You Walk Alone

You Walk Alone is the seventeenth album by Jandek, and the first of two released in 1988. It is Corwood Industries (#0754), and is the first album by the "blues rock" band that followed the apparent meltdown of the original "garage rock" band.

1 Overview
2 Track listing
3 Album cover description
4 External links

[edit] Overview

You Walk Alone introduces several new elements to the Jandek style, not the least of which is twin guitarists who play in a conventional manner, leading to speculation that neither of these players may be the Corwood Representative (whom, some suspect, is playing the "slacker" drums). The rhythm guitarist may well be "Eddie," as its slight off-rhythm and open sound is close to what was being played on Blue Corpse. But the lead guitar here is something entirely new, and it seems that the Corwood Rep may have stumbled upon a genuine professional.

This new sound is evident from the first bars of "Lavender," the opening instrumental. Gone are the odd tunings and playing styles, in are Clapton-style blues licks, and the band may be thought of as Jandek's idea of a "power trio." That's certainly the Corwood Rep on vocals on "Time and Space," and if the music sounds nothing like what's come before, the lyrics and vocals are sure by the same person. "He brought a lot of phony eyebrow pencils/I hid behind an electric fence/oh they brought all the jellyfish from Ireland...you said ah, just put ’em...in the closet." This Dylan-esque refrain (everything, no matter how ridiculous, gets "put in the closet")is a good example of the unique lyrics strewn throughout. And this style continues into "The Cat that Walked from Shelbyville," which is actually a re-write of the acoustic song "For Today" from Follow Your Footsteps; it's notable that no mention is made of a cat anywhere in the song (though the title could be a beat-like reference to a person, as in "that's one cool cat"). That leads to "Quinn Boys II" (a reworking of "Quinn Boys" from Blue Corpse) and "The Way That You Act." The album has a slight shift from there, with what appears to be "Eddie" taking over vocals on "I Know the Times," which features a guitar sounding much more like the Corwood Rep from the band of old. That leads to the nine minute "When the Telephone Melts" (a re-write of "when the telegraph melts," but making a little more sense, ie "when the telephone melts/and it's still ringing your name" making more sense than "when the telegraph melts/and it's still ringing your name," even if the song remains abstract in general) which continues the slightly different, more relaxed feel, somewhat sounding like the Jandek tune 'I'm Ready'. It all ends with the crazed hoops and hollers of "War Dance," which contains some rather violent images from a Native American perspective.

[edit] Track listing

Lavender – 3:49
Time and Space – 7:28
The Cat That Walked From Shelbyville – 6:23
Quinn Boys II – 3:56
The Way That You Act – 4:26
I Know The Times – 3:17
When The Telephone Melts – 9:06
War Dance – 3:58

[edit] Album cover description

A young Jandek (pre-recording career, perhaps, but not nearly as young as the Lost Cause cover boy or the guitarist on the cover of Follow Your Footsteps) stands, wearing some stylish Texas-style boots (which would remind long time fans of the line "You are a cowboy when you wear those boots" from Ready for the House's "Naked in the Afternoon"), squinting into the sun, right hand in his pants pocket, left thumb hooked on his belt, standing in front of an old white house. There is a broken chair on the front porch, which is somewhat overgrown with bushes. The shade on the window is up.Jandek's torso obscures enough of the door and mailbox to hide the house number – the man is nothing if not careful to cover his trail. He's looking tall, thin, and long-legged in this photo.

Jandek appears to strut, elbows thrown back, leading with his pelvis. His buttoned up shirt is buttoned to the top. He squints and "mugs" for the camera. His very shiny patent leather shoes are conspicuous. His elbow obscures the mailboxes. The siding on the house is narrow and evokes the siding from Foreign Keys (and is dissimilar from the siding of Nine-Thirty).