Swans: Classic or Dud?

I wonder if anyone remembers "Public Castration Is A Good Idea", another live (and double) album like "Feel Good Now". Strangely I don't remember anything about it at all, except that it had material from the first part of their career. I do remember that the sleeve was gray at its base with yellow and silver put in or something like that. Damn I wish I had that LP now!

I saw someone recently somewhere on the net who said they couldn't concentrate on Cop if they tried or some paraphrased thing like that, and I totally agreed. Cop is hard to bear, even though I love everything else they've done. Except I admit the first EP is a totally different thing and rather dull, as it happens.

yep - just listened to it about a month ago too

http://swans.pair.com/IMG_PRODUCTS/public.jpg

Fuck goddamnit yeah
HOW I MISS THE VINYL!
I MIGHT CRY!

( review by Mr. Ned)

Who doesn't like Cop?!?!?!?

Public Castration... is now quite rare (as are -- sadly -- many albums in their catalog).

...but, I should point out, it can be had it its unwieldly entiretly (sonically, at least) via iTunes.

entirety

Does anybody get made very very sleepy by early Swans (which is so beautiful I could never force myself to listen to the later stuff, I only have an imagined version in my head but some things can't be corrupted). Seriously, Cop is really relaxing, the louder the better, obv.

Haven't listened to it for years, but, yes, I can see what you mean. Works like massage.

I fell asleep at a bus stop once with it on my headphones. I had to walk three hours in the dark to get home (I got cold hitching) with a bag.

probably of interest:

http://www.theomegaorder.com/s.nl/it.A/id.18990/.f

Nice.

Yesterday a copy of Anonymous Bodies sold on eBay for $160...

I couldn't really get in to the J2 album. Not like I got into the Neurosis/Jarboe album. I think I was hoping for more rock and less Justin as beatscaper stuff.

has anybody seen that youtube video where some guy has put Cop to a slideshow of Paris Hilton photos

I FINALLY GOT SWANS ARE DEAD I FINALLY GOT SWANS ARE DEAD I FINALLY GOT SWANS ARE DEAD I FINALLY GOT SWANS ARE DEAD I FINALLY GOT SWANS ARE DEAD I FINALLY GOT SWANS ARE DEAD I FINALLY GOT SWANS ARE DEAD I FINALLY

Good, innit?

Fuck yeah are you kidding? I'm flipping my lid.

Swans Are Dead is fucking great, one of my favorite live collections ever. nice choice Bimble.!

Cop is hard to bear, even though I love everything else they've done. Except I admit the first EP is a totally different thing and rather dull, as it happens.

this is fucking crazy talk. granted the remixed version on the filth cd is garbage, but have you ever heard the original vinyl release?

Classic!

I remember when I first heard Children of God and I thought it was creepy and I guess 'over the top' but listening right now I only hear the beautiful.

Hi ya people,

I've got these SWANS shows,wanted video shows I don't have

AUDIO
CIRCUS MORT(pre-SWANS) E.P. 1981 20' *

Danceteria,NYC ?-?-84 20Â’

Danceteria,NYC ?-?-84 40Â’

The Roxy,L.A.,CA 14-3-86 45'

LA,CA 21-12-85 30Â’

Burgerhuis,Deventer,Holland 24-2-85 40Â’ CASS

electric banana,Pittsburgh,PA 6-10-83 35'

sin club,NY 1982 50'

the rat,Boston,MA 3-5-86 60'

live at sin club/CBGB/Pyramid club,NY 1982-1983 80'

kitchen,NYC 1982 or 1983 25'

Holy Money Tour,Live in Europe 1986 50Â’

Berlin ?-?-84 5Â’

the loft,Berlin? 24-2-97 75Â’

Amsterdam ?-?-88 50Â’

BRNO radio? 2-9-87 40Â’

Warszawa,Polsnd ?-?-86 or 87 45Â’

Variety Theater,Atlanta 29-1-97 75Â’

Errols,Sweden 21-8-87 20Â’

Ljubljana,Yugoslavia FM radio 16-3-86 or 85 35Â’

At the Limelight,NYC(Great Annihilator Tour) 4-7-1992 90Â’

VIDEO
(V)Paradiso,Amsterdam x-x-1986 40Â’

(V)Philadelphia,PA ?-?-1986 40'(Incomplete) DVD

(V)Holy Money Tour DVD

(V)long low screen (o) 1985 60'(33) DVD

(V)Interview+live acoustic 1985 2 songs,snubTV 10'(51)

(V)24-2-86 Nurnberg,West Germany 50Â’ DVD{10}*

(V)15-8-87 konopf,Music Hall,Hamburg,Germany 15'(97) NTSC

(V)x-x-87 Warsaw?,Poland 55'(97) NTSC

(V)Arena,Vienna,Austria 6-8-88 65Â’ DVD

(V)29-8-89 Reading Fest.,UK 60'(97) NTSC DVD{10}*

(V)21-8-89 PowerHouse,Islington,UK 80Â’ DVD

(V)x-6-89 Arenna,Vienna,Austria 80' (97) NTSC

(V)Los Angeles 1989 or 90?? 30Â’ DVD

(V)15-9-95 Markthalle,Hamburg,Germany 60'(97) NTSC

(V)Paradiso,Amsterdam 13-3-97 70Â’ DVD

(V)Schlachthof,Bremen,Germany 12-3-97 65Â’ DVD

(V)Love will tear us apart clip 5'(97) NTSC

(V)Love of life clip 5'(97) NTSC

(V)Skin clip 5'(97) NTSC

(V)Screw clip 5'(97) NTSC

(V)Love of Life 1992 MTV Special clips+Amnesia live Edinburgh 14Â’ DVD{10}*

(V)Int.+Live HideawayÂ’s,Toronto 1995? 10Â’ DVD

You know there's a ton of live CDRs for sale here, don't you?

http://swans.pair.com/prod_frameset.html

good taste in music, poor judgment

RIP

Digging this new track!
http://thequietus.com/articles/04724-michael-gira-review-new-swans-album-my-father-will-guide-me-up-a-rope-to-the-sky

This is gonna be real nice I believe....

fragments of all the tracks here: http://younggodrecords.com/Releases/Detail.asp?C=2343

5. You Fucking People Make Me Sick (5:08)

lol

psyched for this

This should be AWESOME. I have very high expectations.

if the album art and this http://new.assets.thequietus.com/images/articles/4724/swans_headshots_large_1280489291_crop_550x532.jpeg are any indication, it's going to be fucking epic

Swans were the most important band of my life in the 80s and 90s and I can't express in words how much this resurrection, which I never expected to happen, means to me.

There's a more active thread here:

Classic or Dud: Swans

I love those headshots, that is one fucking band you don't want to meet in a dark alley.

That top middle photo is *really* like a Lucien Freud painting.

yeah that's Christoph Hahn who played guitar on my favourite Swans album White Light from the Mouth of Infinity.

What the fuck happened to him?! He was fairly handsome 20 years ago, he can't be that old...

top right is actually one of the nicest dudes on the entire planet

bottom middle is a peach too

I love those headshots, that is one fucking band you don't want to meet in a dark alley.

a girl I knew roadie'd for both swans and sonic youth back in their early years, she said the sonic youth van was usually quiet + somber whereas in the swans van they were always cracking up and having a good time

in the swans van they were always cracking up and having a good time

Concur, I was a crew member for Swans in 1997 and a good time was indeed had on the tour bus.

Which one is Thor? none of those guys look like the smiley happy dude I saw playing with Shearwater/

God, I am just so completely out the top of my head with anticipation at seeing them.

Thor is first row, all the way to the right

Is Thor still in Shearwater? They're touring in October and November as well, presumably on the days Swans aren't playing?

saw thor play with lisa germano years ago and it was one of the best shows ever. never saw him with AOL.

new album is so good. not knocking soundtracks for the blind but this is in the same sublime league as white light from the mouth of infinity and love of life. how is this man 56 and still getting better?

pretty much what i said on the other swans thread. not as good as white light or LOL but its got that same sound that i love.

didn't see the other thread. in hindsight those two albums sort of play like akron/family precursors, and working with those guys in angels of light has left its mark on him, for sure. still, i may miss jarboe. no complaints though about this new one whatsoever

it's great. i never really listened to akron/family. like i said on other thread, i respected the AOL stuff and thought it "sounded" great, but i never played the albums much. hearing new swans just reminds me how much i've played my swans albums over the years. the sound is so addictive to me. new album has a little more digital-ness than i like. when i turn it up loud it starts to break up a bit, but i still dig it. in the past, i always thought gira was one of the most underrated producers/arrangers/engineers of sound that i can think of. i never read things where people rave about the sound of the stuff he does - yes, how "heavy" it is or whatever - but i can't think of many people who have made better sounding records over the last 20 years or so. in the "rock" field anyway. and definitely VERY few people in the u.s. that i can think of.

gira's been sort of the eno of the 90s/00s. his talent scouting and producing since swans closed shop is pretty mind boggling, and how silly the ubiquitous devendra can be has kind of cast a pall on the awesome angels of light-akron/family collaborations. but anyways, be that as it may, to my ears this new one amplifies what he's been up to with akron/family. it expands on we are him, takes the gloves off. i'm almost scared to listen to it again

conversely, I can't stop listening to it. f'kn brilliant.