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Originally Posted by Severian
I get irritated with the " Jarboe or it's not Swans" crowd because that's hugely unfair to Gira as a driving creative force.
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Well, Jarboe was not only an amazing vocalist (and still is, saw her live a few months ago, she sounded better than ever), but she absolutely slayed on the synth/organ, contributing a lot to that soul crushing noise of the mid Swans.
Yeah, Gira is such a poor guy for not getting enough credit for his creative output.
Yet I think when people bring up Jarboe, they don't have in mind to diminish Gira's role or anything. Just like Norman Westberg, so is Jarboe - an original band member (even though she came in later)
Moreover, I think you are absolutely unfair to Jarboe as a creative support for Gira. Not only her inclusion in the band brought in new elements, that would later define the whole Swans sound, but she personally influenced Gira in many ways, from exposing him to different music (like Nick Drake) to dealing with his pathetic drunken ass, when no one else would.
I think much of the intensity of the early Swans came from the fact that the band in itself was fucked up, broken, conflictual. Now Gira's creativeness runs wild, without anyone opposing it. The best results are from struggle (the same can be said about Neubauten, when FM left, there was nobody to challenge Blixa.).