Rabbit guy: loneliness, longing, desire, depression. The two burning rabbits together: Found a match, and now you suffer with another person. There is no respite. Life is misery, and misery loves company. That's just my take, from seeing the two album covers.
4:10 Anonymous Bodies in an Empty Room 5:49 Feel Good Now 7:16 Die Tür Ist Zu 8:56 Swans 10:53 Kill the Child 12:50 The Great Annihilator 15:49 Not Here / Not Now 19:17 Leaving Meaning 23:03 Love of Life 27:26 The Burning World 33:41 The Beggar 40:37 My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky 44:08 Real Love 45:42 Omniscience 48:06 Holy Money 49:39 Greed 52:03 We Rose From Your Bed with the Sun in Our Head 55:01 Young God 56:53 White Light from the Mouth of Infinity 1:01:02 The Gate 1:06:09 Cop 1:08:35 The Seer 1:12:16 To Be Kind 1:15:07 Public Castration is a Good Idea 1:17:45 Swans Are Dead 1:21:32 Soundtracks for the Blind 1:25:19 Deliquescence 1:29:29 Filth 1:33:05 Children of God 1:35:38 The Glowing Man
I saw them on the tour when 'Public Castration...' was recorded. It was so packed people could not move and there were people screaming for them to stop, people were crying. It was INSANELY loud and it was almost too much...BTW, I think the track 'Greed' is just beautiful. Melts my heart still.
Late comment, but I interviewed Michael Gira during the Burning World/Love Will Tear Us Apart period, and he was SUPER defensive and combative. We were with college radio, and he kept accusing us of loving REM for some reason. I asked him why, and he was, like, "Well, what do YOU listen to?" and was shocked when I replied, "Right now, mostly Nurse with Wound and Prince." When I asked if the Joy Division cover was a conscious attempt to have a hit, he went ballistic. And, of course, later on he admitted it was true, LOL. God, he was so awful, LOL. It was so disappointing because we were all Swans fans. Jarboe was lovely.
Thank you for sharing this story, this is hilarious but perhaps only so in hindsight. I know he has a reputation - or had, maybe - so I’m not at all surprised at this. Cheers! 😀
I've never got into swans, but I know their early stuff was a massive influence on one of my favourite bands godflesh. I'll have to give swans a proper listen.
Definitely - the parallels between Filth, Cop, even the Young God EP and earlier Godflesh are really easy to see, especially Self Titled and Streetcleaner. Godflesh are one of my favourite bands too!
Yeah you should definitely give the early albums a try. That's what I did. After that fell in love with all of their stuff and I hope you will too! Two important things: patience and relistening.
01. To be kind 02. The Seer 03. The Glowing Man 04. Soundtracks for the Blind 05. White Light from the Mouth from Infinity 06. The great Annihalator 07. The Beggar 08. Leaving meaning 09. Children of God 10. My Father will guide me 11. Filth 12. Love of Life 13. Greed 14. Cop 15. Holy Money 16. The Burning World … just a try 😊. But the Top 10 should be correct.
Still here at 1h40:14secs, breathtaking personally list... guess I'm a Swans novice cuz only got their The Great Annihilation and Swans Are Dead record upon release in the 90's and watched a lot of their crazy 80's live footage. A weird fascination I got for Swans.
You make a point about the Glowing Man that I've definitely thought about. Swans have mightily struggled to move past that album creatively. The whole trilogy of The Seer, To Be Kind, and The Glowing Man was such a massive creative endeavor, I was convinced Swans would just end it there. Their most recent work definitely isn't bad, but it feels like they're struggling for new ideas.
I love how the higher up you get along the list, the more you drop the f bomb. Just goes to show how words can’t do the music of Swans any justice ^^ Great video! Really makes me want to check out more live albums by them. Kinda skipped that part of their discography so far. But I definitely would have put the Beggar higher. Maybe that’s partially due to me being relatively new to Swans (since To Be Kind I’m aware of them) idk but I think it’s so heartfelt and the Death theme gives it such a monumental weight to me, much more than leaving meaning for sure.
You’re absolutely right, I definitely started to struggle for words the more this one went on hahaha If you like “modern” swans you absolutely gotta listen to Deliquescence. I promise you that you will love it. It’s on YT but I’m sure you can get a better quality version off SLSK (or drop $100 on a CD version lol)
@@linesinwax4996 I dropped £100 last week on it. Hurt, but Swans is like a drug. I have to have it. I'm slowly collecting all the live releases on CD, no matter the cost.
Incredible video, it's clear you put an immense amount of effort into it. I don't agree with your ranking at all lol, but I feel like I can find a new appreciation for some of my less loved Swans albums and feel inspired to go listen to some of the live stuff I have compiled. Hope this video blows up and godspeed!
Thank you! That’s the beauty of Swans, I bet no two rankings are anywhere near the same. I’m glad you liked the video either way and thank you for the kind words!
Amazing video, always good to see people who appreciate every era of swans. gonna give it a try with just studio albums cuz i havent heard every live album 1. Soundtracks for the Blind 2. Children of God 3. White Light from the Mouth of Infinity 4. The Seer 5. Cop 6. The Glowing Man 7/ 8. Greed/ Holy Money (interchangeable) 9. To Be Kind 10. Love of Life 11. Filth 12. The Great Annihilator 13. The Beggar 14. The Burning World 15. Leaving Meaning 16. My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
My favourite album of theirs is The Seer, while favourite track is either Bring The Sun, or Helpless Child. The former literally would give me out of body experiences, as if I'm grasping and hearing something greater than life itself, probably sounds pretentious af, but it is what it is. It's truly indescribable how good that song is. Helpless child just hits too hard, the lyrics especially. "you drug me with kindness so I can pretend I exist". God damn it. Loved the video, thank you for giving your own thoughts and perspectives on this amazing band's work. It's my favourite music act as well, I usually don't tend to pick favourites when it comes to media, but Swans are just so above anything I've ever listened to (and I've got like 500-600 albums saved on spotify lol)
Excellent video from a real fan about the formidable task of ranking Swans albums! And I can't resist my Swans top 10: 1. Red Velvet Corridor (Soundtracks For The Blind 1996) 2. Feel Happiness (Swans Are Dead 1998) 3. Killing For Company (The Great Annihilator 1995) 4. Eden Prison (My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky 2010) 5. Just A Little Boy (To Be Kind 2014) 6. Annaline (Leaving Meaning 2019) 7. Screen Shot (To Be Kind 2014) 8. Helpless Child (Swans Are Dead 1998) 9. Avatar (The Seer 2012) 10. The Cloud Of Unknowing (The Glowing Man 2016) Swans Epics: Special mention - Great but due to their length I don’t play often. 1. Blood Promise (Swans Are Dead 1998) 2. Frankie M (The Glowing Man 2016) 3. Bring The Sun/Toussaint L'Ouverture (To Be Kind 2014) 30 minute + epic only Swans could get away with!
Swans is a difficult band for me to categorise / rank as their output seems both incredibly insular and yet incredibly all-encompassing simultaneously. It's like their music exists in its own universe, and yet it transmits a very basic truth about our own reality. That truth being that the only thing that matters is the moment, and being within it. The past doesn't matter, it doesn't exist anymore. The future doesn't matter, it doesn't exist yet. Only 'now' matters, and life is best lived when 'now' is milked for all its worth. I look forward to watching this video in its entirety. Before I've seen a single minute of it, I know what releases of theirs have impacted the most, and I'm curious to hear about someone else's perspective. EDIT: just finished the whole thing, fantastic video. We share the #1 pick, that album is beyond this universe.
How are they these days? I didn’t manage to catch them on the Beggar tour (the south west UK date was a festival date and didn’t want to see anyone else so it seemed like a waste of money)
@@linesinwax4996 They are stunningly great. They sit down now and play a different set-up as they used to. There is still the sonic force behind it but the feel to is is less physical more..... transcendental. god that sounds pretentious but yeah music is hard to describe sometimes. I am very excited to see them twice in a year with roughly 6 months between the shows, how the songs evolved and maybe there is something new. Hopefully a Live CD?! Btw to make you jealous: I got the Deliquescence Album from the 2017 Tour. hahahahaha
I won’t blame them for sitting down, Michael is getting up there in years! And transcendental is absolutely a valid word. It’s Swans! Very nice on the Deliquescence front! You seem very appreciative of Swans music so I do not envy the fact you have it - it has a good home! I do need to do something about that Deliquescence situation though. It’s one of my favourite albums ever and I don’t own it.
@@linesinwax4996 I wanted to wait with my answer to you til I´ve seen them live yesterday. I can repeat myself in saying that they are still absolutely stellar. The set has changed quite a bit since I´ve caught them last time almost 6 moths ago; it became even more pastoral, droning, otherworldly. Maybe it was also because the venue was an old church repurposed as a concert venue. The "groove" parts are less present but if they hit they HIT! I think sitting down had a huge influence on the sound and presentation of the music, it´s definitely an age thing but it also is a stylistic choice I´d say. Btw now I own a signed copy of Deliquescence haha! I also brought a bunch of other vintage records -mostly from the Holy Money phase - to the show to get them signed. I have almost every album of them now on record or CD (also World of Skin and Angels of Light stuff) and most of it is signed. So yeah, I´m slightly "appreciative of Swans music" 🤣 (Btw because of your video I re-listened to omniscience. Since that phase isn´t my fav of their catalogue this album was ignored by me for a long time and I wanted to thank you for reminding me.) Also I hope you find a copy of Deliquescence and keep dropping vids!
Good top pick. The Glowing Man is easily the best of "new" Swans. I'm fairly biased toward their pre-hiatus stuff, probably because that's what I grew up with, but I need to re-explore their more recent material.
I would've agreed with you on the first spot a couple of days ago but now i prefer swans are dead to the glowing man, also hearing you talk about the other live albums i haven't heard yet is making me want to listen to them like right now lmao, great video!!
Great video, really really loved it! I also kinda see what you mean with the Great Annihilator slander, I personally love the album but it being an accessible easy-to-follow goth rock album does take away what makes Swans great in the first place, it honestly doesn’t even sound like them half the time.
Seeing them live in Chicago earlier this month + this video finally got me to get around to the rest of their live albums. Previously, I’d only listened to Public Castration, Anonymous Bodies and Swans Are Dead. I’m so glad I finally did because The Gate and Deliquescence are fucking amazing and strengthens my enjoyment of The Glowing Man. I greatly look forward to the next live release they’re gonna do, as I’d love to really relive the set that I saw and blew me away.
I know this video is months old, but I saw swans live in St. Louis a few weeks ago and they played the hanging man, it was stunning. I hope you got to hear it live
My list: 1) The seer 2) Soundtracks for the blind 3) Filth 4) To be kind 5) The great annihilator (yes) 6) White light from the mouth of infinity 7) The glowing man 8) The beggar 9) Children of god 10) Cop 11) Leaving Meaning 12) My father will guide me up a rope in the sky 13) Love of life 14) The burning world 15) Holy money 16) Greed I really dislike greed and holy money, I like everything else
Haha - I’ve never heard of the channel I had to look it up. That was pretty funny. I see what you mean. But Platinum Chasers sounds like he’s from the Midlands perhaps, in England - I’m from Wales, so our accents are a bit different. I see the similarities though lol
I don't like "The Great Annihilator" too much either, when I did my Swans album-rating I put it on 14. But not because it's accessible, but because it sounds shut-in, the sound is "closed", and it gives me anxiety in a bad way (when listening to music some anxiety is good, and some is bad) even though I love some of the songs on it, "Killing For Company" (thinking of Denis Nielsen, serial killer, and a book about him by Brian Masters that also were called "Killing For Company"), and "Where Does A Body End?" because of the lyrics. So, my list, studioalbums only,: 16 - The Burning World (God Damned The Sun) 15 - Love Of Life (I think Love Of Life and The Golden Boy... are amazing songs, but the rest of the record does not do much for me.) 14 - The Great Annihilator (Killing For Company) 13 - Filth (Stay Here) 12 - Cop (Cop) 11 - Greed (Money Is Flesh) 10 - Leaving Meaning (What Is This?) 09 - The Beggar (The Beggar Lover 3) 08 - Holy Money (Coward) 07 - Children Of God (Sex Love Sex) 06 - My Father Will Guide Me (Little Mouth) 05 - White Light (Power & Sacrifice) 04 - To Be Kind (Bring The Sun) 03 - Soundtracks For The Blind (The Sound) 02 - The Seer (The Seer, or possibly Avatar) 01 - The Glowing Man (The Glowing Man - Masterpiece.) I recently did a Death In June-list too. :)
This video is nearly as long as some Swans albums. Edit: Ty for the heart! This comment also implied that your video is cool and I appreciate the effort and respect the opinions presented. :)
damn TH-cam. lol. had to catch up on all your vids since the black Sabbath one. hopefully watching all those in the past three days will put you back in my algorithm.
Another great release that I think should be included more often in Swans discussion is body to body/job to job. Such a great collection of previously unheard songs and versions of songs that did get official releases. Surprisingly cohesive as well considering the span of time all the songs come from
I heard about Swans a week ago. I did some research to see what album I should start with. I read almost exactly what you said about Children of God. What a fantastic experience. I have not moved on to other Swans albums yet. But I believe White Light from the Mouth of Infinity is the album I will listen to after I digest Children of God.
Really loved this video and going into the live albums and EPs! I recently finally did a deep listen of my own (Havent heard everything but have heard a lot). Here is my ranking that I have posted on AOTY. I am very much more a fan of their modern sound: 1. The Seer (My introduction to Swans and honestly just always have stuck with me) 2. To Be Kind 3. Soundtracks For The Blind 4. Deliquescence 5. The Glowing Man 6. The Gate 7. The Beggar 8. Swans Are Dead 9. The Great Annihilator 10. Omniscience 11. Children of God 12. Leaving Meaning 13. Not Here/Not Now 14. White Light from the Mouth of Infinity 15. We Rose From Your Bed With the Sun in Our Head 16. Die Tur Izt Zu 17. My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky 18. Public Castration Is A Good Idea 19. Holy Money 20. Filth 21. Young God EP 22. Greed 23. Swans EP 24. Anonymous Bodies in an Empty Room 25. Love of Life 26. Feel Good Now 27. Kill the Child 28. Love of Life/Amnesia (Ep? Single?) 29. The Burning World 30. A Scew Ep 31. Cop 32. Oxygen EP 33. Time Is Money (Bastard) 34. Real Love
Here’s my Ranking: 16. Greed 15. Holy Money 14. Leaving Meaning 13. My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky 12. Cop 11. Filth 10. The Beggar 9. Love of Life 8. The Burning World 7. The Great Annihilator 6. The Seer 5. To Be Kind 4. White Light from the Mouth of Infinity 3. Children of God 2. The Glowing Man 1. Soundtracks for the Blind
Good video, I haven't really listened to a lot of the older heavier albums apart from Filth but I fucking love their newer stuff. You've made me pretty interested to listen to Deliquescence now so I'll try and listen to it, there's uploads on youtube but I'm guessing the quality's not gonna be great
@@linesinwax4996 I ended up listening to it on youtube and yeah it was pretty amazing. The Knot is the longest song I've ever heard so far and it was great the whole way through. Then the rest of the album was incredible as well
That’s a brilliant idea. I love Angels of Light, I should probably do a retrospective on them seeing as the project seems very much dead now. New Mother and How I Loved You are just incredible.
Do you have a spotify? Im really into your music taste and i was wondering that if you had like playlists or something like that on any music platforms
Thank you! Tbh I’m shocked this video is as long as it is, I find a lot of swans stuff impossible to describe lol Cheers for watching :) I really appreciate it
@@linesinwax4996 the rest i almost entirely agree with. no wave era swans really is just something else and im glad all the post filth- pre cog stuff wasnt all thrown towards the bottom like i often see
Very good list, although I personally disagree with the leaving meaning and the beggar placements. They are some of my favorites. Definitely top 10 for me.
For me it's clearly 1 To be Kind, 2 The Seer, 3 The Glowing man. You are absolutely with what you said about Glowing man and actually I would say also it's their best. But at the end there's this one song that's probably their worst song of their post reunion era, and forgive me, but it's Frankie M. I hate this song. I really really hate it. It destroys the perfection of the album so much. And I can't even say why I hate it, but I really hate it. And I would rank Leaving Meaning much higher. As you said, the Glowing man is the essence of their whole work. And it was ready to close this chapter, because I couldn't imagine how to go on this way just one more step foreward. And LM is the best possible way to move on on a different path without ignoring where Swans came from. And of course Sunfucker and Hanging man are two of Swans best songs ever. I was a teenie in the 80ies and I know Swans from a german radio show that played once a week great independent, punk, industrial, postpunk, music. And the first Swans Songs I heard, were from their brutal phase. I don't know exactly which ones but I loved it and I loved the outstanding power which they had. When the Jarboe/Piano phase started, I was done with the band. I didn't know anything about their 90ies releases. And when Gira reunited Swans 2010 I was blown away by their new album. That was the time when I had a first listen to Soundtracks and Dead. And that blew me away.
It took me a while to get it. Children of God actually clicked . Gothy. Kinda of Jazzy , heavy . Sums up that Beautiful Creature with a violent temperament statement Gira made of why he called his band “swans”
You’re right - I should have included it. I tried collecting all of the different versions a long time ago and it was very confusing as there’s so many pressings haha Think the only one I ended up getting was the red 7” which was the Gira version
1 - To Be Kind 2 - The Glowing Man 3 - Children of God 4 - The Great Annihilator 5 - Soundtracks for the Blind 6 - White Light from the Mouth of Infinity 7 - The Seer 8 - Filth 9 - Young God (Ep) 10 - Greed
"Building on zhat riff for 9 minutes" lol gy!be does that in World Police and Friendly Fire aswell. Just the same riff over and ober again (but i mean it does have alot of variation) Not dismissing swans or anything rhough theyre like my 3rd or 2nd favouirtr band ever and this list is great
Personally I think Die Tur Ist Zu is great! The German version of All Lined Up is especially spine chilling. Ligeti's Breath / Hilflos Kind is also really good.
@@linesinwax4996 Oh man. My favorites are Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain, Lucifer Over London, Hypnagogue...I could go on, I can't pick less than ten favorites. But those are all great. Thunder Perfect Mind tends to be acclaimed as their best, and I do like it, but I'm not as crazy about it as I am others.
Some notes while I happily wade though this when I can- 1- Great Annihilator is a fine album, but it's easily one of the more accessible Swans album. I like it but it's def not my favorite. Killing for Company is a banger, though. 2- I'm not a fan of Leaving Meaning. It's ok but not a big fan at all. To be fair, it would be hard for anything to follow up The Seer and the two that followed it. 3- Filth is my number one, followed closely by White Light. I usually don't prefer deluxe editions, but had to get it with Filth. Sensitive Skin is a must. 4- A respectable listing. I'll admit I have not listened to much of their live recordings. I'll start delving into those. Man, this must've been quite an effort. I put Swans in the same general category as Nurse With Wound. Not everyone gets it and it's a heck of a thick group to get into, but worth it in the end.
I listen to a lot of music but for the love of me I can't seem to "get" swans: I can't get a grasp of their records (I've tried their best rated), and despite my love for minimalism the songs seem to go on and on without much of an objective? Idk. My best experience so far was with soundtrack for the blind and Lunacy from the seer. I'll keep on trying though that's for sure
I get it - I've got a few bands like that. Godspeed You Black Emperor is a good example. I just don't get it. Swans is especially difficult though because it all sounds a bit different, album to album. Have you tried any of the 80s stuff? The songs tend to be more conventional lengths rather than ridiculously long, but are just as if not more punishing.
Love both gy!be and swans. I think swans is far from minimalism. Even though swans are more than post rock, post rock can be hard to get into. Especially for younger people. I'm in my late 30's and 25 year old me would not understand or appreciate gy!be or swans. Too much "regular" music to go through before getting into these "tougher" acts.
I’ve just only recently realized that Greed is superior to Holy Money. I used to not like greed but loved holy money. Recently greed finally clicked and I prefer it so much more over holy money now
Couldn't disagree more of your opinions on The Great Annihilator. One of my personal favorites for sure. Totally respect your opinions though and I think the beauty of Swans is that everyone will have different opinions on it all!
There is no right way to rank Swans albums, because so many of them serve different purpose. I'm mostly after the gothic/industrial sound, meaning Children of God is my favourite. Then again that is the first one I've heard. Then again, if somebody picks The Burning World or White Light as their favourite, I will not mind. I love those albums very much as well.
I'll keep watching, but putting Love of Life on the ass-end of things is a red flag. Edit: Then next is Burning World? Wow. How is this your favorite band?
We the listeners of such an infuencial band as the Swans have the right to our oppinion/insight about their records, but in the case of this ranking i might say that it is a pity that 'My father...' or 'The great annihilator' are in such low positions. 'Greed' and 'Holy Money' should also be on higher places. Glad that 'Children of God' is on top, but this one is just one of the best records ever made in the history of popular music.
I will give Swans another go after watching this. There is something very American sounding in their records that just feels out of place for some reason, maybe because I associate it with everything that USA stands for. It's like if PJ Harvey was American and had influences from there, it wouldn't be the same.
I'll concur on The Great Annihilator being their most approachable rock record. It's almost a shoegaze album, like it reminds me a lot of MBV oddly. I love it though! It was the first album of theirs that gave me an in, and honestly almost everything I've heard after is on par or better. My top 5 would be Great Annihilator, The Glowing Man, The Seer, Children Of God, and Soundtracks For The Blind.
The Seer #1 To Be kind #2 Glowing Man #3 Soundtracks for the Blind #4 White light #5, the rest I don't care for. That's me. I don't find The Seer exhausting in the least, it's one of the most cathartic and therapeutic albums I've ever heard. As it To Be Kind, but not quite as much.
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Rabbit guy: loneliness, longing, desire, depression. The two burning rabbits together: Found a match, and now you suffer with another person. There is no respite. Life is misery, and misery loves company. That's just my take, from seeing the two album covers.
This is a perfect take, thank you
Wow that makes a lot of sense actually
Amazing
@@SamantherPanther love your profile pic lol
4:10 Anonymous Bodies in an Empty Room
5:49 Feel Good Now
7:16 Die Tür Ist Zu
8:56 Swans
10:53 Kill the Child
12:50 The Great Annihilator
15:49 Not Here / Not Now
19:17 Leaving Meaning
23:03 Love of Life
27:26 The Burning World
33:41 The Beggar
40:37 My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
44:08 Real Love
45:42 Omniscience
48:06 Holy Money
49:39 Greed
52:03 We Rose From Your Bed with the Sun in Our Head
55:01 Young God
56:53 White Light from the Mouth of Infinity
1:01:02 The Gate
1:06:09 Cop
1:08:35 The Seer
1:12:16 To Be Kind
1:15:07 Public Castration is a Good Idea
1:17:45 Swans Are Dead
1:21:32 Soundtracks for the Blind
1:25:19 Deliquescence
1:29:29 Filth
1:33:05 Children of God
1:35:38 The Glowing Man
Wow, fair play to you for doing this haha
Discovering Swans redefined, for me at least, what "heavy" meant in regards to music. Excellent video!
I had a very similar experience. And thank you for the kind words!
Swans can strum the same chord for 5 minutes and it's heavier that anything that any 'extreme metal' band can even conceive of.
Early Swans music is absolutely insane. Two drummers and two bass guitarists. Crazy set up.
I love the Burning World, no matter it‘s reputation. After 34 year the album deserves to be rehabilitated and recognized as a classic
Swans have somehow changed their sound to an unimaginable degree, but always maintained extreme intensity. It's an amazing accomplishment.
I saw them on the tour when 'Public Castration...' was recorded. It was so packed people could not move and there were people screaming for them to stop, people were crying. It was INSANELY loud and it was almost too much...BTW, I think the track 'Greed' is just beautiful. Melts my heart still.
Damn that sounds absolutely horrible hahaha
Do you remember what venue it was? I may have a recording of it.
@@koollegged5739 The Venue in Edinburgh
Late comment, but I interviewed Michael Gira during the Burning World/Love Will Tear Us Apart period, and he was SUPER defensive and combative. We were with college radio, and he kept accusing us of loving REM for some reason. I asked him why, and he was, like, "Well, what do YOU listen to?" and was shocked when I replied, "Right now, mostly Nurse with Wound and Prince." When I asked if the Joy Division cover was a conscious attempt to have a hit, he went ballistic. And, of course, later on he admitted it was true, LOL. God, he was so awful, LOL. It was so disappointing because we were all Swans fans. Jarboe was lovely.
Thank you for sharing this story, this is hilarious but perhaps only so in hindsight. I know he has a reputation - or had, maybe - so I’m not at all surprised at this. Cheers! 😀
Nurse With Wound/Prince collab album would've been tuff
@@boardsofwood It's so hard to imagine exactly what form it would take!
I've never got into swans, but I know their early stuff was a massive influence on one of my favourite bands godflesh. I'll have to give swans a proper listen.
Definitely - the parallels between Filth, Cop, even the Young God EP and earlier Godflesh are really easy to see, especially Self Titled and Streetcleaner. Godflesh are one of my favourite bands too!
Yeah you should definitely give the early albums a try. That's what I did. After that fell in love with all of their stuff and I hope you will too! Two important things: patience and relistening.
The first Godflesh EP and Cop are very similar.
01. To be kind
02. The Seer
03. The Glowing Man
04. Soundtracks for the Blind
05. White Light from the Mouth from Infinity
06. The great Annihalator
07. The Beggar
08. Leaving meaning
09. Children of God
10. My Father will guide me
11. Filth
12. Love of Life
13. Greed
14. Cop
15. Holy Money
16. The Burning World
… just a try 😊. But the Top 10 should be correct.
Why soundtracks is in 4 ?
i’m sorry but the great annihilator that low is unforgivable
literally made my jaw drop with that placement
agree
Ok mr king of limbs🙄
Edit: nevermind this mf put it below the burning world
I absolutely loved what you said about 'Swans Are Dead', captured absolutely everything I feel about that album
Hey! You’re the guy that uploaded the old Radical Face stuff!
Found you through the Death In June videos, glad to see this video, good work. Love Swans.
Awesome! Cheers for dropping by!
@@linesinwax4996 Shit my pants at The Great Annihilator ranking lmao
Still here at 1h40:14secs, breathtaking personally list... guess I'm a Swans novice cuz only got their The Great Annihilation and Swans Are Dead record upon release in the 90's and watched a lot of their crazy 80's live footage. A weird fascination I got for Swans.
You make a point about the Glowing Man that I've definitely thought about. Swans have mightily struggled to move past that album creatively. The whole trilogy of The Seer, To Be Kind, and The Glowing Man was such a massive creative endeavor, I was convinced Swans would just end it there. Their most recent work definitely isn't bad, but it feels like they're struggling for new ideas.
Great video!
Great video! I’ll be using it in my continued very slow exploration of Swans and trying to get into them more. It’s daunting
I love how the higher up you get along the list, the more you drop the f bomb. Just goes to show how words can’t do the music of Swans any justice ^^
Great video! Really makes me want to check out more live albums by them. Kinda skipped that part of their discography so far. But I definitely would have put the Beggar higher. Maybe that’s partially due to me being relatively new to Swans (since To Be Kind I’m aware of them) idk but I think it’s so heartfelt and the Death theme gives it such a monumental weight to me, much more than leaving meaning for sure.
You’re absolutely right, I definitely started to struggle for words the more this one went on hahaha
If you like “modern” swans you absolutely gotta listen to Deliquescence. I promise you that you will love it. It’s on YT but I’m sure you can get a better quality version off SLSK (or drop $100 on a CD version lol)
@@linesinwax4996 I dropped £100 last week on it. Hurt, but Swans is like a drug. I have to have it. I'm slowly collecting all the live releases on CD, no matter the cost.
Incredible video, it's clear you put an immense amount of effort into it. I don't agree with your ranking at all lol, but I feel like I can find a new appreciation for some of my less loved Swans albums and feel inspired to go listen to some of the live stuff I have compiled. Hope this video blows up and godspeed!
Thank you!
That’s the beauty of Swans, I bet no two rankings are anywhere near the same.
I’m glad you liked the video either way and thank you for the kind words!
Really appreciated the time and effort put into this. Quality ranking
Amazing video, always good to see people who appreciate every era of swans. gonna give it a try with just studio albums cuz i havent heard every live album
1. Soundtracks for the Blind
2. Children of God
3. White Light from the Mouth of Infinity
4. The Seer
5. Cop
6. The Glowing Man
7/ 8. Greed/ Holy Money (interchangeable)
9. To Be Kind
10. Love of Life
11. Filth
12. The Great Annihilator
13. The Beggar
14. The Burning World
15. Leaving Meaning
16. My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
My favourite album of theirs is The Seer, while favourite track is either Bring The Sun, or Helpless Child. The former literally would give me out of body experiences, as if I'm grasping and hearing something greater than life itself, probably sounds pretentious af, but it is what it is. It's truly indescribable how good that song is. Helpless child just hits too hard, the lyrics especially. "you drug me with kindness so I can pretend I exist". God damn it.
Loved the video, thank you for giving your own thoughts and perspectives on this amazing band's work. It's my favourite music act as well, I usually don't tend to pick favourites when it comes to media, but Swans are just so above anything I've ever listened to (and I've got like 500-600 albums saved on spotify lol)
Great Ranking, well done man!
Thank you! Cheers for watching such a long video
Superb heartfelt critique of Swans output.
Great video mate. Really enjoyed your analysis and takes. Not all I agree with but is subjectively justified very well. Subscribed.
Thank you very much!
Excellent video from a real fan about the formidable task of ranking Swans albums! And I can't resist my Swans top 10:
1. Red Velvet Corridor (Soundtracks For The Blind 1996)
2. Feel Happiness (Swans Are Dead 1998)
3. Killing For Company (The Great Annihilator 1995)
4. Eden Prison (My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky 2010)
5. Just A Little Boy (To Be Kind 2014)
6. Annaline (Leaving Meaning 2019)
7. Screen Shot (To Be Kind 2014)
8. Helpless Child (Swans Are Dead 1998)
9. Avatar (The Seer 2012)
10. The Cloud Of Unknowing (The Glowing Man 2016)
Swans Epics: Special mention - Great but due to their length I don’t play often.
1. Blood Promise (Swans Are Dead 1998)
2. Frankie M (The Glowing Man 2016)
3. Bring The Sun/Toussaint L'Ouverture (To Be Kind 2014)
30 minute + epic only Swans could get away with!
Cheers Tony!
Interesting to see Red Velvet Corridor in your top ten!
@@linesinwax4996 That song has an insane atmosphere! Gives me an eldritch vibe. Would probably be in my top ten as well
Great video. You did Great Annihilator so dirty 😢😂
I don't get how it's their one of the most accessible albums. It was one of last Swans studio albums I got into and now it's in my top 5 😢
Swans is a difficult band for me to categorise / rank as their output seems both incredibly insular and yet incredibly all-encompassing simultaneously. It's like their music exists in its own universe, and yet it transmits a very basic truth about our own reality. That truth being that the only thing that matters is the moment, and being within it. The past doesn't matter, it doesn't exist anymore. The future doesn't matter, it doesn't exist yet. Only 'now' matters, and life is best lived when 'now' is milked for all its worth.
I look forward to watching this video in its entirety. Before I've seen a single minute of it, I know what releases of theirs have impacted the most, and I'm curious to hear about someone else's perspective.
EDIT: just finished the whole thing, fantastic video. We share the #1 pick, that album is beyond this universe.
Thank you very much for your excellent insights and also for your kind words. I glad you enjoyed the video.
Glowing man club forever!
Another great video.Keep up the hard work dude
Thank you very much!
I'm grateful you included the live releases. Omniscience was my gateway into Swans.
That’s very interesting! It seems to be mostly not talked about when it comes to the work of Swans.
Hugely enjoying these reviews. Hard to encapsulate their vast catalog so kudos for the time and effort.
It was a fun one to do but I was exhausted by the end haha
I totally agree with you on the glowing man.
Great Video, man. Gonna see them live tomorrow for the 2nd time this year.
How are they these days? I didn’t manage to catch them on the Beggar tour (the south west UK date was a festival date and didn’t want to see anyone else so it seemed like a waste of money)
Last time I saw them was with Paul Wallfisch (sp) on keyboards for the “final tour”
@@linesinwax4996 They are stunningly great. They sit down now and play a different set-up as they used to. There is still the sonic force behind it but the feel to is is less physical more..... transcendental. god that sounds pretentious but yeah music is hard to describe sometimes.
I am very excited to see them twice in a year with roughly 6 months between the shows, how the songs evolved and maybe there is something new. Hopefully a Live CD?! Btw to make you jealous: I got the Deliquescence Album from the 2017 Tour. hahahahaha
I won’t blame them for sitting down, Michael is getting up there in years!
And transcendental is absolutely a valid word. It’s Swans!
Very nice on the Deliquescence front! You seem very appreciative of Swans music so I do not envy the fact you have it - it has a good home! I do need to do something about that Deliquescence situation though. It’s one of my favourite albums ever and I don’t own it.
@@linesinwax4996 I wanted to wait with my answer to you til I´ve seen them live yesterday. I can repeat myself in saying that they are still absolutely stellar. The set has changed quite a bit since I´ve caught them last time almost 6 moths ago; it became even more pastoral, droning, otherworldly. Maybe it was also because the venue was an old church repurposed as a concert venue. The "groove" parts are less present but if they hit they HIT!
I think sitting down had a huge influence on the sound and presentation of the music, it´s definitely an age thing but it also is a stylistic choice I´d say.
Btw now I own a signed copy of Deliquescence haha! I also brought a bunch of other vintage records -mostly from the Holy Money phase - to the show to get them signed. I have almost every album of them now on record or CD (also World of Skin and Angels of Light stuff) and most of it is signed. So yeah, I´m slightly "appreciative of Swans music" 🤣 (Btw because of your video I re-listened to omniscience. Since that phase isn´t my fav of their catalogue this album was ignored by me for a long time and I wanted to thank you for reminding me.)
Also I hope you find a copy of Deliquescence and keep dropping vids!
Good top pick. The Glowing Man is easily the best of "new" Swans. I'm fairly biased toward their pre-hiatus stuff, probably because that's what I grew up with, but I need to re-explore their more recent material.
I would've agreed with you on the first spot a couple of days ago but now i prefer swans are dead to the glowing man, also hearing you talk about the other live albums i haven't heard yet is making me want to listen to them like right now lmao, great video!!
Glowing Man keeps growing on me. Amazing album!
Great video, really really loved it! I also kinda see what you mean with the Great Annihilator slander, I personally love the album but it being an accessible easy-to-follow goth rock album does take away what makes Swans great in the first place, it honestly doesn’t even sound like them half the time.
I am just happy that The Burning World wasn't your least favorite studio album.
Seeing them live in Chicago earlier this month + this video finally got me to get around to the rest of their live albums. Previously, I’d only listened to Public Castration, Anonymous Bodies and Swans Are Dead.
I’m so glad I finally did because The Gate and Deliquescence are fucking amazing and strengthens my enjoyment of The Glowing Man. I greatly look forward to the next live release they’re gonna do, as I’d love to really relive the set that I saw and blew me away.
Good ranking, I really like “Burning World”, I would have ranked it a bit higher.
I know this video is months old, but I saw swans live in St. Louis a few weeks ago and they played the hanging man, it was stunning. I hope you got to hear it live
Thanks for the comment! Alas, I have still not seen them since this video!
Here because of the Di6 video, come to find out you like another of my top 5 bands of all time. Cheers ! 🍷
What are the other three? 😄
@@linesinwax4996 killing joke, coil, Einstürzende Neubauten, in no particular order
My list:
1) The seer
2) Soundtracks for the blind
3) Filth
4) To be kind
5) The great annihilator (yes)
6) White light from the mouth of infinity
7) The glowing man
8) The beggar
9) Children of god
10) Cop
11) Leaving Meaning
12) My father will guide me up a rope in the sky
13) Love of life
14) The burning world
15) Holy money
16) Greed
I really dislike greed and holy money, I like everything else
Bro. Are you Platinum Chasers?! I was watching your Type O Negative videos and I'm like there's no way this isn't the same person!
Haha - I’ve never heard of the channel I had to look it up. That was pretty funny.
I see what you mean. But Platinum Chasers sounds like he’s from the Midlands perhaps, in England - I’m from Wales, so our accents are a bit different. I see the similarities though lol
I don't like "The Great Annihilator" too much either, when I did my Swans album-rating I put it on 14. But not because it's accessible, but because it sounds shut-in, the sound is "closed", and it gives me anxiety in a bad way (when listening to music some anxiety is good, and some is bad) even though I love some of the songs on it, "Killing For Company" (thinking of Denis Nielsen, serial killer, and a book about him by Brian Masters that also were called "Killing For Company"), and "Where Does A Body End?" because of the lyrics. So, my list, studioalbums only,:
16 - The Burning World (God Damned The Sun)
15 - Love Of Life (I think Love Of Life and The Golden Boy... are amazing songs, but the rest of the record does not do much for me.)
14 - The Great Annihilator (Killing For Company)
13 - Filth (Stay Here)
12 - Cop (Cop)
11 - Greed (Money Is Flesh)
10 - Leaving Meaning (What Is This?)
09 - The Beggar (The Beggar Lover 3)
08 - Holy Money (Coward)
07 - Children Of God (Sex Love Sex)
06 - My Father Will Guide Me (Little Mouth)
05 - White Light (Power & Sacrifice)
04 - To Be Kind (Bring The Sun)
03 - Soundtracks For The Blind (The Sound)
02 - The Seer (The Seer, or possibly Avatar)
01 - The Glowing Man (The Glowing Man - Masterpiece.)
I recently did a Death In June-list too. :)
This video is nearly as long as some Swans albums.
Edit: Ty for the heart! This comment also implied that your video is cool and I appreciate the effort and respect the opinions presented. :)
damn TH-cam. lol. had to catch up on all your vids since the black Sabbath one. hopefully watching all those in the past three days will put you back in my algorithm.
Hello!
I’ve no clue how this algorithm business works at all but I am very glad to have you back :D
Another great release that I think should be included more often in Swans discussion is body to body/job to job. Such a great collection of previously unheard songs and versions of songs that did get official releases. Surprisingly cohesive as well considering the span of time all the songs come from
I heard about Swans a week ago. I did some research to see what album I should start with. I read almost exactly what you said about Children of God. What a fantastic experience. I have not moved on to other Swans albums yet. But I believe White Light from the Mouth of Infinity is the album I will listen to after I digest Children of God.
Really loved this video and going into the live albums and EPs!
I recently finally did a deep listen of my own (Havent heard everything but have heard a lot). Here is my ranking that I have posted on AOTY. I am very much more a fan of their modern sound:
1. The Seer (My introduction to Swans and honestly just always have stuck with me)
2. To Be Kind
3. Soundtracks For The Blind
4. Deliquescence
5. The Glowing Man
6. The Gate
7. The Beggar
8. Swans Are Dead
9. The Great Annihilator
10. Omniscience
11. Children of God
12. Leaving Meaning
13. Not Here/Not Now
14. White Light from the Mouth of Infinity
15. We Rose From Your Bed With the Sun in Our Head
16. Die Tur Izt Zu
17. My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
18. Public Castration Is A Good Idea
19. Holy Money
20. Filth
21. Young God EP
22. Greed
23. Swans EP
24. Anonymous Bodies in an Empty Room
25. Love of Life
26. Feel Good Now
27. Kill the Child
28. Love of Life/Amnesia (Ep? Single?)
29. The Burning World
30. A Scew Ep
31. Cop
32. Oxygen EP
33. Time Is Money (Bastard)
34. Real Love
You and I must be on the same wavelength... Glowing Man is my favorite album of theirs as well.
Very enjoyable vid, thanks
Thank you for watching!
My friend's mom called SWANS "evil ooze music." I've been hooked ever since.
Finally peace is on my personal funeral music too.
Good choice!
you gotta do live rope now 😭🙏🙏
Here’s my Ranking:
16. Greed
15. Holy Money
14. Leaving Meaning
13. My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky
12. Cop
11. Filth
10. The Beggar
9. Love of Life
8. The Burning World
7. The Great Annihilator
6. The Seer
5. To Be Kind
4. White Light from the Mouth of Infinity
3. Children of God
2. The Glowing Man
1. Soundtracks for the Blind
I watched your death in june video a while ago and enjoyed it, but you just got a sub from me for your love of the swans
Thank you!
Good video, I haven't really listened to a lot of the older heavier albums apart from Filth but I fucking love their newer stuff. You've made me pretty interested to listen to Deliquescence now so I'll try and listen to it, there's uploads on youtube but I'm guessing the quality's not gonna be great
With the price of the cd being so high YT or something like soulseek is going to be your only option unfortunately:(
@@linesinwax4996 I ended up listening to it on youtube and yeah it was pretty amazing. The Knot is the longest song I've ever heard so far and it was great the whole way through. Then the rest of the album was incredible as well
Thoughts on Live Rope? (if you've heard it)
No I haven’t! I totally forgot it was out haha - thank you for the reminder
Do you have any thoughts on Angels Of Light? And if so are you planning on making a video on that band at some point?
That’s a brilliant idea.
I love Angels of Light, I should probably do a retrospective on them seeing as the project seems very much dead now.
New Mother and How I Loved You are just incredible.
Love SWANS
Do you have a spotify? Im really into your music taste and i was wondering that if you had like playlists or something like that on any music platforms
Hey cheers for asking, I do use Spotify but I don’t have any playlists or anything like that, sorry! :)
Just discovered your channel good luck with gaining subs
Thank you!
Great stuff man. Feel the same way about Soundtracks for the Blind, it's such a unique album I feel it's impossible to describe really
Thank you!
Tbh I’m shocked this video is as long as it is, I find a lot of swans stuff impossible to describe lol
Cheers for watching :) I really appreciate it
I know Gira hates "Burning", but it is one of my favorites! I have an original LP
took a lot of strength not to click off the video when u put the great annihilator where you did
Lmao
Thank you for sticking with it
@@linesinwax4996 the rest i almost entirely agree with. no wave era swans really is just something else and im glad all the post filth- pre cog stuff wasnt all thrown towards the bottom like i often see
Very good list, although I personally disagree with the leaving meaning and the beggar placements. They are some of my favorites. Definitely top 10 for me.
I honestly can’t decide if I prefer the gate version of a little god in my hands or the studio version
For me it's clearly 1 To be Kind, 2 The Seer, 3 The Glowing man. You are absolutely with what you said about Glowing man and actually I would say also it's their best. But at the end there's this one song that's probably their worst song of their post reunion era, and forgive me, but it's Frankie M. I hate this song. I really really hate it. It destroys the perfection of the album so much. And I can't even say why I hate it, but I really hate it.
And I would rank Leaving Meaning much higher. As you said, the Glowing man is the essence of their whole work. And it was ready to close this chapter, because I couldn't imagine how to go on this way just one more step foreward. And LM is the best possible way to move on on a different path without ignoring where Swans came from. And of course Sunfucker and Hanging man are two of Swans best songs ever.
I was a teenie in the 80ies and I know Swans from a german radio show that played once a week great independent, punk, industrial, postpunk, music. And the first Swans Songs I heard, were from their brutal phase. I don't know exactly which ones but I loved it and I loved the outstanding power which they had. When the Jarboe/Piano phase started, I was done with the band. I didn't know anything about their 90ies releases. And when Gira reunited Swans 2010 I was blown away by their new album. That was the time when I had a first listen to Soundtracks and Dead. And that blew me away.
Thanks for sharing your insights :)
It took me a while to get it. Children of God actually clicked . Gothy. Kinda of Jazzy , heavy . Sums up that Beautiful Creature with a violent temperament statement Gira made of why he called his band “swans”
Love of life
the burning world
The Begger
missing here the 12' version of "love will tear us apart" ⚡️⚡️📣
You’re right - I should have included it. I tried collecting all of the different versions a long time ago and it was very confusing as there’s so many pressings haha
Think the only one I ended up getting was the red 7” which was the Gira version
1 - To Be Kind
2 - The Glowing Man
3 - Children of God
4 - The Great Annihilator
5 - Soundtracks for the Blind
6 - White Light from the Mouth of Infinity
7 - The Seer
8 - Filth
9 - Young God (Ep)
10 - Greed
Switch 3 and 7
This vid is about as long as the average swans album
"Building on zhat riff for 9 minutes" lol gy!be does that in World Police and Friendly Fire aswell. Just the same riff over and ober again (but i mean it does have alot of variation)
Not dismissing swans or anything rhough theyre like my 3rd or 2nd favouirtr band ever and this list is great
I've always thought Love of Life is very underrated tbh. Not as great as White Light, but still solid.
They're my favorite too :]
Personally I think Die Tur Ist Zu is great! The German version of All Lined Up is especially spine chilling. Ligeti's Breath / Hilflos Kind is also really good.
Do you like current 93?
I do but I’ve only heard Dogs Blood Rising and Thunder Perfect Mind - I need to get into some more records
Do you have any recommendations?
@@linesinwax4996 Oh man. My favorites are Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain, Lucifer Over London, Hypnagogue...I could go on, I can't pick less than ten favorites. But those are all great. Thunder Perfect Mind tends to be acclaimed as their best, and I do like it, but I'm not as crazy about it as I am others.
I'd never heard of Current 93, but I just checked out Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain, and damn. What a great album @@haleywilson520
I've started "If a City is set upon a Hill," can't really get into it. Maybe something heavier....
Some notes while I happily wade though this when I can-
1- Great Annihilator is a fine album, but it's easily one of the more accessible Swans album. I like it but it's def not my favorite. Killing for Company is a banger, though.
2- I'm not a fan of Leaving Meaning. It's ok but not a big fan at all. To be fair, it would be hard for anything to follow up The Seer and the two that followed it.
3- Filth is my number one, followed closely by White Light. I usually don't prefer deluxe editions, but had to get it with Filth. Sensitive Skin is a must.
4- A respectable listing. I'll admit I have not listened to much of their live recordings. I'll start delving into those. Man, this must've been quite an effort. I put Swans in the same general category as Nurse With Wound. Not everyone gets it and it's a heck of a thick group to get into, but worth it in the end.
I listen to a lot of music but for the love of me I can't seem to "get" swans: I can't get a grasp of their records (I've tried their best rated), and despite my love for minimalism the songs seem to go on and on without much of an objective? Idk. My best experience so far was with soundtrack for the blind and Lunacy from the seer.
I'll keep on trying though that's for sure
I get it - I've got a few bands like that. Godspeed You Black Emperor is a good example. I just don't get it.
Swans is especially difficult though because it all sounds a bit different, album to album. Have you tried any of the 80s stuff? The songs tend to be more conventional lengths rather than ridiculously long, but are just as if not more punishing.
Love both gy!be and swans. I think swans is far from minimalism. Even though swans are more than post rock, post rock can be hard to get into. Especially for younger people. I'm in my late 30's and 25 year old me would not understand or appreciate gy!be or swans. Too much "regular" music to go through before getting into these "tougher" acts.
Specifically clicked on this hoping to hear someone else gush about The Great Annihilator, hahaha
Lmao I’m so sorry 😅
I’ve just only recently realized that Greed is superior to Holy Money. I used to not like greed but loved holy money. Recently greed finally clicked and I prefer it so much more over holy money now
dude, where can i find ''the gate''?
I have the CD but as it’s totally out of print and impossible to find at a reasonable price I’d start with slsk
Couldn't disagree more of your opinions on The Great Annihilator. One of my personal favorites for sure. Totally respect your opinions though and I think the beauty of Swans is that everyone will have different opinions on it all!
Thank you! There’s just so much Swans and it’s all different, so this kind of thing is inevitable.
I love a few songs on Great Annihilator but overall I think it's meh. I don't get why it's such a fan favorite.
Dude first swans ep rocks
25. The great annihilator??
WTF
My favorite band too. Absolutely love them. S*x god s*x is my favorite song
Sex god sex is definitely up there with the best of the best. The “second part” of that song is just incredible.
whats up with the cowboy dogs lol
Swans
Hey I am a big fan of your channel and decided to make my own ranking. Definitely different than yours but hope you like it (put the link in reply)
Hi Jack, TH-cam automatically removes links - I’ll try and find your vid. Thank you!
Wtf did he say at 1:40
“Just a disclaimer, if you’re looking for someone to slag off some eras of Swans…” and on and on
Apologies for the slurry Welsh accent 😀
There is no right way to rank Swans albums, because so many of them serve different purpose. I'm mostly after the gothic/industrial sound, meaning Children of God is my favourite. Then again that is the first one I've heard. Then again, if somebody picks The Burning World or White Light as their favourite, I will not mind. I love those albums very much as well.
I'll keep watching, but putting Love of Life on the ass-end of things is a red flag.
Edit: Then next is Burning World? Wow. How is this your favorite band?
How is this my favourite band? Because I love their music more than any other artist.
Strong welsh accent
Good ranking until you put the great annihilator that low
We the listeners of such an infuencial band as the Swans have the right to our oppinion/insight about their records, but in the case of this ranking i might say that it is a pity that 'My father...' or 'The great annihilator' are in such low positions. 'Greed' and 'Holy Money' should also be on higher places.
Glad that 'Children of God' is on top, but this one is just one of the best records ever made in the history of popular music.
I will give Swans another go after watching this. There is something very American sounding in their records that just feels out of place for some reason, maybe because I associate it with everything that USA stands for. It's like if PJ Harvey was American and had influences from there, it wouldn't be the same.
I'll concur on The Great Annihilator being their most approachable rock record. It's almost a shoegaze album, like it reminds me a lot of MBV oddly. I love it though! It was the first album of theirs that gave me an in, and honestly almost everything I've heard after is on par or better.
My top 5 would be Great Annihilator, The Glowing Man, The Seer, Children Of God, and Soundtracks For The Blind.
The Seer #1 To Be kind #2 Glowing Man #3 Soundtracks for the Blind #4 White light #5, the rest I don't care for. That's me. I don't find The Seer exhausting in the least, it's one of the most cathartic and therapeutic albums I've ever heard. As it To Be Kind, but not quite as much.
How on Earth White Light was left outside top ten is a mystery to me. By far the best Swans album of all times.
14:01 didnt expect annihilator to be this low... i dont even want to imagine how bad the list is going to be lmao byeeee