I actually really like Greed, and Heaven. I listen to it with my decent sound system and the percussive rattling shakes my house without having the bass that loud. There's just something haunting about my whole house vibrating with Gira screaming. I like how disturbing it is, I love the infrasound.
I had similar thoughts about The Glowing Man until I listened to it much more often. Now I think it's super unique and wouldn't have closed out the trilogy any other way.
Yeah, I agree. I really didn't care for the album too much when I first heard it, but for some reason I just kept coming back to it over and over again. After about 30 or so listens it's arguably my favorite of the trilogy, and one of my favorite albums ever. I think it's an album you really have to familiarize yourself with to properly enjoy it because there's so many little details going on.
Finally somebody else who thinks My Father is woefully underrated! My Father is fucking AMAZING, No Words/No Thoughts is still one of my favorite swans songs
That song was my introduction to Swans, and to this day remains (imo) the single most compelling and terrifying piece of music ever recorded. That whole ep is massive
i think my father is a great album, but it has a glaring flaw that you can only really hear on the next live album "We Rose from Your Bed with the Sun in Our Head". The band didnt play those songs to an audience and develop them further. songs like Jim, No words/no thoughts, Eden Prison, etc, are just so fucking hard and fantastic. i just wish they coulda toured before they recorded that album
My ranking (only studio efforts. Swans are Dead and Deliquescence would top my chart otherwise). For clarification a 9/10 is an album I think is a masterpiece and is pretty much perfect. A 10/10 is an album that transcends music for me and/or I have a deep personal connection with. 15. Greed (6/10) 14. Cop (6/10) 13. Holy Money (7/10) 12. The Burning World (7/10) 11. Filth (8/10) 10. leaving meaning. (8/10) 9. My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky (8/10) 8. Love of Life (8/10) 7. Children of God (9/10) 6. To Be Kind (9/10) 5. White Light From the Mouth of Infinity (9/10) 4. The Seer (10/10) 3. The Great Annihilator (10/10) 2. The Glowing Man (10/10) 1. Soundtracks for the Blind (10/10)
I started on To Be Kind and I have to say. How I felt was that To Be Kind was so amazing and overwhelming it just overwhelms you to much to listen to a different Swans albums.
Yeah. I don't understand why people hate Burning World so much. The only thing they fall victim to is just sounding similar to things already created (Burning World), or sounding similar to things like Angels of Light (My Father...).
White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity never tops anyone’s list but there’s not a fucking weak track on that album. The lyrics are (literally) out of this world, and the duality of beauty/terror is at its finest. Some of my favorite songs on that album. Is it my #1? I dunno, I don’t really go for numbering albums. But it’s up there with Soundtracks, etc. [Edit: Also, Love of Life *kicks ass* despite a lot of fans minimizing it. And agree about Swans Are Dead - every song is better than its studio version. ‘The Sound’ performed live is an epiphany.]
i think that it represents the “lost film soundtrack” idea because usually there would be something there but there isn’t anything there, just a blank nothingness
Here is my personal ranking of Swans albums: 1. The Glowing Man 2. The Seer 3. Soundtracks For The Blind 4. White Light from The Mouth of Infinity 5. To Be Kind 6.The Great Annihilator 7. Greed 8. Filth 9. Leaving Meaning 10. My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to The Sky 11. Cop 12. Children of God 13. Love of Life 14. Holy Money 15. The Burning World
Feel happiness is my favorte song of all time, and it is so special to me, no other song will give me that euphoria and also reduce me to tears. it has a personal meaning to me because of life experiences but im so glad you included Swans Are Dead here because that to me is one of the best albums ever
I keep hearing from ppl that later Swans records are where it's at, but I just can't seem to get past Greed & Holy Money. These two are my faves, and have been since their release(s). To me, these two records are some of the best things ever committed to tape.
You should take a look at King Crimson discography. They are really hard to get but they are worth it! I'm selling out, obviously. But, if you were to do it I'll watch your video. Oh yeah, great video. Keep it up dude.
Fantastic upload! Interestingly enough I found all of your channels because of the “Anthony Fantano copied me!” meme video you did. Since then I’ve been binge watching all of your videos lol Have you heard that Michael Gira is doing a remix and remastering of STFTB?
I'm always apprehensive when Michael Gira gets to remastering Swans albums, because without fail he fucks with the album in some way. Often times that means some songs are different versions than they initially were, or he will needlessly add tracks, or anything else. Hopefully he will be tactful with Soundtracks. I am excited for that either way, and I hope it finally gets on vinyl (even though it'll have to at least be a 4xLP).
Great Video! Totally agree with you on The Burning World being an underrated gem. I'm not trying to be some kind of contrarian hipster, it just resonates with me.
Since everyone is sharing their ranking, here's mine 1. The Glowing Man 2. To Be Kind 3. Soundtracks For The Blind 4. The Seer 5. The Great Annihilator 6. White Light from the Mouth of Infinity 7. Children of God 8. My Father Will Guide me up a Rope to the Sky 9. Leaving Meaning 10. Filth 11. Greed 12. Love of Life 13. Holy Money 14. Cop 15. The Burning world
Well, my ranking: 1. Filth 2. To Be Kind 3. The Seer 4. Holy Money 5. Soundtracks for the Blind 6. Children of God 7. The Great Annihilator 8. Cop 9. Greed 10. The Glowing Man 11. My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky 12. Love of Life 13. White Light From the Mouth of infinity 14. The Burning World
really liked this, watched the whole thing and love the way you describe music. strooongly disagree with the glowing man tho..but opinions are opinions i guess, subbed.
My Personal Swans Ranking: 14. The Burning World (68%) 13. My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky (69%) 12. Filth (78%) 11. Greed (79%) 10. Holy Money (79%) 9. Love of Life (81%) 8. The Great Annihilator (86%) 7. White Light From the Mouth of Infinity (86%) 6. The Glowing Man (88%) 5. Cop (93%) 4. The Seer (96%) 3. Soundtracks for the Blind (100%) 2. To Be Kind (100%) 1. Children of God (100%) (To Be Kind and Children of God are interchangeable)
How could you not include Young God EP, Public Castration is a Good Idea live and Body to Body Job to Job compilation? Fucking heaviest SWANS material ever.
Like I said, I only go over the studio albums in these retrospectives. I only included Swans Are Dead because it is truly one of the best live recordings of all time so I couldn't leave it out. It feels essential to their discography as opposed to feeling like a side-project to check out if you're a fan. I made sure to mention Young God in the Cop section but truth be told I'm not crazy about it. That may not be surprising given that I don't really care for Cop or Greed all that much. As for Public Castration, I actually still haven't listened to it. I think I've been avoiding it because I assume it won't interest me much the same way that Cop or Greed don't interest me. I've heard the Body to Body compilation and I had no reason to mention it being that it's a compilation and that it's full of such lo-fi recordings to the point that I don't get much out of it.
I know it’s an old video at this point but would love to have heard your thoughts on Public Castration, I think it’s the peak of their 80’s no wave sound
My top 6 essential albums would be "White Light From...", "The Great Annihilator", "Soundtracks For The Blind", "The Seer", "The Glowing Man" and "leaving meaning." I just think To Be Kind is overrated, but still great. I only like The Seer and The Glowing Man more because they are more fantasy-ish and transcendental while To Be Kind is very centered around human fucked-up-ness. Actually, I think sound-wise, Soundtracks For the Blind and The Glowing Man have many things in common. Both use keyboards more often than other Swans albums. I just think To Be Kind is overrated, but still great. I only like The Seer and The Glowing Man more because they are more fantasy-ish and transcendental while To Be Kind is very centered around human fucked-up-ness. I also noticed that Swans do albums in a four-album-row. Their first four albums (EPs incorporated) are the industrial sludge era. The next four are the folk-gothic era. Then the theory sucks because after The great Annihilator and Soundtracks (which also sound similar in some ways, at least for me) they stopped. And then from 2010 onward their next four albums became the post-rock megalith album era. So if they continue within that scheme, then leaving meaning is the new first act of a new tetralogy.
Also, a personal ranking: 15. Love of Life 14. My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky 13. The Burning World 12. The Great Annihilator 11. White Light From the Mouth of Infinity 10. Filth 9. Greed 8. Cop 7. Children of God 6. The Seer 5. Public Castration is a Good Idea 4. The Glowing Man 3. Holy Money 2. Soundtracks for the Blind 1. To Be Kind (favourite album of all time)
Dig your enthusiasm for this one of a kind band. Their whole catalogue is equivalent to growing some type of food - start with the dirt and fertilizer and blossoming into a crop of life giving enjoyment.
I completely agree with you on your take on "My Father (...)". I think it's an absolutely fantastic record and - controversially - probably the Swans record I've listened to the most.
1. Soundtracks for the Blind 2. The Glowing Man 3. To Be Kind 4. White Light From the Mouth of infinity 6. The Seer (My favourite Swans song: Mother of the World) 7. The Great Annihilator 8. My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky 9. Children Of God 10. Greed 11. Love of Life 12. Holy Money 13. Cop 14. Filth 15. The Burning World (never heard the full project) Thats how my ranking goes. Mind you I have only listened to the Swans for about a year, so a list like this is somewhat premature..
Holy shit. I felt like I just didn't get The Glowing Man. I've been trying to get into it but it's one of my personal least favorites. Favorite SWANS album: Soundtracks
Fantastic review! although i think the song (She's A) Universal Emptiness is great, but would have been better if had a more powerful sound & louder drums etc.. Burning World suffered from generic muso people playing on it. IMO
Funny that both of my favourite songs from Greed and Holy Money (Heaven and Another You) are your least favourite, but your favourites from Filth and Cop are also my favourites
I have a physical copy of almost every Swans album. The one I cant find at a decent price and I really want is Soundtracks for the Blind. So the fact that is one of two of our 10's really sucks. Great album.
@@ethanm2000 Thanks haha, I think I commented this before my headfirst deepdive into Swans, I used this vid to gain an overview on their massive discography. I'm now a massive fan, especially of their later period.
KirbyBulborb actually going through his channel more, he did a retrospective on neutral milk hotel and they only have two albums so it is possible that he could do it with nirvana
@@Blackoudmusic Nah man, PCIAGI is way better than Greed and Holy Money. Holy Money proved that the no wave sound of Swans was getting old and something just needed to be put forward. Thankfully Children of God and other fantastic records from Swans happened.
This guy, you, obviously haven't listened to alot of music. Of you were your age when these came out, you'd have a much different opinion so maybe consider that
@@shannonm.townsend1232 If your goal is to appreciate all music then you will need multiple lifetimes. But just one band? One at the very most will do.
"What?! This guy has a different opinion than me? Nah he's wrong because he hasn't 'done his research' and wasn't born in a certain period of time (something which I can't hold him accountable for but will still do)." Fuck off.
