★4 Men With Beards
The Academy In Peril
*2022 stock.* Taking a sidestep from his earliest solo efforts into an exploration of his classical training and influences -- thus the title -- Cale on Academy creates a set of songs that probably bemused more than one listener at the time of release. The predominantly instrumental release, which finds him working with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on two tracks, steers away from the more grotesque classical/rock fusions at the time to find an unexpectedly happy and often compelling balance …
Tenderness Junction
*2022 stock.* The Fugs were the original outsider artists, releasing their first recordings on the legendary avant-garde label ESP-Disk' in the mid-1960s before signing to Reprise. Formed around the core of Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, The Fugs combined jug band music, smutty rock'n'roll, country ballads, Gregorian chants, canticles, and bohemian poetry into a stoned stew of anti-establishment freakouts! Now their first two albums for Reprise are available on vinyl for the first time since th…
The Big Huge
Recorded in 1968, as the Incredible String Band popularity was peaking, the band by this point had more or less stabilized to quartet form with Williamson, Heron and Licorice being joined by Heron’s then-girlfriend, Rose Simpson, on violin and percussion. They were touring a lot at this point throughout Europe and the U.S., which I assume is how they fell in with the Scientologists, but that particular tragedy doesn’t have any noticeable effect on this album (!)Along with having very developed a…
Wee Tam
Wee Tam and The Big Huge were originally released in 1968 as both a double LP in the UK, and individually as two separate albums in the US. They mark a creative high point for the Incredible String Band that is only matched by their other 1968 masterpiece, The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter. Produced, as always, by the legendary Joe Boyd, these albums feature some of the band’s best, and most accessible song writing. While Hangman’s and The 5000 Spirits… may have been considered more revolutionary…
Volume 1 / Blind Joe Death Volume 1
2016 remastered edition, clear vinyl edition of 500 copies. "For several years major labels had been issuing records in both mono and stereo formats. By 1967 Takoma was doing well enough financially to justify the recording of John Fahey's first and second albums for the burgeoning stereo market. Thus Vol.1: Blind Joe Death, as the record would be titled henceforth, was recorded for the third time and it is probably this release that most people are familiar with today. For the new version Fahey…
Guitar Vol. 4 / The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party And ...
500 copies. Orange vinyl Originally released in 1966. John Fahey's never recorded an album that was more thoroughly of its moment. From the groovy flute and twangy sitar accompaniment to the backwards guitar, this Birthday Party is a charmingly trippy 60s time capsule. But it isn't a two dimensional one. The album gains immense depth from the tension between his sweeping, fingerpicked melodies and discordant string-battery. It's the audible battle between yearned for rose colored luminescence a…
Volume 3 / The Dance of Death and Other Plantation Favorites
2016 remastered edition, green color vinyl edition of 500 copies.Originally released in 1964, Dance of Death offers a glimpse of an artist in transformation. More than half the album's titles draw from the traditional blues and country repertoire Fahey had spent his teen years and young adulthood collecting, listening to, and learning to play, yet the recordings proved once and for all that his interests lay in musical transfigurations rather than preservation -- John Fahey was not afraid to use…
Volume 2 / Death Chants, Breakdowns & Military Waltzes
2016 remastered edition, blue color vinyl edition of 500 copies. "Death Chants is John Fahey's second album, following the brilliantly apocryphal Blind Joe Death. As massive as that earlier work was, it represented only a tentative first step towards the fields of hodologic splendor that our hero would go on to create. Death Chants represents a much more fully realized syncretism of the modernist and primitive poles between which John Fahey wobbled. It is also the first album he deigned to relea…
The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death
2016 remastered edition, gold color vinyl edition of 500 copies. Originally released in 1967. The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death is John Fahey's classic fifth album from the mid-1960s and is one of his most influential. This album has an amazing variety of styles, moods, and influences, and John has a compositional and playing style that is totally unique. "A strange man, John Fahey, with an unusual set of guitar styles. This album, originally released on Riverboat Records and later reissued…
Volume 6 / Days Have Gone By
2016 remastered edition, gold color vinyl edition of 500 copies. Originally released in 1967. Days Have Gone By continues Fahey's interest in soundscapes, sound effects and experimental music mixed in with more traditional guitar playing of his earlier musical style"Sam Graham once referred to John Fahey as the "curmudgeon of the acoustic guitar," while producer Samuel Charters noted that Fahey "was the only artist I ever worked with whose sales went down after he made public appearances." This …
Death Chants, Breakdowns, and Military Waltzes
180-gram vinyl. "Death Chants is John Fahey's second album, following the brilliantly apocryphal Blind Joe Death. As massive as that earlier work was, it represented only a tentative first step towards the fields of hodologic splendor that our hero would go on to create. Death Chants represents a much more fully realized syncretism of the modernist and primitive poles between which John Fahey wobbled. It is also the first album he deigned to release entirely under his own name and the one …
Black Rhythm Happening
Black Rhythm Happening (the second Blue Note album by Eddie Gale) was released in 1969 and includes jazz heavy weight Elvin Jones on drums and sax man Jimmy Lyons. Again the mix is a blend of soul jazz, free form freak outs, and a gospel influenced street choir. Suggested listening for fans of Sun Ra & Brother Ah, John Coltrane's late 60's LPs, and Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler's more groove oriented recordings. The original vinyl LPs go for big bucks on Ebay, this is the first time this Blue…
Time of the Last Persecution
Time of the Last Persecution is Bill Fay's second and final album for the Deram label, originally released in 1971. An absolute classic of melancholy (borderline morbid) folk-rock that falls somewhere between Pearls Before Swine, Leonard Cohen, and a suicide prevention hotline. Time of the Last Persecution is almost single-mindedly obsessed with end times so it's fitting that this brilliant album would be his last release for over 30 years. Now that Fay is back with a new and highly laude…
Scott 3
2013 repress. "Scott 3, originally released in 1969, marked a big change in Walker's approach to albums as, for the first time, the record is dominated by his original compositions. In fact, the only other songwriter that makes it onto the album is Walker's idol, Belgium's legendary singer/songwriter Jacques Brel. Scott 3 again features string heavy production courtesy of Wally Scott, though it occasionally moves out of pop ballad territory into a more cinematic feel influenced by Ennio M…
Scott 2
2013 repress. "Originally released in 1968, Scott 2 made it all the way to number one on the UK pop charts, perhaps the strangest number one hit in pop history. Continuing with his orchestral obsession, Scott 2 features over-the-top string and horn arrangements, occasionally veering into dangerously schmaltzy territory. This production style is in drastic contrast to the lyrical content, songs of despair, prostitution, homosexuality, and brutal honesty, indicting the same glamorous and gli…
The Voice of the Turtle
The Voice of the Turtle is one of the most beguiling albums from one of America's most legendarily beguiling musicians. Originally released in 1968 on his own Takoma label, Fahey credits some of the compositions and performances to the fictional guitarist Blind Joe Death, and some of the songs are actually rumored to not be Fahey at all but in fact obscure blues 78s. Whatever the case may be, it's one of Fahey's most adventurous and beautiful LPs, with the three lengthy improvisational pie…
Contemporary Guitar
Originally released in 1966 on the Takoma label, Contemporary Guitar is a beautiful compilation of solo acoustic guitar instrumentals from folk and blues legends such as Bukka White, John Fahey, and Robbie Basho as well as lesser knowns like Max Ochs and Harry Taussig. An essential compilation of American guitar soli.
Bill Fay
Enigmatic UK-based singer and pianist Bill Fay's dark and haunting work gained him a strong cult following in the late 60s and early 70s. He released two albums on the Deram label in the early 70s and promptly disappeared into relative obscurity for 30+ years. In the last 10 years or so those albums have finally begun to get the recognition they deserve, and 4 Men With Beards is proud to be able to bring them back into circulation on 180g vinyl. First up is his self-titled 13-track debut from 19…
The Transcendental Waterfall: Guitar Excursions 1962-1967
Massive 6xLP box set drawing from John Fahey's best, and most influential, period. Included in the set are Blind Joe Death, Death Chants, Breakdowns, And Military Waltzes, The Dance of Death and Other Plantation Favorites, The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party, The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death, and Days Have Gone By, all reissued on 180 gram vinyl with deluxe tip-on jackets. Limited edition of 2,000. John Fahey (February 28, 1939–February 22, 2001) combined American folk, blues, Indian r…
The Seal Of The Blue Lotus
180-gram vinyl, Tip-on cover. Originally released on John Fahey's Takoma Records in 1965, The Seal Of The Blue Lotus is the debut album from American guitar soli legend Robbie Basho. In college Basho immersed himself in the study of Asian art and culture, even changing his last name to that of the Japanese poet Matsuo Basho, and his music shows a much greater Eastern influence than contemporaries like John Fahey and Peter Lang. Basho was particularly entranced by the raga form which is apparent …