Customer Reviews

Jane From Occupied Europe

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Whatever Amazon say about this CD not being available, they are wrong. Try Rough Trade records in Talbot Road, London. I also got Trip to Marineville there. This is slightly more mature than Trip, but not without those quirky toy-like effects that make Swell the legendary sound they are today. Really cheers you up.

Yes, it seems like every reissue from some obscure band from 1980 seems to get the "gem" 5 star review, but this record is really something special. It is so loosely concocted, but it works incredibly well as a whole or just listening to individual tracks. The looseness seems very natural and unpretentious. Also, the energy of this group is completely contagious. Its an absolute must for anyone into the early eighties British thing but feels like the Fall don't rock hard enough and that Wire are too full of themselves.....

The 2 brothers (Nikki Sudden & Epic Soundtracks)which founded the group gave such an unconventional spin to what many considered "punk" in the late '70s by adding tape loops, piano, and other assorted items oddly mixed into the Lo Fi aggression of feedback that Sonic Youth has continually saturated their songs with. They actually had a sense of humor accompanied by a bizzare intelligence of the reality of the world (songs like "Let's Build A Car" and "Verticle Slum"). Only other groups near their originality would've been Wire, Gang of Four, Raincoats, or Pere Ubu.

Prior to buying "Jane from Occupied Europe", I owned only their early singles "Read about Seymour" and "Let's Build A Car," which I felt were great songs but I didn't really understand all the critics referring to the band as "avant-garde," as their early singles were pretty straightforward punk - like a louder Fall.

But "Jane from Occupied Europe" is a truly great album, and now I plan to buy "A Trip From Marineville" because I like Swell Maps so much now. Parts of this album actually closely resemble no wave and krautrock, but it all feels much more melodic. Deep below all the feedback and hissing toy symphonies lie some truly excellent and abstract melodies. The energy level remains consistently high and the album is patchy in the best sense - although the songs are not of a consistent style, it all feels like a unified whole, in the same way Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica" does.

I'm so glad this was reissued because had it not been available, I probably would not have spent my time and money tracking it down. And I would have missed out on such an excellent album.

yes, an obscure classic. buy it, whine about it for ten years, then, like Neu!, these guys will be properly reissued, publicly celebrated, and you'll actually have friends. for once. yes-men.
Oh, the album, the album is great, split between pseudo-omnious instrumentals and psychotic garage-punk with drills, church organs, and snotty wombles singing.
one or two wasted thirty second tracks, but everything here is inspirational. I suggest you dress like a buddhist monk, wear goggles, drive a hillman imp, and listen to this.
big, big influence on super furry animals, sonic youth, radiohead, any prog-punk band, they totally ripped this sister off, maan, the chord-changes, textures, only this is abrasive. yeah! abrasive! unlike stupid metal pop bands like slipknot, who are in no way abrasive! you have no taste or worthy cerebral contribution to make until you buy this!. everything. yeah. stop mithering and buy.

A quantum step forward, Jane From Occupied Europe manages to bring the bristling, shorthand punk of Wire and the groove-drone of Can into the same camp. For an album that was completed just as the young group began to fragment, JFOE is a remarkable follow-up to the only other Swell Maps full-length, A Trip To Marinaville. Despite its diversity, it all knits together into a sprawling yet distinctly engaging album, whether it's freeform noise experiments, thick grooves, or hopped-up punk tunes. Where Marinaville sometimes indulged in deliberately shabby songwriting and playing, JFOE shows just how amazing the band could be when firing on all cylinders, whether it was slowly unspooling krautrock or tight, noisy pop songs.

I'd consider this an essential early post-punk album. If you're in the mood for music that has brains, humor, inventiveness, fearlessness, and isn't afraid to be noisy or messy even as it flaunts its casually brilliant hooks, here's your album.

Great record this is. Along with a Trip to Marienville, the Swell Maps did two intense and visceral works of art, noisy and experimental back in 79-81 in a way only the genious This Heat could achieve (and surpass, it's another game for them). Listening to Swell Maps we have surf rock, Krautrock, industrial, punk, all together in a wonderful melodic mess. A hymn to rock insanity.

The Swell Maps is a great Alternative sound, they seemed to bring noise rock into the music scene before their time. My only complaint would be the singer, it is a little bit too punk for my tastes and kind of takes away from the melodies. But that really is minor, most of the album has no vocals anyway. Great CD.

i cant imagine anyone hearing this without feeling changed somehow. very imaginative and very original. some of the coolest music ever made.