Whilst I wasn't quick enough to snag one of the original hand-made run of 1000, and whilst I am not rich enough to pay some prick hipster cunt with a wardrobe full of berets £90 for a second hand copy which no doubt they have never even played, I was finally able to get my hands on this live album when Mr. Gira thankfully re-pressed an unlimited, non-special edition run on CD. Phew. Unfortunately, this does not contain the excellent acoustic demos that the original hand-made version has, but that is a small sacrifice to pay.
I don't think I've ever been as excited about a live album before in my life. As a general rule, live albums suck ass, but at as far as Swans is concerned, I think they break enough general rules in music anyway so why not snap the live album rule too? They seem to put a live album out for every single era of their existence and they've only done one fairly shit one so far (Anonymous Bodies... anyone?), so that's not too bad going! Before The Seer came out, I needed something to compare with the utterly exhausting and all-encompassing experience that is Swans live, but My Father... just didn't cut the mustard. I love the record, but it is lacking in the certain intensity that Swans hold as a live group. We Rose From Your Bed... kindly provided me with that Swans-feel right in my own home, until The Seer came along and gave me a brain haemhorrage due to it's severe awesomeness.
When Swans play live, the songs become drawn out, almost improvised versions of themselves. The fact that the incredibly simple "No Words / No Thoughts" is dragged out for over 20 minutes here should be worrying, and to be fair when I saw them at Roadburn I was a bit confused as to what was actually going on, but every single time the intro riff is repeated over and over and over, instead of getting more annoying, it gets more anxious; it keeps building and building until it eventually explodes. This is the general rule here - the seeking of total sonic annihilation! You can't fault Gira and Co. for not living up to that!
Just looking at this record makes me excited for the up and coming UK tour in April. A recent Facebook status by Gira informs us that in recent gigs, the song "The Seer" has mutated into something that is now one hour and a half in length! Jesus fucking Christ! I have recently been "diagnosed" with tinnitus and need to source out proper hearing protection before heading to more shows, but I just cannot imagine listening to Swans with earplugs in! It would be Sacrilege! Out on an unlimited run on Young God, and signed by Michael Gira.
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