Best of Mimi & Richard Fariña

Best of Mimi & Richard Fariña
1971
Vanguard, VSD 21/22.
Re-issued on CD in 1988 as VCD 21/22.
CD running time: 73:45
Cover photo by Daniel Kramer

Reviewed in:
Records and Recording, May 1972, p. 104, 106, by James Asman
Gramophone, June 1972, p. 112, by Tony Russell
Ontario Library Review, December 1972, p. 243.

The Best of Mimi & Richard Fariña was released in 1971 amidst a flurry of other Fariña-related events, including the movie adaptation of Been Down So Long, a musical based on Richard's life, and Mimi's album with Tom Jans, Take Heart. The original vinyl version of Best of was a double album comprised of the two Richard and Mimi albums, Celebrations for a Grey Day and Reflections in a Crystal Wind. The gatefold sleeve opened to reveal 17 black-and-white photos by Kenneth van Sickle, showing Richard, Mimi, and their dog, Lush, prancing around Central Park (from the same photo session that provided the cover of Celebrations).

Best of was the first Richard and Mimi album to be re-issued on CD. This was a natural choice, since record companies in 1988 probably did not foresee the explosion of interest in rare and forgotten sixties artists in the later nineties, so the best-of package, generously squeezed onto one CD, must have seemed sufficient at the time, even with several songs omitted for the sake of space. Vanguard cut out six instrumentals, four from side one of Celebrations ("Dandelion River Run," "Tommy Makem Fantasy," "Dog Blue," and "V."), and one from each side of Reflections, ("Chrysanthemum" and "Allen's Interlude"). But cutting out so many instrumentals gives a misleading impression of what the Fariñas' music.

Since Best of has been superceded by another anthology, the re-mastered Pack Up Your Sorrows collection, I'd say that Best of is now the most inessential Fariña CD. You'd be better off getting the LP just for the sake of the beautiful Central Park photos. Of course, it's still a great CD packed with great songs. This was the first Richard & Mimi CD I ever bought, and it served me well for a year or two until I decided to delve deeper into the Fariñas' music.

1. REFLECTIONS IN A CRYSTAL WIND 3:29
2. BOLD MARAUDER 4:04
3. DOPICO 3:56
4. A SWALLOW SONG 2:50
5. SELL-OUT AGITATION WALTZ 2:50
6. HARD-LOVING LOSER 4:18
7. PACK UP YOUR SORROWS* 2:55
(Pauline Marden and R. Fariña)
8. MICHAEL, ANDREW AND JAMES 5:08
9. ONE WAY TICKET 3:24
10. MAINLINE PROSPERITY BLUES 6:25
11. HOUSE UN-AMERICAN BLUESACTIVITY DREAM 3:08
12. RAVEN GIRL 5:10
13. MILES 2:53
(Mimi Fariña) Instrumental
14. CHILDREN OF DARKNESS 4:01
15. HAMISH 1:45
16. ANOTHER COUNTRY 4:05
17. TUILERIES 1:47
18. THE FALCON* 3:38
19. RENO NEVADA 3:08
20. CELEBRATION FOR A GREY DAY 3:47

All words not otherwise noted are by Richard Fariña.

*Vogue Music c/o The Welk Music Group/BMI.
All other songs, Warner Bros. Music/ASCAP.

Accompanying themselves on guitar, autoharp and dulcimer.

Bruce Langhorne: guitar, tambourine
Charles Small: piano, celesta
Russ Savakus: bass
John Hammond: harmonica
Alvin Rogers: drums
Felix Pappalardi: electric bass

Due to compact disc format time restrictions some songs on the original LP are not included in this package.

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