When Michael Gira closed the door on Swans over ten years ago, the title of this album spelled out clearly that he was done with the concept. Swans have always taken perversity in their stride and the perversity of a (then) final, live album being their masterpiece fits comfortably within my view of their work. It is easy to scoff now and talk about the financial benefits of reunions but it is obvious from every note on this double live album that the sheer energy required to fuel the fires of a group like this could not last forever. Changes of life pushed him away from Swans and now a similar situation has caused him to abandon The Angels of Light in order to pick up the flame that burned at its brightest here.
Clanging bass chords ring out with the clear precision of the first tentative drops of a tropical storm on a placid sea. As "Feel Happiness" gains momentum, the drops become a torrent and the piece goes from crescendo to crescendo; the climax becoming a plateau of ecstatic sound. When it becomes almost too much, it breaks into a pleasant refrain and Gira’s voice breaks through the music: "I’m truly sorry for what I never did/But I forgive you too for your indifference." This was my gateway into Swans almost a decade ago and it shocked me with its graceful balance of lyricism and power. Even now, having amassed the rest of the Swans back catalogue, I would be hard pressed to pick an album ahead of Swans Are Dead (only Public Castration is a Good Idea comes close with the best of their studio albums coming in a pack afterwards).
The rest of the first disc covers the majority of a typical Swans setlist in 1997; new material like the aforementioned "Feel Happiness" rubbing shoulders with "greatest hits" like "I Am the Sun" and "I Crawled." However, Gira was unwilling to recreate the older songs as they were originally performed; the group radically revamped these pieces into entirely new musical statements. Jarboe replaces Gira on vocal duties on "I Crawled," turn the submissive lyrics on their head as she imbues the words with a strong, feminine conviction before unleashing the most startling vocals I have ever heard from a woman with the possible but not absolute exception of Diamanda Gal√°s.
The disc and indeed the original lifespan of Swans finished with a tremendous version of "Blood Promise" from The Great Annihilator. A looped recording of what sounds like The Yale Whiffenpoofs is the entrance way into this massively extended version of the song: "We are all little lambs who have lost our way – baa, baa, baa." The almost Disney-like arrangement weighed down with a religious conviction which matches the group’s own music remarkably well. Like this old song, Swans were wrapping their deep, bleak message in pretty music. "Blood Promise" is a perfect example of this as Gira’s words have a weight that is lifted easily by the poised melodies and rhythms. The group lock into a repetitive but shifting structure, building into a series of crescendos which I want to last forever (and I’m not alone, you can hear an audience member shout "Don’t stop!" near the end).
The second disc (documenting a show from 1995) follows a similarly styled set list as the first but with a heavier emphasis on Soundtracks for the Blind material. Again, older Swans songs are reworked into new forms but it is the material from Soundtracks for the Blind which impresses most here. It would be impossible to recreate an album like that in a live setting, yet I would argue that the selections made from that album work better here than in the studio. "The Sound" has a depth here which it never reaches on Soundtracks for the Blind and all of the musicians sound like they are playing for their lives; in particular Larry Mullins’ skilled mix of drumming and vibraphone is stark and achingly beautiful. After the song’s climax, Gira’s roar cuts through the music to paralyze us.
Like "I Crawled" on the first disc, "Your Property" is given a face lift on the second disc. Again, Jarboe takes control of the microphone and shifts the focus of the song away from the brute masculinity of the original. However, it does not work quite as well as "I Crawled" but is a worthy inclusion nonetheless. Jarboe and indeed the entire band come across much stronger on "Yum Yab;" the martial drum beat and reeling guitars bringing out an aggression in Jarboe which gives the song an intensity that was lacking in "Your Property."
As I stated recently, for me Swans have always been about the live albums from the roughly recorded to the higher fidelity concert recordings. Swans were (and hopefully will be) a band who worked best as a live unit. Along with Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s epic Weld and Fushitsusha’s various live documents, Swans Are Dead casts a large, imposing shadow on pretty much all other music I have heard. These are albums I go to more than any others and for me Swans Are Dead dwarfs what would otherwise be an impeccable recording career.
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