This was not the first Jandek album I ever heard. That honor goes to 2003's 'The Place', and subsequently that album has had a HUGE impact on my life, in a variety of ways. But I'll save rambling about that album for another day.
'Ready For the House' was originally attributed to The Units. Only later was it revealed to be the work of a lone man, although just listening to it would have kind of clued a person in on that fact. It's a very stark piece of music. Just vocals and an acoustic guitar played in what seems like a rather haphazard fashion. But if you're patient and persistent, the themes start to take hold. The feelings of isolation and despair. The sound of a man desperate for some kind of attention from someone.
I love this album, always have. It's not one of my all-time favorites, nor is it even one of my favorite Jandek releases, but there's just something about it...there's a character to it. Maybe because it was his first release and his style is just SO different from anything else out there. It's definitely not the sort of thing that someone puts on in the background and you don't take notice of. Once 'Naked in the Afternoon' starts, you're listening, even if you don't particularly like it.
I would recommend other albums over this one, for first time Jandek listeners. 'The Place', 'Modern Dances', or maybe 'Telegraph Melts', just for a starts. But it really depends for each individual person. The only universal truth is that most people (myself included) find his spoken word albums pretty difficult to work through.
'Ready For the House' is, in my opinion, a great first release. It definitely sets the pace for the first chunk of Jandek's discography, before he starts wandering into full bands, electric instruments and the like.
Having seen him play live, I can say it's a pretty mystical experience. The man very obviously knows what he's doing with a guitar, even if it doesn't sound like much of any other guitar playing out there. His style is very intentional and deliberate, in fact at times almost mechanical, in the way he plays. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when he recorded this album, just for curiosities sake.
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