Jandek - When I Took That Train - Review

https://corwoodindustries.com/product/0778/

I find When I Took That Train to be one of the most interesting Jandek albums in a while. The musical style is essentially the exact same as the previous few albums from Jandek, so I don’t really need to discuss it at all (assuming you've read my previous Jandek reviews). The lyrics and vocal delivery are what make it interesting, and also disturbing. 

First of all, I found the lyrics very easy to follow even while I was focusing on drawing, which was honestly a first for Jandek considering how poetically dense his lyricism usually is. The album revolves around one concept that is similar to a lot of the ideas about love/romance and infatuation that The End of It All and The Door Behind focus on, but it amplifies them to an extreme, ironic level. The lyrics revolve around the singer’s unhealthy obsession with his object of love, or maybe I should say object of “like”. Continuing the theme from The Door Behind, the singer is obsessed with being “liked” by this woman and keeps repeating some variation of “I like you” or “and then you’ll like me”. There are also a lot of references to physical and sexual attraction between them, which can get quite uncomfortable, and at some points it sounds like Jandek is straight up flirting with the audience. 

The vocal delivery is more spoken than sung. It reminds me a bit of old school blues. He even puts on a “flirty” tone to add to the lyrics, which gets uncomfortable, but adds to the whole ironic concept. The last few songs diverge from the theme of the rest of the album and change the tone, but still have some connections with the rest of it. The theme of the album reminds me of the super long songs from the spoken word era because they push an ironic, exaggerated concept for so long, that you’re not even sure if it’s ironic anymore. Yeah, late era Jandek isn’t exactly the artist you’re most willing to hear with this type of attitude. But I will say that this is one of the most fascinating and shocking and even disturbing Jandek albums I have heard in a while. 

I have already summarized the majority of the lyrical content, so I will just go on with a few highlights. “Wouldn’t You Agree” has a memorable moment where he sings “because it’s all about” and you expect the next word to be “you”, but it’s actually “God”, which I think is intended to be ironic because of how the singer worships his woman in all the other songs. The song also mentions what sounds like some pretty unhealthy relationship aspects. Jandek insists that he is a rock that will not change, but immediately after, he talks about how he will change for her, and how they both have to change to meet each other’s standards.

“Angel Moves” has another one of these shocking moments, starting with the lyric “I think the goal of life is / Make a man feel like a god”. He describes someone getting into an accident on the road, and their angel saving them. There is one part with a very intense, memorable vocal howl. 

On “Thing Called Me” the singer talks about his life in “the corner of your existence” for “six million years”. The only thing I can think is that it feels like an unfiltered declaration of self. 

The final song “My Escape” is a journey of a song. It starts with the singer being trapped by a spider, and begging to be set free to get back to his house, but all he needs is the door. He also speaks of the addressee dying for him. The song ends on a very depressing note that sounds like he regrets what he said on all the previous songs.

“I don’t know what I’m becoming 

I can’t see past my eyes, it seems 

But I’ll take the green blood 

Turn it red inside of me 

I’ll take your hand inside my body 

Reach in your heart 

Take it out for food 

Eat my heart out 

Take the rest of me inside of you”

I can understand why someone would think this album is annoying, but I do think a lot of the lyricism is worthwhile despite being a little repetitive or uncomfortable. It certainly shows that Jandek has always been a very unique artist who hasn’t run out of ideas. 

7/10

Essential album?: Yes

Essential songs: 

Angel Moves