Album: John Fahey

Compiled from the albums John Fahey recorded for avant-garde label Table of the Elements after his rediscovery in the Nineties, this fascinating two-CD set is, in effect, the final musical statement from this most idiosyncratic of acoustic guitarists. Fahey's reputation as an irascible outsider was established with late-Sixties albums such as The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death, on which Western blues forms were skilfully married to Eastern raga scales. That hazy blend is captured here in the combination of country blues and repetitive Arabic drones that is "Juana", while Fahey's blues roots are more directly evident in the 21-minute vibrato-laced improvisation "Son House/ Marilyn/My Prayer/Mood Indigo", which has echoes of Duke Ellington. "Song For Sara" is marked by the almost acidic tone of Fahey's slide guitar, while "Sharks" and "Eels" feature stealthy, sub-aqueous guitar whines over eerie waves of electronic noise.

DOWNLOAD THIS: 'Juana', 'Sharks', 'Son House/ Marilyn/My Prayer/Mood Indigo'