The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick is a live album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 fingerstyle guitar

Fingerstyle guitar

Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking ....

ist and composer John Fahey

John Fahey (musician)

John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...

, 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, CA. 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

Requia

Requia is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1968...

and America

America (John Fahey album)

America is an album by American folk musician John Fahey, released in 1971. Originally intended to be a double album, it was released as a single LP. The unreleased material was subsequently restored in a 1998 CD reissue...

.

Reception

On its release in 2004, The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick received positive reviews. Critic David Fricke, writing for Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

referred to Fahey's "sublime distention of traditional forms" Richie Unterberger

Richie Unterberger

Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...

 called it "...a testament to Fahey's mastery of the tunes" and "a solid addition to the John Fahey cannon". 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

Mojo (magazine)

MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

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.

1. "Introduction" – 0:12
2. "When the Springtime Comes Again" – 9:48
3. "Joe Kirby Blues" – 3:45
4. "Requiem for Mississippi John Hurt" – 4:19
5. "When the Catfish Is in Bloom" – 7:56
6. "Fahey Blows His Nose" (Traditional) – 0:46
7. "Lion (Intro)/Challenges to Quitting Cigarettes" – 1:02
8. "Lion" – 5:15
9. "Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace of King Philip XIV of Spain" – 5:32
10. "View East from the B&O Railroad Viaduct and the Riggs Road/B&O Trestle" – 5:38
11. "On the Sunny Side of the Ocean" – 3:31
12. "The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick" – 6:37
13. "In Christ There Is No East or West" (Harry Burleigh
    Harry Burleigh
    Henry "Harry" Thacker Burleigh , a baritone, was an African American classical composer, arranger, and professional singer...
    
    , John Oxenham) –2:48
14. "Announcement" – 0:40
15. "The Death of the Clayton Peacock" – 4:35
16. "The Revolt of the Dyke Brigade" – 4:01
17. "Magruder Park" – 9:52

Personnel

• John Fahey – guitar

Production notes

• Glenn Jones – producer, liner notes
• Dean Blackwood – associate producer
• Filippo Salvadori – executive producer
• Marcello Azevedo – mastering
• Nathan Russell – design
• Jim Anderson – photography
• Melissa Stephenson – photography
• Janet Hayes – photography