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We’re finally at the live album era. I’m excited for this because Jandek’s live shows aren’t just any live shows. Each performance features entirely new music and lyrics, and different musical styles and guest musicians. I will be listening to all of these along with the rest of the studio albums. I have already heard a few of these because I was curious and I peeked ahead, so I have an idea of the amount of variety and experimentation that will come on these live records. Jandek live albums are always titled with the location of the show and the day of the week it happened (and occasionally the year), which will clue you in that the following review will be of a live Jandek album.
Glasgow Sunday is a recording of Jandek’s first ever live performance at an experimental musical festival in Scotland. His appearance was unannounced, making his unveiling to the public eye a complete surprise. The lineup features Jandek on electric guitar, similarly tuned and played to the 00s studio albums, Richard Youngs on bass, and Alex Neilson on drums.
I find the album to sound like an interesting mix of styles I’ve heard on past Jandek albums. The guitar style and vocal delivery is similar to the post-spoken word-era albums. The vocals can get really intense and powerful, most similar to I Threw You Away. I also find them much easier to follow than on a typical Jandek record because there are a lot of memorable lines, some repeated parts, and the vocal delivery is constantly changing in the same way the instrumentals are.
The combination of the electric guitar with the bass and the drums reminds me of early noise rock era Jandek somewhat, but the musicianship is more professional here. Youngs’ bass is very abstract and constantly rumbling and buzzing. It fits pretty perfectly with the guitar, considering both are improvised and chaotic. The bass is definitely one of the most interesting aspects, although there are a lot of interesting things about this performance in general. I could say the same thing about the drums. I find Neilson’s drums consistently engaging too. They sometimes get buried in the thick layers of sound from the guitar and bass, but usually their changing rhythms come through and give the songs some more direction. The drums are certainly less primitive than earlier Jandek records, sounding a bit lighter and in tune.
“Where I Stay” has very beautiful lyrics that I think are about dissociation. They describe not feeling, thinking, or seeing anything, and sitting in a room. “Darkness You Give” is a very dark love poem that has a couplet lyrical style. It describes the singer’s desire to be with who he loves, even if he has to be punished for what he’s done. I’m stunned at the beauty of it all.
“Sea of Red” has more lyrics that are shockingly depressing once you read through them. It describes a drowning scenario where the singer is begging for the redness that is drowning him to end his life already. The chaotic tone of the music gives these lyrics a different perspective than if we were to hear them on any other album. The following, more lighthearted, iconic “Real Wild” depicts the singer washing his clothes on an ordinary day, and deciding to “get real wild” because there’s nobody around. I love this concept.
Continuing the symbol of colors, “Blue Blue World” is sadly too relatable. The singer talks about a type of heavy, unavoidable depression that has nothing to do with his lover and causes him to not even think about her anymore. Very memorable song. The closer “The Other Side” is a pretty great story. “I’m gonna tell you a story / about a little girl / She broke my heart / When I was five / I’ve got so old now / Where’s the other half of my heart / I just can’t find it, the other side”.
I’m just as impressed with this album’s lyrics as I am with the music. I think this is truly one of Jandek’s greatest, and I will continue to listen to it to discover more of what each individual song holds. I think each track has some very great moments to offer.
8/10
Essential album?: Yes
Essential songs:
Darkness You Give
Sea of Red
Real Wild*
The Other Side
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