Children of God - Swans

Swans 1987 album, "Children of God", will be re-released worldwide November 13th on Young God Records/Mute. Formats include LP, CD, download and stream.

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Hello, thank you for listening to our music. I hope it gives you some joy and pleasure.

I am pleased that you have discovered our music through this medium. I view this experience as the equivalent of previewing a record in a record store in days of old. However, if you wish to experience the music in its' fullest form, I would strongly encourage you to acquire it in a physical format you can bring into your home. Not only will you then be able to experience the richest version of the music sonically, but you will also be afforded the opportunity to enjoy the tangible artwork, which was conceived in tandem with the music, and serves as a further portal to experiencing the total conceptual and spiritual and emotional content of the work we have labored, lovingly, to bring to you.

I love you,

- Michael Gira / Swans / Young God Records

[PinUpForNate]

CBGB's January 1988 - I was there. ☆
Jarboe entranced us all that evening. She was wrapped in what appeared to be cellophane. Her hair was very pale, as her complexion. Shoulders bare. With the white light shining down on her, and a haze of smoke in the air, her transparent cellophane dress glistened like water. From behind the keyboard, her eyes let us know that we were being communicated with. Included.
CB's was a tiny place - so this venue was always going to be a rather intimate experience. I was up front, at a two-top table, where there 3 of us seated, each of us in a black leather jacket. It was a cold NYC night, and I was in my Siouxsie style phase, so mine was bolero style with a black satin trim. I had not heard SWANS before this night, so I had no idea what to expect. But I could feel this energy in the room, the entire place was electric. It was swelling, as SWANS began. They brought this amazing wall of sound that erupted and hushed and enveloped everything it could touch. It was like being inside of the music, like no other experience, ever. ☆

[billkormas]

other artists: music videos
swans: powerpoint presentation on loop

[ivant.w.]

There really is nothing else in the world like Jarboe-era Swans.

[tristanreynolds]

As a fan for 30 years now...nothing else is comparable to SWANS. I have a good friend/disciple aged 25 who proudly wore his recently acquired FILTH t-shirt to 'no uniform day' at a reputable retail outlet and walked on through to wear it another day bless him. This 49 year old recalls wearing a PUBLIC CASTRATION IS in the streets of Sydney city when I was 19! Bless you SWANS...stay strong!

[rabbitmaskedman]

I had this stuck in my head since I woke up this morning.

Thanks, Michael.

[irildi]

One of the best Swans albums. If not the best.

[el_mal_de_ojo]

The truly inspiring / scary / disturbing about Swans is that you could easily and convincingly argue that any of a handful of albums are their best. I can understand someone arguing Children of God is their best. I can understand Soundtracks of the Blind as a pick. I can understand To Be Kind as a pick. My favourite after digesting their entire discography for years is The Glowing Man - the closest music has approached the ecstatic release of LSD, if you ask me. A unique band, a true force.

[arjanschaffer]

This was the first CD I bought. Earned 5 guilders an hour, CD costed 40 guilders. 8 hours working, it definitely was worth it.

[erwin-janssens]

I discovered the Swans in 1986, it was a journey through their obscure period until now, I have the entire collection of them and have seen them live several times, this album remains, for me, one of their best albums. keep enjoying every time I put this album on the turntable.

[Dissolve]

My introduction to Swans. Still gives me the chills since the first time I heard it.

[Ave_Echidna]

I can finally replace the copy my old roommate sold for drug money

[delhidelirium]

Turning point album for this band . Arguably their best too - all the great elements of 2 eras of this band in one record . Powerful collection of songs .

[Darkblood]

Can’t believe it took almost 3 decades to get this reprinted! I’m pretty stoked by this news!

[puppyfan]

I remember seeing the video for "New Mind" on the UK music program The Tube in 1987.It terrified me, but was just SO compelling and so unlike anything that I’d seen before that this 17 year-old HAD to buy the LP. I remember playing it the first time and actually being nervous before lowering the stylus onto the record. I did. Then everything changed.
After hearing this, everything that was deemed "Heavy Metal" by the music press was just so anodyne and..safe. I mean, Guns N Roses? "The Most Dangerous Band In The World"? This is so heavy, so dense and yet tender and beautiful. I loved it then and I love it still.

[jamesguillorytheirascibleh]

This album arguably pioneered post-rock, post-metal, and gothic metal. It deserves so much more recognition and critical acclaim for that alone. I just hope that the original version of Our Love Lies is on this reissue rather than the good but vastly inferior replacement. The original was a gothic metal masterpiece.

[misterblade]

We are special, we are perfect
We were born in the sight of God
We were born in the sight of God
Our suffering bodies will suffer no more
Our suffering bodies will suffer no more
We are children, children of God
We are children, children of God
We are children, children of God
We are children, children of God
We are children, children of God
We are children, children of God
We are children, children of God
We are children, children of God
We are children, children of God
We are children, children of God

[ConvincingPeople]

I never really noticed before just how strange the hocketing and groove and little tuning discrepancies were on this track, and yet noticing them now, it only makes me love it more. It adds to the sinister trancelike feel, how it's at once mechanical and mediaeval, slightly out-of-tune and dragging the beat yet entirely coherent and single-minded.

[thescoobymike]

You tellin me a flock of birds made this song?

[room]

Interviewed Gira when Swans were touring for this release. He was clear: this is not “Christian” music. The point was to explore peoples’ choice to give themselves over to religious/cult experience…how they believe it makes them perfect and righteous. Listen, it’s in the lyrics. Sadly, it’s also all around you.

[rightbro]

Doing acid at Herman Brown park in Houston back in 88-89 jamming to this laying on a spinning Merry go round!