DICK FARIÑA & ERIC VON SCHMIDT: Dick Fariña & Eric von Schmidt

Dick Fariña & Eric von Schmidt

Dick Fariña & Eric von Schmidt

© 2007 Tom Costner (837101337779)

CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.

(About MP3 downloads at CD Baby)

Conversion to CD of the cult folkmusic LP by Dick Fariña and Eric von Schmidt, famous for an early 1960s cameo by Bob Dylan, appearing as Blind Boy Grunt.

notes

Producer's Notes

This is a direct conversion to CD format of the 1963 LP, which I underwrote and produced in London. It has been a hard-to-find cult classic for years, and copies of the LP, when they surfaced, typically brought $200 on eBay.

Word reached me late in 2006 that a pirate CD edition was being readied in England. I took legal action in London to prevent that, and this 2-CD release is the product of that successful effort.

The recording features the first recorded appearance by Richard Fariña, who later married Mimi Baez, Joan's sister, and became a successful novelist and recording artist. Fariña was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1966, on Mimi's 21st birthday, which was also the publication date of his cult novel, Been Down So Long It Looked Like Up to Me, which became a Paramount movie.

Also featured is Eric von Schmidt, who died recently, and who was a leader in the glory days of 1960s folk music. Von Schmidt was also a graphic artist and writer on musical subjects. Ethan Signer, another folkie of that era turned MIT scientist, appears in a background role.

The cult has grown around Fariña's early and tragic death, and the cameo appearance on the album of Bob Dylan, disguised as Blind Boy Grunt, a pseudonym he used four or five times, as a way to appear on fun projects without violating his Columbia Records contract.

Dylan's first LP had just appeared in the US, but not yet in the UK. He was a total unknown, so much so that on the session notes he is identified as "Bob Diglan."

Dylan appeared only on four of the fourteen tracks, all recorded on January 15, 1963 in the basement of Folklore Records in London. The four tracks are: Glory, Glory; Overseas Stomp; Xmas Island and Cocaine.

Fans of Dylan are advised that his contributions are somewhat minimal, and his presence on these four cuts does not add greatly to the final mix. Serious Dylan followers have nevertheless been drawn to the record for more than forty years.

The sound quality is excellent, and there was no "sweetening" or other technical change made in the CD conversion except for the removal of several pops and clicks. The remastering for CD was performed at the famous Plant Studios in Sausalito, CA, by the highly-respected John Cuniberti.

The contents of the original LP appear on Disc 1. Disc two contains all the outtakes that were found on the master tapes, 21 tracks in all, including two songs that did not end up on the original LP.

The story behind the story is a complicated one, and it will continue to unreel at www.FarinaCD.com.

-Tom Costner, Producer

reviews

Please log in to review this album.

  • Dick Fariña & Eric von Schmidt
    author: Mike

    Two very talented and dearly departed minstrels collaborate to create true folk music classics. This stripped down effort always seems fresh, and if you listen closely you can hear a young Blind Boy Grunt aka Bobbie Dylan, mostly on harmonica and so called back-up vocals. Thrilled that this made it to CD..still waiting for Folk Blues of Eric Von Schmidt to hit the market, also a great effort by the always underappreciated Von Schmidt.

  • Costner Record
    author: Jacque B

    Great Job. I love the CD. Has history and drama...LIFE! Imagine the Stories...

  • Dick Fariña and Eric Von
    author: QUINO CASTRO

    Gracias CD Baby por vuestra profesionalidad en los envios. El CD es un trozo de la historia de américa

  • Enfin
    author: jef salomé

    I've been waiting a little too long to get this record, anyway, it's wonderful. thanks a lot to all folks who love the folk-blues of EVS, in Europe, Japan and of course USA. This is the record which missed. Now everthing is OK.

  • dick farina - eric von schmidt
    author: tony burnyeat

    great service quick and efficient pleasure to do buisness with

  • Finally!
    author: Oldrik Scholz

    I still cannot believe this has finally happened: I've been waiting for a release of this album in any form for years. A friend of mine is one of the few owners of the original record and made me a copie but this is the real deal now (until somebody feels like putting it out on vinyl of course). This is a record I'll enjoy and that will keep me busy for a long time.

  • Farina/Von Schmidt
    author: Ken Byrne

    I was delighted to find that this had finally been realeased on CD. I bought the record at Titus Oaks, a long gone rare record store in Flatbush, Brooklyn, thirty years ago, and it was rare even then. It's good to have the sound cleaned up a bit, and enjoy all the out takes, as well as the extra songs. What's especially pleasing is the rough, DIY, low-fi quality of the recording. Here's Farina, on the brink of his short-lived fame, with Von Schmidt, a perennnial also-ran, who deserved better. Dylan's cameos (Talk about about to be famous, and still continuing.)are a welcome addition. "Lonzo And Howard" still gives me goose bumps. Warning: This is SERIOUSLY DEEP FOLK STUFF. Not for the diletante. But give it a chance, and you won't be disappointed.

  • farina/von schmidt
    author: ragna vidar

    what a flashback to a time in my life when i was inbolved with all the dulcimer people - enjoyed it thoroughly !!! thank you for putting it out - peace/ragna vidar

email

Please log in to email this artist.