[Jandek] Criticism

[chthonic streams]

Davidson Roberts <soccerdude219 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>choices and how he wasted his life. I guess it's really me that's 
>the problem; Jandek, probably in his 50's at the time of these 
>recordings, is far from the phase in his life that my youth can 
>relate to. Still, you'd think he'd at least have gained a view 
>kernals of wisdom by now. He seemed to have gotten to perspective on 
>the spoken word albums when he was telling us to "live the half 
>life", but now he seems to have fallen back into the old self-doubt 
>and he's not writing about in any way that i really find interesting.

this is one of the pitfalls of being prolific, as well as having any 
sort of longevity.  some musicians try to progress over time, but at 
some point they may feel they've "lost their way" and end up 
repeating themselves.

as for kernels of wisdom, well...not everyone learns the lessons they 
should as life goes on.  the root of his frustration may be that he 
knows he hasn't, or that he feels a lack of progression, or perhaps a 
closing of a circle.  i haven't heard the albums in question, but it 
sounds like he's in a bit of a soul-searching rut at the moment. 
perhaps that's one of the things driving the move to live 
performances; "well, *that'd* be different." he may have thought.

personally i'm looking forward to this reportedly incredible melodic 
piano album recorded live last week.

d.