Customer Reviews

The Epiphany of Glenn Jones

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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!

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.

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.

Don't really know all that much about this Avant Garde musician, except that he guests on the Red Krayola - 'Live 1967' 2-CD release. Tracks that I thought showed promise were "Maggie Campbell Blues", the seven-minute "Out Puppet Selves", "Magic Mountain" and the fifteen-minute epic "Nothing". Personnel: John Fahey (R.I.P.) - acoustic guitar, electric lap steel guitar, Glenn Jones - guitar, Chris Fujiwara - bass, Robin Ames - electronics and Jon Proudman - drums. Might draw in fans of (I'm second guessing here) Richard Thompson, Voice Of The Seven Woods, Jackie-O Motherf***** and Joy Division and possibly Jessamine or even Mercury Rev.