Its Jandek Monday and what the fuck is going on with this cover photo? Jandek was a 'Hippie'???...Nah!?
This might explain what happened to turn him into the dysfunctional outsider folk dour troubadour that we know and love today? Either a tab of bad acid taken during the "Lets levitate the Pentagon" protest from the late sixties, or, a badly photoshopped forgery of our man to make it look like he was an activist in the late sixties?
Either way, this double CD is a recording of the man himself, who was in his late sixties when it was recorded, live at the Billiken Club, St. Louis, Missouri, March 21, 2014......absolutely NOT thee late sixties at all.
However,this outing is a peculiar one from his 21st century 'come in from the outside' phase.
Apart from the first three tracks, which are classic solo Jandek with acoustic guitar, the album is Jandek with unamed backing musicians, playing an improvised set that sounds like they had never met before. A female singer,apparently called Shiela Smith, adds her confident and slightly deranged voice to the mix.
At times it sounds like the worst Bardo Pond album,at others its like a music therapy class for special needs kids.But utimately it don't sound at all like anything else.
Tracklist:
1-1 Wasted Body 5:29
1-2 The Capsized Boat 5:47
1-3 Fishing Blues 4:48
1-4 Above it All 10:30
1-5 Shadow Life 10:47
1-6 Where Were You Born 9:14
2-1 About That 13:42
2-2 Walmart Truck 6:32
2-3 Got My Dog 12:35
2-4 The Foregoing 4:12
2-5 The Times I Had to Wear Tuxedos 4:41
2-6 Lucky Stars 10:50
2-7 Weekends 6:13
I was there. You're correct: the Representative from Corwood never met the two local musicians in that evening's lineup until soundcheck. Said local musicians are schooled in improv, so it hung together well live. Apparently this is a common Jandek routine - the promoter will set up a group of local musicians, and they become Sterling Smith (and Sheila)'s Jandek band for the night. This might make Jandek the outsider Chuck Berry.
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