| Blue Corpse | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||
| Studio album by Jandek | |||||
| Released | 1987 | ||||
| Recorded | unknown | ||||
| Genre | Outsider Music / Folk music | ||||
| Length | 43:27 | ||||
| Label | Corwood Industries | ||||
| Producer | Corwood Industries | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| Jandek chronology | |||||
|
|||||
Blue Corpse is the fifteenth album by Jandek, and his second for 1987. A studio album is an original collection of new tracks by a recording artist Jandek is the musical project of an Outsider musician who operates out of Houston Texas. A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other Outsider music are songs and compositions by musicians who are not part of the commercial music industry who write songs that ignore standard musical or lyrical conventions Folk music can have a number of different meanings including Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous In the Music industry, a record label can be a Brand and a Trademark associated with the Marketing of music recordings and Music Corwood Industries is a Houston Texas -based company whose only output would appear to be the music of Jandek. In the Music industry, a record producer or music producer has many roles among them controlling the recording sessions coaching and guiding the musicians organizing Option (subtitled Music Alternatives, then Music Culture) was a music magazine based in Los Angeles California. Jandek is the musical project of an Outsider musician who operates out of Houston Texas. Modern Dances is the fourteenth album by Jandek, released as Corwood #0752 You Walk Alone is the seventeenth album by Jandek, and the first of two released in 1988 Jandek is the musical project of an Outsider musician who operates out of Houston Texas. Essentially a duet album with "Eddie," it addresses heartbreak and is considered by many to be the easiest point of entry into the Corwood catalog.
Contents |
Overview
Blue Corpse may or may not be about a breakup (as many critics argue), and it could or could not be the best place for people new to Jandek's music to start (as suggested by the Allmusic review). It is a dark folk album in which "Eddie" and the Corwood Rep come to an understanding and create some emotional music. It's "Eddie's" vocals and guitar that provide the most striking changes, as the musician brings a smoother, slightly deeper voice to the proceedings. In the opening number he sings "I passed by the building/you were working in. . . I wanted to lie in your arms again. . . I wanted to die. " This leads to a series of trade-offs between the two musicians, with "Eddie" seeming to play most of the guitar (there are times when the unique guitar playing styles of the Corwood Representative are obvious) and singing most of the first three tracks and the last song. The rest are sung by the usual male vocalist, who in one song moans "go and see your other man. " This leads to a few lighter numbers ("Down at the Ball Park" seems both a lark and a sincere remembrance of "creamin' 'em down at the ball park. ")
The original second side then began with "Harmonica," which features a musician playing a difficult to categorize blues for five and a half minutes on echo-laden harmonica. "Eddie" attempts to add some guitar here and there, but he mostly stays out of the way. This leads to a genuine curiosity - the only cover song in Jandek history. That would be "House of the Rising Sun," though the Jandek list at one point argued as to whether or not this was an actual cover. However, close listening reveals it to be the traditional folk song with a drastically changed pace (and Eddie seems to be playing an entirely different song, for what it's worth - The Corwood Rep finishes the song by singing it in the more "standard" version).
The album ends with the ten and a half minute blues-tinged "Only Lover" which takes us, again, "down the river to Madrid," and contains the strangest batch of lyrics on the album (he shares a tent with a cantaloupe at one point, and other lyrics include, "Like a kangaroo I’m only half doing what I do/Jesus stares at me from the wall/and I think I like your bosom/aw gone floatin’ down a river to Madrid"), yet it all culminates into a recognizable whole, and it's one of loss, building to a drum that sounds like a heart stopping. Then we get two quickies ("The Quinn Boys" would get a reprise on the next album), including manic drums on "One Minute" that thrash away while the vocals tell the listener to "follow the music. " And, indeed, there has been much more to follow.
Track listing
- I Passed by the Building – 3:44
- C F – 2:13
- Variant – 1:52
- Part II – 1:54
- Your Other Man – 5:26
- Long Way – 1:01
- Down at the Ball Park – 2:31
- Harmonica – 5:32
- House of the Rising Sun – 4:34
- Only Lover – 10:25
- Quinn Boys – 2:03
- One Minute – 1:15
Album cover description
Possibly shirtless Jandek walks by a brick building. (Lyrics to first song: "I passed by the building you were working in. . . ") Photo is black and white, blurry with motion: a Futurist portrait of the dynamism of Jandek in front of a wall. -- Seth Tisue
Jandek is most definitely shirtless. . . and wearing the same pants and belt as he was on Modern Dances. Modern Dances is the fourteenth album by Jandek, released as Corwood #0752
He appears to be smiling, very blurred. The length of his stride indicates either very quick motion, or very bad posing.
Reviews
This newer album contains more folk sounds and less of the dissonance Jandek is so well known for. . . Jandek’s angst-ridden vocals. . . filled with trials and tribulations. . . -- Art Black Away From the Pulsebeat