The Pearls Before Swine

June 2009: Finally Stardancer is released by Cherry Red Records, as well as a new release of Sunforest. This is probably your only chance to complete your collection.
For more information visit the Cherry Red website.

Water Records has finally released (in the summer 2004) The Wizard Of Is. This is a 2 CD set of previously-unreleased Pearls Before Swine recordings featuring 60's and 70's demos, out-takes, studio recordings, works in progress, and many songs that have never appeared on any album.
Disc Two features a complete early 1970's live concert performance, as well as other vintage 70's live recordings and radio sessions. An amazing view of Tom Rapp's personal tape archives.
See the discography section for details.

Water Records has also released Familiar Songs on CD.

Saturday, March 1st, 2003 Joe's Pub at the Public Theatre in New York played host to a unique event celebrating the protest-song tradition. Much of the repertoire was drawn from the definitive collection, The Vietnam Songbook, compiled and originally published in 1969 by Barbara Dane and Irwin Silber.
The evening featured musical performances by artists who've experienced the '60's anti-War movement including Barbara Dane, Pete Seeger, Tuli Kupferberg, Bev Grant and Matt Jones along with noted Vietnam Vet/musicians and younger musicians such as Thurston Moore, Jenni Muldaur, Barry Reynolds, Jim O'Rourke, and more.

Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) played a thrilling version of Tom Rapp's 4th day of july.
For more information see vietnamsongbook website.

The Pearls Before Swine box set titled Jewels Were The Stars has been finaly released on March 25, 2003 (Water Records, San Francisco, CA).
The 4CD box contains all 4 Warner/Reprise albums:

- These Things Too
- The Use Of Ashes
- City Of Gold
- Beautiful Lies You Could Live In

The box also contains a detailed 60 page book featuring loads of photos, posters and liner notes by Lenny Kaye, Savage Pencil, Byron Coley, Joe Phillips, Mitch Myers and interviews with Tom Rapp and Elisabeth. Unfortunately this set does not include any unreleased material.
Note: Later in the year 2003 each album became also individually available on CD.

Journal A new Tom Rapp album, his first in 25 years, has been released: "A Journal Of The Plague Year". The album is released in 1999 by Woronzow in the UK, and is absolute sensational (of course).
For more details see the discography section.

Also in 1999, the compilation album Constructive Melancholy (Best Of the Pearls Before Swine), has been released. Again, see the discography section for more details.

Also note the excellent customer reviews at Amazon.

Demon Records in the UK has released Sunforest on their Edsel label (EDCD 548). Unfortunately there are no bonus tracks added, but anyway, at last another Tom Rapp album made it on CD!

MOJO published an article about Tom Rapp and the Pearls Before Swine in the September 2000 issue (Nr.70). Although it's a small article, at least a major music-magazine is paying attention to the 'return' of Tom Rapp.

Tom played a marvelous set at Terrastock III in London August 27-29 1999. His first European gig in more than 25 years. For more details and pictures see the Tom at Terrastock page.

The November issue of Mojo has an excellent review on Terrastock III. This is what Mojo writes on Tom's performance:

"He gave a performance of such emotional power, lucidity and humour one could only regret his long absence from the scene"

The Dutch label Inbetweens Records released a double CD 'This Note's For You Too! (A Musical Tribute To Neil Young)'. All profits of this project will be forwarded to the Bridge School. Tom Rapp has contributed with a superb version of the song 'After The Gold Rush', with help from Damon & Naomi, his son Dave and Olvardil Prydwyn from the group Stone Breath.

Other contributors include the Bevis Frond ('I've Been Waiting For You'), Steve Wynn ('Time Fades Away'), Richard Lloyd ('Heart Of Gold'), the Walkabouts ('Albuquerque'), Matt Piucci ('Down To The Wire'), the Coal Porters ('Ohio'), and many more.
For more info contact jos@inbetweens.com.

oink..

Oh, gee
Wouldn't it be swell
If everyone was well