Brendan Foreman wrote this review.
Richard Fariña is one of America’s least known superstars. Although he was only in his early twenties, by the early ’60s Fariña was already a veteran of both the Irish uprisings of the ’50s (he ran guns for the IRA as a teen-ager) and Cuban revolution of 1957 (after being deported by the British for the gun running, he emigrated to Cuba where he joined Castro’s army). He moved to Greenwich Village in 1959 and quickly fell in with the burgeoning folk scene, befriending, dating, and eventually marrying Joan Baez’ youngest sister, Mimi. More than just a romantic relationship, Mimi and Richard found a musical spark between of them and formed a folk duo. During this time, Fariña met and struck up a friendship with then little-known writer Thomas Pynchon.
By the mid ’60s, only magnificent things were in store for Richard Fariña’s future. He was in an innovative and increasingly popular duo with his wife; he had a fine novel Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me ready to be published. Unfortunately, that was the extent of his success. We can only hope that the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics is correct and that there is an alternate universe out there somewhere, where Fariña actually survived the 1966 motorcycle accident that killed him in this particular universe.
It is quite fortunate, though, that Fariña managed to leave us a fairly clear record of his talent in both his novel (go out, find it, and read it today) and the recordings that he and Mimi made for Vanguard in 1965 and 1966. There were eventually three releases: Celebrations of a Grey Day in 1965, Reflections in a Crystal Wind in 1966; and a posthumously released album, Memories, in 1968. Pack Up Your Sorrows is a compilation of the best tracks from all three.
The songs and tunes that are given here represent about as broad and as good a perspective of the full range of the ’60s folk sound as one could hope with a certain dash of individual genius that the Fariñas brought to their music. Most of the songs are true duets with Richard on vocals and mountain dulcimer and Mimi on vocals, guitar, and autoharp. However, concurrent with Bob Dylan’s own dabblings of the time, the Fariñas interspersed their acoustic tunes with electric, bluesy folk-rock. As Ed Ward, the writer of the liner notes puts it, if Richard had survived that motorcycle accident, he would have easily given Dylan a run for his money.
All of the praise I have thus far bestowed onto Richard Fariña notwithstanding, Mimi holds her own on all of these recordings. Not only possessing a clear, beautiful voice which complements Richard’s drone-like singing excellently, Mimi Fariña also shows admirable skill as a guitarist, both lead and rhythm. In fact, her guitar playing holds the structure of most of these songs together, with Richard playing mostly a mountain dulcimer. It is clear that this was a musical team, with both people contributing equal parts and working off each other, rather than a solo act for either players.
All but one of the songs here are duets, backed up mostly by guitar and dulcimer. The music tends to have a nice level of droning that goes with both Fariñas’ voices very well.
But the music is only half the pleasure. The lyrics — written apparently by both Fariñas — are often quite profound and, more often than not, nicely poetic. Both “Pack Up Your Sorrows” and “Reflections in a Crystal Window” have a slightly tongue-in-cheek wordplay. “Another Country” is a meditative song about a globe-trotting libertine. “Reno Nevada” is a rocking piece about the desperation of a gambling addict. “Hard-Loving Loser” is a hard blues piece about a very unlikely lady’s man.
These songs were recorded in the mid ’60s after all, and many have blatantly political and bitingly humourous lyrics such “Sell-Out Agitation Waltz” and “House Un-American Blues Activity Dream.” Others are much more serious such “Michael, Andrew, and James,” about the civil rights activists Goodman, Shwerner, and Chaney, killed in 1964. Less specifically topical but equally as subversive are “The Falcon,” an anti-war and anti-establisment song about the psychologically destructive nature of training for war, and the brilliant “Bold Marauder,” a haunting song about the Klan.
“Children of Darkness” describes the desolate nature of someone growing up in a world of chaos. “Blood Red Roses” is an eerie Irish a capella song (probably learned from the Clancy Brothers, although Fariña did spend substantial time in Ireland as noted before) about war and violence. The last song, “Morgan the Pirate,” is from Memories and features only Mimi Fariña on vocals. This is a strange, bitter song apparently directed at someone who seems to go out of his way to make life worse for everyone he knows, backed up with a full rock outfit.
Interspersing the songs are several instrumentals. Some of these, such as “Dopico,” feel like free-flowing jam sessions based around a central theme. Although there is clearly some structure to these songs, the apparently spontaneitous interplay between the two players is a joy to hear. These tunes are often quite playful. “Celebrations for a Grey Day,” named for their 1965 debut at the Newport Folk Festival, is a play on “Freres Jacques,” whereas “Hamish” is a variation of a theme by Beethoven. Another, “Tommy Makem Fantasy,” is actually an interpretation of the traditional Irish tune, “Red-haired Boy.” The last instrumental, “Miles (Instrumental)” is rather sweet mountain dulcimer tune that sounds like a parlor tune from the turn of the century. The CD ends with a rather melancholy, previously unreleased tune, “Tuileries,” in which Richard Fariña proves that one can get quite a substantial piece of music out of a relatively simple instrument as the mountain dulcimer.
There are many reasons to get this CD: as a remarkable record of time past, when a substantially large group of very talented musicians converged on New York City and forged their own memorable sound; as the record of someone who was bound for greatness and died way too early. But clearly the most important is that it is just great music; Mimi and Richard Fariña played vibrant, highly imaginative, yet quite simple music that needs and deserves to be heard by as many people as possible.
(Vanguard, 1999)
