Filth is great. I like Children of God/World of Skin too.
Overall fantastic band, can't wait for the "reunion".

the reunion thing is bullshit, hardly anyone that mattered and gira hasn't played in a while will be involved.

A pretty underated album is Omniscience. Its a live show from '92 I think featuring mostly songs from White Light / Love of Life but as per usual most of the songs are modifyed/cut up almost beyond recognition. Awesome sound quality and the songs are all mixed together giving it a rad as flow. Been cranking that one heaps of late.

I'm actually not sure what you are sayin here. Rephrase please.

=Reunions sucks ass.

They died after Holy Money, Harry Crosby left and Jarboe was in and that was it.

Swans reunion??! a "clay band"???


Swans - Cop

get into this car. get into this car.
bow your head down. your flesh is soft.
your flesh is clay. flesh is easy to shape.
flesh is easy to shape. get into your cell.
get into your bed. your flesh is soft.
your flesh is clay. flesh is easy to shape.
flesh is easy to shape. now you're a clay man.

You REALLY need to get Children of God, which is the Apex between the old Swans and the heavily Jarboized World of Skin and Mouth of Infinity stuff.

Y'know, I don't agree with the commonly held idea that it was Jarboe that changed them. I think they would've gone that way anyway, look at the fact that Gira's solo stuff has all been way closer to the Swans later period than any of Jarboe's really is.

Yeah, but I think she changed him more than she changed them. He still called the shots but from a new perspective. Would he have found it without her? Who could ever know?

Ooooooooh good point.

besides "reunions are bullshit"?

is gira going to reunite with the original lineup? are they gonna do cop/young god/filth? or is this going to be another lineup of angels of light but now calling it swans and doing "i crawled" every once in a while?

I'd actually prefer a combo of both: Reunited early lineup makes new music, with the occasional oldie thrown in on tour.

I don't want to see the original band rehash the older stuff (a la Pixies); nor do I want to see Gira drive the good name of Swans into the ground all by himself (a la Billy Corgan).

totally agreed, but what are the chances of this happening?

Slim to none, my friend!

Well I doubt it's going to be just Gira. Surely he'd at least get Jarboe.

Better than you might think. I'm not betting it will work out, but I was blown away by how good the reunited Mission of Burma was, including great new songs on The Obliterati. It can happen if the musicians aren't all burnt out and just doing it because they have no other choice to eat.

Really? You think a good band can ruin their own name? Smashing Pumpkins weren't ever all that great, originally.

How (i.e. by what method) does a good band ruin it's name? This sounds to me as though this has more to do with the hipness of the band's credibility rather than the music itself. Does the actions of a band generations after the fact really effect your opinion of the original material? The sounds more like your problem than the band's.

Well, Gira pretty explicitly said that while he would not be going at all for a straight "reunion" (scratch the Pixies route), he would be picking up where Soundtracks for the Blind and the final tours left off... Which, I would think, is very good news. If, that is, he can get Jarboe on board... Otherwise, I have serious doubts. Not that it will be bad so much as that it will not be... Swans.

You tell me that Smashing Pumpkins weren't all that good to begin with (an opinion that many would share with you) and then go on about hipster credibility? If you knew me you wouldn't be making these accusations as I really could care less about popular opinion OR underground/hipster opinion... I like what sounds good to my ears.

Having said that, a band can ruin their good name for me and/or the public in general. Just check out all the articles and blogs about how Billy Corgan has done nothing but embarrass himself these last 10 years (especially with this recent Pumpkins fiasco). This doesn't destroy the band's early output, but it certainly can create a stigma around a band's name. I for one think Adore is an outright masterpiece and have continued to enjoy Corgan's stuff including his gorgeous solo record right thru to the Zwan album. This recent Pumpkins mess is too much, even for me, however. It will make it hard for me to take anything that he/the band puts out in the future seriously.

and how is it going to work? he's going to play on one stage and she on another?

last i heard, mere months ago, was that they hated each other still.


i listened to both their reunion albums when they came out and though they were boring as hell.

they could still pack a punch live, i don't know, but on record, yach!!


well, in billy corgan's case, he took a decent band (at worse) and made it just a name to attract people (i did see the reunion, and it was fun listening to the old songs i already liked, but it was mostly because with such an amazing drummer, he couldn't fail).

the pixies reunion was horrible because those guys didn't bother to rehearse, let alone gather enough enthusiasm to give a shit about playing. mostly it sucks because it's bands that can't play as hard and passionate as they could when they were younger. or they just don't care as much anymore.

that thing about credibility is bullshit, it can propel a tour and album, but if the band isn't playing well, then sorry but that makes it worthless.

the two reunions that sound really great live, and right where they left off, are dinosaur jr and brutal truth. in my opinion.

Re: Gira and Jarboe

I read an interview done in the last 5 years where she spoke quite fondly about Gira; talking about how he shaped her as a musician.

Even if they're not best buds, at least she respects him as an artist. Hopefully he feels the same way and they get their shit together and make some more real music!

About Mission of Burma
See, I felt the same way about OnOffOn, but The Obliterati was something different. I felt like with the first one they were just trying to come to terms with playing together again and being who they used to be and shit, and it sounded like a digital version of the old days. The Obliterati smokes though, really shredding new songs with production that doesn't feel all big and alternative in all the wrong ways the way 90% of albums by bands who get back together do these days. Mind Burma never did on record what they do live and they'd be the first to say so. I saw The Obliterati tour and it was totally on. Roger looked overjoyed to be playing in the group again, massive plexi-glass wall in front of the drums to protect his ears and all!

Maybe I'm in the minority but I thought OnOffOn kicked major ass, sure, it might not be their best but still a great record, but then again I eat everything up Burma does with a spoon, no, TWO spoons, on some days three.

EDIT: And The Obliterati is just a downright fantastic album.

~Jeremy~

I haven't kept up with Jarboe/Gira drama for a while so assumed they had patched things up if Gira was talking about a reunion. Well, we know this much, there will be new songs so it won't be a Pixies-type thing.
I can't remember offhand, other than Micheal was anyone even in the band for the entire duration of it's existance?

And how are you not talking about credibility alone in that second paragraph? Even reunions aside, no band has an immaculate discography and even if one did have a discography that you enjoy in totality it doesn't preclude them from writing material that you wouldn't like in the future. I'm sorry, but fretting over the credibility of a band's entire career seems beside the point to me. The freedom I assume you appreciate in bands to experiment and grow also includes the right to do things which you wouldn't like, such as reuniting with half of the band and playing less sophisticated (?) music. If a band decides to reunite and tour, they're still turning on perhaps thousands of people on to their music despite your distaste of their new stuff. However, you simply can't choose to ignore the stuff because you feel it is some blemish on a reverse ownership you have over the pedestaled idea of a band.

Personally, I think bands that I like reuniting is awesome despite whether I like how they sound now or what new material they produce.

And yet their live material, though as lazily played as you claim, still melted some kid's face off who immediately bought all their earlier albums and is having the time of his life listening to Surfer Rosa over and over again.

Reuniting doesn't ruin a band's good name unless you allow it to.

I've heard a lot about this band, I should check it out....

I found this on a hentai site of all places:

Children of God is fantastic. The Great Annihilator is fantastic. Soundtracks For The Blind is fantastic. I can't really say which one I think is the best. I haven't listened that much to their earlier stuff, but most of it is great as well. Swans were awesome and I'd love a reunion.

holy fuck i'm going to shit my pants!

Because of Gira's penis?

COMING SOON, NEW SWANS ALBUM AND TOUR(S)

The song “Jim” recently added to the playlist is an acoustic demo (solo at home)
recording by michael gira. this, and many other new songs recorded in the same way comprise many of the new (rough versions) of songs under consideration,
to be fleshed out on the coming new swans album. a cd of these acoustic versions, as well as a live (2 shows) dvd of m.gira will be for sale very soon as a hand made (by gira) package called I Am Not Insane (CD/DVD). this package – in a limited edition of 1000 - will be sold in order to raise money for the swans recordings/offset the huge costs involved... check back here or at http://younggodrecords.com for ordering details and more information...coming soon...coming soon...

principal players on the swans album are (and there will be many special guests):

Michael Gira / gtr / voice / mendicant friar act (original swans)

Norman Westberg – Guitar (original swans)

Christophj Hahn – Guitar (mid period swans and most angels)

Phil Puleo – Drums, percussion, dulcimer etc etc (final swans tour and most angels)

Chris Pravdica – Bass and gadgets (flux information sciences / services/ gunga din)

Thor Harris, Drums, percussion, vibes, dulcimer, curios, etc etc... (angels, now also with shearwater)

Angels Of Light is temporarily on hold while gira pursues his “new” project...

(taken from Swans' myspace)

It's awesome news. Awesome news.

What about Jarboe? Maybe she's focused on her solo carrer at the moment, and will only appear as a "special guest"?

Or not at all. I don't know how they get along these days. It's too bad, for me she was an important part of Swans.

Mojo have posted dates for the upcoming tour:

SWANS play:

Cork, Cyprus Avenue (October 21)
Dublin, Button Factory (22)
Birmingham, Supersonic Festival (24)
Glasgow, Arches (25)
Brighton, Concorde 2 (27)
London, Koko Theatre (28)
Leeds, Uni Stylus (29)
Manchester Academy (30)

The Glasgow date is 18+ I think, that's so lame. James Blackshaw is supporting!

wow.

Where would I get a fake ID? I really want to go to this show.

18+ is such a waste of everyone's life. I found out the place where I saw everyone that came through Bristol (when I was 13-18) is 18+ now. Wankers.