Time With Bill Fay

When I was in my mid twenties I would go on line or look at music magazines for something that would be different then the normal music I liked listening to.  This was the time where the music I would go through those music magazines and hunt and peck for the lost treasures or even the classic that should have been.  Buried in a copy of Wire magazine was a feature on Bill Fay.  They talked about Bill with such high regard I had to find his music.  I looked everywhere and when I did find a album of his they were so pricy I could not afford it.  I asked friends to help me seek out his albums.  Over time, I had a feeling that this was going to be a lost cause.  I wanted to hear this man with such a cult following and listen for myself how interesting he is.

Bill's music is infectious. In 1998 I had hope.  There was a re-issue campaign to put out some of his music.  The hope came true.  They issued the one album they all take about.  Time of the Last Persecution an album that changed my world came out.  I waited and waited to get it.  Well, I waited to long because it quickly went out of print.  Now I was bummed.  The only song I had was on a Wire Magazine sampler.  I had to find the CD or even the prized, rare LP.  By 2000 I was giving up hope.  Then I went to back to school and kinda forgot all about it.

I mentioned to a friend who had ways of finding music better then I could.  I was doing a radio show one evening and he handed me a burned CD and told me to play track seven.  When the voice sang I  turned myself around and looked at him.  I asked him if he found the whole album.  He shook his head no, but found two tracks floating around the internet.  The song I played was one of the two.  The one I played was one of the ones that Wire magazine mentioned were the highlight of the disc.

In the March 2005 Issue Wire magazine I read an wonderful article about a man names Bill Fay. I knew nothing about his previously. By the end of the article I wanted to hear all the great praise that they were giving him. I heard one of his song's on one of many Jim O'Rourke projects and if he did an accurate re-make then I liked what I heard. The music was very mellow and the lyrics where very interesting. My only problem was to find Bill Fay's original. I looked everywhere for the records that he put out. He put out only two at the time. so ho hard could it be to find them. Looking on the internet the price was out of my range. I am sure that it was worth it at $100.00 but I did not have that kinda loot.

Then one day it all changed. I was on my downloading program that I always use looking for something other then Bill Fay when I decided to browse the host that had this Incredible String Band album I was looking for. I saw that this user had the Bill Fay. I felt like a young kid at Christmas time getting exactly what they asked for from Santa. When I noticed that he had two Bill Fay albums I grabbed them both. I mean I needed to find all the Bill Fay I could find. I quickly burned two copies of this. One went into the car and the other was for a friend who needed to hear this. I loved her opinion on some of the music I listen to and if she liked it, the disc was a free chance to hear something fresh and wonderful.

On the way to see my friend I was liking song after song. At this point I had no idea what album this was of Bill Fay's but it was well done. His lush vocals, and his simple and it was new to me. The Wire magazine mentioned how really influential he was to people, like Wilco, Jim O'Rourke, and others. When I got to my friends house I handed her the CD and told her to listen to it and quickly tell me what she thought. I needed to have somebody else listen to it to one, tell me I am not crazy liking this stuff, and two, to really get someone who does not know a clue about this style or genre of music. I let my friend listen and immediately she wanted to have a copy. She loved his wonderful voice. She liked his sound and really though this music was contemporary. She told me how he had a lot of uneasiness in his voice, but had so much to say. She wanted to know if there was any more music then what I gave her. I was not sure, but I was bound to find out.

About a year later I found a Bill Fay CD and I picked it up. The rich sound that I heard was making me smile. Wire magazine told me one thing. It told me that he was a gem in the ocean. His lyrics too are just so wonderful. If you got some time just listen to "Pictures of Adolf." I caught wind of the cover by Jim O'Rourke and it to this day still blows me away. I am a completest and trying to find this on original LP was even harder. I still to this day cannot find it. I did some research and one sold for about $1165.00. For me that is too much.

So my recommendation is to pick the CD for about $15.00. It's well worth it. The music is wonderful and it's a lot different then some of my other picks, but it something you can tell your music friends that you found something great and different and actually listenable. Try it and I am sure you will like it. Enjoy! By the way, enjoy the music below.

"Time of the Last Persecution" song had everything I wanted in a song and I could only imagine Bill Fay doing it.  It's Ray Russell's guitar that makes it all worth it.  Ray's solo over the gentle calm of the piano played by Bill Fay.  Even the middle break down is not a normal hook or even easy.  It's controlled chaos at it's best.