I don't think the album's themes about death are sad. This album + Leaving Meaning talk about death not as the end we should be afraid of, but the beginning of something much bigger and that there's a lot to look forward to.
Also, something I wanted to note as to to why this album sounds so much different than the trilogy is because it was made by a completely different lineup. In 2016, after The Glowing Man, Michael Gira dissolved that lineup of Swans and after a short hiatus, switched out a few members for leaving meaning and now The Beggar. Also, you mentioned the title track live, and for the current tour, The Beggar has consistently been over an hour long, and yeah it sounds incredible
the last part of the beggar lover is basically just the title track from leaving meaning, and the whole song is filled with samples from the previous albums, look at me go and the body lovers number one of three are similar, and I think they're kinda like a trilogy, that's why the beggar lover has "(three)" in the title and there was never a number two of three of the body lovers
Along with it being the lyrics for Leaving Meaning at the end, it also has the instrumentation from Cloud of Unknowing. It's a very interesting combination
The most recent live performances from Swans' European tour open with the Beggar, and have gone as long as 70 minutes !! Smiled when snowy said it'd be great live
@@bonwoodpulpson3113 I actually kinda wish we could have gotten to see that sweet bass line on the studio version in the live performance, especially during the "chorus."
To me - someone who knows every SWANS album, including the Live ones, The Beggar is pretty good but overall a bit of a letdown. It's different than The Trilogy and although sad, it's very... hmm... pretty. We have darkness - of course, but SWANS always meant THE BIG SOUNDS and here - like on the previous album Leaving Meaning we don't have that. I know that Gira is 69 years old but I've been a couple days ago on SWANS show and maaaan - they can get LOUD!! The Beggar is calm, pretty, dark and not bombastic. The songs themselves are good but nothing really to remember that much. As for the The Beggar Lover (Three) - it's also an anomaly... "Three" means it's a part 3 of a sound collage, experimental tracks that Gira started with his side project called The Body Lovers, right after SWANS disbanded in 1997. The first track was released as The Body Lovers, One Of Three. The second one, appeared on special edition of SWANS record My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky from 2010, but only as a bonus track on this special edition. Now we have the third track as an official SWANS song on the normal edition of the SWANS album. It doesn't make sense and that's why this track is so much different than The Seer, Bring The Sun or The Glowing Man. It's an experimental sound collage made from unreleased samples and tracks from the previous album Leaving Meaning and I still don't know what is the purpose of that. Someone told me that Gira wanted to make something like Soundtracks For The Blind with those tracks but... they're not. They're very different and to me - simply not in the same league. Overall - good album but for me, only lik 7/10. If you want something a bit closer to The Trilogy, go for a live album SWANS ARE DEAD. Believe me - it's worth it. Not only because it's almost studio quality but because there are tracks that you wont find on official albums and even if you do - they are completely different. That's why you shouldn't avoid SWANS live albums. The band went through something like a three phases - first is a brutal no wave phase, second one is gothic, folk rock and the last one is The Trilogy's post rock phase. Now we have something like a four phase with previous Leaving Meaning and The Beggar OR a transitional period between third and fourth phase and each phase was completed by a live album. The first phase ended with Public Castration Is A Good Idea :), second with SWANS ARE DEAD and the third with Deliquescence and trust me - you DON'T want to avoid those albums. The first one is brutal, heavy, cacophonic, angry, dark, rough stuff that is VERY challenging to listen. The second one is like a prelude to The Trilogy - noisy, gothic, heavy, experimental post-rock and the third one... just listen to the first, never officially recorded track The Knot, you'll understand. Gira said that they're entering the studio right after this tour to record another album. Of this is going to be something like this shows right know, than we can expect a return to the heavier SWANS but who knows... SWANS are known for writing songs that are completely different on the album and live. He even mentioned that they want to release another live album, sooo... maybe it's really a transitional period for them that will be completed with another live album and next will sound different again... One thing worries me - Gira told that he's favourite track on The Beggar is The Beggar Lover Three and he is in the position that he can write anything and call it SWANS if he wants so he wants to pursue The Beggar Lover Three idea more on future albums and - to me - it's a bad idea... We'll see :) Cheers bro!
I think that "The Memorious" works pefectly as the closer, as it is Michael Gira reflecting on his time in the Middle-East working in the coal mines as a teenager. It makes the album go back full-circle, as it is a big reflection of life and mortality.
16:08 I saw them live at march 1st in Gdańsk and they did like 1 hour intro for this song... I know how ridiculous it sounds but it was the most intense, spiritual experience i've ever had at a concert. Cried like 2 times during this. The best concert I've ever went to. You can listen to the live 1 hour version of the beggar if you'd search at youtube for Swans Live 2023 or 2024.
You should do a reaction to one of their live albums, Deliquescence, as it has some new original songs that are absulutely phenomenal and some of the band's best and there's no reaction videos to it :( Also The Beggar Lover (Three) is a collage of all these different sounds they recorded for the albums The Glowing Man, leaving meaning, and this album, The Beggar. It also probably has some other stuff from the trilogy.
Most of the song references in The Beggar Lover (Three). Posted by someone on Album of the Year: 0:00 The Glowing Man 2:40 Cloud of Unknowing 5:04 Apostate 5:32 Cloud of Unknowing 5:45 Frankie M. (???) 6:47 Finally, Peace 7:26 Helpless Child 9:01 The Parasite 10:56 A Piece of the Sky 12:07 The Beggar 19:48 Sunfucker 21:11 It's Coming It's Real 25:55 The Memorious 27:32 Cloud of Unknowing 28:16 Cloud of Forgetting (???) 29:11 Sunfucker 30:15 The Glowing Man 33:25 Cloud of Unknowing 35:14 Leaving Meaning [Edit]: Just realized these would be marked as timestamps for the video, just ignore that, its for the song
have u listened to any pink floyd? more importantly, have you listened to their first album "the piper at the gates of dawn"? its really good and I'd like to see a reaction to it :)
I don't think the album's themes about death are sad. This album + Leaving Meaning talk about death not as the end we should be afraid of, but the beginning of something much bigger and that there's a lot to look forward to.
Exactly what I thought first listen
i think bittersweet is the best word. it's clearly melancholy but not pessimistic towards death.
Also, something I wanted to note as to to why this album sounds so much different than the trilogy is because it was made by a completely different lineup. In 2016, after The Glowing Man, Michael Gira dissolved that lineup of Swans and after a short hiatus, switched out a few members for leaving meaning and now The Beggar.
Also, you mentioned the title track live, and for the current tour, The Beggar has consistently been over an hour long, and yeah it sounds incredible
my favourite christmas album
the last part of the beggar lover is basically just the title track from leaving meaning, and the whole song is filled with samples from the previous albums, look at me go and the body lovers number one of three are similar, and I think they're kinda like a trilogy, that's why the beggar lover has "(three)" in the title and there was never a number two of three of the body lovers
Along with it being the lyrics for Leaving Meaning at the end, it also has the instrumentation from Cloud of Unknowing. It's a very interesting combination
There is a two for body lovers. I think it’s body haters, or it’s look at me go itself. One or the other.
The Beggar is completely different live. A very slow burner. Awesome show they put on.
The most recent live performances from Swans' European tour open with the Beggar, and have gone as long as 70 minutes !! Smiled when snowy said it'd be great live
@@bonwoodpulpson3113 god now im curious how long it was when i saw them .. might try finding a bootleg lol
@@resiseven7407 For me. About 40 minutes.
Actually that might have just been the opening build up....lol
@@bonwoodpulpson3113 I actually kinda wish we could have gotten to see that sweet bass line on the studio version in the live performance, especially during the "chorus."
I recommend The Body Lovers/The Body Haters if you're interested in more stuff like The Beggar Lover.
The Beggar Lover is full of call backs to previous swans songs, such as the glowing man, apostate and helpless child to name a few
To me - someone who knows every SWANS album, including the Live ones, The Beggar is pretty good but overall a bit of a letdown. It's different than The Trilogy and although sad, it's very... hmm... pretty. We have darkness - of course, but SWANS always meant THE BIG SOUNDS and here - like on the previous album Leaving Meaning we don't have that. I know that Gira is 69 years old but I've been a couple days ago on SWANS show and maaaan - they can get LOUD!! The Beggar is calm, pretty, dark and not bombastic. The songs themselves are good but nothing really to remember that much. As for the The Beggar Lover (Three) - it's also an anomaly... "Three" means it's a part 3 of a sound collage, experimental tracks that Gira started with his side project called The Body Lovers, right after SWANS disbanded in 1997. The first track was released as The Body Lovers, One Of Three. The second one, appeared on special edition of SWANS record My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky from 2010, but only as a bonus track on this special edition. Now we have the third track as an official SWANS song on the normal edition of the SWANS album. It doesn't make sense and that's why this track is so much different than The Seer, Bring The Sun or The Glowing Man. It's an experimental sound collage made from unreleased samples and tracks from the previous album Leaving Meaning and I still don't know what is the purpose of that. Someone told me that Gira wanted to make something like Soundtracks For The Blind with those tracks but... they're not. They're very different and to me - simply not in the same league. Overall - good album but for me, only lik 7/10. If you want something a bit closer to The Trilogy, go for a live album SWANS ARE DEAD. Believe me - it's worth it. Not only because it's almost studio quality but because there are tracks that you wont find on official albums and even if you do - they are completely different. That's why you shouldn't avoid SWANS live albums. The band went through something like a three phases - first is a brutal no wave phase, second one is gothic, folk rock and the last one is The Trilogy's post rock phase. Now we have something like a four phase with previous Leaving Meaning and The Beggar OR a transitional period between third and fourth phase and each phase was completed by a live album. The first phase ended with Public Castration Is A Good Idea :), second with SWANS ARE DEAD and the third with Deliquescence and trust me - you DON'T want to avoid those albums. The first one is brutal, heavy, cacophonic, angry, dark, rough stuff that is VERY challenging to listen. The second one is like a prelude to The Trilogy - noisy, gothic, heavy, experimental post-rock and the third one... just listen to the first, never officially recorded track The Knot, you'll understand. Gira said that they're entering the studio right after this tour to record another album. Of this is going to be something like this shows right know, than we can expect a return to the heavier SWANS but who knows... SWANS are known for writing songs that are completely different on the album and live. He even mentioned that they want to release another live album, sooo... maybe it's really a transitional period for them that will be completed with another live album and next will sound different again... One thing worries me - Gira told that he's favourite track on The Beggar is The Beggar Lover Three and he is in the position that he can write anything and call it SWANS if he wants so he wants to pursue The Beggar Lover Three idea more on future albums and - to me - it's a bad idea... We'll see :) Cheers bro!
I literally listened to this like an hour ago 😭😭😭 perfect timing
I think that "The Memorious" works pefectly as the closer, as it is Michael Gira reflecting on his time in the Middle-East working in the coal mines as a teenager. It makes the album go back full-circle, as it is a big reflection of life and mortality.
16:08 I saw them live at march 1st in Gdańsk and they did like 1 hour intro for this song... I know how ridiculous it sounds but it was the most intense, spiritual experience i've ever had at a concert. Cried like 2 times during this. The best concert I've ever went to. You can listen to the live 1 hour version of the beggar if you'd search at youtube for Swans Live 2023 or 2024.
You should do a reaction to one of their live albums, Deliquescence, as it has some new original songs that are absulutely phenomenal and some of the band's best and there's no reaction videos to it :(
Also The Beggar Lover (Three) is a collage of all these different sounds they recorded for the albums The Glowing Man, leaving meaning, and this album, The Beggar. It also probably has some other stuff from the trilogy.
They are about to tour the US! You gotta go see them live. But bring earplugs LOL
Crazy how The Beggar Lover 3 is just as long as the video lol
This album can be so beautiful yet so dark and haunting at the same time. I love the contrast between the songs on this.
Most of the song references in The Beggar Lover (Three). Posted by someone on Album of the Year:
0:00 The Glowing Man
2:40 Cloud of Unknowing
5:04 Apostate
5:32 Cloud of Unknowing
5:45 Frankie M. (???)
6:47 Finally, Peace
7:26 Helpless Child
9:01 The Parasite
10:56 A Piece of the Sky
12:07 The Beggar
19:48 Sunfucker
21:11 It's Coming It's Real
25:55 The Memorious
27:32 Cloud of Unknowing
28:16 Cloud of Forgetting (???)
29:11 Sunfucker
30:15 The Glowing Man
33:25 Cloud of Unknowing
35:14 Leaving Meaning
[Edit]: Just realized these would be marked as timestamps for the video, just ignore that, its for the song
Nice to see Michael Gira talking about his own music
finally!!!! glad you got around to it
listen to Filth! much different side of Swans, but it’s my favorite i think
thanks for giving this one a shot, definitely not talked about enough by the fanbase
You NEED to react to the live performance of The Beggar. They extended it to *70 MINUTES* and turned it into a completely different song.
Love your reactions. Would you ever try out Black Midi? Particularly, the album "Hellfire"
React to The Lamb as effigy by Sprain. Fire record. 🔥
Cloud of unknowing revisited?
have u listened to any pink floyd? more importantly, have you listened to their first album "the piper at the gates of dawn"? its really good and I'd like to see a reaction to it :)
PS, I recommend you to react to Yanqui X.Y.O by Godspeed You Black Emperor. Rockets Fall On Rocket Falls is my favourite track by them.
The bigger the beggar the better the beggar
do you have to purchase copyright legislation from labels just to be able to upload vids here on yt?
You skipped Leaving Meaning brother
Do you have any other social media?
Still waiting on the Elliott Smith- From A Basement On A Hill reaction
idk if anyone ever told you this but you look like the blonde version of npesta