''Love of Life'' is the eighth studio album by American

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

band

Swans Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometim ...

. It was released in 1992 on

Young God Records Young God Records is an independent record label formed by Michael Gira in 1990 that specializes in experimental, avant-garde and often non genre-specific releases. The label was named after an EP released by Gira's band Swans called '' Young God ...

Background

Like its predecessor, ''

White Light from the Mouth of Infinity ''White Light from the Mouth of Infinity'' is a studio album by the American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in 1991, through the record label Young God. The band supported the album with a North American tour. In 2015, it was rem ...

'', ''Love of Life'' was out of print for a long time and had not been reissued until December 2015. Six of the eleven songs appear on the ''

Various Failures ''Various Failures'' is the eighth compilation album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released on March 22, 1999 and contains tracks from ''White Light from the Mouth of Infinity'', ''Love of Life'', '' The Burning World'', and ...

'' compilation, and a further four appear on the '' Forever Burned'' compilation. These two compilations therefore contain all the material on this release, except the

Jarboe Jarboe Devereaux, known mononymously as Jarboe (), is an American singer and musician who came to prominence as a member of the New York City experimental rock band Swans in 1985. Jarboe and Michael Gira, the founder of Swans, were the two consta ...

composition "She Cries (For Spider)", as well as tracks 1 and 9. The cover art is a painting by Deryk Thomas. All of the untitled segues, listed as both "(—)" and "(---)", are credited to the band Beautiful People LTD, which is a one-off collaboration between Jarboe and then-Swans bass player Lary 7.

Critical reception

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' wrote, "Not as stunning in its passion as the band's best work, ''Love of Life'' is still an often beautiful, haunting record."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote, "''Love of Life'' unsurprisingly proves to be yet another Swans masterpiece."

Track listing

;2015 Bonus CD

Personnel

Michael Gira Michael Rolfe Gira (; born February 19, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author and artist. He is the main force behind the New York City musical group Swans and fronted Angels of Light. He is also the founder of ...

– vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, samples,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, sleeve artwork concept and design *

– vocals, keyboards, backing vocals,

mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

* Clinton Steele – guitar, acoustic guitar *

Algis Kizys Algis Kizys (born September 8, 1960 in Chicago) is a New York City bass guitarist most well known for his long-time membership in New York City band Swans. First joining Swans on 1986's ''Greed'' LP, he stayed with the group through ''The Great ...

– bass guitar *

Vincent Signorelli Vincent Signorelli is a drummer from New York City. He has toured in clubs throughout the world, primarily with Unsane (band), Unsane, NYC's infamous noise rock trio. He has played primarily with Swans (band), Swans, Unsane, and Foetus (band), ...

– drums * Jenny Wade – bass *

Ted Parsons Ted Parsons is an American drummer most notable for his membership in bands such as Swans, Prong, Godflesh, Killing Joke, and Jesu. Biography Parsons' early career began in 1985 with Swans, when he contributed to their ''Holy Money'' album. ...

– drums *

Troy Gregory Troy Gregory (born November 13, 1966) is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, filmmaker, film composer, solo artist, and member of The Dirtbombs. Since 2018 for his solo Albums he has composed, produced, and performed all instruments by hi ...

– bass guitar * Larry Seven – bass guitar, guitar * Adam Jankowski – narration on "Identity" *

Martin Bisi Martin Bisi (born 1961) is an American producer and songwriter. He is known for recording important records by Sonic Youth, Swans, John Zorn, Material, Bill Laswell, Helmet, Unsane, The Dresden Dolls, Cop Shoot Cop, White Zombie, Boredoms, Ang ...

–

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, additional programming * Howie Weinberg – mastering * Mark Richardson – additional recording * Deryk Thomas – front cover illustration * Larry Lame – sleeve photography * Patricia Mooney – sleeve artwork and layout

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1992 albums Swans (band) albums Young God Records albums Albums produced by Michael Gira