One Foot in the North

One Foot in the North is the twentieth album by Jandek, and the only to be released in 1991. It is Corwood Industries release #0758, and featured voice and electric guitar for about half the album before drums and a second, more "polished" lead guitar joined along.

1 Overview
2 Track listing
3 Album Cover Description
4 External links

[edit] Overview

Continuing the sound begun with the two prior albums,One Foot in the North begins with five tracks of loungey music for electric guitar and vocals before adding another more "standard" guitar player and some drums for the second half of the album. Indeed, the opening quintet are surprising if pitted against the picked, curiously tuned acoustic numbers of the early albums (and honestly, nobody could claim that the guitar on these numbers is tuned to any standard scale). Strummed in a bluesy, lounge style, the performer emotes about needing a companion ("Yellow Pages") and a grotesque vision of an "Angel" (which is a lovely song until you listen close to the lyrics, which describe what appears to be a mutilation). Surprisngly, the songs take a turn to the bright side, with "Think About Your Lady" and "Real Fine Movement" describing a guy who gets the car, the watch, AND the girl, but seems to know that's not gonna last.

And it doesn't - "Alehouse Blues" kicks in as hard and fast as anything on You Walk Alone , with the re-introduction of a more standard lead guitarist (who may or may not have been the one in the "blues rock" band from the previous four albums). The song itself is a memorial for a "punk with red hair" who gets killed when the cops arrive at a bar fight. Curiously, there seems to be some tie to reality here - the song is partially reprised on Lost Cause as "Cellar," where we find that "the paper didn't mind" that Randy (the punk) died.

This then leads into one of Jandek's best-known songs, "Upon the Grandeur," in which two very deftly played guitars float one of the finest vocals on a Jandek record through eight and a half minutes of bliss that wouldn't sound out of place on a Yo La Tengo album. The songs that follow continue in this style, though drums return. It all ends with a vocal take on Follow Your Footstep's "Honey," though only two lines are sung: "Honey, I tried to be your friend/and now I wonder if I’ll see you again." This may allude to the one obviously missing member of the former group - the female vocalist from the previous two albums.

[edit] Track listing

Yellow Pages – 7:02
Angel – 3:28
Show the Man Your Picture – 2:01
Think About Your Lady – 2:50
Real Fine Movement – 2:44
Alehouse Blues – 3:15
Upon the Grandeur – 8:31
Phoenix – 4:55
Dreaming Man – 3:42
Breast in a Moonbeam – 2:42
Honey – 1:31

[edit] Album Cover Description

A silhoette of a young Jandek, standing in his room. Curiously, this would be replicated somewhat at the Jandek show in Austin, TX in August of 2005, when a light cast the Corwood Representative's shadow across the side of the theatre.

Another unique facet of this cover can no longer be found on the CD release. The original included the "Chinese menu" back cover, in which the titles were listed in what might be called a "Chinese Restaurant font." This was removed for the 2003 CD release.