this ought to be right up my strasse and it is but 13 discs!? THIRTEEN!?
That’s gonna take me a while to listen and review so have at it guitar nuts, musos etc and let me know what you reckon! From Michael Chapman, B.J.Cole, to Jack Rose and John Fahey! and that’;s just a few I HAVE heard of!!! Enjoy!
VA - Imaginational Anthem Vol. 01 - 13 [2005 - 2024] (13 X CDs)
AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GUITAR
Imaginational Anthem Vol. 01-13 is one of the most ambitious and reverent anthologies assembled around the American Primitive guitar tradition. Released across two decades by Tompkins Square Records, the series began in 2005 as a quiet homage to fingerstyle innovators like John Fahey, Robbie Basho, and Leo Kottke, but quickly evolved into a sprawling, multi-generational archive that bridges archival rediscovery with contemporary experimentation. Each volume carries its own curatorial logic, but taken as a whole, the 13-CD set offers a panoramic view of steel-string acoustic guitar as a storytelling medium. The early volumes (01-04) lean heavily into rediscovered private press recordings, rare 1960s -1970s solo works, and unearthed demos from forgotten players. These discs are rich with rarities, including tracks by Harry Taussig, Sandy Bull, and Max Ochs, often sourced from long-out-of-print LPs or unreleased acetates. Tompkins Square’s commitment to provenance is evident throughout, liner notes are meticulous, and mastering is sympathetic to the original analog warmth. Mid-series volumes (05-09) shift toward contemporary interpretations, featuring artists like Daniel Bachman, Chuck Johnson, and William Tyler, who channel the Fahey ethos while expanding its harmonic vocabulary. These discs document a living tradition, where drone, raga, and ambient textures meet Appalachian roots and modal folk. Volume 07, is notable for its geographic diversity, with contributors from the US, UK, Lisbon, Malta, and South America. It leans into ambient, experimental, and post-folk textures, offering a modern lens on solo acoustic guitar. The later volumes (10–13) return to archival excavation, with Volume 10 spotlighting early 20th-century 78rpm recordings, and Volume 13 offering a global perspective, including rare tracks from Japanese and European acoustic innovators. This final installment reframes the genre as a worldwide phenomenon, not just an American artifact. Throughout the series, Tompkins Square maintains a consistent aesthetic: understated packaging, poetic liner notes, and a deep respect for the artists’ intent. The label’s founder, Josh Rosenthal, deserves credit for shaping the series into a kind of sonic museum, one that balances discovery with continuity. For archival purposes, this set is a goldmine, it spans eras, styles, and geographies with minimal overlap, and its sequencing across volumes reflects both historical lineage and curatorial vision. Whether used for genre mapping, provenance tracing, or sonic inspiration, Imaginational Anthem stands as a definitive document of acoustic guitar’s expressive potential. (Butterboy)
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