Jandek

[dave9199]

Got my copies of Glasgow Sunday & Raining Down Diamonds today. Glasgow is great! Diamonds is...Jandek, so more listening is required before a review.

[John B]

I listened to The Rocks Crumble at work today. On first pass I'm leaning more toward Chaney's point of view than Dave's. This one didn't really click with me. It seemed pretty unfocused and shambolic, even by Jandek's standards. Not horrible, by any means, but, still, nothing special, either.

I'm going to keep this one around for tomorrow, and give it another spin.

[John B]

Diamonds is...Jandek, so more listening is required before a review.

←

?

Anything more detailed for us yet?

[dave9199]

No review of Diamonds yet. Glasgow has made re-evaluate the 9 albums of I Threw You Away-When I Took That Train. I'm digging through all of it again given that Glasgow has made me change my mind about this period which I always stated I liked the least. A fans gotta do what a fans gotta do.

As for Crumble, I always felt, was my least favorite keeper (as in my original rankings). It's the 3 versions of Jewel that do it. I liked the 2 of Clerk because they're different from each other. The rest is good, but doesn't quite standout next to other albums.

Edited August 18, 2005 by dave9199

[Guest]

Six and Six is my choice for today's Jandekian whimsy.

I've read a good deal of commentary questioning if Jandek is releasing his albums chronologically, as they are recorded, or if many of them were recorded around the same time and are being released at later dates.  Listening to Six and Six, which was released three years after Ready for the House, puts me firmly into the first camp.  This disc is similar to RFTH, but is also deeper, darker, and more confident than the first album.  It is also not as interesting, as the album does come across as somewhat formulaic.  Jandek has found a "formula" and doesn't stray too far afield.  However, anyone who labels Six and Six as "more of the same" from Ready for the House, is only listening at the most superficial level and is not making any attempt to hear these albums for what they are, rather than focusing on their "quirkiness" or "mythology."

Just like Ready for the House, this is a disc you really should pick up if you are interested in listening to Jandek.  Perhaps not as much fun as some other discs, I'd call this one formative and an essential stepping stone in Jandek's development.

It also has the benefit of the quintessential Jandek album cover.

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Totalement d'accord ! Agreed with you !!!

Another thing : I have my ticket for the London concert (October 18).

[dave9199]

Congrats phasme, you lucky bastard!

[Guest Chaney]

Alright. #20: One Foot In The North, starts with a song called Yellow Pages and has Jandek solo on electric tuned to an E chord. The lyrics have a small melody that catches your ear. The same follows with the next 2 songs except it's the guitar that has a small melody running throughout. Think About Your Lady changes tuning to a more Jandek style. Real Fine Movement has drums, but they are way in the background. Jandek plays both drums & guitar. It sounds like when he overdubs, the track already recorded lose a chunk of volume. Next is a change of lineup on Alehouse Blues: two guitarists playing the blues & Jandek on drums & vocals. I've never thought of it until now, but I guess it could be just one guitarist overdubbing the leads. Upon The Grandeur is (again) the same chords from I Sit Alone... off of On The Way (#17) & Pastimes off of Somebody In The Snow (#19). The main difference is there is a minor chord bit thrown in which is a nice touch. Jandek singing quietly on this (another nice touch) with the lead guitar too loud for the feel of this song. On the last 4 songs of the album, Jandek's back on electric guitar but someone else (the guitarist I'm assuming; Eddie I assume even further) is on drums as there is a constant steady rhythm going throughout the songs. The lead guitar playing is totally disconnected from the vocals and the drums, but they all sound like Jandek's style of playing. Another tape filler rounds out the album; Honey, which appeared on Follow Your Footsteps (#13). This is just a jam with the lyric from the song.

Again, nothing songwise really sticks out (except for Upon The Grandeur & Alehouse Blues), though I think it's more inspired than The Living End which I said the same thing about. But there's something I like about this album. It's on the quieter side musically & lyrically. Whoever plays drums on the last few songs adds to that by keeping a steady beat mostly on the toms. Enjoyable.

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On Foot in the North

So we have the first four tracks with Jandek on vocals, electric guitar and, here and there, tapping foot. Those first four track are gems, with Jandek supplying what may be his best guitar work over these past twenty disks. Jandek’s vocals appear hard left – as if he’s sitting in the extreme corner of the room (in a straight jacket?) – oh-so-sinister sounding guitar hard right. Wonderful stuff. And the lyrics? Classic Jandek nuttiness.

Angel:

With your reckless wisdom

And your arms baking

With your eyes brittle (Seth: it’s “aglitter”)

And your heart of stone

Well I think I see a weasel

Come climbin’ off the floor

Since they say my baby left the door

With your key all broken

And your face a-flutter

With your spare ribs groaning

And you’re panic-stricken

What’s that you’re wearing?

I feel you in my soul

Since the day I turned around

Day I turned around [2x]

With your fingers missing

And your paper dreams

END

Yep.

Other tracks? A mixture of Jandek with friend(s) and Jandek accompanying himself on electric guitar and drums. (Dave: Not Jandek on drums? This drummer keeps a pretty steady beat -- unlike Jandek's known playing of this instrument, some of which is very apparent on this disk -- but I'm not convinced that it's not our man. You may be right, though.) The Jandek and friend(s) material is missable (read: crap); whoever that more professional sounding guitarist is (Eddie?), he’s much less interesting to listen to than Jandek. Sure, he’s a more proficient player but he plays with little or no personality (read: zzzzzzzzz...). The material with Jandek drumming is so-so as once his drums enter, his guitar work suffers as it seems that Sterl feels it’s time to coast.

First four tracks:

Remainder:

[dave9199]

Oh man, Chaney. I can't wait to see how you review The Electric End from the next one, Lost Cause.

[Guest]

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jandek

;- )

[John B]

from Pitchfork:

Live: Jandek

The Scottish Rite Theatre, Austin, TX: 28 August 2005

Story by Zach Vowell

For the past month or so, ever since tickets for this show went on sale, I've been having dreams about Jandek. Usually they would take the form of those surreal scenarios during a nap, wherein Jandek would play a straight-ahead rock show, or maybe deliver the genuinely harrowing set he seems capable of, or even play solo acoustic guitar as accompaniment to a Q&A session where he reveals all the details of his mysterious past (musical and otherwise) while seated at the edge of the stage. After one particularly potent reverie, I woke up with the distinct sensation of a sticky, orange soda-like substance speckled permanently on my two front teeth. Much of that dream escapes me now, but one thing's for sure: Jandek painted my teeth.

Such is the power of Jandek the myth, which incorporates so much extra-musical phenomena like allusive lyrics, the Corwood Industries catalogs, handwritten notes, one cryptic interview with Texas Monthly beside over 25 years of complete public silence, third-party documentation/speculation, and unnamed collaborators none of whom ever coalesces into a clearly defined identity. The mystery is tangible, and it won't leave you be. So, what would happen when Jandek is stripped to the music alone? To the Representative from Corwood's credit, the performance embraced this question and showcased nearly unqualified music. No words were spoken (save a brief introduction by miracle promoter Barry Esson) as the band stepped on the stage: electric bassist Juan Garcia, and drummers Nick Hennies and Chris Cogburn, all fellow Texan musicians. A few seconds passed, and Jandek entered stage right sporting his now familiar 21st century wardrobe of a black full-brimmed hat, a dark purple collar shirt, and black slacks, all clinging loosely about the aging artist's frame.

He then deliberately strapped his black electric guitar over his shoulder beside a stand which held Lord knows what kind of sheet music. The once-chattering crowd (practically silent once the house lights went down) sat perfectly content as Jandek picked the first few out-of-tune notes. The two drummers eased into their fractured and assured percussion, sparking the open chord strumming of Jandek into action, with Garcia adding only spare and widely spaced punctuation with gong-like resonance. Jandek's hypnotic (some might say plodding) guitar work was made more so as I watched his right hand, hinged at his wrist, move the pick methodically over the strings, up and down, producing a constant stream of slightly distinct open chords thrown off-kilter by the one or two stray notes he would play with his left hand. When he stepped to the microphone in an antagonistic pose and began singing, with lyrics like, "I'm an ugly man, not beautiful like you," I realized what I had been wanting to see in action the most.

Then I was distracted by something flitting along the tall theatre walls in my left periphery. A stage light positioned behind Jandek magnified the shadow of his slight figure along the length of the 20-foot plus wall. With that shade swaying above, the band played on. Hennies made robotic stabs at his drum kit, while Cogburn focused more on cymbals and other percussion with his grab bag of sticks, beads, mallets, and brushes. Several times, Cogburn pulled out a disembodied cymbal and scraped its edge along the snare drum's skin, making an almost violin-like screech. During one such scraping, Jandek groaned above his guitar, "The crank of gears in motion," and the screech released into a forward charging two-drummer attack. Make no mistake, there was no discernible rhythm most of the time, but dammit if Hennies and Cogburn didn't take you somewhere with their broken beat science.

That the drummers' obvious technical and improvisational mastery contrasted with Jandek's patented primitive guitar was one of most interesting parts of the night. And not just on paper. The contrast worked well on stage too, providing a busy racket for Jandek to spar with ever so subtly. The seventh song (of twelve) provided a quicker tempo. There were about three of these faster jams, and they were the highlight of the set. This particular one built up slowly, but when it kicked in Garcia began playing many more notes in a rapid neck-scaling manner, and at one point it appeared that he and Jandek were riffing off of each other. Jandek's guitar charged like a chugging train, occasionally kicking loose screws off the track, sometimes completely derailing, but usually jumping back on course. Hennies and Cogburn frenetically assaulted their kits, using more snare than usual, causing Jandek to sway his head and body back and forth.

Later on, Jandek played his version of a serenade. Long, pleading vocal notes moved in and out of trudging guitar sounds, his pick sometimes moving softly in a more horizontal direction. In an earlier song he menacingly confessed, "I'll pound the nail on your head/ Run away, run away, and don't like me." He tuned a guitar string to the same twisted logic of the musical notation on the stand. Not all of the slower songs came off with mythic success, meandering a bit and anchored by nothing. Sure, that's not a necessarily bad thing, but when it stretched out in seven minute intervals for an hour and a half, it tended to get a little monotonous. I craved more Jandek/Garcia interaction, but it came too infrequently. Despite these personal quibbles, this show was still a sight to see. Towards the end of the set, Jandek sang, "Alright then, I'll see you in awhile," and I genuinely hoped he would return.

This performance (professionally videotaped in its entirety) rang the death knell to the notion that Jandek is nothing but a pretentious post-modern hoax. After the final song, Jandek silently unstrapped his guitar, put it away in its case, and exited as wordlessly as he had entered, all to enthusiastic applause. The music had stood on its own, effortlessly, as if he had been perfecting his wholly original, never static, but always recognizable style for the past 27 years. He summed it up in one of the later songs' lyrics: "I don't care about philosophy, even if it's right." He seemed so at ease in his dark, unsettling vision that he did something three times that I thought was damn near impossible. Jandek smiled.

[John B]

Nick Hennies (one of the drummers mentioned above) posts over at IHM.

Meanwhile, more info from Seth Tissue's site:

What happened: Austin

The Austin show went off without a hitch. It lasted about 90 minutes without a break. There were no opening bands.

The representative from Corwood Industries sang and played electric guitar. A light from the side of the stage cast his twenty foot tall shadow on the side wall, or rather on the objects covering the wall, objects that are never far from Jandek: curtains.

He was backed by three young local musicians, Nick Hennies (drumkit), Chris Cogburn (drumkit), and Juan Garcia (electric bass). Hennies lives in Austin and is a member of the Weird Weeds and the Austin New Music Co-op. Cogburn is a Austin-based improvisor who has played with Dave Dove, Joe McPhee, and others. Garcia lives in Houston and plays improvised music.

The show was videotaped by two camera operators. One camera was on a tripod in the balcony; the other was on the shoulder of a roving operator who sometimes got quite close to the singer. It seemed to be a “shoot”, not just bare documentation.

The crowd was silent after the house lights dimmed, and kept silent as the band took the stage, but there was enthusiastic applause after each song, and a standing ovation at the end, although we didn’t all stand up until after Jandek himself had already left the room.

Musically, the biggest development since previous shows was in the guitar. Jandek’s guitar playing was front and center at this show; he brought his live guitar style to a whole new level. He was playing more confidently, more variedly, and with a lot less reverb and effects, so everything he played stood out clearly. He was playing across a wider pitch range and playing a lot more “lead” guitar, not as much “rhythm” — to the extent that you can apply those terms to his unconventional playing.

The backing band did a fine job. The two drumkits often blended together in my ears, but when the players were distinguishable, it was because Cogburn used a lot more unconventional playing techniques (rubbing cymbals with his drumsticks, and so forth) and unusual sounds drawn from the post-jazz improvised-music tradition, while Hennies kept it simpler and blended into the group sound more. While Garcia’s playing was never busy, he’s a more mercurial player than the serene and imperturbable Richard Youngs we heard on the U.K. shows and recordings. Garcia seemed to attract Jandek’s attention and the two of them got lot of good back-and-forth going between bass and guitar, particularly during some instrumental sections in the three or so louder, more aggressive songs, when the whole band was digging in, rocking out, kicking up a fierce, choppy racket, irregular but propulsive, The Rocks Crumble/Interstellar Discussion style.

Jandek rarely played guitar and sang at the same time; his right hand would stop, or slow down and strum just lightly, leaving a lull to dramatically frame each line or two of lyrics. (You can hear this on the earlier live recordings as well.) He’d lean in close to the mike to deliver each line, always forming the words carefully so they were clearly audible. Apparently he didn’t want us to miss a word, having written them especially for the occasion.

Yes, all the lyrics were new. He beat himself up pretty hard: he’s “an ugly man, not beautiful,” in fact “the sorriest human being ever,” his body is “decrepit,” his soul “anguished,” his mind “forever forgetting.” He’s “a failure,” “stricken, forsaken,” “six feet under.” The best he can say is “It gives me pleasure to be in pain” — every cloud has a silver lining? He claims in the first song that “I don’t care about girls/ I don’t care about boys,” but he’s just trying to convince himself; the “you” in many songs is a woman, although others might be addressed to his god instead, as when he’s “on my knees begging to you... I see you in all the glory you are.”

The songs were abstract, interior or interpersonal, occasionally metaphysical, with few concrete images or objects. At the Gateshead show there were barstools, worms, guns, neckties, telephones, tattoos, feet, smoke, and snowmen; in Austin there was only a pillow, a few empty chairs, and the police.

All the lyrics I jotted down are at http://mylist.net/archives/jandek/2005-August/001737.html.

Here are some reviews of the show that have appeared online:

Joe Gross: http://www.austin360.com/xl/content/arts/x...s_09-01-05.html (be sure to also follow the “See more Jandek photos” link)

Secret Comics: http://secretcomics.typepad.com/secret_com...eet_under_.html

Hayden: http://fater.blogspot.com/2005/08/jandek-a...-austin_29.html

Brad Shoup: http://empireprimitive.blogspot.com/2005/0...-august-28.html

Zach Vowell: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/features/live/j/jandek-05/

Edited September 6, 2005 by John B

[dave9199]

Have you been listening to anymore albums, JohnB?

[John B]

Have you been listening to anymore albums, JohnB?

←

No, not since the 18th. I haven't been in the mood for Jandek. The weather has been too nice, perhaps.

[dave9199]

Have you been listening to anymore albums, JohnB?

←

No, not since the 18th. I haven't been in the mood for Jandek. The weather has been too nice, perhaps.

←

[dave9199]

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

KEEPERS

1. Graven Image

2. Lost Cause

PERSONAL OPINION

3. Glad To Get Away

4. Twelfth Apostle

FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY

5. "White Box Requiem"

The first half of Lost Cause is definately a keeper, but the whole second half is the song The Electric End, which as a song would go under FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY. It would seem a tough call but the songs are that good so just a warning on that one. Twelfth Apostle seems it could go either OPINION or COMPLETISTS, but since I like the overall sound, I put it in OPINION. With his albums being all solo, except for Lost Cause, there isn't as much variance anymore between them which is unfortunate. Even so, Graven Image is the one to get from this 5 unless you like 19 and a half minute noisefests, then go with Lost Cause also.

←

I had to absorb the 2nd set of 20 before I re-reviewed my rankings from a more personal viewpoint. So here it is:

KEEPERS

1. Graven Image

2. Lost Cause

3. Glad To Get Away

4. Twelfth Apostle

5. "White Box Requiem"

PERSONAL OPINION

none

FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY

none

Graven Image & Lost Cause are must-haves. Glad To Get Away is good, Twelfth Apostle is alright and "White Box Requiem" is the hardest to enjoy on first few listens, but I still think it's good. He really gets into his single string songs and about half of the album is instrumental. For a guy who does the same thing though a whole album or 6, he is more challenging when he introduces another idea than any other artist or band I have ever listened to.

[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.

←

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.

←

Another revision. The acapella albums are harder to go back and listen to. You have to want to hear them, but you may be surprised that you get pulled in by them quickly. The Beginning was, until Glasgow Sunday, his last great album.

KEEPERS

1. The Beginning

2. This Narrow Road

3. New Town

4. Put My Dream On This Planet

PERSONAL OPINION

5. "I Woke Up"

FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY

none

"I Woke Up" suffers, if anything unfortunately, from the other person on it. While it's always great to hear Smith with another person, this one is shaky, but not without it's interesting parts. I switched New Town & Planet because of one of the long pieces on Planet, It's Your House, repeats the phrase, "I'm ready for the house" too often within 22 minutes. It's interesting since that's the title of his first album, but doesn't hold that piece up enough.

[dave9199]

Since the 3 acapella album are split between two ranks of 5; I thought I'd list them if anyone wanted to get just one. Here's my ranking for them:

1. This Narrow Road

2. Put My Dream On This Planet

3. Worthless Recluse

You have to hand it to Smith, he follows his muse wherever it takes him. The long personal pieces are the bravest thing he's ever done. Not the best, but the bravest.

←

1. This Narrow Road

2. Worthless Recluse

3. Put My Dream On This Planet

Again, because of the piece It's Your House, I moved Planet to 3rd and Recluse to 2nd since it has more pieces on it. That's not to say the other 2 pieces on Planet don't hold up, they do so don't shy away from it.

[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.

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This is pretty interesting. When I heard the live album, Glasgow Sunday, which sounds like all of his most recent work & I really liked it, I felt I finally "got" the previous 9 albums and threw myself back at them to listen more intently to them. Still difficult and completely unmelodic; yes, yes I quite agree, but now I like listening to them. I don't get angry at them not being like previous albums. I wanted to accept these albums as they are. And while there is little to no change between them musically in playing style, it's the lyrics that make them different from some others in this bunch of 9.

KEEPERS

1. Worthless Recluse

2. I Threw You Away

PERSONAL OPINION/FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY

3. The Humility Of Pain

4. The Place

5. The Gone Wait

Since 2-5 are so similar, it's hard to seperate them. I listed them in order of release as I like them pretty equally and have no opinion about them that would differenciate them. And since they are so difficult, regardless of if I like them or not, I couldn't put 3-5 in just OPINION or just COMPLETISTS so I combined them. The one album I would recommend of this style is the first one and the only one that I would call a KEEPER, I Threw You Away. Why? Because of the 1st song, Blues Turned Black. I've always liked this song and it's really sums up the whole feeling across these particular albums, though if you haven't heard any of his more recent albums, go with the acapella ones first. From this list it's Worthless Recluse (the only one in this set of 5, but still good). If you like those, THEN try the albums that follow. The Gone Wait is interesting since it features acoustic bass rather than guitar. I would recommend The Gone Wait over Shadow Of Leaves (in the next set of 5) for a bass album because it has more ambiance & room sound whereas Shadow doesn't.

Edited September 29, 2005 by dave9199

[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).

←

Whoa, man, ease up. Intense emotion dragged out of me by a guy I don't even know.

KEEPERS

none

PERSONAL OPINION/FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY

1. When I Took That Train

2. A Kingdom He Likes

3. Shadow Of Leaves

FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY

4. The End Of It All

5. The Door Behind

The only revised list without a keeper even though I like most of them. Smith's worst albums are also here. The End Of It All & The Door Behind in particular. Though I still like the guitar sound on End Of It All, the lyrics about his flowering relationship are too much. They aren't very good and have no imagery in them. They're very literal which is what hurts them. The Door Behind I would say is his worst album because of the lyrics to 2 songs: Gate Strikes One & Every Sentence. See my review on page 22 or 23. With the exception of Door Behind, the list order has changed completely. When I Took That Train has some references to his relationship, as does A Kingdom He Likes, but it's not needy & pleading & desperate as End Of It All & Door Behind. It sounds like the relationship is going well as Smith talks about other things also. Train is the best as his vocals are quite inspired during the album. There's excitement there amongst the drone that shakes him awake. It's nice to hear. Kingdom is in the same vein though not as animated. Shadow features bass instead of guitar for another change of pace, but this album starts the drier sound albums of this set. His bass playing is the same as his guitar playing, but it's interesting to hear it on a different instrument. I still wouldn't put any of these albums outside of COMPLETISTS so another first is again combining OPINION & COMPLETISTS and having a seperate COMPLETISTS catergory, only because of the lyrical content which drags those 2 albums down below all others. What's harder about these albums compared to the last 5 is the loss of room reverb. These songs don't sound good dry, you need the room to add to the emotion and atmosphere to complete the picture. Maybe he was feeling better and it's reflected by not having it on there, or maybe he just wanted the change. I'd recommend Train out of this set for anyone interested in these albums.

Edited September 29, 2005 by dave9199

[John B]

more Jandek live 2005 reviews. This one (Friday night) is in line with the Glagow 2004 review.

"Greetings from the Instal festival! Here's some info on Jandek's set last

night.

Same lineup as before. Jandek was again playing the fretless semi-acoustic

he used in Brooklyn. Richard played a McCartney-style violin bass (I don't

think he played this in Gateshead).

Initially the lyrics sounded familiar to me, and I assumed that they were

some of those he had used for one of the US shows, but having checked the

transcriptions this doesn't seem to be the case. The first song made several

references to "walking blues" (an obvious Robert Johnson reference) and

walking around a "rainy city". Another song mentioned receiving a phone

message from a woman (presumably) and listening to it "about 10 times", and

calling her five times the following day and getting no reply. Elsewhere he

sang of wanting to live in the "rainy city" with her. This was preceded with

"I appreciate the work you do for me, it makes me want to live" which I

thought might be a tribute to Barry Esson until the lyrics took a more

romantic slant... And one song began with him wishing to be made "a moron"

so he could ignore his "wasted life".

The best piece of the night in my opinion was a particularly hard rockin'

number with a refrain that sounded like "Oh, those kokomos"... Alex played a

driving, almost straight 4/4 beat on this one, but would disrupt the pattern

every few bars, while Richard repeatedly played a glissando from one note

for much of it.

The lyrics were pretty sparse throughout. Alex dominated the proceedings,

playing particularly hard. The interplay between him and Jandek was

particularly apparent, while Richard kind of underpinned the two of them.

The bass playing was also a bit more involved (but hardly busy) than last

year's Instal set and the Gateshead set. Personally I would have liked the

guitar to be a bit louder in the mix, but I suspect the dominance of the

drums at times was deliberate, as it's somewhat similar to the sound of the

early electric albums.

The set was about 75-80 minutes long. It was business as usual to some

extent, very similar to the previous Glasgow and Gateshead shows. Apparently

there will be two short sets on Sunday that will be "different" (it is

rumoured) and may sate our desire for surprises...

Also, Tokyo's Up-Tight were AMAZING last night... true disciples of Les

Rallizes Denudes and early Fushitsusha.

Another timely Jandek-related Trip or Squeek strip in The Wire this month

too - quite funny."

(taken from a link on Seth Tisue's site)

The next day, however...

Edited October 24, 2005 by John B

[John B]

Sunday's show is the one I want to hear:

"Some info on Jandek's Sunday set at Instal:

The set consisted of two pieces featuring different line-ups. The first

featured just Jandek on vocals and harmonica and Loren Connors on guitar. It

was a spoken piece with 3 distinct sections divided by harmonica solos. The

lyrics were very dreamlike, sort of a metaphorical fable with almost sci-fi

lyrics. |Jandek began singing towards the end. Some of the best lyrics he's

done, incredibly moving.

The second half of the set featured Jandek on DRUMS, Heather Leigh Murray on

lap steel and wordless vocals, and Alan Licht on guitar, doing a heavy

psychedelic piece that lasted about half an hour..."

"a few quick notes on jandeks 2nd set of gigs at instal this year... for a start he was the 4th act on. he played 2 short sets. the first lasted about 20 mins

approx and was a duo with loren mazzacane connors on guitar and jandek doing a spoken word piece over it. he was very calm and relaxed in his delivery and his

voice was very clear and warm. the first section started off with (and im probably mixing stuff up here) jandek describing his arrival at a convention or party where some lady tried to work her charms on him. she was getting nowhere with him but there were lots of other men there so it didnt matter... it then started getting very surreal with jandek recalling how he started to realise everyone was a prisoner in this place but nobody else realised. at the time i interpreted this section as some sort of political commentary but i have no idea really. loren mazzacane was playing very subtle textures on the guitar, very varied throughout but always very subtle and mostly very quiet though often quite distorted too. it was a match made in heaven! everything he played was just perfect and they each seemed to be in tune with eachother. after the first spoken section jandek produced a mouth organ and played that for a few minutes. it was very slow and calm and peaceful, and

loren started picking out a short melody. it was really amazing and really beautiful! the second spoken section was addressed directly to somebody and was

more personal. this second person had a heart attack and jandek carried this person to the car and drove them to the hospital. there was talk of holding

eachother and feeling like he could hold the person forever. i wish i could remember the lyrics better! this stuff was amazing!! there was then another

instrumental section similar to the first. the third spoken section covered similar territory to the second, though half way through jandek started singing

the words really gently and loren MC dropped away for a while. he was singing melodically although there was no real melody as such. loren came back in slowly and the lyrics wound up (i think) with a repeat of the lines about feeling like he could hold this person forever. there was another few minutes of mouth organ

and guitar and then it was over. it was one of the best things ive ever heard! loren looked like he really enjoyed it and was grinning away, though jandek just got on with getting ready for the second set which featured alan licht on guitar, heather leigh of charalambides/scorces/tarpus tula on pedal steel and jandek on drums. the kit consisted of three toms and two cymbals - two toms and a cymbal to jandeks left and the other cymbal and tom to his left, and he played them quite rythmically with mallets. this was a very full on set, heather was flailling away at the pedal steel and doing a lot of wailing, and alan licht was belting away too. they built up an unrelenting wall of noise that reminded my a lot of pink floyds "saucerful of secrets". it was a fun set, and was really loud and rocking, it went on a little longer than it really needed to but it made a nice follow up

to the first set which was the better of the two."

(both taken from links on Seth's site.)

Edited October 24, 2005 by John B

[dave9199]

October 26, 2005.

Happy 60th Birthday Sterling Smith!

[Guest Chaney]

KHARTOUM

Corwood 0781

[dave9199]

Believe it or not, there is another NEW album out; a spoken word one at that. Two new albums in a week, now that's a record for Corwood.

[dave9199]

Looks like myself & the Jandek list were duped. The spoken word album was a hoax.