Jane from Occupied Europe

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Jane from Occupied Europe
Studio album by
Swell Maps
Released16 August 1980
RecordedJune 1979 – May 1980 (WMRS, Leamington Spa), except "Mining Villages" July 1977 ("at home"), "Epic's Trip" & "Big Empty Field (No. 2)" March 1980 (London)
GenrePost-punk
Length44:17
Label
ProducerSwell Maps
Swell Maps chronology
A Trip to Marineville
(1979) 		Jane from Occupied Europe
(1980)

Jane from Occupied Europe (stylised as ...In "Jane from Occupied Europe") is the second and final album by English post-punk band Swell Maps. It was released in 1980 by Rather Records and Rough Trade Records. In 1989, the album was reissued with eight bonus tracks by Mute Records.

The album title was adapted by a band eight years later, who told NME, "Swell Maps thought up some really great titles and, er… we just ripped it off."[1]

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Pitchfork8.2/10[3]
Record Mirror[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]
Spin Alternative Record Guide7/10[6]
Uncut[7]

In 2016, Paste ranked Jane from Occupied Europe at number 42 on its list of the best post-punk albums.[8] In 2018, Pitchfork listed it as the 165th best album of the 1980s. Pitchfork's Judy Berman wrote: "Swell Maps pasted mostly incomprehensible, drawled vocals into noisy, krautrock-inspired sound collages, straying further beyond the boundaries of any existing genre with each release. Their second album, Jane from Occupied Europe, marked the culmination of that trajectory. It was, most of all, a catalog of thrilling new sounds".[9]

Track listing[edit]

Side one

  1. "Robot Factory" (Epic Soundtracks, Biggles Books) – 2:27
  2. "Let's Buy a Bridge" (Nikki Sudden) – 1:55
  3. "Border Country" (Sudden) – 2:12
  4. "Cake Shop" (retitled "Cake Shop Girl" on reissue) (Jowe Head) – 2:25
  5. "The Helicopter Spies" (Nikki Sudden) – 4:20
  6. "Big Maz in "The Desert from the Trolley"" (Swell Maps) – 5:11
  7. "Big Empty Field" (Epic Soundtracks, Biggles Books) – 3:44
  8. "Mining Villages" (Epic Soundtracks, Phones B. Sportsman) – 1:01

Side two

  1. "Collision with a Frogman vs. The Mangrove Delta Plan" (Swell Maps) – 8:06
  2. "Secret Island" (Nikki Sudden) – 4:34
  3. "Whatever Happens Next...." (Nikki Sudden) – 2:58
  4. "Blenheim Shots" (Nikki Sudden) – 3:42
  5. "A Raincoat's Room" (retitled "Raining in My Room" on reissue) (Epic Soundtracks) – 1:42

Reissue bonus tracks

  1. "Let's Build a Car" (Nikki Sudden) – 3:06
  2. "Epic's Trip" (Eric Soundtracks) – 0:55
  3. "...uh..." (Swell Maps) – 0:31
  4. "Secret Island" (instrumental) (Nikki Sudden) – 6:27
  5. "Amphitheatres" (Swell Maps) – 2:56
  6. "Big Empty Field" (No. 2) (Epic Soundtracks, Biggles Books) – 2:59
  7. "The Stairs are Like an Avalanche" (Swell Maps) – 4:04
  8. "...then Poland" (Swell Maps) – 0:52
  9. "New York" (Nikki Sudden) – 3:19

Personnel[edit]

  • Epic Soundtracks (Kevin Godfrey) - Drums (1-7,9-12), Organ (1,10), Toys (1,6,7), Backing Vocals (2,5,10,11), Piano (3,6,9,13), Handclaps (5,9), Violin (6), Mumbling (6,13), Guitar (7), Saxophone (7), Concrete (8), Typewriter (8)
  • Nikki Sudden (Adrian Godfrey) – Guitar (1-5,9-12), Toys (1,6), Vocals (2,3,5,10-12), Organ (4,12), Handclaps (5,9), Bass (6), Eiderdown (6), Mumbling (6), Piano (11)
  • Jowe Head (Stephen Bird) – Guitar (1,4,7), Toys (1), Bass (2-5,9-11), Saxophone (2,7), Backing Vocals (2,3,10,11), Vocals (4), Pianoforte (6)
  • Biggles Books (Richard Earl) – Organ (1), Toys (1,6), Guitar (2,4-7,9-12), Backing Vocals (2,10), Electric Guitar (3), Acoustic Guitar (3), Handclaps (5,9), Vocals (5,11), Mumbling (6), Bass (7)
  • Phones B. Sportsman (David Barrington) – Guitar (5), Twelve String Guitar (6), Violin (6), Kazoo (8), Vocals (8), Handclaps (9), Backing Vocals (10)
  • Golden Cockrill (John Cockrill) – Handclaps (5), Backing Vocals (5), Bass (12)
  • Barry Gray – Organ (2)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Cloudberry Cake Proselytism » Blog Archive » :: Jane from Occupied Europe".
  2. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Jane from Occupied Europe – Swell Maps". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  3. ^ Tangari, Joe (22 November 2004). "Swell Maps: A Trip to Marineville / Jane from Occupied Europe". Pitchfork. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  4. ^ Westwood, Chris (23 August 1980). "A Speck on the Map". Record Mirror. p. 14.
  5. ^ Wolk, Douglas (2004). "Swell Maps". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 799–800. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  6. ^ Kreilkamp, Ivan (1995). "Swell Maps". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 392–93. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  7. ^ "Swell Maps: Jane from Occupied Europe". Uncut. p. 123. Jane... majors in innocent instrumental prog-rock...
  8. ^ "The 50 Best Post-Punk Albums". Paste. 13 July 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  9. ^ "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork. 10 September 2018. p. 2. Retrieved 24 November 2020.

External links[edit]

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