The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party & Other Excursions
Encyclopedia
Music critic Glenn Astarita, writing for All About Jazz
said that "despite the inferior audio quality on some of these tracks, it is always a joy to hear this great musician reinvent previously explored terrain. Here, we are provided with a snapshot of a period in music when The Beatles
were hot, and the dawning of the psychedelic age was upon us. Simply put, John Fahey pushed the acoustic guitar to its limits via his trail blazing applications and investigative spirit...
In his review for Allmusic, music critic Richie Unterberger
referred to the album as a "hodgepodge of tracks" but also stated, "Nevertheless, it stands as his most, well, far-out work, and one of his most innovative... The six briefer pieces that comprised the rest of the record also broke ground with their unsettling moods and dissonances..."
Despite his disdain for hippies
and the 60's hippie culture, then and later in life, The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party & Other Excursions was marked as psychedelic
despite Fahey's remonstrances. Kevin Hainey of Exclaim.ca called it one of the "Eleven Sturdy Pillars of Psych-Folk" and "...this is the only [one] that blatantly flirts with psychedelia. It’s also the only to enlist other musicians, adding occasional flute, organ and veena to Fahey’s most "out there" early excursions." In his 1998 story for The Wire
, Edwin Pouncey referred to it as "tinged with an enduring hippy mystique."
Production notes
All About Jazz
All About Jazz is a leading jazz music website for enthusiasts and industry professionals based in Philadelphia in the United States.Founded by Michael Ricci in 1995, the Web-Site is maintained by a volunteer staff of writers, editors, and musicians, and provides coverage of all genres of jazz from...
said that "despite the inferior audio quality on some of these tracks, it is always a joy to hear this great musician reinvent previously explored terrain. Here, we are provided with a snapshot of a period in music when The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
were hot, and the dawning of the psychedelic age was upon us. Simply put, John Fahey pushed the acoustic guitar to its limits via his trail blazing applications and investigative spirit...
In his review for Allmusic, music critic Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
referred to the album as a "hodgepodge of tracks" but also stated, "Nevertheless, it stands as his most, well, far-out work, and one of his most innovative... The six briefer pieces that comprised the rest of the record also broke ground with their unsettling moods and dissonances..."
Despite his disdain for hippies
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
and the 60's hippie culture, then and later in life, The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party & Other Excursions was marked as psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
despite Fahey's remonstrances. Kevin Hainey of Exclaim.ca called it one of the "Eleven Sturdy Pillars of Psych-Folk" and "...this is the only [one] that blatantly flirts with psychedelia. It’s also the only to enlist other musicians, adding occasional flute, organ and veena to Fahey’s most "out there" early excursions." In his 1998 story for The Wire
The Wire (magazine)
The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...
, Edwin Pouncey referred to it as "tinged with an enduring hippy mystique."
Reissues
- The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party & Other Excursions was reissued on CD in 2000 by Takoma RecordsTakoma RecordsTakoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by John Fahey in the late 1950s.. It was named after Fahey's hometown, the Washington, D.C. suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland.-History:...
.
Side one
- "The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party" (Fahey) – 19:00
- "Knott's Berry Farm Molly" (Fahey) – 4:30
Side two
- "Will the Circle Be UnbrokenCan the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By)"Can the Circle Be Unbroken " is the title of a country/folk song reworked by A. P. Carter from the hymn "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" by Ada R. Habershon and Charles H. Gabriel. The song's lyrics concern the death, funeral, and mourning of the narrator's mother.The song first gained attention due...
" (Traditional) – 5:40 - "Guitar Excursions into the Unknown" (Fahey) – 3:30
- "900 Miles" (Traditional) – 4:00
- "Sail Away Ladies" (Traditional) – 6:00
- "Oh Come, Oh Come EmanuelO come, O come, EmmanuelO come, O come, Emmanuel is a translation of the Latin text by John Mason Neale and Henry Sloane Coffin in the mid-19th century. It is a metrical version of a collation of various Advent Antiphons , which now serves as a popular Advent hymn...
" (Traditional) – 1:55
Personnel
- John Fahey – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Blind Owl WilsonAlan Wilson (musician)Alan "Blind Owl" Christie Wilson was the leader, singer, and primary composer in the American blues band Canned Heat. He played guitar and harmonica, and wrote most of the songs for the band.-Early years:...
– veenaVeenaVeena may refer to one of several Indian plucked instruments:With frets*Rudra veena, plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music*Saraswati veena, plucked string instrument used in Carnatic musicFretless... - Anthony Lee (Flea) – organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
(There are references to "Flea" as being Michael BalzaryFlea (musician)Michael Peter Balzary , better known by his stage name Flea, is an Australian-American musician and occasional actor. He is best known as the bassist, co-founding member, and one of the composers of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers...
although he would have been 4 years old at the time so this is incorrect.) - Nancy McClean – fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
Production notes
- ED Denson – producer, engineer
- John Fahey – producer, engineer
- Barry HansenDr. DementoBarret Eugene Hansen , better known as Dr. Demento, is a radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present....
– reissue producer - Chris Strachwitz – engineer (listed only on original 1966 release)
- Bill Meyer – reissue liner notes
- David Goines – cover design