robbie basho: the grail & the lotus

A reissue of Robbie Basho's The Grail & The Lotus, originally released in 1966. It's become an oft-quoted statement that John Coltrane was the Father, Pharaoh Sanders was the Son, and Albert Ayler, the Holy Ghost. It could arguably apply to the holy trinity of steel string guitarists as well. Many claim John Fahey to be the Father, Kottke was considered the Son, and Robbie Basho would certainly be considered the Holy Ghost. The Basho/Ayler similarities are many, and both pushed their idioms further physically and emotionally than all of their respective contemporaries. The Grail & The Lotus was Basho's second release for the Takoma label, preceding the wildly prolific year of 1967 that produced three absolute classics with the Falconers Arm sets and Basho Sings. Supposedly the thematics of The Grail & The Lotus came to Basho while recovering from a feverish bout of pneumonia, and in that state Basho envisioned and expressed a simultaneous glimpse of the Feudal Age, European and Japanese evocations side-by-side, both co-mingling with Knighthoods in Flower. A truly outsider take on the American primitive genre, The Grail & The Lotus is finally reissued for the first time on vinyl, 50 years after its initial release. Beautifully remastered; Edition of 500.