Like pretty much any given Swans-record from the early 90s, »Love Of Life« has been sold out for ages. Now, Young God Records is putting things right with the record’s reissue. Even though most critics thought it to lag behind the previous year’s »White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity« which was also rereleased this year, this album from 1992 is quite remarkable: for the first time, longer spoken-word bits were fitted between and even directly into the »real« tracks. The raw material was mostly taken from old tapes by Jarboe as a teenager, talking about wanting to start a band (»Her«), or having her grandpa talk about a hunting trip. The contrast deriving from these recordings and the mantra-like, pathos filled lyrics by mastermind Micheal Gira works pretty well. Especially, since you can still hear Swan’s industrial past at some points – it’s not for nothing that two thirds of Prong helped recording the record, despite the band’s turn to more melodic fields between apocalyptic folk and psychedelic rock is dominating most tracks. In comparison to most of their records, »Love Of Life« doesn’t quite manage to tie up all the different influences into one consistent package – and still, it remains a fascinating album by an exceptional band.
Love Of Life
