Jandek

[jon abbey]

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

arthur russell is great, and not even close to a "jandek clone", I really question the listening ability of anyone who that would even occur to.

[dave9199]

Did you catch the winky-face jon?

[jon abbey]

yeah, still a silly post, sorry.

I bought Glasgow Sunday today, haven't heard it yet.

[John B]

http://www.lastplanetojakarta.com/forums/v...opic.php?t=1821

"Right, so, I'm just back from seeing JANDEK, and I can safely say that it was the most powerfully moving concert I've ever been to. Jandek on BABY GRAND PIANO, backed by a bassist and drummer. This was real music tonight. Not how Jandek is usually real music. It was cohesive and actually seemed to be a sort of concept album, maybe? All the songs revolved around the line "What do I have?", and while they were mostly quite similar sonically, they followed different trains of thought. Some had the man, who started out singing in a whisper, ended up singing properly-ish by the end of the set, answering the question with "nothing" in a voice so desolate, you could believe that it was a man resigned to death, maybe even ready for death. Later, he answered the same question at the end of the set with "possibilities", sounding as if he was ready to go out into the world. By the 90 minute set's end, about half of the audience was actually in tears, their minds having been blown by what they were whitnessing. It was pretty unfair to put him on first, because most everyone in the room felt unable to hear any more from anyone by the sets end, and a fair amount, myself included, just left. This was a musically in-tune, reading from sheet music, soul on the mic in a discernable way, Jandek. This is perhaps the most absolutely massive musical step he has ever, ever taken, and I'm beyond excited for the film/ cd to come out. Yes, it was taped and recorded. As he walked off stage, staring ahead of him, not acknowleging the audience, he walked past me. As he gathered a standing ovation from the entire room, I got about two feet from him and just said "Thank you so much" That was all there was. This night will never, ever leave me."

[John B]

too good not to quote:

"Hi everyone. I was also at the the Jandek gig last night. What follows are my comments, just additional thoughts, further to James's excellent review.

We were told beforehand to expect something 'pretty meditative', which is defintiely what we got. When Jandek walked on (looking tall, lean and cool in blue), there were a few headscratching, where's-the-guitar? looks from the audience, but by the end of the first (instrumental) song, it was obvious we were watching something unique even by Jandek's weird standards.

The music was melodic, the piano playing very delicate, very gentle. The band (two young guys, one on double bass, one on percussion) were excellent. The percussion especially was indispensable- he actually bowed the rims of the snare and floor tom to create a whining feedback type noise which perfectly offset the surprising politeness of the rest of the music. He rarely sat still throughout, introducing all sorts of other percussion instruments. It would have been a very different show had that guy not played such a blinder.

The first real spine-tingling moment came when Jandek started to sing. The voice is incredible, and make no mistake, he was actually singing.

The words were in places heart-stoppingly evocative, and reminded me at times of Wallace Stevens, or John Berryman- little fragments of meaning, tiny glimpses of realisation. I wish I'd brought a notebook to jot some of them down, but I suppose the full effect is lost without that voice. Particularly memorable was one song (he played seven or eight separate songs) which ended 'These urges/So basic/I will never/Forget this'. The last song had the cracking lines 'Whither this music?/Yonder...' Other snatches of lyric included '... I crashed/And burned', and even one reference to his 'video'- I think I'm right about that last bit.

Overall, the sound at times reminded me of Lambchop at their most super-quiet, but even in writing that comparison down it strikes me as being reductive. And definitely do not worry about this show being recorded- you will be grateful when you see it. It will not capture the atmosphere in the small, hot room- the tension was incredible at parts- but the music that was recorded there was fragile and coherent, a landmark moment.

The ovation at the end saw genuine warmth and appreciation tumbling towards him, and as he left the stage last, he seemed to be walking slowly, almost wanting to smile, almost wanting to stay, but aware that anything more would hazard the perfection of what he had just done."

[dave9199]

The piano Piece called The Cell sounds like it is fantastic. I haven't been able to access this site from my home computer for a few days. It always locks up.

[John B]

I finally watched Jandek on Corwood last night. I definitely have mixed feelings about it. I enjoyed watching it, to a degree, but couldn't help feeling that there was way too much padding, too many "Jandek is Psychotic" comments and images and too many unnecessary comments from "talking heads." I know there isn't a lot to work with, but the film seems fairly pointless to me.

The bonus feature where they comment on the album covers was a hoot.

"ok, his shirt is off here...he looks upset, he still has flip-flops on..."

If all goesaccording to plan I'll finally be ordering a box of 20 this weekend. Now to decide if I want to grab the first 20 or pick and choose. The new live one is tempting, although I've already heard the set.

Edited June 9, 2005 by John B

[Guest Chaney]

I felt the same as you John after the first time I viewed Jandek on Corwood. I let a bit of time pass, watched it again, and found that I liked it quite a bit more. (My comments of the documentary are upstairs, somewhere.)

That being said, the documentary really seems to be unnecessary... except for the interview.

[dave9199]

Chaney, did you get a new cd player yet?

[Guest Chaney]

Chaney, did you get a new cd player yet?

←

Yep.

Meridian 588

Edited June 10, 2005 by Chaney

[John B]

After months of talk I finally mailed my check to Corwood this morning.

Nice cd player Chaney!

Edited June 10, 2005 by John B

[dave9199]

What cha get? What cha get?

[John B]

What cha get? What cha get?

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Mostly the first 20, but I added 2 laters ones in place of two. Glasgow Sunday was one of the recent ones, I'm forgetting the other right now.

Comments to follow...(finally)

[Guest]

Greetings from France ;-)

http://www.jamrek.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=655&start=0

and :

http://jandek.free.fr

[dave9199]

Greetings France, and a voulos-vous to you.

[Guest]

Greetings France, and a voulos-vous to you.

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Thanx !

(And sorry, my english is very bad...)

[dave9199]

That's o.k. My French is worse.

[dave9199]

Hello to all the people from the Jandek list. Hope you enjoy it. I plan to continue. Enjoy the site too!

[Guest Chaney]

WELCOME!

[Guest]

WELCOME!

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THANX ! CHAMPAGNE !!!!

http://rateyourmusic.com/board_message/mes...d_board_id_is_1

(Don't laugh, please )

and :

http://www.jandek.regin.cz

(For laugh)

Edited June 17, 2005 by phasme

[dave9199]

Chaney, when might you get back to reviewing?

[John B]

dave,

how long did it take Corwood to cash your check and get your discs out to you?

[dave9199]

I think you can look at the dates of my early posts. I think it was 2 weeks for the check, 3 weeks to get the cds. It feels longer doesn't it.

[Guest Chaney]

The next album, #17, is called On The Way. The cover is another shot of his drum set, but looks like the flash didn't go off so it's almost all black except for some silhouette near a window. One comment from the Jandek site said it's the kind of picture you get your money back for at a one hour photo. The first 2 songs have sound balance that is very uneven; lead guitar & vocal way in front; guitar & drums way in back. I can't tell if it's Jandek playing everything though. Hard to get a good level for listening. Message To The Clerk makes a reappearance here in a blues with electric guitar, harmonica & Jandek on vocals & drums. I like the versions on The Rocks Crumble (#8) better. Give It The Name has some really good blues guitar & vocals from Jandek, but the guitar covers over everything. There's also bass on this song. Ambient Instrument is a minor key surfy instrumental. Good riff. Sadie uses another blues riff like Ray Charles's Hallejuiah (sp?) I Love Her So. The next song could've been the highlight of the album, but again, sound balance interferes. I Sit Alone & Think A Lot About You has Eddie on vocal & acoustic with Jandek quietly thumping the drums in the background. The level is too quiet though it is brought up throughout the song. It sounds like Eddie's not close enough to the mike & you end up missing the heartfelt lyrics & delivery. Very unfortunate. The guitar chords of I'm Ready remind me of Jethro Tull's song Look Into The Sun from Stand Up (not a huge Tull fan, but it's a great album). Eddie on acoustic & impassioned singing from Jandek, possibly my favorite from the album.

This album is not as inspired as You Walk Alone, not by a long shot. The sound balance problems only hinder that along with the songs not being as good either. Is it horrible? By no means, but it's the lackluster-album-coming-after-a-great-album syndrome (see Chair Beside A Window to Living In A Moon So Blue). This comes after 2 great albums. Only o.k. So far I think Eddie is Jandek's best musical partner. He adds melody & leaves room for anything Jandek cares to do. Whereas Jandek may sound like he's not listening to others, but when he plays drums, you can hear he does listen. He just listens differently.

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Here's my ranking of the fourth set of 5:

KEEPERS

1. You Walk Alone

PERSONAL OPINION

2. Somebody In The Snow

3. One Foot In The North

FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY

4. On The Way

5. The Living End

You Walk Alone is every bit as good as Blue Corpse, but in a more enjoyable fashion. Hearing that album first could be misleading, but so could Blue Corpse, though not as much. I thought about putting Snow in the keepers, but it comes no way near the quality of Alone. Snow would be if you've heard all of my keepers and wanted more. Quite a bit of blues playing in these five which gave them more variety all around. If you wanted just one cd out of the second 10, you have to get two: Blue Corpse & You Walk Alone.

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On The Way

I think you and I really differ on this one and on the prior album, You Walk Alone.

As quite some time had passed since my doing this thang, I re-listened to You Walk Alone before taking notes on On The Way. I would consider You Walk Alone FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY and On The Way one of the KEEPERS. (Listened again to Ready For The House a couple of days ago: MAN, that's a terrific album!)

FIRST: Seth's site is wonderful but WHEN are the lamely transcribed lyrics going to be cleaned up? I mean, I'm sitting in the sweet spot, listening and reading along, and I come upon this: "???" on the lyric sheet. Seeing the question marks coming, I concentrate, hoping to make out a word or two. Know what? It ain't really that hard. In most instances, the words are right there. Oy!

Anyway... I don't quite have the problem that you do with the sound of this album. It's not great but, to me, not objectionable.

Album features a lot of tasty guitar and harmonica work, some nice (and welcome!) bass, and some not-too-objectionable percussion. That being said, what in gOd's name is the story with the drumming on I'll Sit Alone and Think a Lot About You? Rather than one man rather lamely singing and one playing an acoustic guitar, we instead get that and what sounds like Jandek's infant nephew pounding on a overturned pail. C'mon! If you're going for some sensitive guy routine, lose the (being kind) pedestrian drumming. Oy! (again)

Anyway (again), I like this one a lot... with its varied sound and instrumentation. Lyrically difficult, which is ok. (On The Only Way You Can Go, Jandek, VERY closely mic'ed, singing in a bedroom type of voice, moaning gently and speaking intimacies in my ear. A bit icky, that.)

A good one. Buy with confidence.

Edited June 19, 2005 by Chaney

[dave9199]

I've changed my opinion (thought not in any post) about On The Way. I would put it in the keepers now and I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on You Walk Alone. What is it about it that would have you not recommend it to people?