Live Rope is a 2024, and the overall tenth, live album by American experimental rock band Swans. The album was released as a fundraiser for the band's upcoming album Birthing, and is their first live album since 2017's Deliquescence. The album contains recordings from the bands tour supporting their previous album The Beggar, which took place from May 2023 to May 2024.

Unlike previous fundraiser albums (with the exception of We Rose from Your Bed with the Sun in Our Head), which were released in limited quantities, the regular CD version of "Live Rope" was eventually announced to be made available perpetually, albeit as an exclusive to Young God Records.[1]

In addition to the CD, Live Rope was also released on vinyl, with a USB Credit Card being bundled with the vinyl and a deluxe CD tier [2] The vinyls were overall limited to 1,000 copies, while the USB Credit card was limited to 1,300 copies over multiple tiers.

At 182:53 minutes long, the USB edition of Live Rope is the longest release by the band to date.

Contents

The album contains recordings from the final show of the bands tour supporting their previous album The Beggar, which took place from May 2023 to May 2024. It contains a mix of songs from The Beggar, as well as Leaving Meaning and three unreleased compositions, which were gradually developed throughout the tour. The song "The Beggar" saw the most significant development, originally lasting around 30 minutes in length, before eventually being expanded to 86 minutes, when coupled with its intro piece, "Rope".

The CD version contains edited recordings from the tour's final show at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, plus "Cathedrals of Heaven" from a performance at Concertzaal Amare, The Hague, to fit the CD restraints. The vinyl version features the majority of the unedited Williamsburg performance, plus "The Memorious" from The Hague, while the USB version features an additional two songs from The Hague performance.

The full Williamsburg show was also filmed, and will be included in the initial copies of "Birthing".[3] Likewise, the whole performance at The Hague was also recorded, and seemingly at one point planned to be released, but ultimately, only three performances were released.[4]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Michael Gira, Kristof Hahn, Larry Mullins, Dana Schechter, Phil Puleo, Christopher Pravdica, except where noted.

Disc one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Rope" (previously unreleased) 25:29
2."The Beggar"Gira, with live music re-arrangements and improvisation by Gira, Hahn, Mullins, Schechter, Puleo, Pravdica52:53
Total length:78:22
Disc two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Hanging Man"Gira12:52
2."Away" (previously unreleased)Gira7:51
3."Birthing" (previously unreleased) 37:27
4."Cathedrals of Heaven"Gira11:16
Total length:69:26

USB Edition

No.TitleLength
1."Rope"31:04
2."The Beggar"55:06
3."The Hanging Man"12:49
4."Away"7:52
5."Birthing"37:08
6."The Memorious"14:07
7."Cathedrals of Heaven"11:15
8."Leaving Meaning"13:34
Total length:182:53

Notes

  • The USB Edition comes with two continuous WAV files, with a run time of 143:57 (tracks 1 through 5) and 38:54 (Tracks 6 through 8) respectively.[5]

Vinyl edition

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Rope / The Beggar" 
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Rope / The Beggar (Cont.)" 
Side C
No.TitleLength
1."Rope / The Beggar (Cont.)" 
Side D
No.TitleLength
1."Rope / The Beggar (Cont.)" 
Side E
No.TitleLength
1."The Hanging Man" 
2."Away" 
Side F
No.TitleLength
1."Birthing" 
Side G
No.TitleLength
1."Birthing (Cont.)" 
Side H
No.TitleLength
1."The Memorious" 

References

  1. ^ "Heading back to Berlin to mix the new Swans studio album. It will be called Birthing. This will be the final "big sound" Swans album. Hoping for a release date of early next year, then a final large ensemble tour towards the end of the year. Thank you (!) for supporting the current studio recording by purchasing, in its various manifestations, the live album Live Rope. Incidentally, I have decided to keep the 2XCD version of Live Rope in print and available in perpetuity. It's at the younggodrecords.com website. It's an important, pivotal document for us and I want it to remain available… Going forward (after the release of Birthing and its subsequent tours), things will be simpler and more intimate for Swans. When that time comes, I look forward to discovering a fresh path towards a new sonic terrain in which to dwell… See you sometime, somewhere- MG". Instagram. March 7, 2025.
  2. ^ "SWANS LIVE ROPE 2024 FUNDRAISER". YOUNG GOD RECORDS. March 7, 2025.
  3. ^ "Birthing PREORDER". YOUNG GOD RECORDS. March 7, 2025.
  4. ^ "No title". Instagram. March 7, 2025.
  5. ^ "Swans - Live Rope". Discogs. March 7, 2025.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Rope
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