Swans ‎– Soundtracks For The Blind

A notable fan favourite, however too massive for me to swallow.
A humongous double album, and far heavier than it looks. Fans and critics adore it, and interestingly enough,
the brilliance was a complete mistake. Soundtracks... is a complation of sound experiments, old recordings, etc. by bandleader Michael Gira that date back as far as before the Swans was formed. Everything was mastered from old casette tapes recorded on crude dictaphones, floppy disks, CD-R's, and so on. Gira described the very long process as "extremely painstaking" and also that it nearly broke him into a nervous breakdown. After Soundtracks was released, Gira took all of his old recordings, and threw them away on a nearby dump, therefor destroying them forever.

My personal opinnion? A mixed bag. It contains some of the greatest tracks ever recorded, especially "Helpless Child" and "The Final Sac", which are enough to buy the album for alone. However, the rest comes off as really bland at times. "I Was A Prisoner In Yr. Skull" is beautifully dark and strange, though.

Note: Every Swans fan except mabye fifteen people will disagree with me. Listen for yourself.