Perhaps the finest result of New York City’s No-Wave (the post-punk movement of the early ‘80s), Swans were emblematic of the Lower East Side Avenue D’s then-reputation as the drug-addled, bleak Mordor of Manhattan. Even the vermin made wise to steer clear of the place as if it were leprosy. But not Michael Gira and his bandmates: They rehearsed there in an envelope of loudness, velocity, and sweat.

The live album Public Castration is a Good Idea captures Swans at their most brutal, during a 1986 tour of Britain. The recordings are actually culled from the live VHS release, A Long Slow Screw from 1986 (selections are available on Youtube, and worth watching). To me, live sound recordings are not really worth the diversion unless the material contained augments or surpasses the studio version(s). For anyone who has NOT heard Swans material, this live recording is the perfect introduction.

At this point in Swans’s creative directory, female keyboardist / singer Jarboe had only recently joined and had not yet eased the band into their later, more melodic edge evinced on The Great Annihilator and Children of God. Here she stays more in the background, except on "Fool," where her super-low octave keys rumble at the tailbone, while Michael Gira barks and groans his vokills from a pulpit of epileptic scorn.

During Public Castration in a Good Idea, songs trudge along at a snail’s pace, usually following a single, bludgeoning motif. Their use of two full drumsets makes the songs sound all the heavier, especially on "Coward" and "Money is Flesh." The venue acoustics on this release also allowed the band to push their volume to the pain threshold. "Kill the Child," "Feel Good Now," and a segment of the Filth re-release also document this early era of the Swans, but not with quite the same sonic cruelty.