Nine-Thirty

Retreating entirely from the crazed garage-punk that took up much of the prior two releases, Nine-Thirty instead continues the sparse acoustic and vocal style that was found on the first seven albums and the latter part of Interstellar Discussion. This time, though, the focus isn't as much on non-sequiters and deep blues but more of the passive, languid music like Six and Six.

Nine-Thirty is unlike any Corwood acoustic album before it, though it rarely strays far. About half the songs (mostly on the second side) form a sort of "tour diary" of a trip by car across the South. This is as pastoral and intimate as Jandek has been since "Point Judith," and the accompanying music (mostly picked open-tuned strings) never gets in the way of the vocal recitation.

This is very interesting, though the cuts are surrounded by some crushing blues-work, such as the passionate opener "Tell Me When," and the devastating "Wrong Time" which includes the infamous lyrics "you can put your bloody mind in a paper bag and eat it for lunch." Then there's deep-dark ballads like "This is a Death Dream" and "You Didn't Lie," which are as detailed and black as anything before them. It closes with a re-working of Later On's "Oh Jenny" that isn't that different from the original.

[edit] Track Listing:

Tell Me When – 2:13
Left The Beach Last Sunday – 2:14
Bells and Voices – 2:28
Faye – 2:55
Wrong Time – 2:22
Voices in the Dark – 1:53
Green Dreams – 2:11
Blind Cat – 2:51
Georgia East – 2:35
May 3 – 2:48
Nine-Thirty – 2:41
This is a Death Dream – 5:09
Tumblings – 2:33
You Didn't Lie – 2:02
Oh Jenny – 2:08

[edit] Album Cover Description

Blurry photo of a man seated in a folding chair in front of a house... The house is at an oblique angle, indicating that the photo was taken in the corner of the yard.

The man is smiling? squinting?... looking off camera to his left. His arms appear to be crossed across his stomach. He is wearing a collared shirt.. buttoned to the top. His shirt is untucked. His legs shifted causally in the direction of his glance.

Something is strange about his feet. Look at the ankle and "shoe." More than anything, it looks like his feet are partially hanging out of some slippers.

The flowers are meticulously maintained (flower type?) The wrought iron fencing will figure prominently in future album covers. The curtains are drawn... but the door appears open.