The Epiphany of Glenn Jones
Encyclopedia
The Epiphany of Glenn Jones is an album
by American
fingerstyle guitar
ist and composer John Fahey
and the alternative rock
/Post-rock
band Cul de Sac, released in 1997.
and was to be a collaboration between Fahey and young musicians influenced by his earlier work. When this idea later collapsed, Thirsty Ear Records producer Peter Gordon assembled the Cul de Sac/Fahey project. Cul de Sac had previously covered Fahey's song "The Portland Cement Factory at Monolith California" on their debut album Ecim.
Glenn Jones, the band's leader and guitarist, became interested and influenced by Fahey's early music while still in high school. He describes the band's project with Fahey in great detail in the original liner notes. The rehearsals and sessions were the source of friction between Fahey and the band. Jones later called the making of the album an "ordeal" and described the relationships between the two parties as "musical antagonism". Fahey later claimed to have erased all the early tapes of the music Cul de Sac brought to the sessions, a claim Jones refutes in subsequent interviews.
The final two tracks are spoken word recordings.
The sessions also mark the first appearance of The Great Kooniklaster, an Art Deco
object Fahey acquired, named, and placed in the studio to bring focus to the sessions. It later appeared as the title of the Fahey tribute album The Great Koonaklaster Speaks: A John Fahey Celebration
.
In his review of Cul de Sac's release ECIM, music critic Michael Patrick Brady referred to The Epiphany of Glenn Jones as "a tremendous effort, stretching the quiet, minimalist Fahey beyond his typical comfort zone and into new and often unsettling realms, light-years apart from his solo explorations."
Critic Joe Garden referred to the disharmony of the collaborators while calling the final product "a work of brilliance, and a credit to both the artists who made it and the label with the guts to back such a decidedly risky venture." and wrote "The surprising thing about [it] is that it is the sound of artists giving up on planned material and succumbing to chance."
Production notes:
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking ....
ist and composer John Fahey
John Fahey (musician)
John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...
and the alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
/Post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
band Cul de Sac, released in 1997.
History
The project initially began with Geffen RecordsGeffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
and was to be a collaboration between Fahey and young musicians influenced by his earlier work. When this idea later collapsed, Thirsty Ear Records producer Peter Gordon assembled the Cul de Sac/Fahey project. Cul de Sac had previously covered Fahey's song "The Portland Cement Factory at Monolith California" on their debut album Ecim.
| “The Epiphany of Glenn Jones isn't the album I envisioned. Likely it is a more interesting album than any of us (save Fahey perhaps) had imagined: braver, more honest, more personal and more a reflection of who and where we were at the time we made it. By Fahey's criteria, that counts for a lot. More importantly, the scales fell from my eyes about John Fahey. "Good!" said Fahey when I told him,"now maybe we can be better friends." |
| Excerpt from Glenn Jones' liner notes to The Epiphany of Glenn Jones (Thirsty Ear Records CD, 1997) |
Glenn Jones, the band's leader and guitarist, became interested and influenced by Fahey's early music while still in high school. He describes the band's project with Fahey in great detail in the original liner notes. The rehearsals and sessions were the source of friction between Fahey and the band. Jones later called the making of the album an "ordeal" and described the relationships between the two parties as "musical antagonism". Fahey later claimed to have erased all the early tapes of the music Cul de Sac brought to the sessions, a claim Jones refutes in subsequent interviews.
The final two tracks are spoken word recordings.
The sessions also mark the first appearance of The Great Kooniklaster, an Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
object Fahey acquired, named, and placed in the studio to bring focus to the sessions. It later appeared as the title of the Fahey tribute album The Great Koonaklaster Speaks: A John Fahey Celebration
The Great Koonaklaster Speaks: A John Fahey Celebration
The Great Koonaklaster Speaks: A John Fahey Celebration is a tribute CD to guitarist John Fahey released in 2007.The sessions for the 1997 Fahey/Cul de Sac collaboration album The Epiphany of Glenn Jones marks the first appearance of "The Great Kooniklaster" [sic], as an Art Deco object Fahey...
.
Reception
Music critic Tad Hendrickson stated "The Epiphany Of Glenn Jones is a somber sound collage where Fahey's crisp acoustic playing and odd washes of sound are mated with atmospherics as varied as birds chirping and Cul De Sac's usual organ-drenched instrumental style."In his review of Cul de Sac's release ECIM, music critic Michael Patrick Brady referred to The Epiphany of Glenn Jones as "a tremendous effort, stretching the quiet, minimalist Fahey beyond his typical comfort zone and into new and often unsettling realms, light-years apart from his solo explorations."
Critic Joe Garden referred to the disharmony of the collaborators while calling the final product "a work of brilliance, and a credit to both the artists who made it and the label with the guts to back such a decidedly risky venture." and wrote "The surprising thing about [it] is that it is the sound of artists giving up on planned material and succumbing to chance."
Track listing
- "Tuff" (Ace CannonAce CannonJohn "Ace" Cannon is an American tenor and alto saxophonist. He played and toured with Hi Records stablemate Bill Black’s Combo, and started a solo career with his record "Tuff" in 1961, using the Black combo as his backing group. "Tuff" hit #17 on the U.S...
) – 5:05 - "Gamelan Collage" (John Fahey) – 10:10
- "The New Red Pony" (Fahey) – 5:51
- "Maggie Campbell Blues" (Tommy Johnson, Public Domain) – 3:16
- "Our Puppet Selves" (Cul De Sac, Glenn Jones) – 8:20
- "Gamelan Guitar" (Fahey) – 5:27
- "Come On in My KitchenCome On in My Kitchen"Come On in My Kitchen" is a blues song by Robert Johnson. Johnson recorded the song on Monday, November 23rd, 1936 at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas - his first recording session...
" (Robert Johnson) – 4:06 - "Magic Mountain" (Fahey) – 9:00
- "More Nothing" (Fahey, Jones) – 6:37
- "Nothing" (Fahey) – 15:49
Personnel
- John FaheyJohn Fahey (musician)John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...
– acoustic guitar, electric lap steel guitars, tapes - Glenn Jones – guitar
- Chris Fujiwara – bass
- Jon Proudman – drums
- Robin Amos – electronics
- Jon Williams – tapes
Production notes:
- Jon Williams – producer, engineer