Children of God (2020 Remaster)

by SWANS

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USS BATTLESHIP I've been listening to this album since 1989 I think. Still one of my favorites, and i don't mean just one of my Swans favorites. ALL TIME favorites. Favorite track: Like A Drug (Sha La La La).

pdsenkans64 I love every track on this album, but this one stands out due to it's power. I can play this on all my guitars. It's a religious experience. Way back in 1987, when the album was released, the music was so powerful and wonderful, I became a religious/spiritual person again, aged 23 at the time. Thank you very much Swans! Favorite track: Sex, God, Sex.

Deadpanist As much as I love the old SWANS and WLFTMOI, this is for me the ultimate SWANS release, the culmination of their pummeling years getting a revamp in a more subtle envelope. No fillers here, all amazing tunes. "You're Not Real Girl" calls on their later acoustic offerings with its minimal take; "Blind Love" is really a masterpiece in itself. If you must own one SWANS album, this is it. Another top-10-take-to-the-grave release. Great job on the remaster too.

Steve Gilliem This was the first SWANS album I ever heard after finally finding the CD available for purchase back in 1993 after years of searching for it. This remaster is amazing! While I have always loved this album, I have always felt that the master of the original CD had a bit of a "cold" feeling to it. The mastering here, however, is ultra clear and finally has a good amount of "warmth" to it! I am just about to the point of tears listening to it now... Favorite track: Trust Me.

Obstacle of Affliction For me this is one of Swans greatest and most important works as it symbolizes transition and growth. Children of God has been an album I've returned to time and time again for three decades shedding so many tears along the way while enveloped by its sonic therapy.
This remaster is utterly sublime. Favorite track: Like A Drug (Sha La La La).

dillon. This is the first album where Swans fully pulled out all the stops to create an album of darkness, emotion, poignancy & dread, but in addition the album doesn't feel like a wallow of sadness, there are some legitimately beautiful songs sequenced into the tracklist that makes this album flow so well. One of the best albums by the band, my favourite album from their 80s work... absolutely stunning Favorite track: Beautiful Child.

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1.	New Mind 05:13	info	buy track
2.	In My Garden 05:35	info	buy track
3.	Our Love Lies 05:49	info	buy track
4.	Sex, God, Sex 06:49	info	buy track
5.	Blood and Honey 04:46	info	buy track
6.	Like A Drug (Sha La La La) 05:34	info	buy track
7.	You're Not Real, Girl 04:21	info	buy track
8.	Beautiful Child 05:16	info	buy track
9.	Blackmail 03:33	info	buy track
10.	Trust Me 05:24	info	buy track
11.	Real Love 06:23	info	buy track
12.	Blind Love 07:46	info	buy track
13.	Children of God 04:33	info	buy track

about

“By 1986/7 Swans had run its course with the physical assault of sound that we had employed previously for the most part. I wanted to move on to other things and didn’t want to get stuck in some style, which in our case had the potential of becoming cartoonish if we’d continued in that direction. So, I pushed the music into unfamiliar territory. We spent 6 weeks in an old isolated medieval sawmill in Cornwall, England “experimenting” and hashing things out. Even though there was the inevitable tension between myself and the musicians at that time, I remember that episode fondly and miss everyone involved…sigh. Everyone did a great job musically, as well as imbibing with enthusiasm the local brews and eating huge amounts of free food. Jarboe came more to the fore as a presence too. The lineup of Gira / Kizys / Westberg / Jarboe / Parsons was a really good version of the band - one of the best live versions of Swans ever – actually much more intense and visceral in performance than in the nuanced takes of the songs on these recordings. Lyrically, I’d always seized on abstract subjects like money/power/sex/work, etc., and I was watching a lot of Jimmy Swaggart on TV (the televangelist), and I thought he was a great rock performer, so I stole his thunder as best I could. I didn’t want to mock the religious impulse, which would have been a typical thing to do at the time, but instead to get inside it. Everyone wants to lose themselves in something bigger than they are. I don’t know if this is a bad thing or a good thing. Anyway, Children of God was a major turning point for Swans and the musical tendencies that are first engendered here were fertile ground for the remaining future records.” - Michael Gira/Swans 2008

credits

released November 13, 2020

2020, Young God Records

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about

SWANS New York, New York

Swans are an experimental rock band formed in 1982 by Michael Gira. Initially part of the no wave scene, Swans have, through various iterations, contributed to the development of noise rock, post-punk, industrial, post-rock and more.

shows

Apr 25

Sunshine Theater

Albuquerque, NM
Apr 25

Sunshine Theater

Albuquerque, NM
Apr 27

Las Vegas Festival Grounds

North Las Vegas, NV
Apr 28

Lodge Room

Los Angeles (LA), CA
Apr 29

Lodge Room

Los Angeles (LA), CA
May 2

Great American Music Hall

San Francisco, CA
May 5

Soundwell

Salt Lake City, UT
May 5

Soundwell

Salt Lake City, UT
May 7

Gothic Theatre

Englewood, CO
May 9

recordBar

Kansas City, MO
May 10

Delmar Hall

St Louis, MO
May 11

Metro

Chicago, IL
May 14

Paradise Rock Club presented by Citizens

Boston, MA
May 16

Racket NYC

New York (NYC), NY
May 17

Music Hall of Williamsburg

Brooklyn, NY
May 18

Music Hall of Williamsburg

Brooklyn, NY

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