A SCREW

As part of what I dub their "dollar sign" period, this single is actually pretty significant in their repertoire for a couple of reasons. One involves the continued addition of new instruments, in this case, horns, into their sound. They pop up in the tune "A Screw" almost like an additional pulsing level of percussion to the already very industrial teutonic pounding by the drums and percussion. Guitars and bass also act in a percussive rhythmic fashion, resulting in a song that sounds like some funky psychotic grinding dirge while Michael Gira's menacing lyrics ring clearly over this monstrous beat.

The other important landmark regarding this release for the band is the B-side, "Blackmail", as it's the first song to feature Jarboe as a lead vocalist. Unlike the serene and probably more well known rendition found on their later Children Of God release, this version is more sparse and haunting, using low octave piano notes struck hard and with enough of a reverb effect to emit an eerie vibe. Additional vocal tracks of Jarboe singing pop up during this number to add another sweet yet gloomy dimension to it. It's not the first track of theirs to feature a piano as the main instrument, but it's arguably the first to utilize it in such an ethereal fashion.

The other version of "A Screw", the 'Holy Money' mix, is also here. Heavier with the guitars but without the rather disturbing lyrical content, with only the creepy "Holy Money, Holy Love" chant delivered by Michael's sinister moan.

Being a prog site, I should mention that their 'dollar sign' releases are experimental in nature but not what would constitute 'prog' in any typical sense. But at the time, this was some quite unusual music, too heavy and unmelodious for much of the alternative crowd and too industrial and lacking much in the way of riffs for much of the typical metal crowd. In other words, I thought these 1986 releases were really cool! The songs, and those on this release are no exception, were also quite repetitive and hypnotic in nature, taking a single idea and building an entire song around it.

This isn't an essential release by the band, as this sound is more fully explored on the full length recordings surrounding it, but it's worth checking out.

A SCREW EP

During the ambitious year of 1986, SWANS released the two studio albums "Greed" and "Holy Money" which led to a tour which spawned the bootleg turned bonafide live album "Public Castration Is A Good Idea" but the band also released two shorter EPs that some call singles in the form of "Time Is Money (Bastard) / Sealed in Skin" which featured the first appearance of Jarboe and at the end of the year released this three track EP titled A SCREW.

This one is basically a remix EP that features two different versions of the title track with programmed percussion, a more electro-industrial sound not too overly distant from bands like Skinny Puppy and a rather reggae / dub sort of syncopation. Less abrasive and less gloomy than the albums that preceded, A SCREW was the most "normal" sounding release by SWANS at the time.

The track "Blackmail" is completely different as it features the piano as the primary instrument with Jarboe on lead vocals and eschews all the industrial dance grooves and remains an ethereal Cocteau Twins / Dead Can Dance type of track only with the repetitive monotony that SWANS was delivering at this stage in its career. This one is actually a highly stripped down track with only Jarboe's vocals (including her own background vocals) and the cyclical post-rock style of piano looping along with a creepy atmospheric backdrop. It sounds more like a snippet than an actual song.

This one is rather unnecessary as it's the least compelling of any SWANS release of the 80s and these days these three tracks are simply added to the newer releases of "Holy Money" as bonus tracks therefore there is absolutely no need to track down this EP unless of course you are a completist and collector of all things SWANS. And these really sound like bonus tracks as there is nothing special going on here yet worthy of checking out and more than worthy as bonus tracks. This was the last release of 1986 before SWANS totally reinvented itself and debuted its new style of experimental rock with "Children Of God" the following year.