Soundtracks for the Blind [Original recording reissued, Soundtrack]

Swans | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 2, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1997
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording reissued, Soundtrack
• Label: Young God Records
• ASIN: B00005OAJR
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,795 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FINAL TESTAMENT, August 14, 2001

By 

Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Soundtracks for Blind (Audio CD)

As the old reviewers' cliché goes, Soundtracks for the Blind is a "sprawling masterpiece." Over more than 120 minutes, Swans give up the ghost in a most magnificent series of sobs. If you can bear it, Soundtracks is best appreciated in one listening session, however masochistic that may seem.

The two CDs contain a vast orchestral piece built around the eerie sound of the drone, interspersed with beautiful songs and recorded voices held together by cinematic fragments and interludes. The sound moves from the Wagnerian symphonic to the most overwhelming heavy rock, as on the live track YRP, with many interweaving textures in between. Of course, this music can be emotionally overpowering in its relentless despair, but it also contains beautiful moments of resignation and transcendence.

My personal favorites on the "Silver" CD include Helpless Child with its powerful juxtaposition of utter desolation & courageous affirmation of life, the surprisingly catchy ironic techno of Volcano with Jarboe's acerbic observations on rock stardom, and the moving How They Suffer, which contains two taped conversations - the first a monologue by Gira's father in which he discusses losing his sight, the second between Jarboe and her aged mother, on her deteriorating health.

The resigned tone of these voices encapsulates the mood of the album. Swans have always been experts at transforming sadness/horror into beauty and suffering into transcendence. Most chilling of all, this spooky, atmospheric version of All Lined Up is much grimmer than the one on Gira's Drainland album. On the "Copper" CD I love The Sound above all - 13 minutes of sonic splendor - and the atypically joyful, even rousing, instrumental called Blood Section. It's like the glorious Warm on The Great Annihilator, but without the menacing undertones.

On the rare The Body Lovers album, Gira went even deeper into uncharted territory. The flipside to this morbid but moving music is his post Swans project, Angels of Light, whose music is much more accessible although not always lighter in mood. Swans will always remain my favorite band among a select group of artists hard to classify together by musical style only: John Cale, Jane Siberry, Richard Thompson, Peter Murphy, Leonard Cohen, Kevin Coyne, Nick Cave, Nick Drake & Nico. Soundtracks for the Blind is both an epitaph & monument to one of the most extraordinary bands of the 20th century. Long may they live in solo projects and in The Angels of Light.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great, August 7, 2005

By 

ThunderGrunge (Hampton, NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soundtracks for the Blind (Audio CD)

When I was first introduced to the Swans, I was blown away by their grasp on the beautiful and the errie. My introduction was The Great Annihilator, which still holds a special place in my heart for it's pure grime and sludge of accoustic terror. But, on a limb I grabbed this up, which I was told wasn't that good, and was the Swans' last disc. Who ever told me that, obviously didn't hear "Helpless Child", a haunting song which makes you feel that you could possibly be at the end of your rope. The Swans' last stand is as mighty as any. It's true a few tracks are a bit long, but besides that, a great effort and a great way to end a carreer.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Promise Kept, June 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Soundtracks for Blind (Audio CD)

The Swans final album manages to keep every promise made, from the early hardcore industrial noise to the lyrical melody of their later work. "Soundtracks for the Blind" manages to bring all the elements of the Swans previous sounds into one album. For 2 months, I could not stop listening to "Soundtracks. Compelling, trance-like, the Swans shine and surpass themselves with this final release.