Eclectic Discs
 
The two albums were briefly available together on one CD from See For Miles, but quickly went out of print when the label folded. Last year, Wooden Hill/Tenth Planet records issued From the Bottom of an Old Grandfather Clock, a disc of previously unheard demos and alternate mixes from Fay's early sessions. Jim O'Rourke and Wilco paid homage to "Britain's pop Salinger" by recording a version of "Be Not So Fearful," after which David Late Tibet of Current 93 jumped into the fray, issuing the never-before-released third album Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, recorded in the late 70s by the Bill Fay Group, on Durtro/Jnana Records, and covering Fay's apocalyptic miniature symphony "Time of the Last Persecution" at subsequent shows and on a limited 7". And through all of this renewed interest in the artist, the two legendary albums that started it all - Bill Fay (1970) and Time of the Last Persecution (1971) - could only be heard by those with enough cash to fork over for rare copies of the original Deram LPs or the extremely scarce See For Miles CD. So Eclectic have done a solid for Bill Fay fans the world over by releasing this nice pair of reissues, which contain remastered versions of both LPs with original artwork and liner notes, as well as new liner notes written by Fay himself. I've already raved about these albums a couple times before (here and here), so I'll try not to replicate those comments, and instead just offer some remarks about these reissues, and why I think Bill Fay stands out among his other, more established peers.

When I first heard Bill Fay, I was struck by what sounded like an unresolvable duality; two competing interests that threatened to pull me in two different directions. On the one hand was Fay's voice, a raspy, world-weary voice instrument that has been rightly compared to Nick Drake, Ray Davies and Bob Dylan, singing existential lyrics full of stoned introspection and spiritual yearning. On the other hand were the arrangements, big overblown saccharine string swells with ludicrous saxophone solos and orchestral crescendos that would make even the most MOR adult-contemporary artist blush. Paradoxically, this juxtaposition made Fay's intensely personal lyrics seem even more heartbreaking, as the singer sounded set adrift in a world that he couldn't possibly comprehend. I'm a sucker for great album openers, and Bill Fay opens with one of the best I've heard, "Garden Song," in which the artist attempts to integrate himself with nature, and sings of a desire to be cleansed and reborn. It's this spiritual yearning that forms the overarching concept of Bill Fay's trilogy of albums, with the debut representing the first foot set on the path to salvation, Persecution with its dark prognostications of apocalypse, and Tomorrow with its glorious ascension into heaven. Though the first album is excellent in its own right, it's very interesting when compared to its more mature and better-produced successor, which backed off on the syrupy string arrangements, and added psychedelic fuzz guitar and moments of cataclysmic free jazz into the mix. It could be argued that Bill Fay's first album was the result of a glorious miscalculation, a producer who wasn't paying attention to the songwriting, and thus created Scott Walker-esque arrangements that were wholly inappropriate, but somehow magically work anyway. Eclectic Discs' reissue is nearly perfect, with great sound and packaging, as well as the addition of Fay's sought after early 45rpm single "Some Good Advice/Screams in the Ears," a fantastic double-dose of mannered British psych-pop that works as a palate-cleanser after the weighty song cycle that precedes it.

samples:

• Garden Song
• Be Not So Fearful
• Some Good Advice

And then there is Time of the Last Persecution, a concept album inspired by a 19th-century ministerial commentary on the Book of Revelations, and the most intense musical works of apocalyptic exegesis outside the discography of Current 93. Its intensity is due not only to frightening lyrics ("It is the time of the Anti-Christ...he will ask for his feet to be kissed by your sister"), but also the unique arrangements featuring the guitar of Ray Russell and a small horn section, which frequently rises to a chaotic din as a counterpoint to Fay's world-weary prophesying. This album is often romantically described as the product of drug burnout, as the difference between the clean-shaven, happy "teddy boy" on the debut LP cover, and the shaggy, longhaired, bearded Bill Fay in the midst of spiritual or psychedelic malaise on the Persecution sleeve is quite shocking indeed. Tracks like "Don't Let My Marigolds Die" and "Come A Day" do little to dissuade listeners of the notion that this album was recorded deep in some sort of spiritual crisis. Eclectic's reissue includes new liner notes by Bill Fay, describing the process of conceiving and recording the album, as well as the reasons for his total disappearance from recorded music for the next 35 years. Also included are the original liner notes, which trace Fay's modernist, T.S. Eliot-style take on ancient endtimes prophecy, in a long prose-poem that I found brilliant. It's really a good thing to have this album and its predecessor back in print, and I hold out some faint hope that their reissue will perhaps occasion a live performance by Fay at some point in the near future. At least, I hope he gets to it before the Rapture comes.

• Pictures of Adolf Again
• Time of the Last Persecution
• Come A Day