The Living End

Jandek album #18, The Living End. Released in 1989.

Master bluesman Jandek slingin' some stride blues your way with his jammin' band. Instrumentation on this is 2 guitars and random drums, with Jandek on the mic. He sounds like he's in a good mood, he's comfortable, and he's preachin' them blues. Actually, this is the best singing he's done yet! The title cut sounds like it's from the same recording as "Message To The Clerk" of the last record. Then, once the tune really gets going, it stops dead.
"Talk That Talk" gets adventurous when Jandek starts interjecting things and the guitar starts playing disjointed but very distinct stabbing chords.
"Start The Band" is a quick instrumental that goes to nice places and then stops abruptly.
"Girl From America" has a woman singing quietly in the background - is this the return of Nancy?
Gotta love the false starts on "Embrace The World Outside". There's that female humming again, now singing full volume. Brushes on the drums. Are we in San Francisco?
The long piece on this disc, "Take Me Away With You", tries the blues format with the female vocalist. It doesn't work as well as when Jandek does it, but the female singer gets into it a little bit. Some nice blues lead work though.
The last song, "Crazy", is loud and obnoxious and intoxicating. The guitars are too loud, the female voice is going nowhere, and Jandek's chanting a drone in the background. At the very end, Jandek siezes the mic and sings in his best alto, "You're mine... you're mine... yo-" and the tape runs out. I laughed out loud! A rockin' end to this strange album.
Another neat thing that happens during this recording is some obvious tape machine screw-ups. Sounds like the thing is broken or Jandek's using some really crappy tape stock. It all makes for a quick grin on my face when those little glitches creep in.