Swell Maps: Classic or Dud?

What everyone says, once again. Hmmm. Should dig them out again.

agreed... the appeal is the parallel universes they could easily inhabit... only one half at a time would be short changing...

that Wastrels CD sure does suck, agreed. guess there was no bottom left in the barrel.

I just turned some musician friends on to them and they are way into it.

Steer clear of the Secretly Canadian reissues of Jane and Marineville. Even to my (decidedly non-audiophile) ears they sound overloud and badly compressed. The Mute issues are still pretty easy to get a hold of, and they're loaded with bonus tracks to boot.

Steer clear of the Secretly Canadian reissues of Jane and Marineville.

Interesting -- I wondered about that. I'd downloaded "Midget Submarines" sample mp3 from the SC site while at work once and remembered it sounding somewhat different from the Mute cds at home.

And yeah that Wastrels disc was a letdown. I wish they'd pull together the peel session tracks (some were on Whatever Happens Next, some are floating around the internet) and any other radio tracks.

Does anyone know where the b&w video-looking footage from the "Midget Submarines" video that SC put together came from? It looks like they're actually playing MS on television somewhere (based on what I can make out of Epic's drumming).

re: Mute reissues vs. SC reissues:

other pro-Mute-version points are noted earlier in the thread as well, buyer beware.

how about a BOX SET already? just keep packing crap on cds until you hit 10 discs' worth.

"Tokyo Airport"!!!! This sounds like some lost krautrock gem or something. So awesome.

You guys seriously, this song.

These lads need some proper expanded reissues - there's lots of good bits scattered amongst compilations and umpteenth reissues of their albums.

weren't there expanded reissues a few years ago? i can't remember. i've just got old copies of these records.

Yeah, Secretly Canadian reissued the two albums proper a few years ago, but wth fewer extra tracks than the 1989 Mute reissues. For example, the Mute version has 22 tracks, while the SC version only has 16 total; the fantastic "Let's Build A Car" is on Mure, but not SC.

So far I have both SC reissues, Train Out of It, and International Rescue. Not sure which of the other compilations I need.

weird how "let's build a car" is on a video on the SC Jane reissue but not as a track

It gives me a total headache trying to figure out whether I've got everything by these boys or not.

this x 100.

There's another Alive comp titled "Sweep the desert", focused on the more krautrock/avant garde side of the band. Hardly essential, but if I remember well there was a couple of tracks that didn't appear elsewhere.

yeah i guess i've got the mute reissues?

Everyone's Mute issues OK? My 'bought when they came out' versions are suffering from disc rot, so I keep looking at copies online wondering if they're more recent pressings or I'm going to open the shrink rap to find a bronzed disc inside.

I *finally* tracked down a CD copy of "Collision Time Revisited" at a good price. I've got the Mute CDs of their two albums - do I need "Train Out Of It"? I'm not sure what's on there that I don't already have.

probably, that stuff is SO confusing. but iirc there are things on the Mute version that you can't get anywhere else.

yeah it (Mute version) has "Doomette", "Clear The Floor", "Cave Dwellers", "Dresden Style", etc.

My question that killed this thread in 2010 still stands BTW.

Hmm, I have Train Out Of It and A Trip To Marineville on Mute, I'd better check them later on, then I might be able to answer :)

my Mute Jane is fine; bought it when it came out. my Restless C.T. Revisited, however, skips.

yeah all my Mute CDs are fine, I have Jane... and Train Out Of It.

Mine are OK too but I realised I haven't listened to them in years so they've gone on my listening pile, so thanks anyway!

What's on "Train", demos and early stuff? Is it any good?

I would say it was essential cos it has their non-album singles on it but they may be on other comps as well, their discography is such a mess.

Looks like it has quite a lot of crossover with Collision Time Revisited, at least the first half. But that doesn't have Dresden Style on it.

Why Tyler you good soul

http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/51646809404/swell-maps-peel-sessions-personnel-biggles

nice! just the other day i realized it'd been too long since my last listen through my faves. this'll give me a reason to have a swell maps revival.

great stuff -- seems weird they've only put out a handful of these officially (and never on CD afaik).

damn I was just listening to jane from occupied europe yesterday

Did the 2013 Mute cd releases get a remaster or is that just the Secretly Canadian versions. I've been meaning to pick up copies of their material for a while and want to get the best cd versions.

Can anyone recommend other rock bands/songs with a driving "pulse," similar to SM traxx like "Midget Submarines" and "Full Moon in My Pocket"? (I guess a much more recent example would be Parquet Courts' "Stoned & Starving"...) Thx!

The outro to "Stoned & Starving" actually v. similar to the "Full Moon (Reprise)"

Maybe a few here: That Motorik Beat

"Full Moon" is really just "Mother Sky" surely?

Kewl, thanks. I've dipped into Can, but it's never really gelled for me (not "rock" enough, or something). Will check it out again...

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever can get that sound going pretty well.

this is very 'midget submarine' - the gordons' 'future shock' which i think came out about a year after marineville:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDKGkWU0lWQ

that's a great call!

there's probably a lot more NZ stuff that would fit tbh, but my knowledge isn't that deep

oh yeah this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3huT9iemFTg

The Dead C - Bad Politics

(that's off their first 7" btw, a lot of the rest of their stuff isn't really quite as rocking as that)

going backwards in time, you get things like this from 1975 iirc which is maybe more in the vein of stuff like 'helicopter spies':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnG_pwzSgmU&t=177s

Simply Saucer - Illegal Bodies

Thanks, all! The gtr solo in that Simply Saucer track is pretty gnarly... (never heard of this band).

There's a band history called Heavy Metalloid Music by Jesse Locke that i've been meaning to get. Hoped my girlfriend could pick up a copy in NYC on her last trip but couldn't find it.
Cyborgs Revisited is a good compilation and has that track on it.

I'm listening to "Cyborgs Revisited" online now... it sounds like the missing link between the first Royal Trux LP, Cleveland-scene basement scuzz, and, I dunno, Boston (the band).

they were kind of canada's sci-fi answer to the velvet underground. kind of.

produced by Daniel Lanois too.

& the band name is more of a reference to Pink Floyd's 2nd lp I think.

Also thought i heard about ping Romany being compared to the Hawkwind electronic guys not sure if that was conscious on his part .

Anyone have further info on the new "Mayday Signals" release: https://www.discogs.com/Swell-Maps-MayDay-Signals/release/18527167

Such as - are these demos, single versions, wot?