Wild Swans’ “Coldest Winter” Heats Up on Occultation Recordings
British postpunk band The Wild Swans, led by singer/songwriter/keyboardist Paul Simpson, have recently reissued their most recent album with a raft of bonus material.
The haunting work of Simpson first came to prominence in the late ’70s as member of the short-lived A Shallow Madness, which featured two future frontmen from the same genre: Julian Cope of The Teardrop Explodes and Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen. His Wild Swans project has existed in three phases: once from 1980 to 1982, where the band issued one single, “The Revolutionary Spirit” (one of the final releases on Liverpool label Zoo Records) and were championed by John Peel; once again from 1988 to 1990, where they released two albums for Sire/Reprise; and finally from 2007 on, when Simpson recruited a new group of musicians to revive the group he once described as “a beautiful, holy, sexy, disturbing, dreamy nightmare about breaking into heaven to have sex with the angels.”
Signing to U.K. indie Occultation Recordings, The Wild Swans issued several singles before a 2011 LP, The Coldest Winter for a Hundred Years, came to light. The new record found the band on tour once again, in Europe and The Philippines, where the band has had a cult following for years.
This new version of Coldest Winter pairs the original album with a bonus disc of non-LP and single material as well as two previously unreleased tracks. It’s available in two formats: a standard, double-vinyl release and a deluxe package that adds the material on CD plus a collectible poster, postcard, badge and special lyric insert, all in specially-printed outer packaging. (Occultation has informed us that a third, super-deluxe format with even more goodies has actually sold out.) If this one sounds like the set for you or that special post-punk fan in your life, head to Occultation’s website and place an order. (A photo gallery is here.) After the jump, you’ll find a full track list and a preview of one of the new songs, “Maybe It’s You.”
The Wild Swans, The Coldest Winter for a Hundred Years: Deluxe Edition (Occultation DIONE7DD019 (U.K.), 2013)
LP 1: Original album (released as Occultation DIONE7DB012, 2011)
- Falling to Bits
- Liquid Mercury
- Chloroform
- In Secret
- English Electric Lightning
- When Time Stood Still
- Underwater
- Intravenous
- Glow in the Dark
- My Town
- Lost At Sea
- The Bluebell Wood
LP 2: Bonus material (* denotes previously unreleased track)
- English Electric Lightning (Single Version) (10″ single A-side – Occultation DIONE7D9001, 2009)
- Liquid Mercury (Single Version) (single A-side – Occultation DIONE7D9003, 2009)
- Dark Times (from Tracks in Snow EP – Occultation DIONE7DB013, 2011)
- Disintegrating (from Tracks in Snow EP – Occultation DIONE7DB013, 2011)
- Poison (from Tracks in Snow EP – Occultation DIONE7DB013, 2011)
- Maybe It’s You *
- The Coldest Winter for a Hundred Years (10″ single B-side – Occultation DIONE7D9001, 2009)
- The Wickedest Man in the World (single B-side – Occultation DIONE7D9003, 2009)
- Half Life *
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I haven’t heard this album (or even knew it existed,) but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention what an amazing album “Space Flower” is.