Requia

Released in November 1967, Requia was the first of two records Fahey made for Vanguard. His manager Denny Bruce recalled the deal: Fahey could record experimental records for Takoma but was to try for commercial ones at Vanguard, which approved the budget. After three solo guitar pieces comes the four-part Requiem for Molly, in which solo guitar is joined by white noise, excerpts of string and brass orchestras, Adolf Hitler speeches, choral music, scratchy 78s and tape loops. Special effects are credited to Fahey, Sam Charters and Barry Hansen. The record closes with Fight On Christians, Fight On, a short hymn on bottleneck guitar based on a piece by Bo Weavil Jackson.

Edward Pouncey of The Wire wrote that contemporary reception was mixed and often hostile, with many listeners puzzled by the musique concrete centerpiece. Kris Needs of Record Collector later called Requiem for Molly a deranged mosaic of effects that predated sampling. Uncut placed the album 89th on its 2017 list of the 101 weirdest albums of all time and 396th on its 2022 list of the 500 greatest albums of the 1960s. Terra reissued it on CD in 1985, Vanguard in 1997 and Ace in 1998.