''The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick'' is a live

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

fingerstyle guitar Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with a single plectr ...

ist and composer John Fahey, released posthumously in 2004.

History

''The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick'' consists of previously unreleased live recordings from two shows in 1968 and 1969. The majority comes from a February 1968 performance at The Matrix in

San Francisco, CA San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. The other location is unknown. The title track, not included on any of Fahey's '60s records, contains portions of "Requiem for Russell Blaine Cooper" and "Voice of the Turtle" that appeared on ''

Requia ''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. It origina ...

'' and ''

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

'' respectively.

Reception

On its release in 2004, ''The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick'' received positive reviews. Critic David Fricke, writing for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' referred to Fahey's "sublime distention of traditional forms".

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...

called it "...a testament to Fahey's mastery of the tunes" and "a solid addition to the John Fahey canon". Referring to the time period of the live performance, Bill Meyer of ''Dusted Magazine'' writes "...no matter how much I admire Fahey’s determination to keep his creativity alive and appreciate some of what came out of that effort, I can’t get enough of this old stuff." and "... this is lovely music. “Requiem For Mississippi John Hurt” overflows with triumph and joy, the opening of “When The Catfish Is In Bloom” is so rich and regal you want to put your hand over your heart." Mark Richardson refers to "Catfish" as " tsounds about 200 years old and parts of it probably are, as references to marching spirituals slowly pile up into a ringing cluster of notes." '' Mojo's'' Andrew Male referred to it as "A strange guitarist at the top of his game."

Track listing

All songs by John Fahey unless otherwise noted. # "Introduction" – 0:12 # "When the Springtime Comes Again" – 9:48 # "Joe Kirby Blues" – 3:45 # "Requiem for Mississippi John Hurt" – 4:19 # "When the Catfish Is in Bloom" – 7:56 # "Fahey Blows His Nose" – 0:46 # "Lion (Intro)/Challenges to Quitting Cigarettes" – 1:02 # "Lion" – 5:15 # "Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace of King Philip XIV of Spain" – 5:32 # "View East from the B&O Railroad Viaduct and the Riggs Road/B&O Trestle" – 5:38 # "On the Sunny Side of the Ocean" – 3:31 # "The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick" – 6:37 # "In Christ There Is No East or West" (

Harry Burleigh Henry Thacker ("Harry") Burleigh (December 2, 1866 – September 12, 1949) was an American classical composer, arranger, and professional singer known for his baritone voice. The first black composer who was instrumental in developing cha ...

, John Oxenham) –2:48 # "Announcement" – 0:40 # "The Death of the Clayton Peacock" – 4:35 # "The Revolt of the Dyke Brigade" – 4:01 # "Magruder Park" – 9:52

Personnel

*John Fahey – guitar Production notes *

Glenn Jones Glenn Jones (born September 27, 1962 in Jacksonville, Florida) is an American R&B/soul singer. He is best known for his songs "Show Me", "We've Only Just Begun (The Romance Is Not Over)" and "Here I Go Again" which reached No. 1 on the Billboa ...

– producer, liner notes *Dean Blackwood – associate producer *Filippo Salvadori – executive producer *Marcello Azevedo – mastering *Nathan Russell – design *Jim Anderson – photography *Melissa Stephenson – photography *Janet Hayes – photography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick, The John Fahey (musician) live albums 2004 live albums