Swell Maps: Classic or Dud?

I'm glad that _Sweep the Desert_ exists (and includes a bunch of the really weird stuff I love, like "The Graveyard Shift" and the mighty "Collision with a Frogman Vs. the Mangrove Delta Plan"), and I cannot frickin' believe that there's a Honda commercial with a loop from "BLAM!!" But I wish somebody would just do straight reissues of the original albums (well, in their expanded Mute versions), and especially _Whatever Happens Next_--I've practically worn out the vinyl playing "Vertical Slum/Forest Fire" over and over.

I've mentioned that "Vertical Slum" (in its original version, not the bizarro _International Rescue_ dub) is the greatest punk song ever written, right? The weather! The leather!

RIP Epic Soundtracks. And how in the world did Jowe Head end up in the TV Personalities, I ask myself.

I love all of their stuff but agree that Jane From Occupied is the finest and most underrated (though not here, apparently) - both Train Out Of It and A Trip To Marineville are also essential, and Collision Time is nothing to sneeze at, either!

they RULE. So, classic.

After I posted on this thread (nearly two years ago - Jesus!) a writer from 'Strange Things' mag got in touch w/ me abt Epic - dunno if his article ever got published, tho'.

The first song on 'Jane' sounds so ahead of it's time! like triphop or something

How thick are they?! I gotta get that box, cuz I have the Alive LPs, too.

Did they reissue them on vinyl??

Okay, clarification time -- as I mentioned way above, I have the Mute reissues of Train, Jane and Marineville plus the Collision Time Revisited comp, so what exactly am I missing that's not included on those four?

This should probably go on the music for running thread since this reminds me I go running to the S'Maps all the time.

They don't remind me much of Can at all. The closest Can got to the noisy experimentalism of Swell Maps is the second half of Tago Mago. That seems to be what the Maps were trying for on Jane, though with more attitude and less musicality.

I was never quite sure if that was Blam! or not in that ad, couldn't quite believe it myself and wasted a lot of time searching message boards commercials trying to get confirmation.

Anyhoo, Swell Maps = total classic. The reissues are fantastic. When I first heard Collision Time Revisited I couldn't understand how I'd never heard of this band before (and the only reason I even heard that was because a Sonic Youth obsessed friend picked it up for Thurston Moore's liner notes), then I tried to actually find some of their music. It took me over four years to finally find a battered copy of Marineville and even then I could only get it by trading stuff.

Actually, that does make sense.

Still no sign of a Whatever Happens Next... reissue. That's a crime.

I simply do not understand why more people don't know about this band.

What bonus tracks do the SC reissues have the the Mute ones don't?

Because, to me, it seems pointless to get the SC reissues, since the Mute issues have tons more bonus tracks... and I was assuming the stuff on the Alive comps would cover the bonus track material on the SC reissues, but I could be wrong!

Bimble, you should get one of the Alive comps.. either International Rescue or Sweep The Desert will do... The former is more garagey, and the latter is more "proto-indie". Both are mutually exclusive, and make good cheap primers.

Marineville:
Loin of the Surf
Doctor at Cake
Steven Does
Bronze and Baby Shoes

Jane:
The Stairs Are Like an Avalanche
New York

Also, the remastering (done in 2003 by Nikki Sudden and John Rivers) fucking RULES RULES and RULES.

Ripped & Torn
International Rescue
Loin of the Surf
Shoot the Angels
Elephant Flowers (no. 2)
Turn Me On Dead Man
Bronze & Baby Shoes
nevertoseeanyotherway

'New York' may well be one the best songs ever as well.

Shame about their horrendously disorganised re-issue/compilation protocol though.

It's on the Internation Rescue CD (but not the LP configuration).

BUT,,,,,,,is there anyone w/any knowledge about the never-released Daga Daga Daga lp by Soundtracks and Head? there's that fantastic 12" on Rough Trade--Rain Rain Rain, and a track or two on Collision Time Revisited... to the best of my knowledge the 12" has never been issued on cd, which is a shame! anyway, love to hear more of these sessions!!

Well, FUCK. I guess I shouldn't have sold my old Mute CDs. To the used bins!

1 International Rescue
2 Black Velvet (remix)
3 Forest Fire
4 One Of The Crowd
5 Winter Rainbow (Armadillo)

I don't see 2 or 4 on any of the other records. Yet another headache for SM completists... Now I'm wondering what's on the Munster vinyl of Jane!

Also, this website is pretty useful:

http://www.televisionpersonalities.co.uk/jowe/swell.htm

really loving this right now. sending this thread to the top!

Amazing band, of course...but this Wastrels and Whippersnappers CD comp that just came out is a snooze. It kinda re-imagines them as an experimental punk band with none of the pop that made them great.

What everyone says, once again. Hmmm. Should dig them out again.

agreed... the appeal is the parallel universes they could easily inhabit... only one half at a time would be short changing...

that Wastrels CD sure does suck, agreed. guess there was no bottom left in the barrel.

I just turned some musician friends on to them and they are way into it.

Steer clear of the Secretly Canadian reissues of Jane and Marineville. Even to my (decidedly non-audiophile) ears they sound overloud and badly compressed. The Mute issues are still pretty easy to get a hold of, and they're loaded with bonus tracks to boot.

Steer clear of the Secretly Canadian reissues of Jane and Marineville.

Interesting -- I wondered about that. I'd downloaded "Midget Submarines" sample mp3 from the SC site while at work once and remembered it sounding somewhat different from the Mute cds at home.

And yeah that Wastrels disc was a letdown. I wish they'd pull together the peel session tracks (some were on Whatever Happens Next, some are floating around the internet) and any other radio tracks.

Does anyone know where the b&w video-looking footage from the "Midget Submarines" video that SC put together came from? It looks like they're actually playing MS on television somewhere (based on what I can make out of Epic's drumming).

re: Mute reissues vs. SC reissues:

other pro-Mute-version points are noted earlier in the thread as well, buyer beware.

how about a BOX SET already? just keep packing crap on cds until you hit 10 discs' worth.

"Tokyo Airport"!!!! This sounds like some lost krautrock gem or something. So awesome.

You guys seriously, this song.

These lads need some proper expanded reissues - there's lots of good bits scattered amongst compilations and umpteenth reissues of their albums.

weren't there expanded reissues a few years ago? i can't remember. i've just got old copies of these records.

Yeah, Secretly Canadian reissued the two albums proper a few years ago, but wth fewer extra tracks than the 1989 Mute reissues. For example, the Mute version has 22 tracks, while the SC version only has 16 total; the fantastic "Let's Build A Car" is on Mure, but not SC.

So far I have both SC reissues, Train Out of It, and International Rescue. Not sure which of the other compilations I need.

weird how "let's build a car" is on a video on the SC Jane reissue but not as a track

It gives me a total headache trying to figure out whether I've got everything by these boys or not.

this x 100.

There's another Alive comp titled "Sweep the desert", focused on the more krautrock/avant garde side of the band. Hardly essential, but if I remember well there was a couple of tracks that didn't appear elsewhere.

yeah i guess i've got the mute reissues?

Everyone's Mute issues OK? My 'bought when they came out' versions are suffering from disc rot, so I keep looking at copies online wondering if they're more recent pressings or I'm going to open the shrink rap to find a bronzed disc inside.

I *finally* tracked down a CD copy of "Collision Time Revisited" at a good price. I've got the Mute CDs of their two albums - do I need "Train Out Of It"? I'm not sure what's on there that I don't already have.

probably, that stuff is SO confusing. but iirc there are things on the Mute version that you can't get anywhere else.

yeah it (Mute version) has "Doomette", "Clear The Floor", "Cave Dwellers", "Dresden Style", etc.

My question that killed this thread in 2010 still stands BTW.

Hmm, I have Train Out Of It and A Trip To Marineville on Mute, I'd better check them later on, then I might be able to answer :)

my Mute Jane is fine; bought it when it came out. my Restless C.T. Revisited, however, skips.

yeah all my Mute CDs are fine, I have Jane... and Train Out Of It.

Mine are OK too but I realised I haven't listened to them in years so they've gone on my listening pile, so thanks anyway!

What's on "Train", demos and early stuff? Is it any good?

I would say it was essential cos it has their non-album singles on it but they may be on other comps as well, their discography is such a mess.

Looks like it has quite a lot of crossover with Collision Time Revisited, at least the first half. But that doesn't have Dresden Style on it.

Why Tyler you good soul

http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/51646809404/swell-maps-peel-sessions-personnel-biggles

nice! just the other day i realized it'd been too long since my last listen through my faves. this'll give me a reason to have a swell maps revival.

great stuff -- seems weird they've only put out a handful of these officially (and never on CD afaik).

damn I was just listening to jane from occupied europe yesterday

Did the 2013 Mute cd releases get a remaster or is that just the Secretly Canadian versions. I've been meaning to pick up copies of their material for a while and want to get the best cd versions.

Can anyone recommend other rock bands/songs with a driving "pulse," similar to SM traxx like "Midget Submarines" and "Full Moon in My Pocket"? (I guess a much more recent example would be Parquet Courts' "Stoned & Starving"...) Thx!

The outro to "Stoned & Starving" actually v. similar to the "Full Moon (Reprise)"

Maybe a few here: That Motorik Beat

"Full Moon" is really just "Mother Sky" surely?

Kewl, thanks. I've dipped into Can, but it's never really gelled for me (not "rock" enough, or something). Will check it out again...

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever can get that sound going pretty well.

this is very 'midget submarine' - the gordons' 'future shock' which i think came out about a year after marineville:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDKGkWU0lWQ

that's a great call!

there's probably a lot more NZ stuff that would fit tbh, but my knowledge isn't that deep

oh yeah this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3huT9iemFTg

The Dead C - Bad Politics

(that's off their first 7" btw, a lot of the rest of their stuff isn't really quite as rocking as that)

going backwards in time, you get things like this from 1975 iirc which is maybe more in the vein of stuff like 'helicopter spies':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnG_pwzSgmU&t=177s

Simply Saucer - Illegal Bodies

Thanks, all! The gtr solo in that Simply Saucer track is pretty gnarly... (never heard of this band).

There's a band history called Heavy Metalloid Music by Jesse Locke that i've been meaning to get. Hoped my girlfriend could pick up a copy in NYC on her last trip but couldn't find it.
Cyborgs Revisited is a good compilation and has that track on it.

I'm listening to "Cyborgs Revisited" online now... it sounds like the missing link between the first Royal Trux LP, Cleveland-scene basement scuzz, and, I dunno, Boston (the band).

they were kind of canada's sci-fi answer to the velvet underground. kind of.

produced by Daniel Lanois too.

& the band name is more of a reference to Pink Floyd's 2nd lp I think.

Also thought i heard about ping Romany being compared to the Hawkwind electronic guys not sure if that was conscious on his part .

Anyone have further info on the new "Mayday Signals" release: https://www.discogs.com/Swell-Maps-MayDay-Signals/release/18527167

Such as - are these demos, single versions, wot?

It was mentioned in the Rolling Reissues thread recently, I don’t recall how much info there was…

‘Mayday Signals’ by Swell Maps is a compilation of previously unreleased material. One of two surviving members, Jowe Head, has plundered his archives to find a whole host of treasures by the influential DIY punk band. Among the highlights are demo versions of ‘Read About Seymour’ and ‘Dresden Style’.

Not seeing a cd version which would have been handy. But so would Cherry Red compiling one of its Punk multi-lp cd sets on the band.
There were cd remasters of the 2 main lps on Secretly Canadian a few years ago but it was mainly the non remastered Mute version that was visibly around.

Hrm, not much detail there. We'll have to see what comes with the physical product.

Rough Trade list a CD version: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/swell-maps/mayday-signals (Yah I'm still buying CDs, too, fwiw).

"Whatever Happens Next (Acoustic)"

would check out for this and a few others fer sure

yeah found a cd version on Easy Action's site after searching.

Discogs has the Mute version of teh cds listed as RM which i thought was remastered. Ones i have say 1989 on th eback, not that the 2 are mutually exclusive just would prefer a fresher transfer.
THink I found some cheapish copies of teh other remaster though.

I recall some grumbling from somewhere on interwebs that the Mute cds had some reverb added as well. Not sure if that is trur but comparing select tracks to the International Rescue comp they do sound "roomier".
So, yes, to fresh transfers.
...and a cd copy of Whatever Happens Next with extra peel sessions.

Ok, in case anyone else has been confused by their catalog, here's what I've discovered:

The 1991 Mute CD reissues of "A Trip To Marineville", "In Jane From Occupied Europe" and "Train Out Of It" collect almost all of their officially released catalog. These are the tracks that aren't included:
Steven Does - from the 7" that came with "Jane"
English Verse / Monologues - from "Real Shocks" 7"
St. Saviour's Road / Blues No. 2: Beatle Bonfire / Fashion Cult / Texas - from "Collision Time Revisited"
Black Velvet (remix) / Dresden Style - from "International Rescue"
Cave Mines - from "Sweep The Desert"

Not yet officially released are 3 Peel sessions from 1978-80. These are great, someone should put them out. I've also got a couple of tracks they did for WMRS in 1979.

"Mayday Signals" is entirely previously unreleased material as far as I can tell. A couple of these tracks ("Armadillo", "Bandits 1-5") later appeared on a Peel session. Others are demo or alternate versions:
"City Boys - Dresden Style", "Fashion Cult", "International Rescue", "Off The Beach", "Ripped And Torn", "Vertical Slum", "Whatever Happens Next", "Read About Seymour"
There's lots of short bits (12 tracks are 1:30 or less), a bunch of noise collages that aren't my taste, and then there's some great new songs, which are. I'll likely cherry pick the best stuff for my digital library.

"Armadillo" presumably = Winter Rainbow (on the International Rescue comp)

The 1991 Mute CD reissues of "A Trip To Marineville", "In Jane From Occupied Europe" and "Train Out Of It" collect almost all of their officially released catalog. These are the tracks that aren't included:
Steven Does - from the 7" that came with "Jane"
English Verse / Monologues - from "Real Shocks" 7"
St. Saviour's Road / Blues No. 2: Beatle Bonfire / Fashion Cult / Texas - from "Collision Time Revisited"
Black Velvet (remix) / Dresden Style - from "International Rescue"
Cave Mines - from "Sweep The Desert"

Idk, I can think of several songs unaccounted for here but would have to compare tracklists to be sure

Yeah, that list is missing stuff :)

I don't know this release, but wonder if there's some overlap with the new one:
https://www.discogs.com/Swell-Maps-Whatever-Happens-Next/release/1499935

Ok, I wasn't aware of that double LP. or another demos and whatnot released called "Wastrels And Whippersnappers". Looks like the barrel still needs scraping...

Well like for example 'Winter Rainbow' is not on one of those 3 CD's but but you didn't list it among the songs on International Rescue that is not on one of those CD's. And there are others.

Tbf it looks like it was included on a later reish of Marineville (not on Mute)

Ah, my mistake, that's because I have it as part of a bootleg radio sessions comp.

Whatever Happens Next desperately needs a reissue IMHO

Honestly I think they need a definitive box set, the catalog isn't that huge that it wouldn't be feasible and every time their albums get reissued things get left off and the catalog becomes even more confusing.

Have hoped taht Cherry Red might do one of its punk era boxes on them. Seem to be some good ones around.

https://thequietus.com/articles/30006-swell-maps-interview

"Head has spent the ensuing months working on two Swell Maps archive albums – Mayday Signals...

...and a collection of the band's three sessions for John Peel's radio show"

YES

So got the Secretly Canadian Jane yesterday and may get the SC Marineville.
But now need to get the Mute bonus material if I can. Is that out anywhere else.
Would love a Cherry Red compilation of the 2 main lps and whatever.

I don't think the bonus Mute tracks are anywhere else - see upthread for more extensive analysis

happy to YSI, just ILXmail me

I am now a member of Swell Maps. We are playing 2 nights in December Cafe OTO. My teenage self would be cockahoop.

— Luke Haines Rock N Roll (@LukeHaines_News) October 6, 2021

I am now a member of Swell Maps. We are playing 2 nights in December Cafe OTO. My teenage self would be cockahoop.

— Luke Haines Rock N Roll (@LukeHaines_News) October 6, 2021

Also starring David Callaghan from the Wolfhounds - perhaps a more appropriate recruit.

Wuh....? Without Nikki and Epic, isn't it more like a Swell Maps tribute band? I mean, still, I'd pay to see Luke and Dave and Jowe play together.

yeah — seems very odd to be calling it Swell Maps. Could be good, though?

Are we sure that Haines is not taking the piss?

I guess "Jowe Head Plays the Music of Swell Maps" doesn't sell as many tickets as calling it Swell Maps, is the reality behind this decision.

Here's the details

It's a bit like when the Bonzo Dog Band did those gigs with dozens of guests and half the surviving band.

Jowe Head Swell Maps book incoming:

https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/jowe-head/swell-maps-1972-1980

edition of only 1000 copies btw, and comes with a 7" of unreleased material

! Swell Maps Peel Sessions release in September!

https://mute.ffm.to/swellmaps-tjps

wow. some of that was on the long-out-of-print Whatever Happens Next, but not all.