Ready for the House
Encyclopedia
Ready for the House is the debut album by Jandek
, and was released in 1978 by his own Corwood Industries
label, with the catalog number #0739. The artist has said in letters that the number was meaningless. Corwood Industries reissued the album three times on CD, first in 1999, then sometime in the early 2000s, and again in 2005. Jackpot Records, with exclusive permission from Corwood, reissued the album on LP
in 2008. http://www.jackpotrecords.com/
gave Corwood Industries a cease and desist order; all subsequent reissues of Ready... now bear the Jandek name.
The music on the album consists of Jandek's wavering voice and a guitar pick gently plucking very oddly tuned guitar strings. The guitar playing, which many refer to as "untuned" is in fact tuned to what the artist has referred to as a "black key sound." Eight of the nine tracks largely repeat the same slow, slightly bluesy tempo with similar vocal delivery.
On the ending track, "European Jewel (Incomplete)," Jandek switches from the acoustic to a more standardly tuned strummed electric guitar. In the middle of the line "just a shaky sha-" the song cuts off and the album is over. The song would be finished on Chair Beside a Window
and revisited three more times on the album The Rocks Crumble
.
Jandek says he printed a thousand copies of Ready for the House and sold only two in the first two years. Then it received its first review, when Phil X. Milstein wrote about it in Op magazine issue L. Shortly after, outsider DJ Irwin Chusid
of WFMU began corresponding with Corwood Industries, a label that has held the same PO box since this release, and which releases nothing but Jandek records. Through this attention, the artist was encouraged to return to music.
Jandek
Jandek is the musical project of an anonymous outsider musician who operates out of Houston, Texas. Since 1978, Jandek has self-released over 60 albums of unusual, often emotionally dissolute folk and blues songs without ever granting more than the occasional interview or providing any biographical...
, and was released in 1978 by his own Corwood Industries
Corwood Industries
Corwood Industries is a Houston, Texas-based company whose only output would appear to be the music of Jandek. It is not known what other ventures, if any, that Corwood Industries may be involved with....
label, with the catalog number #0739. The artist has said in letters that the number was meaningless. Corwood Industries reissued the album three times on CD, first in 1999, then sometime in the early 2000s, and again in 2005. Jackpot Records, with exclusive permission from Corwood, reissued the album on LP
LP record
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
in 2008. http://www.jackpotrecords.com/
Overview
The album was not originally attributed to Jandek at all, but rather to "the Units." The name Jandek replaced that of the Units on all future releases after a California new wave group of the same nameThe Units
The Units are a defunct, early electronic music/punk rock/New Wave/synthpunk band founded in San Francisco in 1978 and active until 1984.One of America's first electronic New Wave bands, they are widely cited as pioneers of a genre now known as "synthpunk." The Units were notable for their use of...
gave Corwood Industries a cease and desist order; all subsequent reissues of Ready... now bear the Jandek name.
The music on the album consists of Jandek's wavering voice and a guitar pick gently plucking very oddly tuned guitar strings. The guitar playing, which many refer to as "untuned" is in fact tuned to what the artist has referred to as a "black key sound." Eight of the nine tracks largely repeat the same slow, slightly bluesy tempo with similar vocal delivery.
On the ending track, "European Jewel (Incomplete)," Jandek switches from the acoustic to a more standardly tuned strummed electric guitar. In the middle of the line "just a shaky sha-" the song cuts off and the album is over. The song would be finished on Chair Beside a Window
Chair Beside a Window
Chair Beside a Window is the fourth album by avant-folk/blues singer/songwriter Jandek, and Corwood Industries' first release of 1982 ....
and revisited three more times on the album The Rocks Crumble
The Rocks Crumble
The Rocks Crumble is the eighth Jandek album, released as Corwood 0746. It is his third release of 1983, and is the first Jandek album to feature extensive use of drums and electric guitar...
.
Jandek says he printed a thousand copies of Ready for the House and sold only two in the first two years. Then it received its first review, when Phil X. Milstein wrote about it in Op magazine issue L. Shortly after, outsider DJ Irwin Chusid
Irwin Chusid
Irwin Chusid is a journalist, music historian, radio personality and self-described "landmark preservationist." His stated mission has been to "find things on the scrapheap of history that I know don't belong there and salvage them." Those "things" have included such previously overlooked but...
of WFMU began corresponding with Corwood Industries, a label that has held the same PO box since this release, and which releases nothing but Jandek records. Through this attention, the artist was encouraged to return to music.
Track listing
- "Naked in the Afternoon" – 4:51
- "First You Think Your Fortune's Lovely" – 8:10
- "What Can I Say, What Can I Sing" – 4:51
- "Show Me the Way, O Lord" – 4:18
- "Know Thy Self" – 2:38
- "They Told Me About You" – 4:33
- "Cave In on You" – 4:26
- "They Told Me I Was A Fool" – 5:08
- "European Jewel" (Incomplete)– 4:56