Where do I start? I watched some shit on YouTube and it honestly seemed pretty monotonous and boring. But they are cited as a huge influence by everyone and I liked some of the new Jarboe shit I heard, which was more dynamic. I could hear maybe where Ministry got some influence for their percussion sound from the stuff I heard on YouTube…
So…you’d never heard SWANS before.
(shocked silence)
Wow! You’ve really been missing out. Their back catalogue is amazing - so diverse it’s not funny.
Probably one of my top ten fave bands ever. I’ve been a fan for around 18 years.
I started with Love Of Life and loved it. It’s pretty dark with a lot of creepy sample pieces in between songs. I find the early noisy stuff pretty dull, but the later, more accoustic stuff is right up my alley. I’d say The Great Annihilator would be a good starting place as well.
SWANS
Not for the faint of heart. Or the faint of mind, for that matter.
Took me a LONG time to ‘get’ them, but when I finally DID…Mother Of Mercy!!!
Cop is a masterpiece. As is Filth and Holy Money.
Later period is much more accessible…but no less worthy.
Yes, Great Annihilator is best place to begin. You can’t go wrong there.
I dread the day when my Swans farewell tour t-shirt is no longer wearable.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s hard to go wrong with a first Swans purchase. I mean, since most of the albums have been paired up for reissues, you’re bound to get something you’ll like.
But I guess it depends what you’re going for. Since you’re a guy who seems to like his rock music noisy I’d go with either the Filth/Body to Body, Job to Job discs, or the Cop/Young God/Greed/Holy Money release. If you’re up for a little more… traditional song structure (or if you like Angels of Light), then Various Failures is a fine sampler.
The best one to start with if you’re a Jarboe man is their master work “White Light Of Infinity”. You’ll have to download it via itunes though as you’ll find it damn near impossible to find and if you do find it it’ll be very VERY expensive.
The other great one is the Bill Laswell produced “Burning World”. Michael Gira is indifferent to this album but regardless it is one of the best. This is Swans at their most “mellow” if you can call it that. Again this is impossible to find.
All of the stuff listed is killer though. It just doesn’t get any heavier than Cop and Filth…although the repeatative pounding skull crushing nature of the early stuff is a bit too much for most…so like I said if you like Jarboe go for the ones I mention first.
‘Various Failures’ is quality stuff. Later Swans is often described as what Joy Division would have been like if Curtis hadn’t topped himself and they had continued. The singing is certainly Curtis alright and you can hear Joy Division in the music but its not as immediate as Joy Division (not that you would describe JD as “immediate”). There are many great songs on Various Failures and ive found it to be great reading music.
The earlier Swans has its moments (Greed/Holy Money) but is a bit too skewed for my liking. Could have been better with a little less carelessness and a little more direction. But you can certainly see what JKB got out of it.
There is still more of Swans I need to go through though. Might give Filth a run through again. The first few songs stood out for me but then it lost it.
The other great one is the Bill Laswell produced “Burning World”. Michael Gira is indifferent to this album but regardless it is one of the best. This is Swans at their most “mellow” if you can call it that. Again this is impossible to find.
There is a record store here in Melbourne which has that album up on their wall - vinyl, mint condition. I think it’s selling for around $60.
Will probably go and pick it up next week. They also have the World Of Skin (side project) album on vinyl too, which I may grab. They’re probably two of Swans least impressive albums, but still worth getting.
Also, check this out:
http://www.foreverdoomed.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=199&start=780
Oh YES!!!
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The other great one is the Bill Laswell produced “Burning World”. Michael Gira is indifferent to this album but regardless it is one of the best. This is Swans at their most “mellow” if you can call it that. Again this is impossible to find.
There is a record store here in Melbourne which has that album up on their wall - vinyl, mint condition. I think it’s selling for around $60.
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$60 is really cheap for that. I’d buy it in a flash dude. The cd alone is going for £60 ($150ish) on Amazon so the vinyl is worth a hell of a lot more! Also Discogs.com don’t have a copy of it on vinyl which really does let you know it’s hard to aquire. It’s easily my fav Swans album along with the legendary “White Light Of Infinity”.
Also, check this out:
http://www.foreverdoomed.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=199&start=780
HOLY. COW.
!!!
My opinion of the Swans is that they’re an amazing one of a kind band that has a mind-crushing dark vibe around them.
And I’ve only heard Great Annihilator in full. So there’s your answer.
I forgot I had my burnt copy of it in my back pocket once and I sat on it and broke it. I don’t think I’ll bother downloading the rest, I’ll hear them when I get around to buying them album by album on amazon or something. Soon.
I liked the Swans “White Light” period a whole lot until I started listening to Leonard Cohen, who shows the immaturity in Gira’s lyrics. Cohen looks into the same dark corners but with wisdom, wit and a wry smile, in comparison Mikey Gira comes across like a whiny emo kid rolling around like a pig in his failure. If the lyrics weren’t so front and center with a lot of Swans from that time, I could ignore the high school angst… I still love the long droning rock pieces with the sampled found sound people talking.
I still like early period Swans but don’t really want to put myself through the punishment of listening to them very often these days.
I liked the Swans “White Light” period a whole lot until I started listening to Leonard Cohen, who shows the immaturity in Gira’s lyrics. Cohen looks into the same dark corners but with wisdom, wit and a wry smile, in comparison Mikey Gira comes across like a whiny emo kid rolling around like a pig in his failure. If the lyrics weren’t so front and center with a lot of Swans from that time, I could ignore the high school angst… I still love the long droning rock pieces with the sampled found sound people talking.
I still like early period Swans but don’t really want to put myself through the punishment of listening to them very often these days.
Yeah listening to their early stuff really does require alot of dedicated commitment!
I don’t really agree with the Leonard Cohen comparison though…Swans were a nihilistic depressing sound whereas Leonard was just a depressing sound.
What do you think of Gira’s lyrical output on Angels Of Light??
The lyrics I usually find funny because they are just so intentionally depressing.
The worst thing a recovering alcoholic could do is listen to ‘Alcohol the seed’. If that doesn’t knock 'em off the wagon they’ve got mettle.
Michael Gira is a sissy boy cream pie.
Apparently his favourite movie is The Bridges Of Madison County.
^ Just…whatever. Again, you’re SOOOOOO funny. Ha, freaking ha.
Omniscience is what it’s all about, and the place anyone should start, if interested. You can follow the progression from there, into the heavier/less accessible stuff. FANTASTIC album.
is it holy money that begins with some song where theres a loop and gira frequently repeats ‘i feel for you’? myself and a lady fiend used to have sex to that cassete and the people in the apartment next to ours were convinced we were psycho-sadist being that the walls were paper thin
This is retardedly late and maybe it was already mentioned but according to this article http://brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7536&Itemid=1 Swans could be reforming. Has anyone else heard of this or is it just wind?