Davey Graham - Midnight Man 1966 @320


Name checked by all the great guitarist, noteably Bert Jansch and even Paul Simon, as the father of the acoustic guitar, this is his follow-up to his landmark album " Folk, Blues & Beyond".

This from his record companies website:

"When Davy Graham's previous album, "Folk Blues and Beyond…", was issued by Decca in 1964, it collected praises from many people and for many different reasons. The Folk press (almost to a critic) hailed its release as an event of major importance; but then, so did most of the Rhythm and Blues publications. Guitarist brought it, listening to the solos and accompaniments with considerable excitement - and some of the even began to follow Davy around, studying his methods and technique. (So far being able to emulate him). Meanwhile, copies of the record were usually to be found lying in the backs of those dusty, message- covered vans that beat around groups used to travel round from one job to the other. And finally, and certainly the most satisfying praise of all, a general audience of fans brought it in sufficient quantities to make the need for a second album an inevitability.

Since making the first album, Davy has been actively changing and extending himself musically - several results of which can be heard within these newer performances. He has been travelling again (to Ibiza, then through the Aegean and on to Constantinople), listening carefully to all the musical sounds en route. He has been deeply engrossed in the writings of Ouspensky. And - in bizarre contrast - he has been experimenting with an amplifier to put a different sound in to two or three of his solos. Also, he has been absorbing some unusual (for him, at least) sources of inspiration (i.e. The Beatles, Oscar Brown, Jnr. and Jimmy Hughes), lettings his own imagination first of all combine with, and then gradually take over from and initial curiosity. I think such involvements have been, if somewhat surprisingly, a great success; as have his experiments with conventional blues and modern jazz pieces, and - of course - the incredible excursion with Lalo Schifrin's "The Fakir", which seems fairly certain to be the instrumental 'hit' on this album… just as "Maajun" was on his previous one.

If anything and in conclusion, I would say that the second Davy Graham album (here enclosed) is more extrovert and more aggressive, musically, than the first one was; although I realise that this could be the logical result of his increased experience and growing maturity as an artist. However, I don't believe it will disappoint any of his original fans; and it ought to bring him plenty of new ones…together with several more guitarists who want to know how to manage to do all he does during "The Fakir"!

Take a listen to a true legend.

Enjoy!

Link in comments.

9 comments:

  1. The link is:

    http://lix.in/fe0755

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  2. I'm still trying to download the 2nd ALICE album(Areetez...)and it is the unique that doesn't works(I tested various).Any chance of a re-upload?
    Greetings
    Fabio Brasil

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  3. Hi!Your blog is great!!!

    I'm a contributor of these two blogs:

    http://silveraintr.blogspot.com/
    You can see many albums and videos in it (rock, metal, jazz, blues..)

    And :
    http://nukebass.blogspot.com/
    This is about Bass stuffs (with Brazilian brothers).

    If you like these blogs,could you add the links of these blogs to your "Links" section?

    Thanks for all these albums.
    Hi from Turkey!

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  4. merhaba diyelim o zaman turkiye'ye, selamlar :)

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  5. I am trying to discover who the bass and drummer were on Midnight Man were. Any ideas? Einar

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  6. Hi Einar,

    Tony Reeves: Bass
    Barry Morgan: Drummer

    15.01.2009 : Tony Reeves wrote

    I had the privilege of being the double bass player on Folk, Blues and Beyond, and Midnight Man. I was hired by Ray Horricks the producer, along with drummer Barry Morgan as a 'session musician', and it became clear within the first 8 bars that this was not going to be just another session.

    I met up with this true gentleman again a while back, did a rehearsal with him at the house in Lyme St, and we played a few gigs (including what was probably his last ever appearance - I'm so glad I recorded it). Barry Morgan passed on a year or so ago, the pair of them are probably swapping flams and paradiddles as we speak.

    Folk, Blues and Beyond: the 'Beyond' says it all... love and respect to you, Davy.


    Tony Reeves

    from: http://www.lastingtribute.co.uk/tribute/graham/2973507/Memories

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  7. Thanks for the inside scoop on the session men. I recently played a cut from my old vinyl Midnight Man and got to wondering (out loud, over the air - KLDK - very local community radio) who they might have been and tonight I will probably play another cut and answer my own question. Einar

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