Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Jacket Hangs
2. World View Blue
3. Weightless
4. �And Stones
5. Love Come Round
6. Your Ages
7. The Applicant
8. What It Is
9. Anti-Pretty
10. Careful Boy
11. Picture Framed
12. Cat-Scan Hist�ry

Disc 2:

1. s.t.r.a.n.g.e. (previously unreleased)
2. Love Come Round (hurdy-gurdy version) (previously unreleased)
3. Razorwalk
4. Different Now
5. Big Sky
6. 88 Out (live) (previously unreleased)
7. I Wanna Be Your Lover (live) (previously unreleased)
8. Careful Boy (Nicky Campbell Radio 1 session version) (previously unreleased)
9. What It Is (Michael Stipe version)
10. �And Stones (DJ Bootleg)
11. You Are Loved
12. You�re Going To Need Somebody
13. Sweet Jane
14. World View Blue (acoustic version)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #127430 in Music
• Released on: 2006-01-30
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered

Customer Reviews

Copy Control Technology Alert!!!!!
'Swagger' is undoubtedly a great album - evenmoreso in this remastered expanded edition. However, be warned as the record company involved EMI have placed 'Copy Control Technology' on the CD. This is something I think should be made clear on this product's page - I would not have purchased 'Swagger Deluxe' had I been aware Copy Control technology was placed on it. My sole prior experience of Copy Control was a cheap Bowie compilation last year which would not play in my car, on my computer - which in turn meant I could not put it on my mp3 player where I listen to most of my music.

'On some equipment...playback problems may be encountered' - Copy Control discs are of no use to me - unless I wanted to tape the album to play where exactly? The thing is, I've got an old tape of 'Swagger' - so I may as well stick with that. The record company have stuck this programme on which inserts alien files onto your computer and a program that plays the disc - you can't play it on any player you might already have on your computer. Or transfer to mp3 player (which I'm sure Amazon are pro, what with selling them!).

I loathe the notion here that the CD isn't really mine - and the paranoid notion that everyone who'll buy it will copy it, pirate it and the like. I buy lots of albums - I don't personally download illegal or legal as I like to have originals in my collection. But I need to play on my mp3 player and/or in my car as I have more down-time to listen to music then. The ironic thing is this Copy Control technology will only create more copying - I can't play this on my computer, my car or mp3 player - not very functional. I'm more likely to illegally download this album as at least that'll be in a format I can play on my computer/mp3 player.

An album I've waited years to get on cd and in its definitive form - am very surprised to be returning it. The hours wasted trying to play/load it weren't the best either - I have better ways to waste my time thanks!!!!

Does it swagger?..........oh yes indeed and the copy control is no problem
I have a list of albums currently un-available on CD which if they were to be released I would be rushing out to the shops to purchase fast as my gangly middle aged legs could carry me. Actually I, d be rushing up stairs to my computer as I dont bother with shops anymore but you get my drift. Swagger by the Blue Aeroplanes was somewhere near the top of that list. I nearly dislocated my big toe bounding up those stair when I realised this was being re-released in a deluxe edition with lots of extra goodies which I will confess I,ve never heard , for make no mistake this is an absolute classic.
Its also very well named as there is a certain inclavated swagger about the material on this album. It revels in some of the most pin sharp riffs and multi layered guitar arrangements you will ever, ever hear and is produced with pristine clarity by Gil Norton to make best use of that. Some claim eh?.Entirely justified mind. Dont believe me then listen to Love Come Round which has notes cascading like a meteor shower consisting entirely of diamonds or former single Jacket Hangs where the multi faceted riffs run at odds with each other, one will be playing simple rhythmic chords while the other pirouettes like a ballerina on a gigantic sponge. The playing courtesy of Angelo Bruschini, Alex Lee and Rodney Allen is inspired. Gerrard Langleys vocals if indeed they can be called vocals may perturb those unfamiliar with the work of the Blue Aeroplanes as he doesnt really sing at all, just barks in a vaguely in tune kind of way but the music is so wonderful this doesnt really matter and he more than compensates by being a superb lyricist. They say you hurt the ones you love but I dont think its true/ Its just the ones you love are the most prepared to be hurt by the things you do or Watch these hands /they flutter round your neck like nervous birds being two prime examples. The intro to Jacket Hangs is sublime -Pick a card.any cardWrong intones Langley before that memorable guitar line chimes in.
Guitar bands were ten a penny in 1990 when Swagger was originally released as indeed they are now, but back then some bands like My Bloody Valentine, A R Kane and The Band of Susans were doing strange new exciting things with the hoary old medium. The genre was alive and expanding. The Blue Aeroplanes meanwhile were just interested in writing fantastic songs, performing them dynamically and having a damm good time, as anyone who saw them live would testify. Unless Ive missed something guitar music has stagnated and hit an impasse but albums like Swagger are welcome anytime because listening to great songs and maybe dancing like a loon are still considered a fine way to pass the time. Great songs and probable good times dont come much finer than they do on Swagger. It swishes like a pair of purple velvet drapes on well oiled rails.



I have already posted a review on here about the actual music but I have decided to add my two penneth about the copy control issue. Firstly it is counter productive as has been pointed out by another reviewer.
However i must say I encountered no problems with ripping the CD. I do not use "I Tunes", just rip them using Windows Media Player. When the CD is first inserted into the drive it utilises it's own in-built player which I surmise is part of the copy control technology. I simply exited that, opened up the media player, clicked on rip and there it was. Ripped the album, no problem then copied the file across ready to load onto my MP3 player.
Believe you me I am no computer expert, regularly working myself into foamed mouth apoplexy about something or other that will not do what I want it to do but this seemed absurdly easy. Still the point remains it's a stupid and counter productive studio device that should cease forthwith.

An overlooked classic album (#1 in my series)
Why did the Aeroplanes never reach the heights that their music warrants? This album was lent to me on cassette whlist at University, and I had to go and buy a replacement, due to wearing it out through continual play.

Having learnt of the reissue, I have been playing the back catalogue continually since, and both Swagger, and the later issue Beatsongs rank as two of my favourite albums of all time. The fade out of "Weightless" into the thumping tempo of "....and Stones" shows the benefit of listenig to albums in their entirity, rather than individual tracks that are becoming more common in the iPod generation.

Think Lou Reed with a beat, a male Slyvia Plath to music (her "The Applicant" is included here), whilst on the later "Beatsongs", Paul Simons' "The Boy in the Bubble" is given the sneer the lyrics warrant. The Aeroplanes could really turn the volume up, yet also played some wonderful acoustic numbers.

The Aeroplanes were one of the best live acts I have ever seen...will this reissue warrant another tour?? I for one hope so or perhaps they will keep to the promise of their lyrics...."they say you hurt the ones you love, but I don't think its true, the ones you love are most prepared to be hurt by the things you do.....".

Any real music fan should own this album, but if you were following the music scene in the early 90s, and were following the Unbeleiveable EMF, or being Right Here Right Now with Jesus Jones, then you should really see what you were missing....Why are you still reading?