Swans – The Seer

Cool to have but better to listen to on CD. Not only for the flow but because you can listen to it while walking through the wilderness.

joseph fucked up the tracklist words words words words words

Found this at a record store in South Dakota while on vacation, thought it sounded quite muddy but I guess it really just depends on what you're listening through because it sounds great through my new headphones. Decently quiet, pretty good packaging, odd tracklist.
4/5

Great album and yeah, the alt tracklist is strange, but it adds some novelty to the experience.

Gira's a smart guy, but his approach to vinyl records is a little bonkers. As has been remarked, this record could have used the same sequence as the CD without issue. See also: Love of Light is 50 minutes long and one disc (and sounds fine) while his most pared down record, Angels of Light Sing Other People, is 45 minutes but chops a song off. Shrug.

Got this from their tour in LA. The rearranged track listing after much worry beforehand became a non-issue for me. Fantastic listening right out of the box, though my copy didn’t come with the MP3 card as outlined in the notes. Still my favorite Swans album alongside Soundtracks!

I had the CD after it came out but wanted the vinyl experience and I got this 2014 reissue soooo cheap ($25 + $5 on ebay), for a very beautiful physical packaging, good looking thick vinyl, flat records, great sound. Very pleased with it.
As far as vinyl versus CD, I see how people criticize all these split tracks. On To Be Kind it works well, but it works less well here. A song ends all climactic, then you have a quiet moment to flip it and it picks right back up. And the album ends with a whimper, not a bang, this way, but I have to imagine Gira's mindset: "People who buy records are serious audiophiles. I'm tracking and mixing this album so the record people are the happiest." No? Who knows. It is obvious he wanted Lunacy first and the long tracks all suffered for it, these half-hour works that can't play out by themselves once you start them. It's a caretaker album, that's for sure, but it marks a big page for the return of Swans so buy it cheap like me and you'll never be wrong.

Got this on sale recently for 10€. I have had an original pressing bought on release but sold it when I needed money. This one sounds fantastic - with beautiful detail and a ton of punch - much better than I’m used to with modern releases on vinyl - a major improvement over streaming it through K702s. It has some surface noise on Side A - apart from that it’s spotless. The alternate tracklisting bothers me on paper only because, somehow, it works almost just as well as the original one. The Apostate feels sort of weird pushed to the front of the tracklist but it works better than it should, immersing you from the start into the deepest pit this album’s to offer. The packaging is beautiful too. A steal for the 10€ I paid for it but 30€ would not be too much either for how good this release is. Also, this is their best album by a mile.

Just purchased the re-release of this in 2024 from YGR. No hype sticker on shrink wrap. No card either. Autographed card insert signed by Gira in 2023. Included poster.

Apostate and piece of the sky could each easily fit on one side of vinyl. Sorta seems like quite a bit is compromising (a pretty good tracklist and some tracks getting split) just to have these songs on vinyl

I added this to my collection about 6 months ago, but never fully reviewed it. I *rediscovered* Swans with the 2010 reboot and The Seer was the mammoth epic drop after the teaser / prologue of My Father. I've blasted this *big boy* at least twice since purchasing.

I played the s*** out of this when I first got the CD in 2012, but this vinyl seems to be the reason records are made! Despite the slightly re-arranged track list, which I thought would put me off... as I loved The Apostate as a closer on CD, I quickly found it did not matter at all... not even the record flipping... as this just sounds so much bigger and better on vinyl. Hands down.

This album hits that heavy guitar oriented trance vibe few bands can reach; dulcimers instead of keyboards adding frenetic drones; splashes of that folksy swamp blues MG is fond of; a total irreverence for traditional song-writing formats... and some good ol' Swans-ian pummeling!

It's is if My Father was Swans' first cup of coffee after waking up... and The Seer after they drank the whole pot and are already brewing the next one!

Having The Wolf, The Seer, and The Seer Returns all on the third record as the longest closer now seems a better choice... and after spinning the whole thing twice already, I have started to prefer the overall flow of the vinyl arrangement.

If you love this album, and love vinyl... put this monster into your collection. It takes some flipping to get through it all, but you'll love in the end.

PS: No complaints at all about this pressing... not that I have found