''Requia'' (subtitled ''and other compositions for guitar solo'') is the eighth album by American

fingerstyle guitar Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of guitar picking, 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 ...

ist and composer John Fahey. Released in November 1967, it was the first of Fahey's two releases on the

Vanguard The vanguard (sometimes abbreviated to van and also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. ...

label. It originally received hostile reviews from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

s, particularly for its

musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic ...

experimentation. It has since been recognised as precursor to

new-age music New-age is a genre of music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecstasy rather tha ...

, and has been re-released multiple times, including by Terra in 1985, Vanguard in 1997 and 1998 and

Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

in 1998.

History

After six releases on his own label

Takoma Records Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by guitarist John Fahey in the late 1950s.Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the so ...

, best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s. His manager at the time, Denny Bruce, recalled that "His deal was that he could record for Takoma 'experimental records,' but to try and make commercial recordings for Vanguard, with their approval of the budget." After beginning with three solo guitar pieces, the four-part "Requiem for Molly" begins with solo guitar interspersed and accompanied by

white noise In signal processing, white noise is a random signal having equal intensity at different frequencies, giving it a constant power spectral density. The term is used with this or similar meanings in many scientific and technical disciplines, i ...

, excerpts of both string and brass orchestras,

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

speeches,

choral music A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

, scratchy

78-rpm A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, ...

recordings and various other

tape loop In music, tape loops are loops of magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns or dense layers of sound when played on a tape recorder. Originating in the 1940s with the work of Pierre Schaeffer, they were used among ...

s and sound effects. The melody found in Part 3 is "

California Dreaming "California Dreamin" is a song written by John and Michelle Phillips in 1963 and first recorded by Barry McGuire. The best-known version is by the Mamas & the Papas, who sang backup on the original version and released it as a single in Dece ...

", a recent Top 40 hit for

The Mamas & the Papas The Mamas & the Papas were an American folk rock vocal group that recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968, with a brief reunion in 1971. The group was a defining force in the music scene of the counterculture of the 1960s. Formed in New York C ...

. A short hymn-like song, "Fight On Christians, Fight On", based on "Christians, Fight On, Your Time Ain't Long" by

Bo Weavil Jackson Bo Weavil Jackson (dates and places of birth and death unknown) was an American blues singer and guitarist. He was one of the first country bluesmen to be recorded, in 1926, for Paramount Records and Vocalion Records. On the latter label he was ...

, played on bottleneck guitar concludes the recording.The Fahey Files notes on the songs.
/ref> Fahey stated " Requiem for Molly, Pt. 1–4"was my first attempt at

, but it's not very good and I don't really like that one. It was a good learning experience though." "Requiem for John Hurt" refers to influential

country blues Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...

singer and guitarist

Mississippi John Hurt John Smith Hurt (March 8, 1893 – November 2, 1966), known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Biography Early years John Hurt was born in Teoc,Cohen, Lawrence (1996). Liner notes to ''Av ...

. Fahey recalled "He was in his quiet way, a very great man, and I deeply mourn our loss of him. So, I wrote this requiem for him, about him, but I play it the way Charley Patton would have played it, had he ever thought of such a thing, which of course he never would have." In his original liner notes, Fahey wrote "Since 1948, after seeing the movie, '' The Thief of Bagdad'', I composed cerebral symphonies every day. It was a pleasant pastime. But suddenly in 1953 I needed a full orchestra at my command—me playing every instrument in that impossible ensemble." He labeled the first two songs and "Requiem for Molly" as Requia and "When the Catfish Is in Bloom" and "Fight on Christians, Fight On" as

Cantica In the context of Christian liturgy, a canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a psalm-like song with biblical lyrics taken from elsewhere than the Book of Psalms, but included in psalters and books such ...

Reception

According to Edward Pouncey of ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

'', contemporary reception to ''Requia'' was mixed and often hostile, with many puzzled by the album's lengthy musique concrète centrepiece. In his

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review, critic Brian Olewnick describes the distinct differences in the two parts of ''Requia'', calling the four solo pieces "a series of blues-based pieces in line with music he had previously recorded" and the second section ("Requiem for Molly") as sounding "a bit dated, largely because his source material... sounds heavy-handed and trite in retrospect." Olewnick summarizes the release writing "Requia doesn't rank up with the absolute best of his releases, but contains enough fine and interesting work to recommend it to Fahey fans." In his book ''Beautiful Monsters'', author Michael Long referred to Fahey as a pioneer and wrote "His personal aesthetic was easily translatable to the revisionist morbid aesthetic, most notably with respect to ''Requia'', a collection containing the four-part "Requiem for Molly," Fahey's spatiotextural experiment in sampling, looping, and musique concrète."

Kris Needs Kris Needs (born 3 July 1954) is a British journalist and author, known for writings on music from the 1970s onwards. He became editor of proto-punk and early punk rock ''ZigZag'' magazine in August 1977 at 23 and has since written biographies ...

of ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine focussing on rare and collectable records, and the bands who recorded them. It was founded in September 1979 and distributes worldwide. It is promoted as "the world’s leading authority o ...

'' has similarly cited "Requiem for Molly" as a "deranged

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

of effects" that predated sampling with its mixture of musical interpolations and "snatches of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

singers, Nazi marching songs,

wedding music Music is often played at wedding celebrations, including during the ceremony and at festivities before or after the event. The music can be performed live by Musician, instrumentalists or Singing, vocalists or may use pre-recorded songs, depend ...

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

brass bands A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...

and

fairground organ A fairground organ is a musical organ covering the wind and percussive sections of an orchestra. Originating in Paris, France, these organs were designed for use in commercial fairground settings to provide loud music to accompany rides and a ...

, as well as self-recorded seals." In a review of '' The Essential John Fahey'' in the July 3, 1974 ''

Milwaukee Journal The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper and also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely read. It was purchased by the G ...

'', Pierre-Rene Noth referred to "Requiem for Molly" as " ahey'sworst.. a horrid mix." In his piece for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'',

Ben Ratliff Ben Ratliff (born 1968 in New York City) is an American journalist, music critic and author. Biography Ratliff is the son of an English mother and an American father, growing up in London and in Rockland County, New York. From 1996 to 2016, ...

called ''Requia'' "dense with eccentricity." The album received new attention when re-released in 1985 by Terra Records, a pastoral

folk jazz Folk jazz is a musical style that combines traditional folk music with elements of jazz, usually featuring richly texturized songs. Its origins can be traced back to the 1950s, when artists like Jimmy Giuffre and Tony Scott pursued distinct appro ...

subsidiary label of

, as part of a series of releases exploring the roots of

. Reviewing the reissue for the ''

Reno Gazette-Journal The ''Reno Gazette Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Reno, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Gannett Company. History The newspaper came into being when the ''Nevada State Journal'' (founded on November 23, 1870) and the ''Reno Evening ...

'',

Paul Raeburn Paul Raeburn (November 26, 1950 – April 18, 2024) was an American author and science expositor, known for his book ''Do Fathers Matter?'' (2014) concerning the paternal influence on language acquisition and adolescent human sexuality, sexualit ...

described ''Requia'' as a precursor to new-age, calling the mixture of folk and blues "as fresh and evocative" as the genre. However, he preferred the short tracks on side one to "Requiem for Molly", whose "ominous" sound effects he found distracting. A reviewer for '' Daily News'' said that the album would impress those who dismiss new-age music as "

Muzak Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments owned by Mood Media. The name ''Muzak'', a blend of music and the popular camera brand name Kodak, has been in use since 1934 and has been ...

for the '80s", describing Fahey as "quirky and quiet" but engaging. In 2017, '' Uncut'' ranked ''Requia'' at number 89 in their list of "The 101 Weirdest Albums of All Time"; contributor John Robinson wrote that Fahey's "singular oddness" derived in part from his humour, and commented that the album blends his distinctive meditative guitar soli with tape collage experimentation via "Requieum for Molly", in which Fahey's guitar is "mixed deep into a shifting music concrete soundworld of sucking reverb,

and – just in time for the

summer of love The Summer of Love was a major social phenomenon that occurred in San Francisco during the summer of 1967. As many as 100,000 people, mostly young people, hippies, beatniks, and 1960s counterculture figures, converged in San Francisco's Haig ...

– Adolf Hitler." In 2022, ''Uncut'' ranked the album at number 396 in their list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of the 1960s".

Reissues

*''Requia'' was reissued on CD in 1997 by Vanguard. *All the songs, minus the four-part "Requiem for Molly" are included in the Vanguard CD reissue of '' The Essential John Fahey''. *''Requia'' was reissued on CD in 1998 in the United Kingdom by Ace Records. *All the songs, minus the parts 1 and 2 of "Requiem for Molly" are included in the Vanguard release '' The Best of the Vanguard Years''. *''Requia'' was reissued on a

vinyl LP The LP (from long playing or long play) is an analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specificati ...

in 2007 by Vanguard.

Track listing

All songs by John Fahey. # "Requiem for John Hurt" – 5:10 # "Requiem for Russell Blaine Cooper" – 8:56 # "When the Catfish Is in Bloom" – 7:42 # "Requiem for Molly, Pt. 1" – 7:40 # "Requiem for Molly, Pt. 2" – 7:46 # "Requiem for Molly, Pt. 3" – 2:33 # "Requiem for Molly, Pt. 4" – 3:00 # "Fight On Christians, Fight On" – 1:57

Personnel

*John Fahey – guitar *Special effects by John Fahey,

Sam Charters Samuel Barclay Charters IV (August 1, 1929 – March 18, 2015) was an American music historian, writer, record producer, musician, and poet. He was a widely published author on the subjects of blues and jazz. He also wrote fiction. Early life a ...

and Barry Hansen *Cover photo by Marvin Lyons

References

External links

Original album liner notes.
{{Authority control 1967 albums John Fahey (musician) albums Vanguard Records albums Musique concrète albums Folk jazz albums New-age albums by American artists