World of Skin
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World Of Skin was a project springing out of the band Swans, and was a collaboration between longtime Swans members Jarboe and Gira. The project was called Skin in Europe, but US releases were made under the name World of Skin.
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[edit] History
Swans' album Greed began a trend toward greater use of melody, and this trend continued with the later Children of God. The work performed as Skin was initially in marked contrast with the less overtly melodic but contemporaneous Swans work, but later Swans work integrated the two aspects.
Blood, Women, Roses (1987) was the project's first release and featured vocals entirely by Jarboe, who had previously mainly been performing backing vocals. Many of the tracks on this album were covers of show tunes and other popular songs (for example Cry Me A River and The Man I Love). Many of the tracks still featured the monumental use of percussion that was common in earlier Swans work, but combined this with a greater use of melody (Red Rose is typical of this).
Blood, Women, Roses was followed in 1988 by Shame, Humility. Revenge which featrured vocals by Michael Gira rather than Jarboe (though she did perform some backing vocals). Gira's flatter vocal style sometimes seems at odds with the musical style of the album, and in particular makes the cover of Iggy Pop's I Want To Be Your Dog sound distinctive.
The first two albums were released only in Europe, but they were combined in the US release World Of Skin (released with the band name World Of Skin), which was followed by the final Skin release, Ten Songs From Another World, featuring vocals from both performers, including a cover of Nick Drake's Black Eyed Dog performed by Jarboe.
Of the many Swans album releases, the one which is stylistically most similar to the World Of Skin work is The Burning World, which Gira indicates that he's least satisfied with. The release which most significantly raised the profile of the project was Girl: Come Out which was briefly a hit in some European gay clubs.
[edit] Band Members
- Jarboe - Vocals, keyboards, sounds (1987-1990)
- Michael Gira - Vocals, guitar, keyboards, samples, sounds (1987-1990)
- Norman Westberg - Guitar (1988)
- Harry Crosby - Bass (1988)
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio Releases
- Blood, Women, Roses - (1987)
- Girl: Come Out 12" - (1987)
- One Thousand Years 12" - (1987)
- Shame, Humility, Revenge - (1988)
- Ten Songs From Another World - (1990)
[edit] Compilations
- World Of Skin - (1988)
[edit] External links
| Swans |
| Michael Gira | Jarboe | Algis Kizys | Norman Westberg |
| Studio Releases |
| Swans EP | Filth | Cop | Young God EP | Time is Money (Bastard) EP | Greed | A Screw EP | Holy Money | Children Of God | New Mind EP | Love Will Tear Us Apart | The Burning World | Can't Find My Way Home EP | Saved EP | White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity | Love Of Life | Celebrity Lifestyle EP | The Great Annihilator | Die Tür Ist Zu | Failure/Animus EP | Soundtracks for the Blind |
| Live and Compilations |
| Public Castration Is A Good Idea | Feel Good Now | Anonymous Bodies In An Empty Room | Body To Body, Job To Job | Real Love | Kill The Child | Omniscience | I Am the Sun/My Buried Child | Swans Are Dead | Various Failures | Forever Burned |
| Related Articles |
| The Angels of Light | World of Skin | Young God Records | Ecstatic Peace | Neutral Records | Some Bizzare Records |
| Official Site | Young God Records |
