| Live in Tasmania | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1981 | |||
| Recorded | October 15, 1980, Hobart, Tasmania | |||
| Genre | Folk | |||
| Label | Takoma | |||
| Producer | Peter Noble | |||
| John Fahey chronology | ||||
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Live in Tasmania is a live album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1981. It was his first live album release after 18 albums.
After 18 studio albums, Fahey released this live album from a concert in Tasmania, set up, according to the original liner notes, on a drunken whim. It was recorded on four days' notice at the University of Tasmania in 1980 when Fahey was touring Australia. [1]
Four songs are re-titled from previously recorded versions. "Tiger" is "Lion", "Tasmanian Two-Step" is "Hawaiian Two-Step"/"Spanish Two-Step" and "Return of the Tasmanian Tiger" is "Revolt of the Dyke Brigade". [2] "Indian-Pacific R.R. Blues" is actually "Beverly", a studio recording from After the Ball . "The Approaching of the Disco Void" is a re-working of "Wine and Roses". [3]
It was in 1981 that Fahey and his second wife Melody left Los Angeles after he had lived there nearly 20 years and moved to Salem, Oregon. [4]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| Rolling Stone | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  |
In his Allmusic review, critic Richard Foss called it "a marvelous gift to an audience that had probably never heard of him five days before, and it is fortunate indeed that this concert was not merely recorded, but captured brilliantly so that not a note was lost." [5]
In his 1981 review for Rolling Stone , Charles M. Young praised the album and said it "is pretty accessible, as Fahey records go. Uninitiated listeners ought to be able to appreciate his strong stroke and profound sense of rhythm quite easily. A legendary character in concert, Fahey was apparently in one of his unpredictable good moods so far from home. Let me follow suit and chide my own audience for not buying enough of his albums." [7]
All songs by John Fahey unless otherwise noted.
Production notes
The Anthology of American Folk Music is a six-album compilation released in 1952 by Folkways Records, comprising eighty-four American folk, blues and country music recordings that were originally issued from 1926 to 1933. Experimental film maker Harry Smith compiled the music from his personal collection of 78 rpm records. The album is famous due to its role as a touchstone for the American folk music revival in the 1950s and 1960s. The Anthology was released for compact disc by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings on August 19, 1997.
The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death is a 1965 album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey. Originally issued in a hand-lettered edition of 50, it was Fahey's first album to be released by a label other than his own Takoma Records. As with all of Fahey's independently released early albums, it had little critical recognition upon release. The album has grown in stature since its reissue on CD in 1997 and is now highly regarded critically. It was Fahey's fourth album to see release, though after his fifth album, The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party & Other Excursions, was labeled Guitar Vol. 4, reissues of The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death were subtitled John Fahey, Volume 5.
Blind Joe Death is the first album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey. There are three different versions of the album, and the original self-released edition of fewer than 100 copies is extremely rare.
John Aloysius Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who played the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been enormously influential and has been described as the foundation of the genre of American primitive guitar, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the self-taught nature of the music and its minimalist style. Fahey borrowed from the folk and blues traditions in American roots music, having compiled many forgotten early recordings in these genres. He would later incorporate 20th-century classical, Portuguese, Brazilian, and Indian influences into his work.
The Voice of the Turtle is the seventh album by American guitarist John Fahey. Recorded and released in 1968, it is considered one of his more experimental albums, combining not only folk elements, but shreds of psychedelia, early blues, country fiddles, ragas, and white noise. The album had many reissues with various track listings, jacket designs and mismatched titles.
The Yellow Princess is the ninth album by American folk musician John Fahey. Released in 1968, it was his second and last release on the Vanguard label.
The New Possibility: John Fahey's Guitar Soli Christmas Album is a 1968 album by American folk musician John Fahey. It is a collection of solo-guitar arrangements of familiar Christmas songs and has been Fahey's best selling recording, remaining in print since it was first released. The album is especially noteworthy since holiday music had never before been played in Fahey's acoustic-steel string blues guitar style.
Death Chants, Breakdowns & Military Waltzes is a 1963 album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey. Various sources show either a 1963 or 1964 original release. It was Fahey's second release and the first to gain a national distributor.
The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites is the third album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1965. The 1999 reissue contained four previously unreleased tracks.
Old Fashioned Love is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1975. It is credited on the cover to John Fahey & His Orchestra.
Fare Forward Voyagers is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1973. It contains three songs, one comprising a complete side of the original LP.
The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party & Other Excursions is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1966. The cover simply labels the album Guitar Vol. 4 while the liner notes label it The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party & Other Excursions. The title never appeared on the record labels themselves. It marked the beginning of Fahey's interest in his recording of experimental soundscapes and sound effects. Despite Fahey's distaste for the 1960s counterculture, it is his release most often referred to as psychedelic.
Requia is the eighth album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey. Released in November 1967, it was the first of Fahey's two releases on the Vanguard label.
America is an album by American folk musician John Fahey, released in 1971. Originally intended to be a double album, it was released as a single LP. The unreleased material was subsequently restored in later CD and vinyl reissues.
Of Rivers and Religion is an album by American folk musician John Fahey, released in 1972. It was his first recording on a major label and is credited to John Fahey and His Orchestra. It marked a significant change from Fahey's previous releases, incorporating a backing band and performing songs and arrangements in a Dixieland jazz style. Although Time picked it as one of the Top Ten albums of 1972, it was also a difficult album to market and had little enthusiasm at Reprise.
After the Ball is an album by the American folk musician John Fahey, released in 1973. It was his second and last recording on the Reprise label and like its predecessor, Of Rivers and Religion, it sold poorly.
The Best of John Fahey 1959–1977 is a compilation album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1977. The songs are collected from four of Fahey's dozen or so releases up to that point.
The Return of the Repressed: The John Fahey Anthology is a compilation album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1994. Fahey's career, health and personal life had been in decline. The release of The Return of the Repressed, along with an article in Spin magazine by Byron Coley served to provide a renewal of his career.
Let Go is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1984. It was his first release on the Varrick label after over 25 years on his own label Takoma, as well as a few releases on other labels.
The Best of John Fahey, Vol. 2: 1964–1983 is a compilation album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 2004.