[Jandek] Re: Purity

[Dave Parent]

I see what your saying, but do you think that if others albums were recorded, at least, before House came out that those also 
would count as "pure"? And we don't know if he played songs before House was out to friends or not. Maybe there is an "outside 
influence" on House if anyone heard the songs and made any kind of comment on them that Jandek used. But we'll never know 
that. The impression I got from Chusid was he had recorded but before Chusid's interest, he wasn't confident enough to release 
them. 

>I don't think Seth is implying that Jandek's first album was "pure"
>because of when it was recorded, but rather because of its potential audience
>(and please Seth correct me if I'm wrong about this).  When that first album
>was released, it truly was into a vacuum - nobody knew who he was, or what to
>expect.  When 'Six and Six' came out there was an audience (however small) and
>Chusid was getting the gospel out to the six or seven people ready to hear it. 
>With each album sales increased (I assume) and a few fanzines, Spin and Option
>responded with pieces. Although the original batch of records may have all come
>from seventies era sessions, Jandek had to feel confident that somebody out
>there was listening.  
>This is how I understand Chusid's relationship to be important.  Without his
>boost, our "Representative" may not have felt courageous enough to
>drop the money on another thousand copies he wasn't gonna "move." Now
>that he knew there was somebody, he could press on.  I believe this is what has
>kept him going all this time, and that the reason he felt so "alive"
>may have something to do with the anonymous response of much of the crowd. 
>We've heard the sides of those in the know, or who came into the know, of what
>they were seeing. What about the "90% of the crowd" (to quote Gavin)
>who had no idea what was going on?  I think that's what boosted him - the idea
>that people could get into what he was doing with no expectations attached. How
>many Richard Youngs fans are walking around right now saying "I don't know
>who that guy Richard was jamming with was, but that was some wild stuff." 
>I think Jandek proved to himself that his appeal is broader than the
>"legend" and that the ri
>ght crowd of people might respond positively based only on what they heard,
>without all the "mystery" attached. In this sense, one could almost
>see this gig as being the first "pure" experience since Corwood's
>only recording artist was called The Units.  This leaves me more curious than
>ever to see what will happen next.
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