Search - John Fahey :: I Remember Blind Joe Death

Don't Record Things When You're Ill

Paul of London | London, UK | 04/04/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Fahey explained this disaster by saying that he had a virus when it was recorded and during the playback. It's a very poor album, full of bum notes and uninspiring playing. There's plenty of potentially good material, but it's really an object lesson against recording things when you're ill. His producer should have called on him to re-record it when he was better. It's too late now, of course."

Bad

P. Bryant | Nottingham, England | 01/11/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"John was quite ill when he made this record, and it shows. There's no inspiration, and no syncopation. Everything is tired, flat, listless, dull. You'll never find a more apt title on anyone's album than "Minutes Seem Like Hours, the Hours Seem Like Days". So this is for completists only. As the album title itself says "I Remember 'Blind Joe Death'" - now THAT was a great album!"

Moments of rough beauty

Peter G. Welding | 01/30/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"it's fairly disingenuous to say that john fahey shouldn't have recorded this because he was sick. furthermore, to say fahey himself wrote this album off isn't entirely relevant, since he didn't look back to his early takoma lp's for inspiration later in life, particularly when he was recording his 'red cross' and 'womblife' records. to say this isn't as good as the earlier 'blind joe death' is to misunderstand the essence of fahey's musical evolution. at this stage in his life, he was fighting off the oft-misunderstood (yet nevertheless debilitating) epstein-barr virus. perhaps some reviewers would rather he did not record this album, but it is a window on the artist during a particularly rough period in his life. [it's like saying "maybe richard and linda thompson shouldn't have recorded that album while their relationship disintegrated around them."] yes, the pace is slower, the tone is darker, but uninspired? hardly."