OMNISCIENCE

SWANS

Reviewed by Pieter Uys

This live album of the 1992 world tour kicks off with the swirling vortex of Mother's Milk, a surging tour de force with a driving beat and macabre lyrics in Jarboe's haunting voice at its most powerful. In its dark cadences, this track sounds like the fierce conclusion of an occult ritual. On The Great Annihilator Mother's Milk has been transformed into a soft but intense torch song.

Michael Giras dark wordless vocals fuse with the jangling guitar, bass and drums on Pow R Sac for a raging sonic storm that exhausts itself in crackling, discordant chimes. The lilting, hypnotic Will Serve follows, one of those tonally shifting instrumental masterpieces like Sound Section on Soundtracks for the Blind.

Some of these live recording flow more smoothly than the studio recordings, including the dystopian Amnesia which is borne on an even tempo. The movement in three parts titled Her opens with a soothing melody and Gira's uncharacteristically tender vocals, until theyre interrupted by a harsh instrumental bridge. Rhythmic flow and atmospherics render this break less abrasive than on the studio track. It recedes for the voice of the teenage girl that resumes the recital from the original on Love Of Life. She talks about her friend Charlie against a rich sonosphere which encompasses radio commercials and Van Morrison's 1967 hit Brown Eyed Girl.

From brown eyed girls to black eyed dogs, as the band turns Nick Drake's melancholical masterpiece into a malevolent rock anthem. The absence of the eerie breathing and electronic barking on Ten Songs for Another World is compensated for by the frenzied pace and vocal ferocity.

A powerful, propulsive rock song, the original Love Of Life is characterized by a jangling wall of massed acoustic, bass and electric guitars. Michael's voice accompanies the guitars whilst Jarboe's vocals weave in and out like a siren. Different time signatures, denser rhythmic patterns and the tonal paroxysms of the crashing cymbals lend this extended live version a wild and spacious "Wagnerian" air.

Jarboes ballad Other Side of the World that segues into Rutting is likewise infused with great intensity whilst Michaels gentle, acoustic God Loves America remains close to the original. Omniscience concludes with Omnipotent, another semi-instrumental where hints of wordless vocals contribute to the ominous atmosphere.

This magnificent album is a precious consolation to those who never saw the first incarnation of this legendary band live. And such strong material must of course, be well packaged - between Larry Lam's enigmatic nature goddess on the cover and Deryk Thomas' sinister bunny on the back lies a strange, beautiful world of music. Jarboe's A Mystery of Faith contains alternative takes of Black Eyed Dog and Mother's Milk whilst studio versions of many of these songs are available on the 2-disc compilation Various Failures 1988-1992, the aforementioned Ten Songs for Another World, Love of Life and White Light from the Mouth of Infinity. Long Versions of Love of Life and Amnesia, remixed by Martin Bisi, were released in various extended play formats in 1992. Total Time: 56:59

Sources:
http://www.discogs.com/Swans-Omniscience/master/8880 http://www.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-89344_black_eyed_dog.html

Further Reading:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/omniscience-mw0000110842 http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/swans/omniscience/ http://www.swans.pair.com/DISCOGRAPHY/omniscience.html http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=swans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omniscience_%28album%29