The Wild Swans Incandescent Rarest
Jump to:, The Wild SwansOrigin,Years active1980-1989Renascent Records Occultation RecordsAssociated actsMembersGed Quinn Mike Mooney Steve Beswick Richard TurveyFormer membersJeremy (Jem) Kelly Alan Wills Joseph Fearon Justin Stavely Chris SharrockRolo McGintyThe Wild Swans were a band from, which formed in 1980 shortly after (ex-keyboards) left and teamed up (on vocals) with Jeremy Kelly (guitar), (keyboards), and Justin Stavely (drums). Stavely was later replaced by Alan Wills and although bass players came and went, Joseph Fearon played on both of the studio albums, recorded by a reincarnated Mark II version of the band.Enjoying a degree of success and/or cult status in the, and especially the, The Wild Swans also spawned two interesting splinter projects;. As the parent outfit, The Wild Swans remained the cornerstone and will, arguably, be remembered as the most revered and influential of the three projects. Contents.Mark IThe band formed in 1980 and created a unique and distinctive sound based around by Kelly's jangling guitars, Quinn's chiming piano and bed-rock synthesis, and crowned by Simpson's post-Romantic lyrics and brooding delivery. An opportunity arose when of (an old friend and flatmate of Simpson's) agreed to fund their first single 'The Revolutionary Spirit' (1982, ). De Freitas, who ended up financier, drummer and producer for the single, was credited under his middle names, Louis Vincent.
Despite turning out to be Zoo's last ever, the single received a measure of critical acclaim and in time, developed cult status, capturing the youthful optimism that existed on the Liverpool indie scene in those early days of post-punk. Subsequent to the release of The Revolutionary Spirit, weekly rehearsals were given a degree of urgency when the band was offered a BBC Radio 1 John Peel session. Songs on this session, written by the composers: Simpson, Quinn and Kelly, are definitive of The Wild Swans' unique sound and include No Bleeding, Enchanted and Thirst.The Wild Swans were sporadically active in the early 1980s; touring with Echo and The Bunnymen in 1981 following a residency with The Teardrop Explodes. A Dave Jensen session came in spring 1982, with the band penning - The Iron Bed, Flowers Of England and Now You're Perfect. The first split occurred very soon after this auspicious BBC Radio 1 session was broadcast and resulted in Kelly and Quinn starting up with co-founder Peter Coyle.
Simpson followed suit with the Care project, teaming up with. Strangely, who had refused to sign The Wild Swans, then snapped up both of the offshoots. Simpson later described this as 'paying twice the price for half of the magic.' In 1986, the session recorded for the Show, was finally released on, containing the tracks 'No Bleeding,' 'Enchanted,' and 'Thirst.' For fans, the EP represented the closest thing to 'the album that never was' and hope of a re-union was rekindled.
The Wild SwansOrigin,Genres,Years active1980–1982, 1988–1990, 2009–2011Labels/Renascent RecordsOccultation RecordsAssociated actsMembers. Mike Mooney. Steve Beswick. Richard TurveyPast members. Jeremy Kelly.
Alan Wills. Joseph Fearon.
Justin Stavely. James Weston.
Rolo McGinty. Stuart MannThe Wild Swans are a band from, which originally formed in 1980 shortly after (ex-keyboards) left. The band's personnel has been subject to regular turnover, with vocalist Simpson being the only constant member.The original incarnation of The Wild Swans lasted until 1982, issuing one single. A reconstituted version of the band issued two albums from 1988 to 1990 before dissolving again. More recently, Simpson put a new lineup together and the group played numerous live dates from 2009–2011, and issued a new studio album in 2011.The Wild Swans have not to date had any mainstream chart hits, but they have enjoyed a degree of success and/or cult status in, the, the, and especially the. The Wild Swans also spun off two charting splinter projects;. Members of The Wild Swans have also been members of,.
Contents.History Origins: The Wild Swans, Mark I (1980–1982) The Wild Swans formed in 1980 when Paul Simpson, who had left The Teardrop Explodes after the recording of their first single, teamed up (on vocals) with Jeremy Kelly (guitar), (keyboards), James Weston (bass) and Justin Stavely (drums).An opportunity arose when of (an old friend and flatmate of Simpson's) agreed to fund their first single 'The Revolutionary Spirit' (1982, ). Stavely had dropped out of the band, so De Freitas ended up financier, drummer and producer for the single; he was credited under his middle names, Louis Vincent.
The single spent 9 weeks on the, peaking at no. 13.Despite turning out to be Zoo's last ever release, the single received a measure of critical acclaim and in time, developed cult status. Subsequent to the release of 'The Revolutionary Spirit', weekly rehearsals were given a degree of urgency when the band was offered a session. Songs on this session, all written by the team of Simpson, Quinn and Kelly, include 'No Bleeding', 'Enchanted' and 'Thirst'. By this point, the band was rounded out by two new members: Baz Hughes (bass) and Joe McKechnie (drums).The Wild Swans were sporadically active in the early 1980s; touring with Echo and The Bunnymen in 1981 following a residency with The Teardrop Explodes. A session came in spring 1982, with the band penning and performing 'The Iron Bed', 'Flowers Of England' and 'Now You're Perfect'.
The Wild Swans Hans Christian Andersen
The group split very soon after this BBC Radio 1 session was broadcast. Post-split: Care and The Lotus Eaters (1982–1985) Once the band split, Kelly and Quinn started up with co-founder Peter Coyle. Simpson followed suit with the duo, teaming up with. Strangely, who had refused to sign The Wild Swans, then snapped up both of the offshoots.Both groups issued several singles. The Lotus Eaters scoring a chart hit, and releasing an album in 1984. Care, meanwhile, reached number 48 in the UK charts with the single 'Flaming Sword'. Both bands had broken up by 1985, with Care having recorded an unreleased album.Revival: The Wild Swans, Mark II (1986–1990).
Stylised artwork on a flyerIn 1986, the session recorded for the Show, was finally released on, containing the tracks 'No Bleeding', 'Enchanted', and 'Thirst'. It repeated the single's success, peaking at no. 13 on the independent chart. Shortly thereafter, Simpson, Kelly and Quinn got together and began playing once again as The Wild Swans.By 1988, Quinn had dropped out, Simpson and Kelly were joined on bass by Joe Fearon, and a long-awaited debut album finally emerged. Titled Bringing Home The Ashes (1988, /Reprise Records), and featuring session players on keyboards and drums, it was produced by and yielded two singles, 'Young Manhood' (which first appears on the 1987 Sire Records promotional sampler ) and 'Bible Dreams'. Simpson is nowadays disparaging of the sound developed on the album and feels that some of the aura and magic surrounding the (Mark I) Wild Swans had been lost. 'Major label thinking is like a virus, you forget why you started the band and fall into the 'hit' record mind-set'.
He went on to offer even more stark words of wisdom for those thinking of setting up a band: 'Major labels suck the poetry from your bones and fill the gaps with a cement made from cocaine and crushed teenagers.' Bringing Home The Ashes was issued in the United States initially, followed by UK and German releases. A near-simultaneous promo-only release called Music and Talk From Liverpool included Wild Swans tracks interspersed with interviews with Jeremy Kelly.A second album on Sire, Space Flower, was released in 1990, subsequent to the departure of Kelly. It was produced by, and featured a line-up of Paul Simpson (vocals, mellotron, effects), Joe Fearon (bass), Ian Broudie (guitars, keyboards), (drums) and (additional guitars, vocals). Sharrock and McNabb were both of the Liverpool three piece. Much of the material written for the album had a food-flavoured theme, depicted by the tracks 'Melting Blue Delicious', 'Tangerine Temple', 'Chocolate Bubble-Gum' and 'Vanilla Melange'. The album was released in the US, Germany and Japan, but not initially in the UK.The Wild Swans split up again shortly after Space Flower and Simpson went on to form his own project 'Skyray', recording several singles, EPs and albums, and the spoken word project Dream Diaries.
Reissues and retrospectives (2003–2007) In 2003, a retrospective collection of rare Wild Swans recordings was compiled and released by Renascent Records. Incandescent, is a double album containing material from 1981–1987, but mostly from the band's earliest period. It includes the Peel, Jensen and Sessions, as well as a number of live songs, demos and alternative versions. An accompanying booklet featured biographical information on the band and a detailed track by track commentary from Simpson. The familiar 'Icarus Swan' artwork, which first appeared on the cover of 'The Revolutionary Spirit', also returned for a second outing.In 2007, after many years of deletion, Sire Records finally elected to re-release both Bringing Home the Ashes and Space Flower, this time giving them a full UK release.
Both albums were re-packaged as a 2-CD set called Magnitude, whose cover and artwork this time mirrored 1988's Wild Swans - Music and Talk From Liverpool album, complete with familiar Swan design. The album itself was released as part of Sire's April 2007 relaunch of the Korova label, alongside other re-releases from acts like and, all 2-CD sets with extra tracks.Magnitude CD 1 features the whole of Bringing Home the Ashes and the four b-sides from the singles 'Young Manhood' and 'Bible Dreams', all mastered from the original tapes.CD 2 features the first UK appearance of the Space Flower album, with the addition of an extra track, recorded back in 1989 but left off the album at the time, called 'Tastes Like Tuesday'. Another studio recording is the unreleased single remix of 'Melting Blue Delicious'. ^ Anderson, Vicky (2009) ', 16 March 2009.
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The Wild Swans Fairy Tale
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