT'S BERRY FARM MOLLY, a gorgeous piece of Fahey nostalgia with some backwards guitar sounds thrown in. Also there is a memorable guitar/veena version of SAIL AWAY LADIES. Other highlights include a delightfully rambling GUITAR EXCURSIONS INTO THE UNKNOWN (if Charles Ives had played guitar it might have sounded like this) and Fahey's finest version of OH COME EMANUEL. On this kind of form Fahey is awesome and speaks with absolute authority. He extends the vocabulary of the guitar, and in so doing creates music of unforgettable beauty and originality.Here is a unique and gifted performer at his most inspired. Don't miss it!

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