''Jane from Occupied Europe'' (stylised as ''...In "Jane from Occupied Europe"'') is the second and final album by English

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...

band

Swell Maps Swell Maps were an English experimental DIY, early punk or post-punk rock group from Birmingham, England, active in various forms between 1972 and 1980. Influenced by bands such as T. Rex and the German krautrock groups such as Can and Faust ...

. It was released in 1980 by Rather Records and Rough Trade Records. In 1989, the album was reissued with eight bonus tracks by Mute Records. The album title was adapted by a band eight years later, who told ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', "Swell Maps thought up some really great titles and, er… we just ripped it off."

Critical reception

In 2016, '' Paste'' ranked ''Jane from Occupied Europe'' at number 42 on its list of the best

albums. In 2018, ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' listed it as the 165th best album of the 1980s. ''Pitchfork''s Judy Berman wrote: "Swell Maps pasted mostly incomprehensible, drawled vocals into noisy, krautrock-inspired

sound collage In music, montage (literally "putting together") or sound collage ("gluing together") is a technique where newly branded sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage. This is often done throu ...

s, straying further beyond the boundaries of any existing genre with each release. Their second album, ''Jane from Occupied Europe'', marked the culmination of that trajectory. It was, most of all, a catalog of thrilling new sounds".

Track listing

Side one # "Robot Factory" (

Epic Soundtracks Epic Soundtracks was the stage name of the British musician Kevin Paul Godfrey (23 March 1959 – 6 November 1997). Born in Croydon, Surrey, he was brought up in Solihull, Midlands with his brother Adrian Nicholas Godfrey, who was known as Nik ...

, Biggles Books) – 2:27 # "Let's Buy a Bridge" (

Nikki Sudden Adrian Nicholas Godfrey (19 July 195626 March 2006), known professionally as Nikki Sudden, was a prolific English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He co-founded the post-punk band Swell Maps with his brother, Epic Soundtracks, while attending So ...

) – 1:55 # "Border Country" (Sudden) – 2:12 # "Cake Shop" (retitled "Cake Shop Girl" on reissue) ( Jowe Head) – 2:25 # "The Helicopter Spies" (Nikki Sudden) – 4:20 # "Big Maz in "The Desert from the Trolley"" (Swell Maps) – 5:11 # "Big Empty Field" (

, Biggles Books) – 3:44 # "Mining Villages" (Epic Soundtracks, Phones B. Sportsman) – 1:01 Side two # "Collision with a Frogman vs. The Mangrove Delta Plan" (Swell Maps) – 8:06 # "Secret Island" (Nikki Sudden) – 4:34 # "Whatever Happens Next...." (Nikki Sudden) – 2:58 # "Blenheim Shots" (Nikki Sudden) – 3:42 # "A Raincoat's Room" (retitled "Raining in My Room" on reissue) (Epic Soundtracks) – 1:42 Reissue bonus tracks

"Let's Build a Car" (Nikki Sudden) – 3:06
"Epic's Trip" (Eric Soundtracks) – 0:55
"...uh..." (Swell Maps) – 0:31
"Secret Island" (instrumental) (Nikki Sudden) – 6:27
"Amphitheatres" (Swell Maps) – 2:56
"Big Empty Field" (No. 2) (Epic Soundtracks, Biggles Books) – 2:59
"The Stairs are Like an Avalanche" (Swell Maps) – 4:04
"...then Poland" (Swell Maps) – 0:52
"New York" (Nikki Sudden) – 3:19

Personnel

(Kevin Godfrey) - Drums (1-7,9-12), Organ (1,10), Toys (1,6,7), Backing Vocals (2,5,10,11), Piano (3,6,9,13), Handclaps (5,9), Violin (6), Mumbling (6,13), Guitar (7), Saxophone (7), Concrete (8), Typewriter (8) *

(Adrian Godfrey) – Guitar (1-5,9-12), Toys (1,6), Vocals (2,3,5,10-12), Organ (4,12), Handclaps (5,9), Bass (6), Eiderdown (6), Mumbling (6), Piano (11) * Jowe Head (Stephen Bird) – Guitar (1,4,7), Toys (1), Bass (2-5,9-11), Saxophone (2,7), Backing Vocals (2,3,10,11), Vocals (4), Pianoforte (6) * Biggles Books (Richard Earl) – Organ (1), Toys (1,6), Guitar (2,4-7,9-12), Backing Vocals (2,10), Electric Guitar (3), Acoustic Guitar (3), Handclaps (5,9), Vocals (5,11), Mumbling (6), Bass (7) * Phones B. Sportsman (David Barrington) – Guitar (5), Twelve String Guitar (6), Violin (6), Kazoo (8), Vocals (8), Handclaps (9), Backing Vocals (10) * Golden Cockrill (John Cockrill) – Handclaps (5), Backing Vocals (5), Bass (12) *

Barry Gray Barry Gray (born John Livesey Eccles; 18 July 1908 – 26 April 1984) was a British musician and composer best known for his collaborations with television and film producer Gerry Anderson. Life and career Born into a musical family in Blackburn ...

– Organ (2)

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1980 albums Mute Records albums Rough Trade Records albums Swell Maps albums