In reviewing the 1967 reissue of Death Chants, Breakdowns & Military Waltzes, music critic Richie Unterberger

Richie Unterberger

Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...

 writes the material "...is still outstanding..." and comparing to the original release "The fidelity is clearer." Of the 1999 reissue, Unterberger claims it "...does Fahey fans a massive favor by combining both versions onto one disc.... Fahey achieves a full and reverberant quality that sets it off not just from the average country blues revivalists of the period, but from vintage country blues itself... it must be said that the originals have an intangibly more affecting, more mysterious quality that does not come through as strongly on the more carefully executed rehauls."

In his piece for The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, Ben Ratliff called Death Chants, Breakdowns & Military Waltzes "dense with eccentricity."

Reissues

• The original cover of Death Chants, Breakdowns & Military Waltzes was simply a white cover with black lettering of the title. Subsequent reissues included Vol. 2 in the title. In 1967 Fahey re-recorded ten of the twelve songs for reissue.
• In 1999, Takoma reissued both the original recordings and the later re-recordings on a single CD.

Track listing

• All times are from the 1964 version.
• All songs written or arranged by John Fahey.

1. "Sunflower River Blues" – 2:33
2. "When the Springtime Comes Again" – 3:50
3. "Stomping Tonight on the Pennsylvania/Alabama Border" – 6:58
4. "Some Summer Day" – 3:20
5. "On the Beach at Waikiki" – 2:55
6. "Spanish Dance" – 1:53
7. "The Downfall of the Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill" – 3:35
8. "John Henry Variations" – 5:40
9. "Take a Look at That Baby" – 1:25
10. "Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace of King Phillip XIV" – 2:28
11. "America" – 7:52
12. "Episcopal Hymn" (based on "At the name of Jesus" by Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
    
    ) – 1:10

Reissue track listing (1999)

1. "Sunflower River Blues" – 2:33
2. "When the Springtime Comes Again" – 3:50
3. "Stomping Tonight on the Pennsylvania-Alabama Border" – 6:58
4. "Some Summer Day" – 3:20
5. "On the Beach at Waikiki" – 2:55
6. "Spanish Dance" – 1:53
7. "John Henry Variations" – 5:40
8. "The Downfall of the Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill" – 3:35
9. "Take a Look at That Baby" – 1:25
10. "Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace of King Philip XIV" – 2:28
11. "America" – 7:52
12. "Episcopal Hymn" – 1:10
13. "Sunflower River Blues" – 3:19
14. "When the Springtime Comes Again" – 4:53
15. "Stomping Tonight on the Pennsylvania-Alabama Border" – 5:36
16. "Some Summer Day" – 3:25
17. "On the Beach at Waikiki" – 2:40
18. "Spanish Dance" – 2:05
19. "John Henry Variations" – 5:11
20. "Take a Look at That Baby" – 1:25
21. "America" – 5:00
22. "Episcopal Hymn" – 1:22

Personnel

• John Fahey – guitar
• Nancy McLean – flute ("The Downfall of the Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill")

External links

• Song notes at The Fahey Files
• Various covers of reissues.