Sonic Youth - Sonic Youth/Confusion Is Sex/ Sonic-Death Sonic-Youth Live vs Swans - Filth/Cop/Greed

If you're wondering how I chose which releases; I went with the first 3 entries on discogs Like I did with the others.

Should be official full studio albums. 1983 to 1986 is Confusion Is Sex / Bad Moon Rising / Evol vs. Filth / Cop / Greed

Easily sonic youth

Been a long long time since i last listened to any of them but Confusion Is Sex is my favourite one of those records iirc. Lots of crossover between the two bands at this stage though, thurston was in swans for a while iirc? and gira wrote 'the world looks red'

Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising/Evol/Sister vs Pixies - Come On Pilgrim/Surfer Rosa/Doolittle

Those Swans albums just crush. Greed (& Holy Money) are perhaps my favourite and definitely my most listened to Swans albums which I still re-visit a lot more than early era SY. Greed's drums, Norman Westberg's guitar sounds & Jarboe's vox are eternal. Cop is just out there on its own too - it changed everything I thought about music when i first heard it.

if it was Confusion Is Sex / Bad Moon Rising / Evol vs. Filth / Cop / Greed

i'd find it hard to choose but SY would probably just win here.

Cop is the best sounding of these by far, but the SY ones have better tunes, SY by a hair

Definitely SY, honestly some of their best shit here

I guess if one were to include Ciccone Youth is well (cue posters saying “what do you even see in that”)

This era of Swans > this era of SY for sure
Next era of SY (Bad Moon Rising/Evol/Sister) > next era of Swans (Holy Money/Children of God/The Burning World), though, and I like The Burning World a lot more than most people

Although live Swans from that era (Public Castration Is A Good Idea, Real Love, Feel Good Now) crushes everything in its path

That would be an interesting poll. Maybe next week after this one if we aren't burnt out.

Has Gira killed all the love for Swans?

I would think so. i didn't listen at all for a good while but have gone back to the early albums in recent times.

Swans were hugely beloved on ILM and then nobody posted about them anymore. The Guardian and other media just pretended they didn't exist anymore either.

I wondered if the pre-accusations stuff will get a reappraisal or if they are done for good.

These SY recordings represent my favourite era, along with Ciccone Youth. If I had to pick-only-two SY albums I'd likely pick the s/t EP and Sonic Nurse. I have never liked the band Swans, stultifying content-free music for losers.

Those are the exact reasons I used to like them!

I have enjoyed listening to "Filth" once or twice! Hate the rest of the 80s albums. "Children Of God" is nice, I am tolerant of the Jarboe era. The comeback albums are amongst the worst "best" albums I've ever subjected myself to. I remember Congleton produced two acclaimed albums in one year (The Seer and St. Vincent s/t) and one panned album (Xiu Xiu Angel Guts) the same year. The wrong albums got praised, the wrong album got panned.

(My mistake, it was To Be Kind that came out that year)

The comeback albums are amongst the worst "best" albums I've ever subjected myself to.

We agree on this much at least. Nu-Swans are terrible. I enjoyed interviewing Gira around the time of My Father..., though. He was an interesting person to talk to.

I liked them.

Should be official full studio albums. 1983 to 1986 is Confusion Is Sex / Bad Moon Rising / Evol vs. Filth / Cop / Greed

this would have easily been SY but in the configuration we have, it's Swans

I wondered if the pre-accusations stuff will get a reappraisal or if they are done for good.

pretty sure they just released an album and played here a few months ago

Yeah, they released an album just last year that ended up at #19 on the RYM chart for the year (not that this is a great metric, but I was curious to see how it was received there).

I don't recall it getting mentioned here or anywhere else. Did it get any coverage?

A little bit in the Swans Classic or Dud thread, actually.

I wasn't on ilm for a while last year when my Dad was ill then passed away so I must've missed that.

I didn't by any of the albums that came out after the accusations but early last year I ended up (being a completist) buying them cheap second hand. Might do the same with this one then.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Just listened to Cunfusion Is Sex a couple weeks ago. Sounds better than ever. Always felt I should like Swans more. There are moments I found mesmerizing, but I never got hooked.

I haven't listened to Swans in ages.

Confusion Is Sex is such a great album.

Last time I listened to early Swans I thought "I'm not in this mood I used to be in all the time when I was younger", sorry Mickey G. Voted for them anyway as you never know when such a state of mind might come back.

i think you're only the 2nd person who has said they voted Swans

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

"The Silent Fifteen"

More voted than I was beginning to think

At this stage in their careers, both bands knew how they wanted to shock senses and sensibilities, but Swans had implemented their manifesto better.

true