JOHN FAHEY
Days Have Gone By (Takoma)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Days Have Gone By was John Fahey's sixth album of songs in the style he described as "American Primitive," a pastiche of blues, pop, country, gospel and nearly anything else that caught his often fleeting attention. Fahey, and the artists like Leo Kottke and Robbie Basho that he attracted to his Takoma Records label, was busy crafting a new American acoustic guitar style, using open tunings, uncommon keys and huge talent to reshape familiar sounds into something that was at once unique and widely influential. It is not an exaggeration to say that without John Fahey, there would have been no Windham Hill. In fact, on the testimony of Will Ackerman himself, that's precisely accurate. I'll leave it to the reader to decide whether it's a boast or an accusation.

At any rate, the music on Days Have Gone By will not surprise anyone familiar with the Fahey catalog, and will not fail to delight anyone who enjoys fine fingerpicking. An extra added attraction is the inclusion of Fahey's original liner notes, written under the pseudonym Elijah P. Lovejoy. It's a dozen of so pages of small print, and might appear offputting at first glance.

Don't be put off.

Track List:

The Revolt Of The Dyke Brigade * Impressions Of Susan * Joe Kirby Blues * Night Train Of Valhala * The Portland Cement Factory At Monolith, California * A Raga Called Pat - Part One * A Raga Called Pat - Part Two * My Shepherd Will Supply My Needs * My Grandfather's Clock * Days Have Gone By * We Would Be Building

© 2001 - Shaun Dale