what i mean by this is how Capitol infamously (well, infamously among hardcore Beach Boys fans and Pet Sounds ‘scholars’, at least) put out the very Beach Boys hits compilation shortly after the release of Pet Sounds only for months later for Good Vibrations to come out and absolutely eclipsing the hits on that compilation.

And probably the most famous and obvious example, the best selling “Their Greatest Hits” by The Eagles not having Hotel California (at least not on the original release).

Any other instances of this amusing phenomena (do doo do do doo)?

Rating: 9.5/10

Favourite Track: Click Clack Symphony. + Nightingale Lane.

Least Favourite Track: Goodbye Henry

This was absolutely amazing! A few lacking tracks here and there though I reckon the worst was no worse than a 7/10. The style of the album is just amazing and as someone who doesn’t listen to much pop I loved this so so much. I initially decided to listen to this because I saw that Hans Zimmer collaborated on one of the tracks, and got much more than I ever thought I was. This is a must have cinematic pop experience with a beautiful story.

The sound of this album is just so good. I love how some of the songs sound jazzy and have that jazz inspiration, but how a lot of them also have orchestral inspiration and that sound really really epic. RAYE’s vocals are just absolutely beautiful and amazing and I love them so much, this was a really big part of the album for me.

Standout Track:

Click Clack Symphony: Rule #1 of music, Hans Zimmer cooks up. His orchestration mixed with RAYE’s vocals is absolutely incredible and I want more collaborations between them. It just sounds so good, you have to hear it for yourself.

Nothing I would change about this album. Amazing

So so good, a must listen for everyone.

it’s so cute and innocent and he looks like he’s jamming out to Metallica or something

all reviews @ link in bio

thanks for the support on the aeroplane over the sea post!

Soundtracks for the Blind

Swans (1996)

Oh god. This is… a big one. Having reviewed both Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven and Ágætis Byrjun already, I can pretty definitively say that post-rock is the hardest genre to review. Even within those two albums, most of it is pretty melodic and is mostly built of extremely intricately layered, but simple, melodies. Swans’ Soundtracks for the Blind is a behemoth of an album. One that is definitely not an easy listen, yet one of the most rewarding and beautiful albums nonetheless.

Believe it or not, this is Swans’ tenth studio record. They released a lot of music between 1983 and 1995, from Filth to The Great Annihilator. Their discography is among the most diverse out there, even within the sample size of Soundtracks for the Blind. Even within one record, there are songs ranging from “I Was a Prisoner In Your Skull” to “Helpless Child.” They’re vastly different tracks, yet they all still feel cohesive and work as a two-and-a-half hour album. Look, I’m gonna be real. There’s no way I’m reviewing all twenty six tracks on this album. I mean, I couldn’t even get through all the songs on Grace, so what makes you think I can do this? Unfortunately, the greatest strength of this album lies in its cohesion and its atmosphere as an album. So, I’ll talk about a few of my personal favorite songs from this record before talking about the album as a whole.

Without further ado, let’s get into it. The first track I’d like to talk about is the opener: “Velvet Red Corridor.” I think this track does a perfect job at setting the scene for the album that’s to come, with all the ambient… synths…? I don’t even know what’s making these sounds. The arpeggiating notes remind me of Sigur Rós’ signature sound, that of a cello-bowed electric guitar. I don’t think that’s what’s happening here, but I just thought I’d make that connection. If I had to describe in two words what Soundtracks For the Blind sounds like, I’d pick “horror movie.” The ambient tracks are deeply unsettling, often with eerie voicings like what we see in the opener here. While it’s pretty drone-y on its own, it fits perfectly with what’s coming next. You’ll find that’s a recurring theme with this album.

The second track, “I Was a Prisoner In Your Skull,” is even eerier than the last. It starts off with a big wash of one chord played across multiple synths, creating a wall of sound before breaking into… uhh… “euahuaehuehuusuehuh” or something like that. Yeah… This is what I meant by ‘Oh god.’ Anyways, the percussion section enters as the [unknown pronunciation] fades out, leaving a tense and deeply unsettling atmosphere. It feels like being stranded in the forest in the middle of the night. You’re completely alone. It’s cold and dark. You haven’t heard a single sound, it’s absolutely silent. Yet, you can’t shake the feeling that you’re being watched. 
About halfway through the song, we get a Godspeed You! Black Emperor-style vocal sample. Godspeed usually uses their samples for political messages and setting the scene for their cinematic movements. On the contrary, in “I Was a Prisoner In Your Skull,” Swans uses the vocal sample for, well, ragebait. That’s basically what it feels like.

“Testing, one, two three
Well, well fuck, I mean
I just don’t know what to say
I’m very glad to be here with you tonight
I’ll be able to talk to you about some things
That I know a great deal about

Everyone knows that you are fucked up
And everyone knows that I am fucked up
But does everyone know that you are more fucked up than me?”

The man in the sample proceeds to list “all the instances of you being more fucked up than me.” It’s kinda funny, not gonna lie. It’s funny in the same way that watching a horror movie with zero context is funny. Take it for what it is on the screen, and it looks really cheesy. On the topic of horror movies, the backing track throughout the monologue is nothing short of horrifying. It’s not an oppressive horror, it’s just really unsettling. I’m going to be saying that a lot.

The first of the long songs on the record, “Helpless Child” is probably one of my favorite tracks ever. It starts with the introduction of the main chord progression, which only changes a few times throughout the song’s sixteen minutes. Again, I still have no idea how half of these sounds are made. I’m pretty sure that in this case it’s some heavily produced guitar, to go along with the acoustic and electric we hear clearly. Then, we get something pretty out of place for Swans, but not unheard of: singing. Micheal Gira’s voice is ridiculously low, but I can’t say it doesn’t work here. Lyrically, all I can say about it is it’s… dark. When I quote the lyrics at the end of this section, you’ll see what I mean. But, by the seven minute mark, the vocals are done. The song enters its next section, removing its guitars, allowing for an arpeggiating glockenspiel(?) and a different, shimmering guitar effect to enter. The song enters a new phase, droning the same chord on its electric guitars. As the percussion enters again, the synths start to play a melody on the higher registers. The song has quietly morphed into a completely different song since the start of the track, at least musically. To me, this song represents the downward spiral of the human consciousness. It can be subtle, changing slowly over years. But when you look back, it’ll be vastly different to when you started.

“Now you be the mother and
I’ll be your fool
I’ll hide myself deep inside
Your crimson pool
The muddy water runs
Beneath your folds
You won’t let me breathe;
You won’t let me go
Now you’ll be the stranger and
I’ll be the white-skinned son
You’ll blacken my innocence
With sugar and opium”

Skipping a track, the next one I want to dive into is “Yum-Yab Killers.” This time, we’re starting with… applause? Seems strangely positive, by Swans standards at least. This is followed by an upbeat drumbeat, as well as a classic-rock reminiscent guitar riff. With its low-quality riff and vocals, “Yum-Yab Killers” feels oddly lo-fi for an album that defines itself by being nuanced in its instrumentation. The lack of production on this song provides a start contrast to the last four songs. It sounds like the guitar is being picked up by a microphone in front of its amp. It’s also a thematic departure from the horrifying nature of the album, offering an angsty and intense vibe with growly vocals, before ending with more applause.

Skipping another song (though, “The Beautiful Days” is one of my favorites as well), we have “Volcano,” and man… this song sounds completely out of place with the record. Of course, that’s how it’s meant to sound, I mean it kinda sounds out of place with itself. It has a backbeating sounding straight off of Selected Ambient Works 85-92, combined with a vocal performance that would fit on… like, anything but this? I’m not even quite sure what I’m hearing right now. All I know is that it works. I have no clue how this works, but it does. Every songwriter should strive to be able to combine Aphex Twin with a Disney-esque vocal line and make it work.

Jumping over to the second disc, we’re talking about “The Sound.” “The Sound” is the other of the long songs on this record, along with the aforementioned “Helpless Child.” In comparison, it actually sounds quite similar, while also being vastly different. It’s… hard to explain. It opens with another synth-led chord progression, only using a soft electric guitar at the start of each chord change. We’re definitely back in the horror movie. Again, Gira’s vocals are featured on this track, singing more low and barely distinguishable lyrics. The song’s lyrics are about a mysterious force, referred to as “the sound.” So yes, the song is about The Sound. Shocking. 

“And wide are your delusions
Deep red is the space between your eyes
Closed forever is the door to your room
But inside there, lives the sound

You despise, but I love
You despise, what I love
You despise; I love
You despise; I love”

As the vocals end for now, the instrumentations gather in intensity and volume. The guitar gets more and more distorted, and the drum kit is added to keep time. The electric guitar, which used to play on the first beat of every chord, is now playing heavily distorted eight-note strums throughout. I believe that this section represents the faith that Gira has in ‘the sound,’ and why he loves it when everyone else seems to hate it.
In the next section, the chords change voicings, though not necessarily the chord symbols themselves (that’ll make sense to you music nerds). The whole song shifts down a register, only losing its intensity for a brief moment. At around the ten minute mark, the song suddenly shifts back to the beginning, before the descent into darkness. Again, the vocals reenter. It’s a shift back, before everything went wrong. A last-ditch attempt to make things right.

“Mother, I…
Mother, I…
I was wrong…
I am wrong…
You were wrong, I…
I am wrong”

As the organ-like synth fades out at the last minute, its absence is filled with a twinkling keyboard  that feels unbelievably eerie. I’m not sure how meta this idea is, but that’s what I think the song’s been alluding to this entire time. That’s the sound.

Alright, I did say I would talk about the album as a whole. Although, I think I have talked about the album quite a lot by talking about the highlights. It's not a pleasant album, it’s far from it. It’s not an easy listen, and listening to songs individually is not going to work at all (maybe with the exception of the songs I talked about). It’s an album diving into the subconscious of the human mind, exploring the depths of human nature and psychology. I’m not sure if I’d call it a concept album, just because of how loose the term is nowadays, but it’s an album revolving around a core concept: the horrifying, yet beautiful experience of being human.

Disc 1

1. Red Velvet Corridor: 85/100
2. I Was A Prisoner In Your Skull: 87/100
3. Helpless Child: 97/100
4. Live Through Me: 86/100
5. Yum-Yab Killers: 82/100
6. The Beautiful Days: 86/100
7. Volcano: 89/100
8. Mellothumb: 83/100
9. Surrogate 2: 79/100
10. All Lined Up: 76/100
11. How They Suffer: 80/100
12. Animus: 73/100

Disc 2

1. Red Velvet Wound: 81/100
2. The Sound: 96/100
3. Her Mouth is Filled With Honey: 74/100
4. Blood Section: 86/100
5. Hypogirl: 76/100
6. Minus Something: 85/100
7. Empathy: 79/100
8. I Love You This Much: 82/100
9. YRP: 83/100
10. Fan’s Lament: 75/100
11. Secret Friends: 78/100
12. The Final Sacrifice: 80/100
13. YRP 2: 83/100
14. Surrogate Drone: 87/100

Overall: 94/100

Not sure if the band actually did this (doubt it though) but the top plays version of Smooth Criminal recently changed to a "re-recorded" version, and if you go to the album for that release it's one of those bs unofficial Sped-up and Slowed down+reverb releases you see doing the rounds these days.

The "re-recorded" version also clearly sounds like absolute garbage which makes me think this wasn't the band actually doing it and someone is now making bank on streams that belong to the band, given it's the version that spotify is going to keep pushing to everyone as it is by far the most streamed track for the band.

Anyone notice this? Real bloody annoying when it keeps coming up on algorithmic playlists.

(Deleted my old post because I forgot to include AAF in the title which is a pretty important point.)

e: Real weird actually, the top songs list has the re-recorded version that genuinely sounds like a shit quality bootleg, then if you go to the Anthology album the version there has the exact same number of streams but is the original legit sounding version (just remastered). Very odd. Whatever.