Ready for the House | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1978 | |||
Genre | Folk, acoustic blues [1] | |||
Length | 44:32 | |||
Label | Corwood Industries (Original LP and CD releases) Jackpot Records (2008 LP Reissue) | |||
Producer | Corwood Industries | |||
Jandek chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
Op Magazine, issue L | (favorable) [3] |
Forced Exposure | (?) [4] |
Ready for the House is the debut studio album by Jandek, and was released in 1978 by his own Corwood Industries label, with the catalog number #0739. The artist has said in letters that the number was meaningless. Corwood Industries reissued the album three times on CD, first in 1999, then sometime in the early 2000s, and again in 2005. Jackpot Records, with exclusive permission from Corwood, reissued the album on LP in 2008.
The album cover features a photograph of a garishly colored room with a chair beside a window. The artwork of the original 1978 issue lacks text, while the back cover credits the album to "The Units".
The album was not originally attributed to Jandek at all, but rather to "the Units." The name Jandek replaced that of the Units on all future releases after a San Francisco new wave group of the same name gave Corwood Industries a cease and desist order; all subsequent reissues of Ready for the House now bear the Jandek name. Both "The Units" and "Jandek" are widely assumed to be the work of a Houston resident named Sterling Richard Smith. The name Jandek, according to Smith in a 1985 interview with John Trubee, comes from a conversation Smith had with a man named Decker in the month of January. The combination of January and Decker forms Jan-deck. Smith said the reasoning behind this was to come up with a name that nobody would pick, to avoid future legal problems. It is not publicly known if Corwood is also a combination of names. In early letters, Smith refers to the Jandek records as 'units', so one could take the band name 'The Units' to basically mean 'The Albums', this would even fit in with Jandek's aesthetic, which is very bare bones and stripped down to nothing.
Ready for the House was released with the catalog number #0739. There is no meaning behind the number, and all subsequent releases continue in order.
The music on the album consists of Jandek's wavering voice and a guitar pick gently plucking very oddly tuned guitar strings. The guitar playing, which many refer to as "untuned" is in fact tuned to what the artist has referred to as a "black key sound." Eight of the nine tracks largely repeat the same slow, slightly bluesy tempo with similar vocal delivery. On the ending track, "European Jewel (Incomplete)," Jandek switches from the acoustic to a strummed electric guitar that approaches standard tuning and instead of picking the strings, Jandek barres the frets. In the middle of the line "just a shaking sha-" the song abruptly cuts off, leading one to think that the tape has run out or that an error has occurred with the reel to reel tape recorder, and the album unexpectedly ends. The song would be resumed on Chair Beside a Window , beginning with the last three lines of the "incomplete" version and then continuing with the missing lyrics. The Chair Beside a Window version features what appears to be a live band version with electric guitar, bass, and drums. It revisited three more times on the album The Rocks Crumble , and it is assumed that Smith is overdubbing himself that time around, having told Chusid that there were instances of this in his letter. There are many notable instances where Jandek albums abruptly end so one could assume this is a motif.
It is unknown when this album was originally recorded. According to the Irwin Chusid article 'The Great Disconnect', around November 1980, Smith told Chusid that he had recorded enough material for 10 albums and hoped to release them all. This would back up the theory that the albums were recorded before 1978. On Ready for the House and its follow up Six and Six , Smith's voice sounds the youngest out of all of his output. Smith has provided very little in the way of background information on any of his albums, let alone Ready for the House. The only information that he was able to provide was that he pressed 1,000 copies of Ready for the House, where as all subsequent recordings were pressed in quantities of 300 (although it is not known if any were repressed). This is probably due to the fact that by 1980 when Smith spoke to Chusid, he had only sold 2 copies of the album despite it being released 2 years previous. It received its first review, when Phil X. Milstein wrote about it in Op magazine issue L. Shortly after, outsider DJ Irwin Chusid of WFMU began corresponding with Corwood Industries, a label that has held the same PO box since this release, and which releases nothing but Jandek records. Through this attention, the artist was encouraged to return to music, releasing Six and Six three years later, which has been the longest period without a studio Jandek release until the period after Ghost Passing.
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Naked in the Afternoon" | 4:51 |
2. | "First You Think Your Fortune's Lovely" | 8:10 |
3. | "What Can I Say, What Can I Sing" | 4:51 |
4. | "Show Me the Way, O Lord" | 4:18 |
5. | "Know Thy Self" | 2:38 |
6. | "They Told Me About You" | 4:33 |
7. | "Cave In on You" | 4:26 |
8. | "They Told Me I Was a Fool" | 5:08 |
9. | "European Jewel (Incomplete)" | 4:56 |
Total length: | 44:32 |
Jandek is the musical project of Sterling Smith, a Houston, Texas-based American lo-fi folk singer. Since 1978, Jandek has independently released over 120 albums while granting an interview extremely rarely and providing no biographical information, releasing on a self-made label, "Corwood Industries". Jandek often plays an idiosyncratic and frequently atonal form of folk and blues music, frequently using an open and unconventional chord structure. AllMusic has described Jandek as "the most enigmatic figure in American music."
Six and Six is the second studio album by American musician Jandek, and the first to be released under the Jandek name. It was released in 1981, by Corwood Industries (#0740). There have been two CD reissues so far, each adding more silence between the tracks.
Later On is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Jandek, and the second released by Corwood Industries (#0741) in 1981. It was reissued on CD in 2000.
Chair Beside a Window is the fourth album by avant- folk/ blues singer-songwriter Jandek, and Corwood Industries' first release of 1982 (No. 742).
Your Turn to Fall is the seventh Jandek album, and was released as Corwood 0745. It was reissued on CD in 2001.
The Rocks Crumble is the eighth Jandek album, released as Corwood 0746. It is his third release of 1983, and is the first Jandek album to feature extensive use of drums and electric guitar. It was reissued on CD in 2001.
Interstellar Discussion is the ninth album by Jandek, and his only release of 1984. It was released as Corwood 0747. It was reissued on CD in 2001.
Glad to Get Away is the 24th album by Jandek, and was released (1994) as Corwood Industries #0762. It continues the acoustic sound of the prior two albums.
White Box Requiem is the 25th album by Jandek, and his only for the year 1996. Released as Corwood Industries #0763, it is essentially a "concept album" about death, loss, and a man who opens a mysterious white "Pandora's box", which some have speculated is a coffin. There are 14 songs with acoustic guitar, half of them with vocals. The instrumental pieces are sparse and experiment with echo, with "restless" passages that music critic Andre Salles has described as "consistently inventive atonal plonking that never sits still".
Put My Dream on This Planet is the 29th album by Jandek. It was his only new release of 2000. The first of three consecutive a capella albums, it is Corwood Industries #0767.
Glasgow Sunday is the second of four albums released in 2005 by musician Jandek on Corwood Industries, as (0779). His 41st overall, it was recorded live on October 17, 2004 at The Arches, Glasgow, as part of the Instal festival. This was the first known live appearance of Jandek, who played unannounced with backing from Richard Youngs on bass and Alex Neilson on drums.
The Gone Wait is the 35th album by Jandek, and the first of two released in 2003 It is Corwood Industries release #0773, and is the first release to feature the artist accompanying himself on fretless electric bass, rather than on his usual acoustic or electric guitar. The album's title was also the name of a song on Jandek's 1993 release Twelfth Apostle.
Richard Youngs is an English musician based in Glasgow since the early 1990s. His catalogue of solo and collaborative work formally begins with Advent, first issued in 1990. He plays many instruments, most commonly choosing the guitar, but he has been known to use other instruments including the shakuhachi, accordion, theremin, dulcimer, a home-made synthesizer and even a motorway bridge. He also released an album which was entirely a cappella.
Jandek on Corwood is a documentary about veteran reclusive folk/blues artist Jandek. Unlike most popular music documentaries, the subject himself is not seen in the film in any way; instead, various critics, disc jockeys and journalists, many of whom have had some contact with the notoriously reclusive artist, discuss Jandek, his equally mysterious independent record label Corwood Industries, and his music.
Khartoum is the forty-third album by Jandek. The album was released by Corwood Industries in 2005. The album features the Corwood Representative on solo vocals and acoustic guitar.
Alex Neilson is an English drummer, percussionist and singer who is based in Glasgow but grew up in Leeds. He is a founding member and main songwriter of folk-rock group Trembling Bells (2008-2018). He is also known for his continuing collaborations with Alasdair Roberts, Will Oldham and Richard Youngs, and for his work with elusive American singer/songwriter Jandek.
Newcastle Sunday is the 45th release by avant- folk/blues singer-songwriter Jandek, released by Corwood Industries. It is a recording of his second ever live performance, recorded at The Sage Gateshead, England.
What Else Does The Time Mean? is the 46th album from avant- folk/blues singer-songwriter Jandek. It was released by Corwood Industries (#0784). It is his third release in 2006, following January's' Khartoum Variations and February's live double-album Newcastle Sunday.
Naked in the Afternoon: A Tribute to Jandek is a tribute album compiled by Moscow, PA-based independent record label Summersteps Records. The album features cover versions of songs by the reclusive avant-folk/blues singer/songwriter Jandek. Many of the artists are members of the Summersteps roster or fans forming one-time combos to participate on the album, but the album also features contributions from Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Low, and Bright Eyes.
Down in a Mirror: A Second Tribute to Jandek is a tribute album compiled by Moscow, PA-based independent record label Summersteps Records, released as a follow-up to the label's first Jandek tribute, Naked in the Afternoon. As with Naked in the Afternoon, Down In A Mirror features cover versions of songs by the reclusive avant-folk/blues singer/songwriter Jandek. Some of the artists are members of the Summersteps roster or fans forming one-time combos to participate on the album, but the album also features contributions from Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Six Organs of Admittance, The Mountain Goats, Kawabata Makoto of Acid Mothers Temple, Lewis & Clarke and Okkervil River.