Rating: 3/5
Review:
Not one of John Fahey's best
I know that it's near-blasphemy to say this, but I don't
think this is a very good John Fahey album.
The playing is superb – it's John Fahey, so of course it is – but musically
it's a bit dull.
Fare Forward Voyagers consists of three long,
freely-structured tracks which, according to some commentators, are influenced
by Indian ragas. This is plausible
considering Fahey's personal involvements at the time, but to me it doesn't
have anything like the appeal of a good raga.
The music here doesn't make for consistently interesting listening; it
has its moments, for sure, but there is also an awful lot of what sounds to me
like aimless, meandering and, frankly, pretty tedious noodling. Fahey's genius as a guitarist and intelligence as a
musician, which are so obvious in earlier albums with more structured and
thoughtfully developed pieces, both get rather lost in the indeterminate haze
here.
I can imagine hearing this back in 1973 when it came out in
late-night student rooms while smoking non-proprietary cigarettes, but as an
enduring work it's not a patch on albums like The Dance Of Death, Days Have
Gone By and others. Only a lukewarm
recommendation from me, I'm afraid.
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