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The Wild Swans - The Worst Year Of My Life

Here's the perfect song to commemorate the approaching conclusion of 2017.

"You were born hungry
And you'll die angry
And if life has failed you
Leave the cross you're nailed to
You belong to no one
And you owe nothing
There's no golden future
Just an open wound there
Oh lord, this is the worst year of my life"


Paul Simpson's despondent baritone can almost pass for Morrissey's throughout much of The Wild Swans' 1988 album, Bringing Home the Ashes. Fans of The Smiths and fellow Liverpudlians, Echo and the Bunnymen, will hear aspects of both groups in the shimmering alt-pop of the Swans. In fact, Pete De Freitas (Echo & the Bunnymen drummer) produced the album's first single, Young Manhood. Like The Mighty Lemon Drops and The Teardrop Explodes (whom Simpson left in 1980), The Wild Swans were a second-tier British indie pop group that never quite broke through in the States. The band was featured on two widely distributed Sire Records compilations at the end of the 80s, which is where I first heard them. Over the years Simpson has dismissed their 1988 major label debut:

"Major label thinking is like a virus, you forget why you started the band and fall into the 'hit' record mind-set... Major labels suck the poetry from your bones and fill the gaps with a cement made from cocaine and crushed teenagers."

Despite the cocaine and crushed teenagers, I really like this record. Give it a listen as you wrap-up one of the worst years in contemporary American history and anxiously await the foreboding arrival of 2018.

The Wild Swans - Bringing Home The Ashes (1988)

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