Swans / The "Love" Albums... Skin

Skin

World Of Skin was a project springing out of the American group Swans, and was a collaboration between the core Swans members Michael Gira and Jarboe. The project was initially called Skin, with the first two albums being released under that name in Europe. All US releases, however, were made under the name World of Skin.



Skin / The World of Skin
Released 1988

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This compilation collects the contents of the only two Skin albums on the market up to that point -- Blood, Women, Roses and Shame, Humility, Revenge -- offering them for release in the U.S., as neither had appeared in the States until then. The collection drops two songs from the Blood album and mixes the contents of the two records together indiscriminately, thus removing the effect of having the first album be totally Jarboe-sung and the second sung by Gira. As a joint release, though, perhaps World of Skin is all the better for it, allowing the tradeoff between the singers to be that more keenly felt; certainly there is no real difference in the evocative, haunting music, given that all of the tracks were recorded in the same three-month session. - Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

The World of Skin / Ten Songs For Another World
Released 1990

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World of Skin was a side project of Michael Gira's Swans, created as a vehicle for expressing the softer side of Gira & Jarboe's vision. This atmospheric 1990 album appeared between Swans' über-folk masterpiece Burning World of 1989 and the two 1991 albums Love of Life and White Light from the Mouth of Infinity. The image of Cerberus on the cover serves as warning to approach the other world with caution. These ten songs enchant, entrance and terrify in turn. You may enter now ... - (review on Amazon.com)