Guitar Soli

Robbie Basho, a guitarist active in the 1960s who passed away in 1986, played his instrument with what you might call a visceral spirituality: his music is spooky, intense, and experimental at the same time that it is soothing and transportive. Listening to his music, one is keenly aware of the sound of his fingers as they mellifluously pick and strum, and of the strange tunings at work, but one is also carried out of body. Really. Basho has been called "the father of New Age guitar," but why anyone would want to blame this subtle and masterful musician for the sins of his followers is a mystery. This is an excellent compilation of Basho's early work from the mid-'60s--it steers mercifully clear of Basho's whistling and bizarre "singing," for instance. Nothing from either of the long out-of-print, late-'60s Falconer's Arm albums was included, which is unfortunate as they are likely his most intense recordings (perhaps they will be issued as a disc of their own?). Basho's genre-bending acoustic guitar playing is on the surface similar to the work of John Fahey, Sandy Bull, and Rick Bishop, but his music is highly original, and demands to be heard. --Mike McGonigal