Track Listing

1. Jingle Bells - John Fahey
2. Angels from the Realms of Glory - John Fahey, Brenda Pleasance
3. Silent Night - John Fahey
4. Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming - John Fahey, Kate Finn, Brenda Pleasance
5. Irish Medley - John Fahey, Kate Finn
6. O Little Town of Bethlehem - John Fahey
7. Santisima - John Fahey, Brenda Pleasance
8. Christ Is Born on Christmas Day - John Fahey
9. On' Come Little Children/Ach du Lieber Augustine - John Fahey, Brenda Pleasance
10. Mary Had a Baby - John Fahey
11. Little Drummer Boy - John Fahey, Greg Fisher
12. Good Christian Men, Rejoice, Rejoice - John Fahey, Brenda Pleasance
13. Spanish Carol - John Fahey, Joe Heinemann
14. O Holy Night - John Fahey
15. Christ Is Born as Child of Man - John Fahey, Kate Finn, Brenda Pleasance
16. Christmas Medley: Samuel Barber's Lorgo/It Came upon a Midnight Clear - John Fahey

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #144906 in Music
• Released on: 1994-11-16
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
John Fahey's 1975 Christmas album features stunning instrumental versions of classic holiday favorites.

Ranked in Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Amazon.com
This gifted guitarist possesses a remarkable blend of power and delicacy, and an unparalleled ear for the beauty of music both ancient and new. On this lovely collection, Fahey (accompanied by piano and cello) takes listeners on a tour that spans different cultures (Ireland and Spain, to name but two) and eras. Blending older sanctified music such as "Angels from the Realms of Glory" and "Mary Had a Baby" with thematically related pieces such as "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooms," Fahey captures the spirit of December 25th. --David Sprague

David Sprague
This gifted guitarist possesses a remarkable blend of power and delicacy, and an unparalleled ear for the beauty of music both ancient and new. On this lovely collection, Fahey (accompanied by piano and cello) takes listeners on a tour that spans different cultures (Ireland and Spain, to name but two) and eras. Blending older sanctified music such as "Angels from the Realms of Glory" and "Mary Had a Baby" with thematically related pieces such as "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooms," Fahey captures the spirit of December 25th.

Customer Reviews

Sixty Minutes of Christmas Cheer
Of the more than six thousand titles in my music collection, more than two hundred of them are Christmas albums. And starting the week of Thanksgiving, The John Fahey Christmas Album spends more time in my CD player than most of them. There's an intimacy to Fahey's music that befits the holiday season. Whether it's the solemn beauty of "Silent Night" or the gaiety of "Jingle Bells," Fahey's playing is mesmermizing. On about half of the tracks Fahey is accompanied by cello ("Angels from the Realms of Glory," "Good Christian Men Rejoice"), piano ("Spanish Carol) and/or flute ("Christ Is Born as Child of Man," "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming") to wonderful effect. If you have found some of Fahey's secular music inaccessible, this is certainly not the case with his Christmas music. This hour-long album is as important as Phil Spector's or Elvis Presley's or Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas albums. Throw another log on the fire, pour yourself an egg nog and enjoy. ESSENTIAL

Just before the silence descended
The latest in a series of Christmas John Fahey albums, and perhaps the prettiest, with flute, piano and cello arrangements gracing some less obvious Xmas pieces - this is Fahey at his most New Age. Enjoying its lambent simplicity, the listener would never realise that this is an album made by a man on a kind of precipice. Fahey was being gradually overwhelmed by various health and financial problems, and after this album nothing was heard from him for five years. (The silence was finally broken by the dark gratings and howlings of "City of Refuge" which includes a ghastly 15 minute noise sequence called "On the Death and Disembowelment of the New Age".) But as Fahey's Xmas albums go, this is probably the best. The somewhat mechanical syncopation of previous Christmas outings is abandoned for a kind of crystalline purity of melody which represents, in its way, one of Fahey's most extreme statements (as "City of Refuge" represents another).

Received CD propmtly, in time for Chirstmas - Thanks
My daughter loves John Fahey guitar. She grew up with his music and was thrilled to get this CD before Christmas so she could fill her home with the same music she grew up with. Received the CD in the mail so fast I didn't have time to question the shipping date. Thank you!