Tomkpins Square
V.A. : Imaginational Anthem volume two (US,1967-2005)****°
The Tomkpins Square label seems to play the role of John Fahey’s Takoma label for the new generation, AND with a very good taste, and, so far, uncompromising with musical qualities. While volume one mostly showed the old generation with the earliest stimulations (John Fahey and bluesguitarists), this features more of the new generation, including one of the more appreciated guitarists for this generation, than ever before, Robbie Basho, with a marvellous unpublished track.
James Blackshaw luckily more and more gets the attention he deserves, because last year alone several albums were planned. This track, “River Of Heaven” shows an incredibly fast meandering melodic fingerpicking, with a steady repetition creating a trance-indulging guitar drone amongst fast melodic excursions. Peter Lang is one of the old heroes. He delivers a fantasia piece like a new-Renaissance excursion. Jose Gonzalez is given credit in the booklet especially for being a guitarist, from Argentine origins, who broke into the mainstream especially in England. His guitar piece contribution proves his worth. Jesse Sparhawk has stayed in the background so far with many contemporary acoustic related groups and singers (Greg Weeks, Fern Knight, Espers, Marissa Nadler, Viking Moses, and many more..), but deserves also to show his own style and guitar compositional skills. He plays an incredible difficult to play piece with melodic freshness and its own sweetness. Also Michael Chapman deserves attention as a guitarist. Since his late ‘60s debut he didn’t lose his integrity. I haven’t heard of Sean Smith yet. He’s also listed with a Fahey-esque guitar piece, and an example of the Berkeley guitar evolution. Fred Gerlach is another unknown to me. With his blues undertone, his guitar picking has an amazing speed and evolution. He’s a forgotten folk guitar hero who recorded for Smithsonian/Folkways. Led Zeppelin’s 'Gallows Pole' came from a 12-string guitar version by Fred Gerlach, called "Gallis Pole.", a track which originates from Leadbelly back in the thirties. The contribution is an unreleased 1975 track which the label received from the now 80 year old guitarist. Also listed is Christina Carter from Charalambides, an odd figure and group, which I never knew what to think of her loose breaking apart tunings, here is taken seriously. Also this contributed guitar piece has a confusing changes, and is rather avant-garde, but I still wonder how this is deliberate intuitively or vague this is. In some context it can become something like a very bright idea, though I have my doubts. Within the context I can understand how the confusion can work as a benifit. I heard that Jack Rose is also amazing to see live. His guitar piece evolves almost like a raga, even when the nature is completely different. Billy Faier is an old banjo guitar hero with records on Riverside (‘50s) and one on Takoma (1973). That last album contained a track which was faded down as soon he started to sing. 34 years later, this track is again complete. I was also surprised to find Sharron Kraus listed for her work with Christian Kiefer. Of course she plays banjo nicely, in the context of her own songs and with just a few instrumentals of which one was taken for this compilation, but I didn’t hear extraordinary playing other than was needed than for a conceptual expression. Last track is the aforementioned Robbie Basho. This comes from a splendid private live tape recording, given to Glen Jones in the ‘80’s, another track that proves him right and pays him a rightful tribute, sadly so long after his death in 1997.
If this is the second edition in a series I must say I still miss people like John Renbourne, and many of the new guitar heroes of which many are listed on these guitar pages. I also wonder why it takes so much time for the public to discover artists like for instance Paul Metzger. If they want to list a woman now and then why not include Clarelynn Rose next time or ..?
