Swans: Public Castration Is A Good Idea (2LP, indie exclusive) [YOUNG GOD]

Why you'll love it

This indie exclusive 2LP set brings back a live record that first surfaced on Some Bizzare in 1986. It catches the classic Michael Gira, Norman Westberg, Algis Kizys and Jarboe lineup at its most monolithic.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Indie exclusive

About the album

Some live albums capture a band. This one captures a room being slowly flattened. Recorded on the tour for Greed and Holy Money at London's ICA, the ULU and The Garage in Nottingham, Public Castration Is a Good Idea is Swans as their earliest British audiences experienced them: slow, enormous and relentlessly loud.

Michael Gira leads Norman Westberg on guitar, Algis Kizys on bass, Ronaldo Gonzalez and Ted Parsons on drums and percussion, and Jarboe on vocals and keyboards. Eight long pieces sprawl over four sides, from a twelve-minute "Money Is Flesh" and the hammering "A Hanging" to "Coward," "A Screw" and the closing "Another You." The songs stretch well past their studio lengths, every repetition adding another layer of weight and tension, and Jack Balchin's live sound keeps the low end physical and clear. It's the sound of a band at the very heart of its early, punishing era.

It first came out alongside a companion video of the same tour. Gira's own Young God label now brings it back, for those who like their records to arrive with structural engineering requirements.

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Tracklist

Listen

On Young God, a reissue of the 1986 live album.