Children of God is the fifth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released on October 19, 1987, through record label Caroline in America and on Product Inc., a sublabel of Mute Records, in the United Kingdom.
Production The album was recorded over the course of six weeks in February–March 1987 at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall, England. It represented a dramatic, experimental change in sound from earlier Swans releases, moving away from the brutality of previous work to explore acoustic instruments and more conventional song structures.
Release history Children of God was reissued along with the World of Skin compilation (without the cover versions) as the 1997 Children of God/World of Skin CD. On the rerelease, the original album version of "Our Love Lies" was replaced with the version included on the Love Will Tear Us Apart EP. The re-release also added "Damn You to Hell" and "I'll Swallow You" (under one title as "I'll Swallow You") from the New Mind single. The tracks "Sex, God, Sex", "Beautiful Child" and "Children of God" were shortened by several seconds with earlier fadeouts, and "Trust Me" fades directly into the brief interlude at the end.
A remaster of the album, along with the live album Feel Good Now, was released on November 13, 2020.
Reception Children of God is widely considered one of the band's strongest and most popular recordings and the most acclaimed album of their early period. In 2003, Brandon Stousey from Pitchfork wrote that the album is "one of the band's strongest releases" and "established Gira as an Old Testament tyrant obsessed with the nature of love, human frailty, and the midnight beauty of black orchids". Writing for AllMusic, Ned Raggett wrote that "with flute, oboe, and strings adding further texturing to the often quite a lovely songs created by the band, Children remains perhaps the key album of Swans' career -- the clear signpost towards their ever-more ambitious albums in the future".
Track listing Original release
Some pressings of the CD divide "Trust Me" into two tracks: The actual song (4:28), and an unlisted/untitled interlude consisting of a field recording of a rowboat on the water, with birds in the background (0:57). 1997 re-release Children of God/World of Skin
Personnel Michael Gira – vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar, album cover concept and design, production Jarboe – vocals, backing vocals, piano, keyboards N. Westberg – electric guitar, acoustic guitar Algis Kizys – bass Theodore Parsons – drums, percussion Simon Fraser – flute on "In My Garden" Audrey Riley – cello on "Like a Drug (Sha La La La)" Lindsay Cooper – oboe on "Blackmail" and "Trust Me" Wilton Barnhardt – piano on "Blackmail" Rico Conning – production, engineering John Cornfield – engineering Laura Levine – sleeve photography Paul White/Me Company – sleeve artwork
Charts
Chart Peakposition UK Indie Chart3
References
External links