[2015-09-11] Plainsong "Reinventing Richard: The Songs Of Richard Farina" YACA (Omnivore)

Linda · **Posted:** Thu Jul 16, 2015 11:50 pm

Description
After producer Joe Boyd suggested “Reno Nevada” for Fairport Convention, Iain Matthews became intrigued with the work of Richard Fariña (1933-1966) – songwriter, author, and counter-culture icon. Even though his band Plainsong “retired” in 2012, when founders Matthews and Andy Roberts joined with later member Mark Griffiths, and decided to pay tribute to Fariña, there was no doubt the resulting album, Reinventing Richard, should be a Plainsong release.

Fariña was tragically killed in a tragic motorcycle accident in 1966, just after the release of his classic novel Been Down So Long It Looks Up To Me. Aside from that book’s stature, it was the trio of albums he released with his wife Mimi (sister of Joan Baez) that solidified him as a folk legend. Celebrations For A Grey Day (1965) was chosen by Robert Shelton of The New York Times as one of the ten best folk albums of the year. Reflections In A Crystal Wind followed. The third came after his passing.

A labor of love and remembrance from those who admire his work, Plainsong’s Reinventing Richard: The Songs Of Richard Fariña takes this incredible writer’s material and weaves it in the harmonies and instrumentation of Matthews, Roberts and Griffiths. To make it more special, Reinvented Richard contains a performance with Clive Gregson (“Another Country”), as well as the first release of a previously unrecorded Fariña track, “Sombre Winds.”

With Reinventing Richard, Plainsong has produced a classic album that imagines how his songs might have sounded if written and first recorded in a 21st century electro/acoustic setting. Ever inventive and sonically stunning, Reinventing Richard is destined to be judged amongst the very best of 2015.

Tracklist
1. The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Prelude)
2. Pack Up Your Sorrows
3. Sell-Out Agitation Waltz
4. One Way Ticket
5. Another Country
6. Lemonade Lady
7. Mainline Prosperity Blues
8. The Falcon
9. Almond Joy
10. Hard Loving Loser
11. Michael, Andrew And James
12. Children Of Darkness
13. Reflections In A Crystal Wind
14. Sombre Winds
15. The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Conclusion)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011Q2B19Y/?tag=imwan-20

Linda · **Posted:** Thu Jul 16, 2015 11:51 pm

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

Cool. I didn't know Farina died that young. Anyone know the cause?

Linda · **Posted:** Fri Jul 17, 2015 12:08 am

Wikipedia wrote:

On April 30, 1966, two days after the publication of his novel, Fariña attended a book-signing ceremony at a Carmel Valley Village bookstore, the Thunderbird. Later that day, while at a party to celebrate his wife Mimi's twenty-first birthday, Fariña saw a guest with a motorcycle, who later gave Fariña a ride up Carmel Valley Road, heading east toward the rural Cachagua area of Carmel Valley.

At an S-turn the driver lost control. The motorcycle tipped over on the right side of the road, came back to the other side, and tore through a barbed wire fence into a field where a small vineyard now exists. The driver survived, but Fariña was killed instantly. According to Pynchon's preface to Been Down..., the police said the motorcycle must have been traveling at 90 miles per hour (140 km/h), even though "a prudent speed" would have been 30 miles per hour (48 km/h).

Fariña is buried in a simple grave, its marker emblazoned with a peace sign, at Monterey City Cemetery, in Monterey, California.

[2015-09-11] Plainsong "Reinventing Richard: The Songs Of Richard Farina" YACA (Omnivore)

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