SWANS - The Burning World

LP/CD Uni Records / MCA Records 1989



"The Burning World (1989), [was] Swans' first and only major label album. Released on Uni/MCA Records, the record was produced by Bill Laswell and expanded the acoustic palette introduced on Greed and Children of God. For this album, the core line-up of Gira, Jarboe and Westberg was augmented by session musicians, and the distinctive heavy guitar element of their earlier work was toned down significantly in favor of folk and world music elements. Though Swans would later explore more acoustic music with similar moods, Gira has stated that, while he admires much of Laswell's work, his efforts with Swans were simply a mismatch".
(Wikipedia)

"Perhaps the best Leonard Cohen record he never made, The Burning World benefits a great deal from the world-music instrumentation and structural abilities Laswell brings to it. The arrangements are uniformly strong, the gentler sounds don't strike one as a compromise and the cover of Blind Faith's Can't Find My Way Home is both apt and surprising. A nice one that's almost as haunting as it wants to be.
(Trouser Press)

"Dangerous and priceless, The Burning World flames from a tinder of crashing hearts, lost minds, and unexpected mercy...The inevitable tides of rhythm, the hypnotic drone of the voice, leave you with the marvelous and sick sensation that you are staring fascinated at a beautiful slice in your own wrist...only by passing through so many frames of darkness could Swans approach pure light".
(Spin Magazine)

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