Jandek - Blue Corpse - Review

Blue Corpse is perhaps Jandek’s most accessible folk album, but it’s still quite avant-garde and a lot darker than anything you would get from any other artist. I wasn’t too impressed with Jandek’s first two albums on my first listen, but by checking out Blue Corpse next, I was completely sold on Jandek. I appreciate that Jandek brought in other artists to collaborate with him on this album, such as the alternate male vocalist, and the more conventional guitarist (who may be the same as the vocalist) who fans call “Eddie” because of the “take it, Eddie” line on “Down at the Ball Park”. The variety in instrumentation and singing really freshens up the album formula, but of course still feels very outsider and haunting. 

The first 3 songs on the album are the most conventional folk songs Jandek has released in general, but their melancholy is still sublime. The alternate singer’s voice is simply breathtaking. His vocal technique is somewhat similar to Jandek, but sounds much smoother and mature. “Variant” includes a gentler delivery, and is one of the best songs on the album. The songwriting style feels very inspired by Bob Dylan, but sparser and more lo-fi. The guitar is in standard tuning and the playing sounds very crisp and fluid. 

“Part II” is where the avant-garde elements start to get introduced, mainly because the vocalist switches to Jandek, and his delivery is much more anxious and even manic. This transitions into a similar song that is presumably the “Part I”, which is “Your Other Man”. A fan favorite, this track certainly ranks in at least the top 5 Jandek songs of all time. The song starts out as quiet and dismissive, but escalates into what sounds like a recorded emotional breakdown as Jandek moans and screams at the loss of his lover and the guitar becomes more intense. The performance and lyrics are so painfully honest and make the best use of Jandek’s classic folk inspiration combined with his avant-garde, melancholic tendencies. 

Starting with “Long Way”, a short funny song that I like, the album becomes less serious and starts to decline in quality, but still has a few highlights. “Down at the Ball Park” is a silly blues song that’s very interesting and strange, but feels like filler. “Harmonica” is a meandering instrumental that also feels like filler. “House of the Rising Sun” is a rare instance of a cover on a Jandek album, and I think it’s just alright, although the presence of decent guitar technique is always welcome. 

“Only Lover” is a 10 minute song that goes back to the serious tone of the earlier songs and feels like another emotional breakdown. The guitar technique builds gradually, until the rhythm sounds remarkably similar to “Your Other Man” by the end. I think the song makes very good use of its run time and ends up being pretty engaging by Jandek’s standards, and is one of the best on this great album. However, I feel like the last 2 tracks are unremarkable. Despite some sub-par songs, that doesn’t stop this from being a truly exceptional Jandek album, and one of the best out of all of his works. 

Finally, I want to highlight the lyrics on this album, which are not far off from the high quality poetry on his first 2 albums. The record builds a concept/story about a woman leaving a relationship with the singer. Even though the first few songs are sung by the alternate singer, the subject matter seems to be about one man. Jandek’s lyrics are always personal and peculiar in the same narrative voice, which helps his music retain its identity as his project, even though he has collaborators. 

The lyrics of Blue Corpse are about longing for the lost lover to some extent, but are far more focused on the grieving, depression, and denial following the breakup. A few songs such as “I Passed by the Building” and “Only Lover” feature extremely dark themes like suicidal thoughts and self hatred, and show the dark places that love can take us to. The second half of the album strays from this concept, but the lighthearted, silly songs are in my opinion some form of healing for the singer, as they feature Jandek laughing along with others that are heard in the background. 

I think Blue Corpse is not only essential for people looking to get into Jandek, but essential for everyone. It’s relatively accessible, but still incredibly dark and profound in a way that not a lot of other artists will give you. While revisiting this album and revising this review after having heard almost half of Jandek’s discography, I still think Blue Corpse near-perfectly exemplifies the appeal of Jandek’s artistry, and is my second favorite album by him besides the album that came after this, You Walk Alone. 

9/10

Essential Album?: Yes

Essential songs:

I Passed by the Building*

C F

Variant*

Part II

Your Other Man*

Only Lover*