Swans Are Dead
{{Short description|1998 album}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Swans Are Dead
| type = Live album
| longtype = (double album)
| artist = Swans
| alt = A black circle with a white outline on a cardstock background. The word "dead" is written in all caps in the center of the circle.
| cover = Swans are dead cover art.jpg
| released = January 20, 1998
| recorded = September 20–23, 1995
January 24 & 29, February 15 & 27, March 13–14, 1997
| venue = Stiftelsen, Stavanger, NOR
Garage, Bergen, NOR
Sentrum Scene, Oslo, NOR
Studentersamfundet, Trondheim, NOR
Irving Plaza, New York City, USA
House of Blues, Atlanta, USA
Palác Akropolis, Prague, CZE
Paradiso Grote Zaal, Amsterdam, NLD
L’Orangerie du Botanique, Brussels, BEL
| studio =
| genre =
| length = 142:53
| language = English
| label = Young God
| producer =
| prev_title = Soundtracks for the Blind
| prev_year = 1996
| next_title = Various Failures
| next_year = 1999
}}
Swans Are Dead is the fifth double and seventh overall live album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in 1998 and was recorded in 1995 and 1997 on the band's final tours, before reuniting in 2010.
The setlists of this era in the Swans live show were probably the most varied in terms of chronology. Although many of the songs performed were taken from Soundtracks for the Blind, the band also resurrected songs from much earlier albums, including a re-worked version of "I Crawled" from the Young God EP (1984).
Background
Disc one (Black) was recorded during the band's Final Tour in 1997: Amsterdam (March 13), New York City (January 24), Trondheim (February 15), Prague (February 27), Brussels (March 14) and Atlanta (January 29).{{cite web |title=Search for setlists: artist:(Swans) tour:(Final Tour 1997) |url=https://www.setlist.fm/search?query=artist:%28Swans%29+tour:%28Final+Tour+1997%29 |website=setlist.fm |access-date=13 March 2024}} Two other songs were performed on this tour, "The Man With the Silver Tongue", which appeared in a revised form on Angels of Light's 1999 debut LP New Mother; and "My Birth", which remained unreleased until it appeared on Swans's 2010 album My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky. However, neither track was included in the album. Other songs were also sporadically performed, such as "The Sound" (at least twice on the American leg of the tour).
The liner notes state that disc two (White) was recorded in Norway on the band's 1995 tour (September 20-23).{{cite web |title=Search for setlists: tour:(The Great Annihilator) |url=https://www.setlist.fm/search?artist=bd6a11e&country=no&venue=&year=&query=tour%3A%28The+Great+Annihilator%29 |website=setlist.fm}} The songs "In", "Alcohol the Seed", and "Animus", that had been played during the tour and also for the Amsterdam concert, did not appear on Swans Are Dead (the concert was recorded by the radio station VPRO, "Animus" is also cut on that recording).
Critical reception
{{expand section|date=August 2024}}
{{Album ratings
|rev1 = Allmusic
|rev1score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite web |first=Ned |last=Raggett |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r1983696|pure_url=yes}}|title=Swans Are Dead (Live '95-'97) |publisher=Allmusic |date= |access-date=March 2, 2013}}
|rev2 = Pitchfork Media
}}
The Rough Guide to Rock described the album as "a head-churning final statement".{{cite book |editor-last=Buckley |editor-first=Peter |year=2003 |title=The Rough Guide to Rock |publisher=Rough Guides |page=[https://archive.org/details/roughguidetorock00roug/page/1042 1042] |url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetorock00roug |url-access=registration |quote=swans are dead. |isbn=1858284570}}
Track listing
{{Track listing
| headline = Disc one (Black, final tour 1997)
| all_writing = Michael Gira, except "I Crawled" by Gira/Norman Westberg/Harry Crosby/Roli Mosimann, and "Lavender" and "Yum Yab" by Jarboe
| extra_column = Also on
| title1 = Feel Happiness
| length1 = 16:57
| extra1 = None
| title2 = Low Life Form
| length2 = 4:54
| extra2 = Michael Gira's Drainland (1995)
| title3 = Not Alone
| length3 = 13:12
| extra3 = Angels of Light's New Mother (1999)
| title4 = Blood On Yr Hands
| length4 = 2:59
| extra4 = Skin's Blood, Women, Roses (1987)
| title5 = Hypogirl
| length5 = 3:22
| extra5 = Soundtracks for the Blind (1996)
| title6 = I Crawled
| length6 = 10:05
| extra6 = Young God (EP) (1984)
| title7 = I Am the Sun
| length7 = 5:27
| extra7 = The Great Annihilator (1995)
| title8 = Blood Promise
| length8 = 15:23
| extra8 = The Great Annihilator
| total_length = 72:19
}}
{{Track listing
| headline = Disc two (White, 1995 tour)
| extra_column = Also on
| title1 = Final Sac
| length1 = 8:44
| extra1 = Skin's Shame, Humility, Revenge (1988) (as "One Small Sacrifice") and Soundtracks for the Blind (as "The Final Sacrifice")
| title2 = The Sound
| length2 = 12:52
| extra2 = Soundtracks for the Blind
| title3 = I See Them All Lined Up
| length3 = 6:27
| extra3 = Michael Gira's Drainland, Die Tür ist zu (1996) (as "Ich Sehe Die Alle In Einer Reihe"), and Soundtracks for the Blind (as "All Lined Up")
| title4 = Lavender
| length4 = 8:03
| extra4 = Jarboe's Sacrificial Cake (1995) (as "Lavender Girl")
| title5 = YR PRP
| length5 = 8:51
| extra5 = Soundtracks for the Blind (as "YRP") and Cop (1984) (as "Your Property")
| title6 = Yum Yab
| length6 = 4:36
| extra6 = Jarboe's Sacrificial Cake and Soundtracks for the Blind (as "Yum-Yab Killers")
| title7 = Helpless Child
| length7 = 17:44
| extra7 = Soundtracks for the Blind
| title8 = M/F
| length8 = 3:25
| extra8 = The Great Annihilator (as "Mother/Father")
| total_length = 70:44 142:53
}}
Personnel
Credits for Swans Are Dead adapted from liner notes.Track listing and credits as per liner notes for Swans Are Dead album
;Disc one (Black)
- Michael Gira - vocals, guitar, compiling, mastering, producer, lyrics, music
- Jarboe - vocals, keyboards
- Bill Bronson - bass guitar
- Clinton Steele - guitar
- Phil Puleo - percussion, dulcimer (hammer)
- Dave Ouimet - performer
- Kris Force - performer
- Berry Kamer - recording
- Josh Wertheimer - live engineer, recording
- Chris Griffin - engineer
;Disc two (White)
- Michael Gira - vocals, guitar, compiling, mastering, producer, lyrics, music
- Jarboe - vocals, keyboards
- Joe Goldring - bass guitar, guitar
- Vudi - guitar, keyboards
- Larry Mullins - percussion, vibraphone
- Andy Ray - live engineer
- Chris Griffin - engineer
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Swans (band)}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Swans (band) live albums