The Epiphany of Glenn Jones

Cul De Sac, John Fahey | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 23, 1997)
• Original Release Date: September 23, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Thirsty Ear
• ASIN: B0000057OH
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,458 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #7 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Alternative Folk
  • #10 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > American Alternative
  • #24 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo Fi

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Backed by Cul de Sac, The Epiphany of Glenn Jones represents some of the best playing of fingerstyle guitarist John Fahey in a long time. It's a perfect blend of moody, acoustic ballads, and improvised noodling, all featuring overtly simple guitar and sampler structures. Fahey fans should buy it for "Gamelan Guitar" alone--a repetitive little ditty that features Fahey accompanied by the tinkling sound effects of closely-mic'd dry beans and rice poured into bowls and over guitar strings. With Fahey's newfound status as an avant-gardist, along with his improving health, you'd think these sessions would be a cakewalk for Cul de Sac. But the liner notes present a different take. Album title namesake Glenn Jones isn't some mythical Fahey persona (such as Blind Joe Death), but rather Cul de Sac's frontman. In a detailed essay, Jones describes his follies of trying to work with his musical hero, Fahey: mood swings, arguments, personal and artistic differences, and more. Nevertheless, Cul de Sac and Fahey somehow worked their problems out and this resulting album turned out exceptionally well. --Jason Verlinde

Product Description

Cul De Sac, with the inspired incorpoartion of John Fahey into their musical assembly comes forth with yet another remarkable cd release, "The Epiphany Of Glenn Jones".

Always on the forfront of musical experimentation in the rock/post rock format, Cul De Sac have created some of the most interesting rock instrumentations available today.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kill Your Idols, July 4, 2000

By 

P. Bryant (Nottingham, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Epiphany of Glenn Jones (Audio CD)

One of those extraordinary encounters which make the story of John Fahey so fascinating, this a fine mixture of psychological terror, straightforward Freudian psychology and of course some radical-but-cuddly music. Imagine the situation: you are Glenn Jones and for years you've idolised John Fahey. Now you're a fine guitar-player yourself, with your own band (Cul de Sac), and you get a chance to make a record with your hero. You feverishly prepare for the precious few days of studio time. You rehearse the band, and send stuff to Fahey so he can arrive prepared. On the great day everyone meets at the studio, and Fahey immediately denounces you, your music and your band as old fashioned and pretentious - wow! Major trauma! Hang on to your ego! After some fraught hours trying out this and that, JF stated bluntly that either he took over the project or he was walking. So they made this record, which is a series of abstract textures with a couple of great blues interpolations (Come On in my Kitchen, Maggie Campbell). Pretty good stuff, in the end - it won't frighten you (like "City of Refuge" might) - although it frightened Glenn!

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, December 23, 2009

By 

Bill Your 'Free Form FM Handi Cyber Print DJ ... (Mahwah, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Epiphany of Glenn Jones (Audio CD)

By the time John Fahey made this album with Cul-Du-Sac, near the end of his life, he had stripped his playing to raw eseentials. That grand structure was reduced to long strums, clean and definate as new cut glass.

The electrionic bed for Fahey, provided by Cul-Du-Sac, is new context. The backrounds are not heavy, but merkily complex, and provide weight to Fahey's country creek, spare playing.

This is a long album, meditative as music comes, but paitants will bring rewards and revelations about Fahey and the art he and Cul-Du-Sac made.

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting, February 10, 2007

By 

David S. Cleveland - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Epiphany of Glenn Jones (Audio CD)

Not my favorite John Fahey...but I like the experimental aspect of this recording and overall is very good...some of the spoken word parts while the concept is good just doesn't fly...it almost seemed like Fahey was not really into that part and could have been left out.