The John Fahey Christmas Album

The John Fahey Christmas Album

Track Listings

1. Jingle Bells - John Fahey

2. Angels from the Realms of Glory - John Fahey, Brenda Pleasance

3. Silent Night - John Fahey

4. Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming - John Fahey, Kate Finn, Brenda Pleasance

5. Irish Medley - John Fahey, Kate Finn

6. O Little Town of Bethlehem - John Fahey

7. Santisima - John Fahey, Brenda Pleasance

8. Christ Is Born on Christmas Day - John Fahey

9. On' Come Little Children/Ach du Lieber Augustine - John Fahey, Brenda Pleasance

10. Mary Had a Baby - John Fahey

11. Little Drummer Boy - John Fahey, Greg Fisher

12. Good Christian Men, Rejoice, Rejoice - John Fahey, Brenda Pleasance

13. Spanish Carol - John Fahey, Joe Heinemann

14. O Holy Night - John Fahey

15. Christ Is Born as Child of Man - John Fahey, Kate Finn, Brenda Pleasance

16. Christmas Medley: Samuel Barber's Lorgo/It Came upon a Midnight Clear/W - John Fahey

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This gifted guitarist possesses a remarkable blend of power and delicacy, and an unparalleled ear for the beauty of music both ancient and new. On this lovely collection, Fahey (accompanied by piano and cello) takes listeners on a tour that spans different cultures (Ireland and Spain, to name but two) and eras. Blending older sanctified music such as "Angels from the Realms of Glory" and "Mary Had a Baby" with thematically related pieces such as "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooms," Fahey captures the spirit of December 25th. --David Sprague

Tracks:

Joy To The World
What Child Is This?
Medley: Hark, The Herald Angels Sing/O Come All Ye Faithful
Auld Lang Syne
The Bells Of St. Mary's
Good King Wenceslas
We Three Kings Of Orient Are
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Fantasy
The First Noel
Christ's Saints Of God Fantasy
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
Go I Will Send Thee
Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming
Silent Night, Holy Night
Oh Holy Night
Christmas Medley: Oh Tannenbaum/Angels We Have Heard On High/Jingle Bells
Russian Christmas Overture
White Christmas
Carol Of Bells
Christmas Fantasy - Part II

Amazon.com

John Fahey has made a habit of recording a new album of Christmas music every five or six years, but The New Possibility, which was originally released in 1968, is still his best. On it, Fahey has pulled off the near miraculous feat of taking old holiday chestnuts like "Joy to the World" and "It Came upon a Midnight Clear" and making them sound fresh. When he plays a Travis-picking version of "O Come All Ye Faithful" or he recasts "Silent Night, Holy Night" as bottleneck blues, you get the feeling Fahey is treating the music with respect rather then piety. Also included in this reissue are six tracks from his 1975 release Christmas with John Fahey, Vol. II. The songs feature some nice duets with Rick Ruskin, but the arrangements lack some of the quirkiness that made The New Possibility sound unique. This isn't Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas," but it is a modern holiday classic nonetheless. --Michael Simmons

Customer Reviews:

superb.......2007-01-15

this is an intimate recording of adventureous guitar-playing. Through the sparse instrumentation the christmas-spirit is even enhanced making this a perfect match for people dispising the normal christmas jangling but still are able to open up themselves to the meaning and feeling of christmas

Easy Listening.......2007-01-10

I had this album years ago on tape and somehow I lost it (or loaned it). I really missed it and one day when I was browsing Amazon.com music section there it was, what a great service Amazon provides. Three days later I am listening to it on my home stereo, amazing! Any way this is a great Christmas Album, great background music when you have guests over for the holidays, intellectual but not dominating. Instramental.

Caveat Emptor: This Album is NOT as Advertised.......2006-12-05

Please beware: although the Amazon site lists 20 songs on this album, in fact it only contains songs 13-20. I discovered this when I received the album and opened it. I immediately noticed the disk itself said Vol. II. So I started looking for Vol. I, which was nowhere to be found. Finally, I discovered some tiny, tiny print on the back on the album that said something to the effect that, due to "time limitations" only Vol. II could be included on this CD. Wow! I am sure Amazon did not intentionally mislead its customers, but you will be sorely disappointed if you are expecting to receive an album with 20 songs on it. If this had been Vol. I, I would have kept it; but the songs I really wanted were the first 12, so I returned it.

John Fahey makes the impossible actual.......2006-06-26

This is one of the most improbable great albums ever released. If there is one indisputable fact it is that almost all of the standard Christmas hymns and carols are tired and stale and simply worn out. But if you think you've heard "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" a few times too many, you need to hear John Fahey do it. On song after song he plays a version that seems to bring out all of the beauty that has been hidden for longer than any of us can remember. "What Child Is This?" becomes one of the most beautiful melodies you can think of. And his "Auld Lang Syne" will bring tears to your eyes. "The Bells of St. Mary's" is another gem, but the real miracle on the album might be what he does to "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman," to which he gives a bluesy turn.

By any standard John Fahey was one of the great guitarists of the past half-century. He was a true innovator, applying with astonishing musical sophistication finger picking to a staggering range of material that had been completely neglected by previous guitarists. Although Fahey was technically a brilliant guitarist, his work always seems as much the product of a brilliant musicologist as a musician. He almost certainly knew more about musical theory than any other guitarist who played a steel string guitar. He also developed a style whereby he would sometimes play slightly behind the tempo, giving his compositions a highly unique lilt. If you listen to his most famous disciple, Leo Kottke, and Fahey back to back, you will see how Fahey played as if he were almost reluctant to release the notes, whereas Kottke is always rushing forward.

If the album has a fault, it is a tiny one. There is perhaps less variation in the tempos of the various songs than one might wish. Any individual song can be extremely moving played entirely on its own, but if you play the album as a whole, it can begin to get a tiny bit tiresome. Interestingly about the only song on the album I don't love is his version of Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song." It is played magnificently, but it just doesn't lend itself to Fahey's style.

John Fahey was not, as far as I know, a traditionally religious man. Perhaps I am mistaken. But assuming that he was not, one thing that has always struck me about his playing was the dignity he bestowed on religious songs. If you listen to his version of "In Christ There is No East or West," which can most easily be found on his superb anthology RETURN OF THE OPPRESSED, there isn't the hint of irony. Much like the respect with which Gram Parsons accorded the Louvin Brothers' great song "The Christian Life," the most devout believer could not play the song with more reverence. So with the songs on this album. I'll close by stating that if you can get only one Christmas album, get this one; and if you don't think you need a Christmas album, get this anyway, just for the sheer beauty of the music and the playing.

One of my all-time favorites for Christmas.......2004-12-25

Unadorned by overly lush instrumentation, one can really enjoy these Christmas songs beautifully played on the guitar. I like this better than his "Christmas With John Fahey Vol. 2." Somehow "The New Possibility" just resonates in a way that takes familiar songs and makes them new again.
This one is special and everyone should have a copy with their Christmas music collections. If you like classical guitar or fingerpicking, try this one.

The New Possibility: John Fahey's Guitar Soli Christmas Album/Christmas with John Fahey, Vo

Average customer rating:

One of My All Time Favorite Christmas Albums

The New Possibility: John Fahey's Guitar Soli Christmas Album/Christmas with John Fahey, Vo
John Fahey
Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000008FH8
Release Date: 1993-09-21

Tracks:

Joy to the World
What Child Is This?
Medley: Hark, the Herald Angels Sing/O Come All Ye Faithful
Auld Lang Syne
Bells of St. Mary's
Good King Wenceslas
We Three Kings of Orient Are
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Fantasy
First Noel
Christ's Saints of God Fantasy
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Go I Will Send Thee
Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming
Silent Night
O Holy Night
Christmas Medley: Oh Tannenbaum/Angels We Have Heard on ...
Russian Christmas Overture
White Christmas
Carol of the Bells
Christmas Fantasy, Pt. 2

Customer Reviews:

One of My All Time Favorite Christmas Albums.......2006-02-12

Average customer rating:

Sixty Minutes of Christmas Cheer
Just before the silence descended

The John Fahey Christmas Album
John Fahey
Manufacturer: Burnside
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Blues | Styles | Music

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The New Possibility: John Fahey's Guitar Soli Christmas Album
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ASIN: B000003BLY
Release Date: 1994-11-16

Tracks:

Jingle Bells
Angels From The Realms Of Glory
Silent Night
Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming
Irish Medley
O' Little Town Of Bethelehem
Santisima
Christ Is Born On Christmas Day
O' Come Little Children/Ach Du Lieber Augustine
Mary Had A Baby
The Little Drummer Boy
Good Christian Men, Rejoice, Rejoice
Spanish Carol
O' Holy Night
Christ Is Born As Child Of Man
Christmas Medley: Largo/It Came Upon A Midnight Clear/We Three Kings/Greensleeves/In The Bleak...

Amazon.com

This gifted guitarist possesses a remarkable blend of power and delicacy, and an unparalleled ear for the beauty of music both ancient and new. On this lovely collection, Fahey (accompanied by piano and cello) takes listeners on a tour that spans different cultures (Ireland and Spain, to name but two) and eras. Blending older sanctified music such as "Angels from the Realms of Glory" and "Mary Had a Baby" with thematically related pieces such as "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooms," Fahey captures the spirit of December 25th. --David Sprague

Customer Reviews:

Sixty Minutes of Christmas Cheer.......2000-10-08

Of the more than six thousand titles in my music collection, more than two hundred of them are Christmas albums. And starting the week of Thanksgiving, The John Fahey Christmas Album spends more time in my CD player than most of them. There's an intimacy to Fahey's music that befits the holiday season. Whether it's the solemn beauty of "Silent Night" or the gaiety of "Jingle Bells," Fahey's playing is mesmermizing. On about half of the tracks Fahey is accompanied by cello ("Angels from the Realms of Glory," "Good Christian Men Rejoice"), piano ("Spanish Carol) and/or flute ("Christ Is Born as Child of Man," "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming") to wonderful effect. If you have found some of Fahey's secular music inaccessible, this is certainly not the case with his Christmas music. This hour-long album is as important as Phil Spector's or Elvis Presley's or Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas albums. Throw another log on the fire, pour yourself an egg nog and enjoy. ESSENTIAL

Just before the silence descended.......2000-07-04

The latest in a series of Christmas John Fahey albums, and perhaps the prettiest, with flute, piano and cello arrangements gracing some less obvious Xmas pieces - this is Fahey at his most New Age. Enjoying its lambent simplicity, the listener would never realise that this is an album made by a man on a kind of precipice. Fahey was being gradually overwhelmed by various health and financial problems, and after this album nothing was heard from him for five years. (The silence was finally broken by the dark gratings and howlings of "City of Refuge" which includes a ghastly 15 minute noise sequence called "On the Death and Disembowelment of the New Age".) But as Fahey's Xmas albums go, this is probably the best. The somewhat mechanical syncopation of previous Christmas outings is abandoned for a kind of crystalline purity of melody which represents, in its way, one of Fahey's most extreme statements (as "City of Refuge" represents another).

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