Jim O'Rourke
Bad Timing
★★★★½
A love affair with John Fahey in a very creative and post-rock fashion; this could only be the work of an O'Rourke. O'Rourke had been all around the Chicago scene by this time and was drawing influences from all kinds of sources. He worked with drones and acoustics and electronics all before this point, but it must've been something about Fahey's primitivism that drew him into making this album.
It is of course more like the Fahey style you'd associate with his later albums; with the longer tracks and more exploratory feel to them. But he doesn't sound like Fahey, and that's a good thing. It would've been a waste to listen to some imitation and I wouldn't peg O'Rourke as the type to pull something like that. Instead he pulls from the Americana that Fahey leaned upon so much, translated from folk, country, blues and jazz. The first track is a great example of that, and perhaps the closest he'll get to Fahey on the entire album. "There's Hell in Hello, but More in Goodbye" is a creative and mournful tune that relies on a guitar and some organ or piano keys sprinkled throughout.
"93 The Long Way" adds this heartland drive to it that is unlike a lot of music I've heard before. It keeps this repetition of guitar playing as instrumentation is added in, from a bass to horns. It gives you that feeling of driving through endless pastures and hills with the windows down, green all around you and above is filled with the sun and rows of puffy clouds. It ends up sounding almost like a march and then he strips everything down again right before the song ends. "Bad Timing" transports you into those clouds above, it has this shimmering quality to it that almost reminds you of something from Terry Riley's mind. Naturally it distorts further and further while that sweet airy sound continues.
The distortion continues on "Happy Trails", this time in the form of some Tony Conradesque drone. That lasts until three minutes in and then you let his front porch guitar picking guide you until something surprising. Around four minutes later you receive this jubilant and loud horn section that completely transforms the style and feel behind the song. I literally jumped a bit the first time hearing it. I probably played this album in full about four times and each time I realized how he easily he is able to create transitions in a very fluid manner. O'Rourke shows his love and duality all in one.
Favorite Song: Bad Timing
It is of course more like the Fahey style you'd associate with his later albums; with the longer tracks and more exploratory feel to them. But he doesn't sound like Fahey, and that's a good thing. It would've been a waste to listen to some imitation and I wouldn't peg O'Rourke as the type to pull something like that. Instead he pulls from the Americana that Fahey leaned upon so much, translated from folk, country, blues and jazz. The first track is a great example of that, and perhaps the closest he'll get to Fahey on the entire album. "There's Hell in Hello, but More in Goodbye" is a creative and mournful tune that relies on a guitar and some organ or piano keys sprinkled throughout.
"93 The Long Way" adds this heartland drive to it that is unlike a lot of music I've heard before. It keeps this repetition of guitar playing as instrumentation is added in, from a bass to horns. It gives you that feeling of driving through endless pastures and hills with the windows down, green all around you and above is filled with the sun and rows of puffy clouds. It ends up sounding almost like a march and then he strips everything down again right before the song ends. "Bad Timing" transports you into those clouds above, it has this shimmering quality to it that almost reminds you of something from Terry Riley's mind. Naturally it distorts further and further while that sweet airy sound continues.
The distortion continues on "Happy Trails", this time in the form of some Tony Conradesque drone. That lasts until three minutes in and then you let his front porch guitar picking guide you until something surprising. Around four minutes later you receive this jubilant and loud horn section that completely transforms the style and feel behind the song. I literally jumped a bit the first time hearing it. I probably played this album in full about four times and each time I realized how he easily he is able to create transitions in a very fluid manner. O'Rourke shows his love and duality all in one.
Favorite Song: Bad Timing
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