While researching his Robbie Basho doc, filmmaker Liam Barker discovered a treasure trove of unheard recordings.
Here's the scoop...
Robbie Basho (1940-1986) is widely regarded as one of the progenitors of what's commonly known today as American Primitive guitar. Growing up in Maryland alongside neo-traditional guitar explorers John Fahey and Max Ochs, Basho's path would take a decidedly different turn, bringing Hindi, Indian, Japanese and Native American musical traditions into his work. His albums for Takoma and Vanguard have left an indelible trail of influence across generations of musicians, from William Ackerman and Pete Townshend to Ben Chasny and William Tyler.
Liam Barker first became aware of Basho having purchased Tompkins Square's reissue of Venus in Cancer, released in 2006. This led him on an incredible fact-finding expedition, unraveling the many layers of mystery surrounding Basho's life and death, all deftly compiled and depicted in his documentary film, Voice of the Eagle : The Enigma of Robbie Basho.
During the research process, Barker came across a large cache of unheard Basho tapes recorded throughout his career, ranging roughly from 1965-1985. By arrangement with Basho's Estate and the original custodians of the tapes, Tompkins Square has released Song of the Avatars: The Lost Master Tapes, a 5CD set of previously unreleased material. The set includes notes by Barker, Henry Kaiser, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Ronnie Dawson, Glenn Jones and Richard Osborn, as well as many unseen photographs. The box set package featuring gold foil inlay, poster and extensive booklet, was designed by Barbara Bersche, known for her work on the 2009 Grammy-nominated Alan Lomax in Haiti box, as well as the new Dust-To-Digital Harry Smith B-Sides box.
Get a copy of Robbie Basho's Song Of The Avatars 5 CD box right here. Listen to "Gypsy Rosary" below.
Real Gone Music has released Robbie Basho's Songs of the Great Mystery as a 2LP set on clear vinyl limited to 1000 copies.
Here's the scoop... Robbie Basho was one of the big three American acoustic guitar innovators, John Fahey and Leo Kottke being the other two. Basho was the least commercially successful of the three, but his influence and reputation has steadily grown since his untimely death in 1986 at the age of 45. And with good reason; for Basho's deeply spiritual approach, intellectual rigor, and formal explorations (among his goals was the creation of a raga system for American music), present a deeply compelling, multi-faceted artist. Basho was actually a college friend of John Fahey, and his early recordings (like Kottke's) were for Fahey's Takoma label. Following Fahey 's move to Vanguard, Basho followed suit, and released Voice of the Eagle and Zarthus for the label in 1972 and 1974, respectively (his most commercially successful records were made for the Windham Hill label later in the decade).
Flash forward to 2009: Vanguard contacted guitarist (and long-time Basho champion) Glenn Jones with the intriguing news that an unreleased Robbie Basho album session had recently been found, on a tape that, alas, lacked any real documentation. It was only 12 years later, when Jones, in the process of researching the liner notes for this release, discovered the truth: that not just the mysterious tape but both Voice of the Eagle and Zarthus were the result of one marathon session in 1971 or 1972 recorded in New York City by Vanguard staff engineer Jeffrey Zaraya.
Songs of the Great Mystery: The Lost Vanguard Sessions, then, takes its place as the third of the triumvirate of albums Basho recorded for the label, and it is their equal in every way, exploring, in particular, some of the same Native American themes found on Voice of the Eagle. Some of the tunes showed up on later albums in much different forms; 1978's Visions of the Country featured 'A Day in the Life of Lemuria' (re-titled 'Leaf in the Wind') and 'Night Way,' and 'Laughing Thunder, Crawling Thunder' went through various permutations before appearing on 1981's Rainbow Thunder as 'Crashing Thunder.' But for Basho fans, the originals will probably steal the show, particularly 'Song of the Great Mystery,' which, unlike some of the songs here that showcase Basho's singing and piano-playing, brings to the fore his amazing six-string guitar technique and touch.
Vanguard briefly put these sessions up digitally when they were located, but Real Gone Music's release represents the first time they have come out in any physical form (and the alternate take of 'A Day in the Life of Lemuria,' also discovered by Jones, has never been heard anywhere). Featuring track-by-track annotation, rare photos (including Basho's own handwritten notes found in the tape box), and remastering by Mike Milchner of SonicVision, Songs of theGreat Mystery: The Lost Vanguard Sessions is a timely release heralding the release of a new documentary and an upcoming Basho box set. Available on CD or on a double-LP set pressed in clear vinyl limited to 1000 copies at Gotta Groove Records and housed inside a gatefold jacket. You can get a copy directly from Real Gone Music right here. Listen to "Laughing Thunder, Crawling Thunder" and "A Day in the Life of Lemuria" followed by the track listing below.
Robbie Basho – Songs of the Great Mystery: The Lost Vanguard Sessions
SIDE ONE
1. A Day in the Life of Lemuria
2. Night Way
3. The Butterfly of Wonder
SIDE TWO
1. Laughing Thunder, Crawling Thunder
2. Thunder Sun
SIDE THREE
1. Kateri Tekakwitha
2. Thunder Love
SIDE FOUR
1. Song of the Great Mystery
2. Death Song
3. A Day in the Life of Lemuria (Alternate Take)
Voice of the Eagle, Liam Barker's 2015 film about avant-folk guitarist Robbie Basho is out Dec 13 followed by a massive set of unreleased material.
Here's the scoop...
Before his bizarre death at the hands of a chiropractor, Robbie Basho was sure that his compositions would not outlast him. Orphaned during infancy, diagnosed with synaesthesia (a union of the senses that caused him to interpret sound as colour) and claiming to be the reincarnation of a 17th century poet -- the Baltimore-born guitarist and singer's musical output was as equally as outlandish as his persona.
In his brief and troubled life he laid the foundations for radical changes to the musical landscape of America during the 1960s and 70s but reaped little more than a sparse (if fervent) following during his lifetime.
Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho (MVD Entertainment) is a journey into the heart of an artist's lifelong struggle -- designed to illuminate and satiate existing fans while serving as a perfect starting point for the uninitiated.
Featuring interviews with Pete Townshend and Country Joe McDonald as well as Basho's former students, contemporaries, religious associates and few close friends, Liam Barker's documentary integrates new information and anecdotes on Basho with previously uncovered archival material and photography of the natural phenomena and landscapes that informed his work. Voice of the Eagle is out on Blu-Ray/DVD December 13th. Watch the trailer below. Pre-order it right here.
ABOUT THE BOXED SET:
Robbie Basho (1940-1986) is widely regarded as one of the progenitors of what's commonly known today as American Primitive guitar. Growing up in Maryland alongside neo-traditional guitar explorers John Fahey and Max Ochs, Basho's path would take a decidedly different turn, bringing Hindi, Indian, Japanese and Native American musical traditions into his work. His albums for Takoma and Vanguard have left an indelible trail of influence across generations of musicians, from William Ackerman and Pete Townshend to Ben Chasny and William Tyler.
Liam Barker first became aware of Basho having purchased Tompkins Square's reissue of Venus in Cancer, released in 2006. This led him on an incredible fact-finding expedition, unraveling the many layers of mystery surrounding Basho's life and death, all deftly compiled and depicted in his documentary film, Voice of the Eagle : The Enigma of Robbie Basho.
During the research process, Barker came across a large cache of unheard Basho tapes recorded throughout his career, ranging roughly from 1965-1985. By arrangement with Basho's Estate and the original custodians of the tapes, Tompkins Square is putting together a 5CD set of previously unreleased material to be called Song of the Avatars: The Lost Master Tapes. The label plans to release a single disc vinyl LP as well. The set includes notes by Barker, Henry Kaiser, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Glenn Jones and Richard Osborn, as well as many unseen photographs. Release date TBA.
Watch a clip of Robbie Basho performing live on KQED-TV in 1971...
Steve Gunn's new album Way Out Weather was released on October 7. Watch his Tiny Desk Concert below.
Steve Gunn is a New York-based guitarist and songwriter. With a career spanning nearly fifteen years, Steve has produced volumes of critically acclaimed solo, duo, and ensemble recordings. His astounding solo albums, as well as his work with GHQ and longtime collaborating drummer John Truscinski, represent milestones of contemporary guitar-driven, forward music. A voracious schedule of international performances has cultivated a fervent fanbase for Gunn’s music throughout the world. These days you can find him playing with his band as well as sometimes serving as guitarist in fellow Philadelphia-bred troubadour Kurt Vile’s band the Violators.
Mining the catalogs of Basho, Bull, Chapman, and Sharrock, among other titans of stringed-things and record-session royalty, Steve has steadily processed these inspirations into a singular, virtuosic stream. Friendships and collaborations with Jack Rose, Tom Carter, Meg Baird, Mike Cooper, and Michael Chapman colored the disciplined evolution of the discursive, deconstructed blues sound, at once transcendent and methodical, that is now Gunn’s signature. Close listening reveals the influence of Delta and Piedmont country blues, ecstatic free jazz, and psych, as well as Gnawa and Carnatic music, on the continually unfolding compositions.
Gunn’s 2009 solo album, Boerum Palace (availble here), demonstrated a fully realized power for songcraft; Steve started to sing more and developed a commanding vocal style equal to his guitar practice. His acclaimed instrumental duo recordings with Truscinski, Sand City (2010) and Ocean Parkway (2012), cemented his place among the top of his peers, both present and past. These documents display Gunn’s compositional penchant for charting musical travelogues that ramble through city and wilderness alike. Dispatches home are not merely descriptive but corporeal; the evocative, rhythmic power of his writing and phrasing carries the listener along bodily. Steve builds songs as exploratory vessels, opens them up for mechanical tinkering, and lives in them through ceaseless improvisatory permutations.
In 2013 Paradise of Bachelors released Time Off, his first album as leader of a trio including longtime friends John Truscinski on drums and Justin Tripp on bass, and a record on which Steve’s compelling singing features more prominently than ever before. The album features his oblique character sketches and story-songs about friends, acquaintances, and denizens of his Brooklyn neighborhood, using the trio band format to launch his compositions into new, luminous strata. This is Gunn at the top of his game, writing his most memorable tunes and lyrics, utterly unique but steeped in traditions both vernacular and avant-garde.
A heady and elliptical travelogue, Gunn’s follow-up, Way Out Weather (available via Paradise Of Bachelors), demonstrates a radical widescreen evolution, featuring a larger band and lighting out for lusher, more expansive, and impressionistic territories than Time Off. This is the virtuosic guitarist and songwriter’s career-defining statement to date.
