Mimi & Richard Farina
"Pack Up Your Sorrows-The Best of the Vanguard Years"
(Vanguard)
When examining the mid-sixties folk phenomena, the names Mimi & Richard Farina are often overlooked. It's strange really,since Mimi & Richard put out some very interesting and innovative folk music back in the day, music that has stood the test of time. Why is this couple so frequently forgotten? Hard to say, perhaps it was because Richard Farina died tragically in 1966, just as electric rock music was beginning to take hold of the psyche of America's youth. Looking back at their musical legacy on this "Best Of" collection, Mimi & Richard Farina were a talented duo with formidable credentials. As Joan Baez's sister, Mimi Farina was often underestimated as a folk-singer and political activist. As an author and rebellious freedom fighter who was also a big part of the Greenwich Village folk scene, Richard Farina was equally at home with musicians like Bob Dylan as he was with writers like Thomas Pychon. Bridging the gap between beatnik bohemia and a socially conscious hippie lifestyle, Richard Farina was a particularly gifted man with seemingly limitless potential. His 1957 book, "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me" is one of the underground classics from that era that has heartily stayed fresh.
In any case, "Pack Up Your Sorrows" displays two young artists expanding the limits of folk music while using traditional instruments like the autoharp and the dulcimer. Working with many of the same musicians that Bob Dylan had used on "Bringing It All Back Home," Farina's dense wordplay and dry voice was consistently enriched by Mimi's harmonies. The Farinas also performed many fascinating instrumentals during their time with Vanguard Records and incorporated some of the droning elements of Eastern music as well as old Appalachian dance tunes and spirited, jazzy improvisation. Included on this collection is Richard's composition "House Un-American Blues Activity Dream," which reveals his radical politics in no uncertain terms. With gentle acoustic strumming and poignant singing on compositions like "The Falcon" and rousing, light-hearted tunes like "Reno, Nevada," Richard & Mimi Farina were one of folk music's more engaging couples. The instrumental, "Celebrations For A Grey Day," originally came out of their performance in the middle of a cloudburst at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Yes, Mimi occasionally sounds like her sister Joan and the political commentary here may seem a bit dated when you first hear it, but this disc is quality stuff and required listening if you are interested in classic folkstuff of the sixties.
by Mitch Myers
copyright 1999 New City Communications, Inc.