ORIGINAL LP The Formal Female JW Farquhar 1973 FUZZ Acid Rock Lo-Fi Psychedelic
$
90
Favourite Auctions
To save auctions to your favourites, please login
If you don't have an account, please register
Description
JW FARQUHAR 'The Formal Female' LP
1973
this is the ORIGINAL release BRAINBLOBLU Label
this is NOT the reissue
this is the VINTAGE, SCARCE 1972/1973 original issue
over 44 years old
YOU WILL NEVER FIND THIS AGAIN
VINYL appears UNPLAYED
COVER is VG++++ with some of the shrink wrap still on it
MEGA-RARE 1972 US private press album of bizarre heavy claustrophobia-inducing avant one-man-band-drum-machine-acid-guitar post-psychedelic downer catharic loner rock masterpiece by JW Farquhar.
The "Here Comes The Bride" segment/coda that is part 3 of the title track is unquestionably one of the most absolutely harrowingly diseased sounding statements ever commited to vinyl!
'All tracks were recorded by JW Farquhar in 1972. The songs on The Formal Female were written as an outcry against the materialistic nature of the woman during the time period in 1972. Many will tell you it is still that way. JW had recently exticated himself from a 10 year marriage and the words from this experience fit the lyrics on the album still. During that time he lived by himself in a 3rd floor apartment in Philadelphia. It was a street with a lot of traffic. Car horns, busses, police sirens, fire engines, screams, and sometimes even gunshots filled the ariwaves. For this reason he sealed up the windows and any other opening with sound-proofing foam. This was necessary because his music was recorded there. JW was the instrumentalist; rhythm guitar, lead guitar, drums, vocals, and bass. However he could not play them all at once, so he puchased a four track simulsync Teac recorder... professional version. This allowed him to record on one track and then play it back and seperately record on a second, third, and fourth track. The original tracks were recorded at 15 IPS. A final mix was then made in stereo with yet a fifth overdub, when needed. At that time other effects were limited. It is amazing electric fuzz album full of effects and it's a masterpiece such as D.R. Hooker. Extra heavy psychedelic.'
'Divorce Rock was all the rage in the early 1970s, when realistic and mundane themes replaced the flashy party of the '60s. Bob Dylan revived his career via Blood On The Tracks, which many consider the ultimate divorce LP. At the absolute opposite end of the spectrum, an omega to Dylan's alpha, we find The Formal Female by JW Farquhar. A DIY kitchen sink project if ever there was one, Farquhar processed the end of a long marriage by shutting himself in his apartment, sealing all the windows with sound proofing foam, and recording home-made music via bouncing tracks on a Teac 4-track. The end result is a startling assault of one-man-band idiosyncrasy that has wowed even the most jaded private press specialists. There is a Dylan influence somewhere, but it's buried underneath relentlessly wandering acid guitar figures, amateur bass lines, half-muttered vocals, and even an early use of a drum machine. The lyrics are obscure, surreal, and probably misogynistic. The title track is particularly arresting, with a near garage-psych sound and the most piercing harmonica solo you can imagine. As the album progresses, Farquhar's mood gets more relaxed (and less interesting), while the anger at his ex-wife is gradually exorcised. Although it doesn't really sound like him, fans of Peter Grudzien may find the disoriented urban folkrock despair of The Formal Female to their liking.' - Patrick Lundborg/Acid Archives
Tracks on this LP are as follows:
- The Formal Female (Part 1) (5:17)
- The Formal Female (Part 2) (8:46)
- The Formal Female (Part 3) (2:35)
- The Want Machine (Part 1) (2:24)
- The Want Machine (Part 2) (8:46)
- My Bundle Of Joy (9:03)
- Where Have You Been (6:00)
- Mansions (6:55)
The Formal Female is both remarkable and funny, but it’s hard to say if either of those things were purposefully achieved. When it was recorded in 1972, JW had freshly escaped from a ten-year hell marriage. He had little money for gear and little compassion left for his former life partner. Broke and alone, the record was produced on a Teac 4-track with J-Dub playing everything, including a primitive drum machine. He laid it all down in his third floor apartment in Philadelphia with foam on the windows to try and keep the sirens, buses, and gunshots out, and the supreme bitterness in.
Musically, the record is everything Damon Albarn’s Democrazy would be some 30 years later. Farquhar’s decent guitar chops are complimented with a smattering of weird effects, harmonica, and rustic distortion, while his vocals mark the high and/or low point. As times, he can sound like Tom Waits preaching to a roadie, but no matter how he sounds, his soapbox resentment never fades. His wife must have been bleeding him dry ‘cause that’s pretty much what he says in every track. “The Want Machine” certainly pulls no punched in this regard. Over the course of the album, the lyrics and imagery are so over the top bitter, they end up being more ludicrous than tormented, which oddly makes JW that much more compelling.
Here’s an odd brew of a record from the oblivion of 1972 Philadelphia. JW Farquhar was undergoing a brutal divorce when he barricaded himself in his apartment and recorded this one-man assault on the female race.The sound is similar to the Stone Harbour album in its grim murk, from out of which Farquhar conjures moments of intense psychedelic queasiness. The style is a curious mixture of psych, blues, folk and funk overlaid with a weird vocal that ranges from a grizzly mumble to put-on weirdo voices.
The fuzzy, tuneless burp through the Wedding March that closes the first track leaves you with no doubt as to Farquhar’s views on his ex-wife and womanhood in general. The misanthropy and misogyny present in every track might leave a lot of people cold, but personally I found it a bitter pleasure. Not one I’d recommend to everyone but if you like that dark, raw basement sound, then this is the one for you. by Austin Matthews
All tracks were recorded by JW Jarquhar in 1972. The songs on The Formal Female were written as an outcry against the materialistic nature of the woman during that time period in 1972. Many will tell you it is still that way. JW had recently extricated himself from a 10 year marriage and the words from this experience fit the lyrics on the album still. During that time he lived by himself in a 3rd floor apartment in Philadelphia. It was a street with a lot of traffic.
Car horns, busses, police sirens, fire engines, screams, and sometimes even gunshots filled the airwaves. For this reason he sealed up the windows and any other openings with sound-proofing foam. This was necessary because his music was recorded in there. JW was the instrumentalist; rhythm guitar, lead guitar, drums, vocals, and bass. However he could not play them all at once, so he purchased a four track simulsync Teac recorder... professional version.
This allowed him to record on one track and then play it back and separately record on a second, third, and fourth track. The original tracks were recorded at 15 IPS. A final mix was then made in stereo with yet a fifth overdub, when needed. At that time other effects were limited. It is amazing electric fuzz album full of effects and it's a masterpiece such as D.R. Hooker.
price rating
