To me, the Swans
have always been a rather dark band, among all those dark bands that sprang up around the mid-eighties, commonly labelled as "post-punk". One of the side-projects of Michael Gira and Jarboe La Salle Devereaux was a line-up called "Skin", with Norman Westberg on the guitar and Harry Crosby on bass. Under that name they recorded three albums in 1987: "Blood, Women, Roses", "Shame, Humility, Revenge", and "Girl Come Out". There exist also some compilations, like "World of Skin" (1998). I always found, that "Blood on Your Hands" from "Blood, Women, Roses" was a very impressive tune in all its simplicity and it stuck to my memory until today.
There's blood on your hands, baby
Baby, there's blood on your hands
Mama's gonna get even with you
Mama's gonna get you back
When all the blood's washed over you
Mama will never forget
Mama loves you too much, baby
Mama loves you too much to cry
Mama loves her darling boy
She'll hold you close in her arms
Mama's gonna wash his sweet body
Mama loves you too much to cry
Mama loves you too much, baby
Mama loves you too much to cry
have always been a rather dark band, among all those dark bands that sprang up around the mid-eighties, commonly labelled as "post-punk". One of the side-projects of Michael Gira and Jarboe La Salle Devereaux was a line-up called "Skin", with Norman Westberg on the guitar and Harry Crosby on bass. Under that name they recorded three albums in 1987: "Blood, Women, Roses", "Shame, Humility, Revenge", and "Girl Come Out". There exist also some compilations, like "World of Skin" (1998). I always found, that "Blood on Your Hands" from "Blood, Women, Roses" was a very impressive tune in all its simplicity and it stuck to my memory until today.
Religious, and especially, Christian themes, have very often been at the centre of the Swans' songs, f.e. in "Children of God", from the album of the same name:
Finally, as a bonus track, I add one of their versions of the one song that probably is the best song in all the world, so that I will post the original version of it as #1000 of this collection, Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart", the version with the vocals done by Jarboe:
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