| Red Cross | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 11, 2003 | |||
| Recorded | 2000–2001 | |||
| Genre | Folk | |||
| Length | 57:41 | |||
| Label | Revenant | |||
| Producer | Dean Blackwood | |||
| John Fahey chronology | ||||
| ||||
Red Cross is the 33rd and final studio album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released posthumously in 2003. The Revenant Records catalog refers to the album's title as Red Cross Disciple of Christ Today. [1]
Red Cross was Fahey's last album, recorded a few months before his death in February 2001. The album was intended for release in 2001 but was delayed due to Fahey's declining health. [2] The title was derived from a sermon recorded in 1928 by Rev. Moses Mason titled "Red Cross Disciple of Christ Today". [3]
The CD includes a hidden track titled "Untitled with Rain", the majority of which is ambient noise of the empty recording studio. [4] The liner notes are by Cul de Sac member and former collaborator Glenn Jones.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
| The Boston Phoenix | [5] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [6] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A− [7] |
| The Guardian | [8] |
| Pitchfork Media | 7.3/10 [4] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [9] |
| Uncut | [10] |
Again commenting on Fahey's "unpredictability", critic Jim Caligiuri states in his No Depression review "... there are expansive and decidedly nontraditional interpretations of such standards as Irving Berlin's "Remember" and George & Ira Gershwin's "Summertime". But there are also a couple of electric guitar musings that are equally haunting and full of intrigue." [11]
Uncut stated Red Cross "...marks a surprising reconciliation with his old style... for contemplative rather than alienating ends [he] turns uptown standards... into spectral, rustic laments. A bewitching last testament. [10]
In his Allmusic review, music critic Brandon Burke called it "...a more personal and reflective approach... there are still a handful of effects and avant-garde dissonances on this recording but even these are used sparingly... these passages augment some of the most warm and vulnerable playing we've heard out of Fahey in a very long time... listeners unfamiliar with his more recent leanings will get an abbreviated taste of them here. A highly recommended, confusing, yet ultimately fitting end to a brilliant career. [2] Writing for Entertainment Weekly , Marc Weingarten summed up the album writing "It sounds spacey and ancient at the same time—and it's all oddly moving."
Critic Eric Carr summed up his Pitchfork Media review "Even if Red Cross is less of a striking conclusion than a broad summation, it's a tragedy to allow the vague recognitions elicited here to evaporate into nothing. It's silence in remembrance of a talented, haunted man, but he deserves a eulogy, and his guitar speaks better than anyone ever could." [4]
All songs by John Fahey unless otherwise noted.
Production notes
Revenant Records is an American independent record label based in Austin, Texas, which concentrates on folk and blues. Revenant was formed in 1996 by John Fahey and Dean Blackwood. Revenant's 2001 box set, Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton, won three Grammy Awards in 2003.
Blacklisted is the third studio album by American musician Neko Case, released on August 20, 2002.
I Am the Resurrection: A Tribute to John Fahey is a tribute album to guitarist John Fahey released in 2006. The album's title is taken from the title of the third track of his album The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death.
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.
Once Upon a Summertime is an album by Blossom Dearie. It was released in 1959 by Verve Records.
Easy Does It is a 1968 album by singer Julie London.
Sneakin' Around is a collaborative album by American guitarists Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed, released in 1991. Reed and Atkins had done a series of recording collaborations nearly 20 years before this release. It peaked at No. 68 on the Billboard Country Albums charts.
Porgy and Bess is a 1976 album by pianist Oscar Peterson and guitarist Joe Pass featuring music from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. This is the only album on which Peterson plays the clavichord.
The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard is a 1963 album by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, his first for Impulse! It contains performances by Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, John Gilmore, Tommy Flanagan, Art Davis and Louis Hayes.
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.
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. It originally received hostile reviews from music critics, particularly for its musique concrète experimentation. It has since been recognised as precursor to new-age music, and has been re-released multiple times, including by Terra in 1985, Vanguard in 1997 and 1998 and Ace in 1998.
I Remember Blind Joe Death is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1987.
Sea Changes & Coelacanths: A Young Person's Guide to John Fahey is a compilation album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 2006.
Porgy & Bess is a 1997 album by the jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson, released on Verve Records. It contains Henderson's arrangements of music from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. It was his final album as a leader.
Mellow Mood is an album by jazz pianist Oscar Peterson and his trio, released in 1968. The session was recorded in Germany at the private studio of Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer and released on the German MPS label. This album was the fifth part of Peterson's Exclusively for My Friends series on MPS. The series was reissued as a box set in 1992 by MPS. A remastered SACD was issued in 2003 on Verve Records.
Say It Loud! is an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson recorded for the Blue Note label in 1968 and featuring Donaldson with Blue Mitchell, Charles Earland, Jimmy Ponder, and Leo Morris.
Super Hits is a greatest hits album from Miles Davis. Released in 2001, it reached #22 on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart.
Ray Charles Invites You to Listen is a studio album by American recording artist Ray Charles, released in June 1967. Made up of several standards, the album had Charles experiment with falsetto. The album received mixed response from music critics, some noting that the style of music was "old fashioned".
Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin is the 64th solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Willie Nelson. After being awarded the Gershwin Prize by the Library of Congress, Nelson recorded a set of pop standards written by George and Ira Gershwin. The recording of the album was produced by Buddy Cannon and Matt Rollings. It includes the duets "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" with Cyndi Lauper and "Embraceable You" with Sheryl Crow.
Piano Time, is a solo album by jazz pianist Al Haig recorded in 1976 and released on the short-lived Sea Breeze label in 1979.
