Swans - Filth CD (deluxe edition)

Brand new, still sealed. 

“This is all slabs of sound, rhythm and screaming/testifying. What more do you need? In a way, it was a reaction against Punk (and just about any other music you can think of), and the conservative notion that 3 chords were somehow necessary. I used to deny it vehemently at the time, but No Wave (I “hated” that scene too, for some reason I can’t remember now) played a big role as the germ from which this music grew, along with The Stooges and Throbbing Gristle, of course. I wanted Swans to be “heavier” though – I wanted the music to obliterate -  why, I don’t remember! I think it just felt good.  Live, we used two basses (playing utterly unmusical chords that were stabbed and left to  sustain or sometimes hit in staccato or opposing rhythms), drums, a  “percussionist” that slammed down on a metal table with a metal strap, crude  cassette loops of various sounds/noises (usually some kind of undefined  ROAR), and Norman Westberg’s glorious sustained and screaming guitar chords.  It was pretty elating to play live – for us. If 100 people showed up (which would have been a huge audience at the time – 20 was more the average), 80 were guaranteed to leave by the second song. Somehow that tension – contempt or indifference from the audience – was nourishing, so we kept going. “

- Michael Gira / Swans/Young God Records

The 3CD package constitutes a definitive, comprehensive document of SWANS during the time period 1982 – 5, beginning with the first EP and the debut album Filth, and leading up into various early rare live recordings as well as studio outtakes from the Cop and Greed era… Accordion booklet includes archival photos and graphics… Entire 3CD set re-mastered in 2015.

DISC ONE: SWANS original debut LP “Filth” from 1983, with the line up of M.Gira, Norman Westberg, Roli Mosimann, Harry Crosby, and Jonathan Kane. Also features versions of "Strip/Burn," "Heatsheet," "Blackout," "Clay Man," "Stay Here, and "Weakling," all recorded live at The Kitchen, NYC, 1982. 

DISC TWO: Body to Body material comprised of various studio out-takes and live recordings 1982-85, with a nine-minute version of "Raping a Slave," recorded live in Berlin, 1984.

DISC THREE: Debut 12” EP #1, originally released in 1982, plus many additional archival live performances from NYC and London, 1982-4.