Hey, I just remembered I had this blog and I never finished posting the Jandek album reviews that I wrote, like, years ago. Here are some more. They are not that great but I don't have much time to refine them, especially since it will probably be a long time until I get back around to listening to these albums again.
Jandek - Twelfth Apostle
A very creepy and simply bone chilling album. I believe all the albums from this point on are merely solo guitar and vocals, so I'm going to miss the band, but there’s still some interesting aspects here. I just found everything about it very haunting and reminiscent of mental illness. There’s also less of a childlike innocence that permeated the early acoustic records; this era is perhaps more mature. The guitar technique has only improved slightly. The only new aspect this album introduces is a heavy use of an echo effect on some tracks in the second half, particularly on “Could Be Anyone”, the most haunting track. “Whiskers” is similar, which is a more spiteful and disturbing track.
The lyrics are really good; there are some great lines, but they seem to be a lot more abstract with a lot of random references to objects and characters that come and go without any solid circumstances. While there is interesting imagery and a few particularly strange or funny moments, I couldn’t personally relate to any of the lyrics. I think it’s better than the earliest Jandek solo acoustic records, but not enough to warrant a good score.
6/10
Essential album?: No
Essential songs:
Could Be Anyone
Whiskers
Jandek - Graven Image
I'm happy with how this one turned out. I expected it to be the same type of album as Twelfth Apostle, but it’s quite different and a little bit more exciting. It actually starts out with the same kind of haunting music as the previous album, and I like “Ghost Town by the Sea”. “A Real Number” manages to finally introduce a new instrument we have not heard with Jandek, which is the accordion. Surprisingly, the accordion sounds nothing like Jandek’s harmonica or guitar playing. The song is really melodic, and was quite pleasant, except for a slightly dissonant ending.
The rest of the album is a little bit more intense and humorous. “Janky” is a short, funny song with Jandek going ham on the harmonica and seemingly singing about himself. Starting with “Phillip Was Mentioned”, a dense and intense song with more accordion, the songs are noticeably more lo-fi. The guitar technique also starts to resemble traditional blues a bit more, despite still being very strange.
The lyrics seem to mostly make a little bit more sense on this album. “Nothing You Lack” is definitely nonsense, but the rest of the songs have very beautiful stories with great lines. I see a theme of the protagonist being perceived as a ghost by those around him. Not a “great” album by any means but one of the more solid “solo” albums.
7/10
Essential album?: No
Essential songs:
A Real Number
Janky
Phillip Was Mentioned
Jandek - Glad to Get Away
I don’t know… Glad to Get Away is just boring, boring, boring. It’s similar to Twelfth Apostle, but not even as interesting. All the songs sound the same, and there’s not even anything going on with the strumming. A lot of the songs have single-string-picked notes that sound really lazy. The only really worthwhile song here is “Van Ness Mission”, which is more intense, uses a lot of reverb, and is very haunting.
The following song, “Anticipation”, is similar, but sparser and quieter. I also think these tracks have the most interesting lyrics on the album, with the latter having Jandek describing the “black girl” or “dark woman” that he loves, and the song ends with “She had a look on her face / When I gave her a golden ring”. I have to wonder if the story is about his real life. I don’t really connect with the lyrics of the rest of the songs, except for a few slightly deep or funny lines. There are the common lyrical themes of depression and loneliness, but I feel like other Jandek albums portray that more vividly. “Nancy Knows” has an interesting title, but is a lazy instrumental with string plucking again. “Plenty” introduces a harmonica, but is unmemorable. Overall, this was a sub-par Jandek album with one or two interesting moments.
5/10
Essential album?: No
Essential songs:
Van Ness Mission
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