SWELL MAPS 'A Trip To Marineville' (2xLP 180 Gr + 7")  

When the Swell Maps released “A Trip To Marineville” in 1979, they had already been playing together for seven years: you can guess they had some clear ideas of what they were doing. A crazy quilt of punk energy and Krautrock-influenced clatter, this album has been described as “A CULTURAL ARTIFACT TO CHERISH FOREVER. See it, buy it, that’s all that really needs to be said”. A breathless child tells you “Say! THAT’S a swell map...” then Epic sweeps his hand from right to left along the piano, and a reckless musical voyage explodes. Every song in this album is a different, equally interesting trip, but we can highlight the gigantic “Vertical Slum” and his Bolan-esque lyrics ending in the massed chant “The Weather! The Leather!”, “Spitfire Parade” (“Having nothing isn’t much of a pose”), the extremely beautiful piano of “Don’t Throw Ashtrays at me”, the Maps classic “Midget Submarine”! with its killer dual guitar riff over a driving relentless beat and a sublime Sudden vocal (not only one of the best lyricists of his age but a unique singer too), a gradual descent from superb punk rock into total experimentation all in the course of one track. Also stands gloriously “Full Moon In My Pocket”, with Nikki screeching, gibbering and growling his way to the mantra “I got a full moon in my port sight / I got a full moon in my tail light” until an improptu coughing session occurs as part of the performance, the incendiary “BLAM!”, the orgy of insanity, tension and mystery called “Gunboats”, and the end with the equally experimental “Adventuring Into Basketry” and the precious “My Little Shoppes Just Around the Corner”... In one sentence, ¡Each song is a highlight! For this is, no doubt, one of the greatest records ever made. Great sleeve, great lyrics, great songs, a total D.I.Y. attitude, experimentation -but far more than just that. Oh, this precious thing has also been called “One of the definitive musical statements of the Twentieth Century”. Now just hear it.

Weight: 710.00 g