Weird
P. Bryant | Nottingham, England | 01/20/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"After Fahey's remarkable comeback in 1996, he could have made life much easier for himself by trying to sound like his old brilliant fingerpicking self, but no, he had to be awkward. He changed direction completely and aligned himself with a genre he called "Industrial Ambient", and put out experimental guitar-with-noise records. He called his old records lots of rude names and said that the long tone poems on such albums as "Fare Forward Voyager" or "America" made him sick with their pretentiousness. So here we have "Georgia Stomps" full to the brim of long tone poems - okay, let's call them medleys instead. The other thing John did, to annoy people, was to ditch the acoustic guitar and plug in, and this is his first electric guitar record. And it's recorded live too. But don't expect Van Halen or Metallica riffs - he turns the volume right down and he fingerpicks anyway. Oh, but he puts this strange wobbly echo effect on absolutely everything for the whole 70 minutes, so you might need a sick bag handy, because the wobbly echoey ambience can really get to you after half an hour. So that's the background - is it any good? Well, it's kind of just weird. There are 2 pieces I really like - Red Rocking Chair is a long medley based around some Dock Boggs phrases, and Song of Sara is a slide piece with some really extreme fx, but mostly this set is very s-l-o-w. Fans please note - whatever it says, the Japanese edition has NO BONUS TRACKS."
Electric Fahey -- A Successful Album
Paul of London | London, UK | 03/20/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"John Fahey finger-picking his way through a series of medleys, this time with a heavily-echoed electric guitar. Typical live Fahey, rambling, a bit rough at times, but enjoyable."
Track Listings (5) - Disc #1