Requia
| Requia | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by John Fahey | ||||
| Released | November 1967 | |||
| Recorded | January 24-25, 1967 at Hollywood Sound Recorders, Hollywood, CA | |||
| Genre | Folk | |||
| Length | 44:44 | |||
| Label | Vanguard | |||
| Producer | Sam Charters | |||
| John Fahey chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
Requia (subtitled and other compositions for guitar solo) 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.
After six releases on his own label Takoma Records and one on Riverboat Records, Fahey signed a two-album contract with Vanguard Records, best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s. His manager at the time, Denny Bruce, recalled that "His deal was that he could record for Takoma 'experimental records,' but to try and make commercial recordings for Vanguard, with their approval of the budget."
After beginning with three solo guitar pieces, the four-part "Requiem for Molly" begins with solo guitar interspersed and accompanied by white noise, excerpts of both string and brass orchestras, Adolf Hitler speeches, choral music, scratchy 78-rpm recordings and various other tape loops and sound effects. The melody found in Part 4 is "California Dreaming", a recent Top 40 hit for The Mamas & the Papas. A short hymn-like song, "Fight on Christians, Fight On", based on "Christians, Fight On, Your Time Ain’t Long" by Bo Weavil Jackson, played on bottleneck guitar concludes the recording.
Fahey stated "["Requiem for Molly, Pt. 1-4"] was my first attempt at musique concrète, but it's not very good and I don't really like that one. It was a good learning experience though."
"Requiem for John Hurt" refers to influential country blues singer and guitarist Mississippi John Hurt. Fahey recalled "He was in his quiet way, a very great man, and I deeply mourn our loss of him. So, I wrote this requiem for him, about him, but I play it the way Charley Patton would have played it, had he ever thought of such a thing, which of course he never would have."
...
Wikipedia