Jandek

[dave9199]

Here's my ranking of the 7th set of 5:

KEEPERS

none

PERSONAL OPINION

1. Worthless Recluse

FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY

2. The Place

3. The Gone Wait

4. I Threw You Away

5. The Humility Of Pain

Well, this is a first. I have no keepers on this list. The last 4 albums are really rough. None of them are as melodic as earlier albums and are as static in style & tone as the first 7 albums were, only more so. So far, I Threw You Away & The Humility Of Pain have been the hardest for me to enjoy. Staring At The Cellophane (#6-my previous least favorite) is a walk in the park compared to these two. Most people would put all Jandek albums in this section, but here's why I did it: two 10 and a half minute songs that drag (The Gone Wait), howling vocals (I Threw You Away & The Humility Of Pain) & a big sense of a creative stagnation both musically & lyrically (2-5). And also since I listed Worthless Recluse as last on my list of the acappela albums, then all of the others go below that if I included all albums. I have now edited this list about 6 or 7 times because it just didn't feel right, but I had to acknowledge what I didn't want to say: aside from Worthless Recluse which I do enjoy, I don't like these albums very much at all. But really, it's your call on this one.

Edited April 24, 2005 by dave9199

[dave9199]

Album #36 is called Shadow Of Leaves. The cover is very interesting. It shows Smith standing outside in a wooded area (half smiling/half squinting), but it you look closely at the trees in the background you realize some of them have been cut & pasted onto another part of the picture. Maybe there was someone else in the picture originally or some identifying mark. He must have really liked how he looked in it to go through all that trouble. I wish I could find a particular link as someone graphed out all the cut & paste parts. You wouldn’t notice it if you didn’t know, but there are parts that give it away if you look. Anywho...

Smith sticks with the acoustic bass on this album and it features only 3 songs including his longest song to date; the title track is 29:02. One Last Chance from This Narrow Road (#30) was longer at 29:21, but that was a spoken piece. This album is miked closer and there isn’t as much room reverb as there was on The Gone Wait (#35). Though the song is long, it doesn’t drag because Smith is starts off playing a repeated note under the lyrics (he stops a few minutes in, but this doesn’t slow the pace) which keeps it moving then does riffs in between as before. His vocals are in a higher register than the bass this time also. So what is Smith singing about for a half an hour? I don’t know. Some excerpts:

Now I got lucidity

And I’m clear as glass rainbow

And the shadow of leaves

We’re walking down the street

Now it’s a hundred degrees

And I’m freezing on Mount Everest

I got back in my dream

And I’m dreaming forever

Woo, I’m awake

I’m sleeping in the wake time

I’m awake in my sleep

I got my fingers wet

There was a lot of rain

It was pouring bottles

And those cold bottles

Got my fingers wet

But I’ll bet the glass you got

Puts a liquid in you

And then you’re fluid

I got me my mechanical produced beverage

I know my liquids

I guess I’ll duck in from the storm

And I’ll let those bottles crash down in the street

The streets of mercy

Smashing all those bottles

On the pavement in the rain

I won’t drive my car for the rest of the day

I’ll think about breathing

And watch the air rustle about

Bye-bye, you Sunday

Listen to me please, sit over here

I never felt this way

And lived to say “I’m gone” to you

I no longer exist, I’m on a planet

But I keep thinking about time

And I frequent your grave, life

And you frequent mine

And we’re here together

There ain’t no better place to be

I wonder if Find Me Again is about the unexpected visit Katy Vine paid him for an interview in Texas Monthly in 1999:

Find Me Again

I don’t show nothing to nobody

You got to steal from me

I played your game

You got to change your ways

You got to be real good

I’ll make myself better

Just need a rest here

But somehow you worked real hard

And you found me

You got to play my game

Find me again

I put it up for sale

I took my name away

I’ll still communicate

You’ll hear from here or there

But I got to be dark again

I came to close to the fire

And now the stars and cold

I’m going out of town

I covered up my tracks

I’m smart as a man

I’ll hide far away

And protect the cave

Another tough album. I can't recommend one bass album over the other. None of the 3 songs on here drag, but...

Edited April 24, 2005 by dave9199

[dave9199]

Hmm...someone has deleted their posts? This was on page 23 & now it's on page 22. The mystery continues...

[dave9199]

The End Of It All; the title of album #37. Some asked, “Is it?” The answer from Corwood was it doesn’t mean anything. It is a lyric from one of the songs on the album. The cover shows a close up profile of Smith, looking older than we’ve seen him before. He looks like he’s in formal-wear or it could be what he wears to his day job. He’s looking downward, but there is no expression on his face. You can’t tell if he’s thinking or looking at something/someone. The title makes the mind fill in the blank by saying he’s at a funeral & is looking at the casket. Could be...or not.

He uses a different guitar on this album (no acoustic bass here). It’s sound makes me think it’s the guitar he used for his live appearance(s); an electro-acoustic. To add to the sound difference, Smith uses a chorus effect rather than reverb on his guitar. He also uses a slide & has a very Sonic Youth tuning to his guitar. The tuning they’ve used most has a tonic note of F#m. I haven’t found out if that’s the actual key he’s tuned to, but it sure sounds like it. He even gets that drumstick under the strings sound of Sonic Youth by resting the slide against strings rather than...you know, sliding it. I immediately liked the sound of the album.

Their are 4 songs on this album with the first, One Of Those Moments, being the longest at 20:15. For the first 5 minutes, there aren’t many lyrics which is fine since the vocals are really up front and his vocal style has drifted back to I Threw You Away (#32) & The Humility Of Pain (#33), but it’s more toned down than those records; not as howling but he does drag out the last word(s) of most lines. Despite the music & vocal delivery sounding very much to the contrary, it sounds, lyrically, like Smith is talking about a love relationship:

I expect I’ll see you again

Anyway I’ll never forget the time that you were there

You added a new dimension

Like I said, I didn’t expect that thing to happen

When I said that, you knew it happened

The best part is, I don’t need any special thing

But if you’re there, you’ll find about it

I suppose I’m talking to the right person

I know everybody comes and goes

Does it have to be that way

Let’s take a look at it

I’d like to be in your presence

Can I see you

Let’s set aside the time

I’ll fall into another one of those moments

Will you, will you fall into that same moment

I’m ready for all the different outcomes

At least I hope I’m ready

But you didn’t make me nervous before

You told everybody you liked me

You made me say I liked you

All right so you had to pull me out of me

I was so deeply buried

I needed your air

And now I feel so alive

I don’t see anything different

It must be you, I accept that

We’ll see where it leads to

If you want to touch me I wouldn’t mind

It doesn’t happen too often, this kind of thing

Smith definitely has a strong fear of rejection and I’ll bet takes things really hard like people are rejecting him in total rather than not feeling the same way he does about a certain situation. Projection, you say? Yes, I agree, but I’ll stick with it. The next song, Hadn’t Been There Before, is about the same topic:

I Hadn’t Been There Before

I hardly saw you right away

But I heard about you, all good things

It’s important we go in the right direction

And I took all those soft words

Changed all the direction of things

I said that I liked you, and that was the end of it all

And the beginning of everything else

I hadn’t been there before, no no no no no no no no no I

Hadn’t been there before, no no no no no no no no no I

Hadn’t been there before

I lost my rational brain

I just thought everything was all right

I dropped all my guard

I was so happy, I still am

Whatever it is that you are

If what she said was right, that’s a good place to start

And again in They Don’t Matter At All:

But I’m trying to get to the real core of things

See if that soul you got wants to be with mine

Then all the other differences don’t matter at all

And on the last song, I Met You:

I got a world, I found you on the periphery

Somehow I pulled you in

Now that you’re here, tell me

Is it the best place you ever know

Because I’m at the best place I ever knew

And it’s just after I met you

This is the oddest album of love songs I’ve ever heard. And the most difficult to listen to. What is interesting is just that: it's an album of 4 love songs, but Smith voice is so lacking in any variance of emotion that the point of it all is missed. It seems as he ages, it’s harder for him to loosen up, let go & relax. This has affected all albums since I Threw You Away (#32). Had I been buying each album separately, I don’t know if I would’ve made it this far or past this album. It’s far too many difficult albums in a row.

[jon abbey]

great thread, one comment...

here’s your link between outsider music & jazz

that would be Arthur Doyle.

[dave9199]

Hmmm...I don't get it. I know the name from a Sonic Youth title.

It seems Clementine has deleted his posts in this thread!

[Guest Chaney]

Hmmm...I don't get it. I know the name from a Sonic Youth title.

It seems Clementine has deleted his posts in this thread!

While his posts are his to delete, I must say, that stinks.

Remind me to never again engage him in one of these vitual conversations.

[dave9199]

So Chaney, what do you think of the recent reviews? Have you listened to any of those yet?

[Guest Chaney]

I've been listening to 17, 18, 19 & 20. Problem is, I can't have a proper listen to these as my CD player is giving me major problems with skipping. I've been cutting back on my spending and saving for a new player. Almost there... I think.

[jon abbey]

Arthur Doyle is both a free jazz musician and a representative of "outsider music", I meant exactly what I said. David Tibet is a Doyle fanatic (as well as being a Jandek fan) and has released one of his records on Durtro, FWIW. just because Jandek uses an upright bass occasionally doesn't mean there's any actual jazz connection there. not a big point, just something that I thought of when reading your post.

I'm behind on Jandek, 2 or 3 releases I need to pick up, but I'm losing interest somewhat, I think...

[dave9199]

I meant the jazz connection as a joke actually. It was the only way to tie in the fact that I've reviewed 37 Jandek album on a jazz board. Now that's funny.

[dave9199]

#38 is called The Door Behind. This album came out a couple of weeks after his first live performance (that we know of). I had heard of Jandek just as The End Of It All (#37) was released and was all into the mystery when 6 weeks later he plays out. Well, I got to enjoy it for a little bit. The cover shows a younger Smith than the last album; the picture is grainy, his hair is bushy, he’s sportin’ a full beard & mustache and he’s looking very stoic.

Six songs on this one with 4 of them just over 6 minutes & 2 just under & over the 9 minute mark. Smith uses the same guitar as the last album only with no chorus. Guitar playing is the same, the vocals are the same though not as up front & it continues the theme of this relationship that seems to be going somewhere positive.

The second song, Gate Strikes One is lyrically like school boy lyrics and yet they are interesting to picture this really happening. This song does appear to tell the story of Smith getting laid! To me, it says Smith’s emotional growth was arrested at a young age.

Gate Strikes One

She picked me from the crowd

She told her girlfriends about it

They told me she liked me

And asked me if I liked her

I said that I did

Somebody asked her to dance

She said yes, but it didn’t last long

He told me why don’t I move over

I found myself next to her

The other ones were giving me eyes

It seemed I liked all of them

They all went to talk together

When they came back they asked me if I liked her

And I said yes

Then she asked me if I liked her

I said yes I did

Her friends said bye bye, see you later

Then she took me by the hand

Walked me away to the other part of the place

Looking for a private place

We walked into the room

And she shut the door

We held an embrace

I couldn’t remember the last time

She was everything I wanted to have

I didn’t care about me

She thought I wasn’t finished

I thought I never would be

She seemed so happy

That was what I wanted

The mention of a private place recalls the first two lines from One Of Those Moments from The End Of It All (#37):

You took me by the hand

You led me to a private place

It’s like he wrote about the exact same situation again. The song The Slow Burn, touches on both extremes of love in Smith’s world it seems:

The Slow Burn

Are you married

Are you involved with another person

Do you live alone

I want to think about you

No one comes to my house

I take care of all the things

I need to kill those squirrels running around in the top of my head

You shouldn’t have come here

It’s the place where I live

You eat electricity

You burn down the house

So I forgot to kill you

Go away and fall down dead

And when you’re all gone

I’ll live in peace in a house that’s not burned down

You can be my princess

Everything’s clear and clean and I like the temperature

I turned it down to slow burn

The last song, Every Sentence, really shows Smith to be a very insecure & high maintenance guy (I speak from experience):

Take me in your arms

And never, ever, never go away

I give my everything without questions

I adore the floor you walk on

Can I walk the floor with you

Please, please be there when I wake up

I want to breathe the air around you

To touch you, feel you, know you

Take away the world

So every sentence, you’re the subject, object, verb, and preposition

You’re my words and every sound I hear

Keep me, keep me

Always be the thought that I’m thinking

Never in existence is there any other thing to change me

I stop here

I open up your door

And I close the door behind me

And I fall down flying, flying in the air with you

And love me, I love you

What’s ironic about this album is that I have an idea of what he’s talking about, but they are the worst lyrics he’s ever written. Even The End Of It All’s lyrics didn’t seem this weak. It’s tough to be creative & start getting laid.

[dave9199]

Album #39 is called A Kingdom He Likes. The cover shows the most recent picture of Smith yet; beard & mustache again, but neatly trimmed, black hat, blue shirt, sitting and looks like he’s in mid-sentence. The aging is noticeable in the eyes and he looks quite gaunt. One person on the Jandek list says she sees him in an organic food store all the time so that’s a possibility.

This is another short album clocking in at 36:49. Seven songs this time with 3 of them being under 4 minutes. A couple of 4s, one 5 & the longest at 10:58. This was also his fourth release in the year 2004 which is the most he’s ever released in one calendar year beginning with Shadow Of Leaves (#36). Guitar & vocals all the same though the mike feeds back a bit throughout the album. Regardless of my opinions of the recent albums, Smith has made himself quite an unmistakable style with his guitar playing. It sounds completely improvised, but he’s done it so constantly & consistanly that I don’t think so. Maybe like jazz, he has a basic idea & improvs around it. The lyrics are more I don’t knows. Here’s a bit from the first song I Gave My Eternity:

Get good machines now

Don’t buy mediocrity

You’ll eat your lunch now

Like a low place swamp traveler

Who happens upon a kingdom he likes

And he will serve you now

I’ll make him do that

He’s at your service

Real Afternoons definitely has an interesting way of looking at a home appliance (& I mean no sarcasm here):

There’s only one altar

That’s the refrigerator

Where you keep your food

Whether you slaughter human, animal, or grapes

It’s your altar

The table for your food

Devour God’s knowledge

At your altar

In your food you eat

Build your blocks to stand up

Straight and erect

Skank, you skank

Leave

A Windy Time might be about the meeting that set up his first live show (just a guess):

A Windy Time

I just met the nicest of people

They only wanted to share business

There were some guests in the rain

Rotten windy time

But we’ll be talking

Forever in my day

I don’t need a smoke alarm to tell me there’s a fire

And I still have the sense of smell and heat and cold

But most of all my intuition is leading the way

I’m pleasantly surprised

Sometimes I mix some things with my water on occasion

The pace is quicker on this song also. Your Own Little World talks about spiders in his closet but has this interesting couplet:

But I don’t want to see the other members of the family

They’ve got to go

This fits with his repeated theme of shedding his past. Family equals past. There must be a lot of stuff that happened there. I’ll go out on a limb and guess that the next song, Sticks In The Marsh, may be how Smith feels about his family:

I got my things to do tomorrow

They’re on the table

They’re in my new future

Tomorrow is their purpose

Sticks in the marsh

As I wandered through that old abandoned house

I stayed in overnight, yeah I stayed there overnight, the old abandoned house

I didn’t care about all the dreams that went before me in that house

Maybe he had just visited family. The last song, It Rang Eleven Times, might shed some light on Smith’s gaunt look:

I programmed my abdomen

I don’t think about it anymore

It doesn’t tell me what to do

I got the network to my nerves now

It’s oh so automatic

I just command the boat inside the house

You can’t chew well because it feels like a foreign object in your mouth

This album lyrically is much better than the last album and a return to regular subject matter for Smith, though it’s not as harsh as in the past. It made it a bit more tolerable, but it’s still linked with the previous albums in terms of difficulty of enjoyment. As you can see, I don’t have much to say as most of this is lyrical quotes, but I still try to review the album. I read a review of this album recently and it said nothing about the music. It only talked about the myth and his history. That’s not a fucking album review, that’s a piece of shit! I’ve always felt reviewers should be able to review an album more than once as impressions about it change over time. I’ve edited my own as I better understand my initial impressions. That’s why reissues are good (though they can be unfortunate for the paying customer) as it gives the album another chance and another angle from someone else in contrast to the original review. If reviews could be looked at 3-6 months later by the same person and expanded upon, that would be great. I know why it’s not done (deadlines, new product & such) but don’t care. It would add a much needed human presence to writing about a creative (& again, human) art form.

[dave9199]

Well, here we are grinding to a temporary halt with album #40, When I Took That Train. This was released just a month ago and his next album is already out which is his first live show. I’ve heard it’s great so I’m keeping faith. Unfortunately, or maybe it’s a good thing, no one has transcribed the lyrics to Train yet so there won’t be much in the way of lyrics, if any. The cover is another ‘on holiday” picture, this time from England. Another first for this time Smith is outside, standing in front of a building in the rain looking like his did on the last album, but he’s far away from the camera making him dwarfed in size compared to the building around him. The new first here is there are other people in the picture; you just can’t quite see them. With great timing, the people in the picture are behind Smith in the background. You can see parts of them, but no faces since they are covered by umbrellas. Smith has his black hat on as his umbrella. Add to that the cars driving on the road; there are people in them but you can’t see them. I find that ingenious. Smith can put himself in a public place and still get a picture where no face but his appears. It would have been quite a trip to be the car next to him and look over and say, “Holy shit! Is that Jandek?” Someone from the list noted that the picture has to be at least 7 or 8 years old as one of the buildings is no longer there. How did I know if was England? There’s a double decker bus in the background. A very interesting & busy cover. What would be fun is you could cut & paste his body onto any picture & have Smith in all sorts of locales like Where’s Waldo. But what’s sad is when the covers are more interesting than the music inside.

11 songs on here between a bit under 3 minutes to a bit over 4 with one just under 6 & one just under 7 minutes. Guitar & vocals still the same. What’s sad about the better sound is there is no more room reverb anymore. No sense of depth. It’s all flat just like his current writing style. The first acoustic bass album, The Gone Wait (#35) was the last one to have any room reverb. He also hasn’t used reverb on his vocals or guitar either. A great loss. More lyrical pieces about a relationship. Here’s the titles:

I Talked To You Today

When I See You Again

The Image Of You

Close To You

You Took Me For A Ride

What Else Is There

Wouldn’t You Agree

You Made Me Know It

Angel Moves

Thing Called Me

My Escape

His vocal delivery gets excited at times as he spouts off thoughts one after the other. His vocals in general sound more into the songs, like he’s enjoying himself. I never thought about it, but maybe he’s on medication & this is what comes out songwise. It would make sense. Medication can flatten people out (again, said from experience), but it just may be where he is creatively right now. I do think as he’s aged, his desire to change or vary his songs has dwindled causing this staticness of sound that’s not as gripping anything else he’s done. If Smith keeps putting out albums like this, I’ll keep taking him to task for it. Yet even though I don’t like these albums, I’d love to know how they came about. I’d still love to be a part of a book about Smith because good or bad, it’s all completely fascinating.

What’s more ironic is that on the Jandek list, almost no one has talked about these albums. On the two tribute albums that are out, no one covers anything after The Beginning (#28), though I think someone did a piece from one of the acapella albums. I think because they know they are bad, but don’t want to offend Smith in case he’s reading their posts. I wrote to Smith with my last order & mentioned the Organissimo board & this thread. I thought he might like to read the reviews. If he’s reading this, Sterling, these last 9 albums are horrible. I saw on the board that someone wrote you something about one of these albums & your response was something like, is it that unlistenable? Yes,they are! I’d rather you not put anything out than put out albums like this. I don’t want to stop buying your albums, but these albums leave me no alternative. I think that’s why people went crazy when they heard the live show. I’ll bet it’s better than these albums so I’m looking forward to hearing it.

[John B]

Dave,

I just wanted to say that I've really been enjoying reading your reviews. 40 reviews of any artist's work would be impressive, but 40 reviews of Jandek albums is especially so. That is some dedication!

I'm hoping to send a check to Corwood on Friday. I still need to choose my 20, as I'm most likely not going the strict chronological route.

[dave9199]

I've been curious as to what people thought of these reviews. I've never done this before & I like the way they've grown. God, these last 9 were hard!

I forgot to say thanks JohnB. That should've been my first sentence here.

Edited April 26, 2005 by dave9199

[Guest Chaney]

Wonderful stuff, Dave.

It would be nice if this thread (and board) weren't so hidden as your reviews are a terrific resource for ayone wanting to get to know Mr. Smith. Might be kinda cool if you were to offer the batch to the folks on the (Yahoo) Jandek List.

ON THE EDIT: It might be cute to print this thread and mail to to Sterl.

Edited April 26, 2005 by Chaney

[dave9199]

I might print it for myself. Maybe I can be a record reviewer and this'll be my portfolio. It might be cool if a couple of people started to do the same thing here with jazz artists. Have 2 or 3 reviewers and their contrasts about the same album.

[dave9199]

The ranking for the 8th set of 5:

KEEPERS

none

PERSONAL OPINION

none

FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY

1. The End Of It All

2. Shadow Of Leaves

3. When I Took That Train

4. A Kingdom He Likes

5. The Door Behind

No surprises here, but it was hard trying to rank them. End Of It All is #1 because I liked the guitar effect and it's Sonic Youth sound, Shadow Of Leaves is #2 because of the acoustic bass,

Train is #3 because I didn't have the words to read and he sounded more into it, Kingdom is #4 because some of the lyrics are interesting (though #3 & 4 might be interchangable) & Door Behind is last because of it's horrible lyrics. It's one of the worst. There's not much difference between these 5 and I take no responsibility for your choice(s).

[dave9199]

I wonder what's going to happen to Corwood Industries when Sterling Smith dies. Is someone going to continue the business?

[Guest Chaney]

You'd have to imagine that he has a will and that it specifies what his executor is to do with his music / business after he dies.

Could be very interesting.

[John B]

I wonder what's going to happen to Corwood Industries when Sterling Smith dies. Is someone going to continue the business?

Jandek, Jr.

[dave9199]

Here's my ranking for the 6th set of 5:

KEEPERS

1. New Town

2. The Beginning

PERSONAL OPINION

3. This Narrow Road

4. Put My Dream On This Planet

5. "I Woke Up"

FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY

none

I had to change this from playing it safe to what I actually feel. I had the acapella albums in completists, but they are such strong albums, I now recommend them to anyone willing to listen. The Beginning is like Lost Cause (#21); great songs and an experimental piece at the end which would be filed under completists only.  "I Woke Up" is good, but with it's focus on beatish poetry, there's a lack of melody there. The hardest ones are the acapella albums. I put Planet under Road because it's got only 3 pieces on it whereas Road has 11. They both have a long, intense & unapologetic first track so it's your call as which one to choose, if you needed to. Road gets my vote simply for One Last Chance, but Planet is more focused on this type of theme throughtout if that's what you like more. But the overall albums to go with here are both New Town & The Beginning. If you wanted to pick one out of the third set of 10, well, you'd have 4 albums to choose from: Graven Image, Lost Cause, New Town & The Beginning. They are all great, but one doesn't easily stand above the other.

I've got to redo this one, it's been bugging me. The song New Town is great, but the rest of the album isn't as good except for the last song. I was swayed by its dulset tones. I also wouldn't add the album in the best of this set of 10, so just Graven Image, Lost Cause & The Beginning. I like the acapella albums more on the whole than the album New Town so here's a revised ranking:

KEEPERS

1. The Beginning

PERSONAL OPINION

2. This Narrow Road

3. Put My Dream On This Planet

4. New Town

5. "I Woke Up"

FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY

none

Don't be surprised if I redo more or all of these.

Edited May 14, 2005 by dave9199

[Bright Moments]

dave- have you tried arthur russell yet? a jandek clone IMHO.

[dave9199]

Can't say that I have Bright. What's he like?