Satan donned his winter coat on October 17, 2004 when the mysterious Jandek made his first known public appearance at the Glasgow club the Arches -- appearing in conjunction with Scotland's Instal Festival, billed simply as a "representative from Corwood Industries." On that day, and backed by Richard Youngs on bass and Alex Nielson on drums, Jandek crossed the threshold from myth to reality, proving that the gaunt, enigmatic image that graced his record covers for over a quarter century was indeed the selfsame figure behind this vast body of strange, powerfully affecting music. For Jandek devotees, it's virtually impossible to separate what Glasgow Sunday is from what it represents -- not just a document of his landmark coming-out performance, it's also irrefutable proof of the man's existence, which both complements and complicates all that has come before it. On the one hand, the live Jandek experience is remarkable -- the music thrashes and soars like the flying pig it is, sharpening the visceral edge of his best recordings to achieve something vaguely approximating a recognizable form of ock & roll. But on the other hand, there's an inescapable sense of loss -- the Loch Ness Monster had been captured, Deep Throat unmasked, and the riddle of the pyramids solved. Of course, that leaves the tantalizing question of where Jandek goes from here, which may be more than enough to keep his devotees on their toes; after all, answers don't merely solve mysteries, they also create new ones.
From the introductory crashes of "Not Even Water," our first live exposure to Jandek presents him at what is arguably his most spectacular. It is one of those instances, becoming rarer, that Jandek has been matched by musicians that do justice to these new pieces. It took me about three years to get into this album, admittedly for the first two and three quarters years of owning it and having it
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From the introductory crashes of "Not Even Water," our first live exposure to Jandek presents him at what is arguably his most spectacular. It is one of those instances, becoming rarer, that Jandek has been matched by musicians that do justice to these new pieces. It took me about three years to get into this album, admittedly for the first two and three quarters years of owning it and having it
More >
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 "Glasgow Sunday")
