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Jane from Occupied Europe

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)
Genre
Length44:17
Label
ProducerSwell Maps
Swell Maps chronology
A Trip to Marineville
(1979) 		Jane from Occupied Europe
(1980)

Jane from Occupied Europe is the second and final album by the English post-punk band Swell Maps. It was released in 1980 by Rather Records and Rough Trade. In 1989, the album was reissued with eight bonus tracks by Mute, and this edition was subsequently reissued in 2004 by Secretly Canadian.

Critical reception

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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".[1]

Track listing

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Songs without writer credits are credited on all editions as being collectively written by Swell Maps.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Robot Factory"
2:27
2."Let's Buy a Bridge"Nikki Sudden1:55
3."Border Country"Sudden2:12
4."Cake Shop"Jowe Head2:25
5."The Helicopter Spies"Nikki Sudden4:20
6."Big Maz in "The Desert from the Trolley"" 5:11
7."Big Empty Field"
  • Epic Soundtracks
  • Biggles Books
3:44
8."Mining Villages"
  • Epic Soundtracks
  • Phones B. Sportsman
1:01
9."Collision with a Frogman vs. The Mangrove Delta Plan" 8:06
10."Secret Island"Nikki Sudden4:34
11."Whatever Happens Next...."Nikki Sudden2:58
12."Blenheim Shots"Nikki Sudden3:42
13."A Raincoat's Room"Epic Soundtracks1:42
Total length:44:17
Reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
14."Let's Build a Car"Nikki Sudden3:06
15."Epic's Trip"Epic Soundtracks0:55
16."Secret Island"Nikki Sudden6:27
17."Amphitheatres" 2:56
18."Big Empty Field (No. 2)"
  • Epic Soundtracks
  • Biggles Books
2:59
19."The Stairs are Like an Avalanche" 4:04
20."...then Poland" 0:52
21."New York"Nikki Sudden3:19

Personnel

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  • 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

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  1. ^ a b c d "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork. 10 September 2018. p. 2. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  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.
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