The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick is a live album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released posthumously in 2004.

History

The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick consists of previously unreleased live recordings from two shows in 1968 and 1969. The majority comes from a February 1968 performance at The Matrix in San Francisco, California. The other location is unknown. The title track, not included on any of Fahey's '60s records, contains portions of "Requiem for Russell Blaine Cooper" and "Voice of the Turtle" that appeared on Requia and America respectively.

Reception

On its release in 2004, The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick received positive reviews. Critic David Fricke, writing for Rolling Stone referred to Fahey's "sublime distention of traditional forms". Richie Unterberger called it "...a testament to Fahey's mastery of the tunes" and "a solid addition to the John Fahey canon". Referring to the time period of the live performance, Bill Meyer of Dusted Magazine writes "...no matter how much I admire Fahey’s determination to keep his creativity alive and appreciate some of what came out of that effort, I can’t get enough of this old stuff." and "... this is lovely music. “Requiem For Mississippi John Hurt” overflows with triumph and joy, the opening of “When The Catfish Is In Bloom” is so rich and regal you want to put your hand over your heart." Mark Richardson refers to "Catfish" as "[it] sounds about 200 years old and parts of it probably are, as references to marching spirituals slowly pile up into a ringing cluster of notes." Mojo's Andrew Male referred to it as "A strange guitarist at the top of his game."

Track listing

All songs by John Fahey unless otherwise noted.

Personnel

Production notes