The Church - C or D/S&D/CB&TT

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So one of Oz's greatest bands up there with the go-betweens and the saints, or vacant druggie fucks. Metropolis - acoustic version - beautiful evocation or druggie fuck?

― Geoff, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Up until Starfish (their utter pinacle, the quintessinal "Church" sound, combining psychedelic jangley 60s guitars with lush synth textures) they were untouchable. The early garage-psych jangle of "Of Skins and Hearts" and the lush soundscapes of "Seance", the warm perfection of "Blurred Crusade" and "Remote Luxury". They truly were one of the most criminally underrated bands of the 80s. Classic and retro, yet at the same time totally of their time and strangely forward looking. They reached their pinacle with "Starfish" (the sublime "Under The Milky Way") and then sort of faded away. "Gold Afternoon Fix" was just patchy, and then the band suffered from personal conflicts and revolving door membership.

I must, however, say, that Marty Willson-Piper is probably one of the most pretentious human beings ever to have lived. But you can't blame that on the Australians, as he's from Liverpool anyway. You get the feeling he'd have been much happier in Echo and the Bunneymen.

― exile on krumkill rd, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I always felt bad for them, because the Cure ripped "Under the Milky Way", added a moronic Casio riffette and Smith's ghastly punchable whine, titled it "Love Song" and cleaned up. Bastards.

― dave q, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Their last proper album, Hologram Of Baal was my favourite rock album from '98, so, yeah, classic. What I really like about The Church is the fact that they can do the psyche-out texturology thing to perfection while still making great songs (see also the Kitchens Of Distinction). In fact I'm hard-pressed to think of many better *produced* rock albums than Hologram of Baal. Also Kilbey does the whole pretentious lyricism thing but in a thankfully quite understated way - usually.

Search: Heyday, Starfish, Priest=Aura, and Hologram Of Baal are the four pivotal albums IMHO, though I've never heard Seance which everybody seems to rate highly.

― Tim, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ugh, no, sorry, Heyday is a terrible album. It's like they set out to write a Great Album Of The 80s and then ruined it with all those horns. No, no, no, no. Bad Church. Oh, but the pretention of the lyrics is half of the point. Steve Kilbey is best known for some of the worst puns in rock. "Constant In Opal" oh, stop it. "Trance Ending" just cut it out. You get the feeling that he's one of those people who stares at doors for hours at a time, and if you go over and ask him why, he will turn to you with a blank expression and claim "but it says 'ENTRANCE' on it. I was being entranced."

― exile on krumkill rd, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

You know, the connection between "Lovesong" and "Under The Milky Way" never struck me before. Upon reflection, there are similarities in tone, but the underlying chords are sufficiently different that it sounds to me like two songwriters with similar ears wrote similar- sounding songs.

Now, "Dreams Even Here" -> "Inbetween Days" or "Just Like Heaven" - > "All The Way" is much more blatant (although probably also coincidental).

― Dan Perry, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hmmm. I paid some kind of attention to The Church from the debut up to Heyday, after which I gave up. I'd rate them as perennial Div 3 material - the odd engaging track, nothing dire, but ultimately not worth the effort.

The big drawback for me is that on the earlier albums, (I can't comment post-Heyday, except to say that the later albums are in every bargain bin I've ever rummaged through), they're pretty half-hearted in everything they do - never really rocking, never really letting rip on the psyche influences, just kind of chugging along....hoping. The productions do them no favours - Blurred Crusade, and particularly Seance sound muted and dull. The debut does have energy, and Remote Luxury has the best choons.

Biggest drawback of all is the drummer, Richard Ploog. You just can't pull off what (I think) they're attempting with such a wooden, plodding beat. Ploog has no feel and no drive and plays like he's holding a cricket bat in each hand.

― Dr. C, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Seance" is just beautiful, a real undiscovered gem. I like "Heydey" too, even the horns. I saw them on that tour, and was surprised how much they rocked. In the grand scheme of things, they may be a slight band, but I'll always pull those records out now and again. Ok, classic.

― Sean, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I disagree with all of you. ;-) I've pretty much cornered the market on Church reviews in the AMG, so you can find more detailed thoughts there, but in brief: Heyday is great and the horns just make me think of the Teardrops anyway, not a bad thing, Ploog wasn't that bad but was replaced for some bizarre reason at points by bad drum machines on some earlier albums, The Blurred Crusade has so much energy to it at its best that I'm convinced Dr. C is on crack but hey ;-), Starfish succeeds much better as an encounter between LA studio boffins and the band's own bent than anyone might have guessed, and the recent albums have had plenty of highlights while the covers album A Box of Birds is flat out great. Oh yeah, and they can still blast through everything live and then some, Koppes in particular being the underrated guitar god. So yeah.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Two people in one day to accuse me of being on crack - first Nick Dastoor and now YOU, Ned! It must be true then.

Look, I've no idea what happened after Heyday, but on the evidence of the first 4 or 5 albums these guys are also rans, for f~@cks sake!

"The Blurred Crusade has so much energy".....

.....Then we mean different things by energy, Ned. Not that all music needs energy, but if you're attempting a kinda upbeat guitar pop- rock/psyche thing you'll be needing some. Yes indeed. Not on every track, but you'd better have some gas in the tank when needed. Some examples : "In Shreds" "This Perfect Day", "Reward", "Crocodiles". These have what I mean by energy. And decent drummers.

― Dr. C, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What, and you're saying "The Unguarded Moment" and "You Took" don't, to name two examples? ;-) I think this in part has a lot to do with Kilbey's singing style, which in its way makes things seem less immediately active than they really are. Strange but true. As for Ploog, I'm not saying he's a god among men, but he's not just sitting there.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Have you seen the video for... erm... I think it's "You Took" where all the band are playing in the middle of a forest, and Ploog is playing drums with two LOGS? I wonder if that was an underhanded comment on his playing style... (Though I do have to say, The Church were never a good band for videos. In fact, some of their most beautiful songs have been *ruined* for me by images of women in bathing suits and cloaks stalking through cartoon castles.)

Live, the Church RAWKED. This was always such a surprise, considering the gentle, textured, multi-layers of their albums. But when playing live, they became monster rock gods with blinding guitar solos. But when they ditched Richard Ploog for Jay Dee Daugherty, they didn't rock so much, so Ploog, in all his stoner glory, clearly was contributing something.

They're one of those weird bands who have had far more importance in my life, and on my friends' lives than they really should have.

― exile on krumkill rd, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ned - look at my first post - I said that the debut does have energy. I had "Unguarded Moment" in mind.

Where the f@ck do you see Church videos, exile?

― Dr. Crack, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

They put out a video compliation! It's called... "Jokes, Magic, Souveniers" or something like that. I just found a copy while clearing out my record collection at my mum's house, so it's quite funny that this thread popped up at the same time. Back in the 80s, when I first saw many of the videos, they were ordered specially from Australia, and then we had to have a friend with the correct zone VCR dub them to a watchable format, so I was glad when the comp was finally released (around the time of Gold Afternoon Fix) in the US. Though I warn you, the videos truly are dire. Many bands of the same era had fantastic videos (The Cure, Love & Rockets spring to mind) but The Church just never quite got the hang of it.

― exile on krumkill rd, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two years pass...

Two years later, time to revive this thread! (There have actually been a couple of other threads since.) Mainly doing this because I've just finished listening to a leak of the newest album, Forget Yourself. Last year's After Everything Now This was a very fine album and the tour with it equally great, but this, man, this is good. In fact I think this could just be their best since Priest = Aura, and I'm not saying this lightly. I'll need to give it a second listen to be sure on the point, but in terms of the band now perfectly adjusting to their mode of careful exploration and restrained power rather than letting all blast free, I think they've damn well nailed it. Really something, the tour should be grand.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 05:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Super! I didn't even know a new one was on the horizon. Be sure to come back with more details after listening a little longer.

(this leak -- was it via p2p?)

― Andrew Frye (paul cox), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 05:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd be willing to check them out again. I still stick with my asessment of them as being slight, but a lot of life's pleasures are relatively slight.

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 06:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I had the pleasure of seeing the Church a dozen or so times during their ... heydey. Purely due to geographical advantages, being from Sydney. And of the many bands I was into when I first started seeing live performances they still pay repeated listening, and god bless them, are still performing. Marty Wilson Piper recently did a residency at the Sandringham (Sando) in which is a dog kennel sized pub in Newtown, Sydney.

― mentalist (mentalist), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 08:55 (twenty-two years ago)

From their website:

"It has been confirmed that the album will be released in Australia on Cooking Vinyl through Shock Records in mid October. FY release date elsewhere is January 2004 in the USA (Spinart ) and UK/Europe (Cooking Vinyl), both special edition most likely with bonus disc, the delay being due to an error in the mastering/ manufacturing process. Australia won't miss out on the international special edition as there will be a unique re issue to coincide.....more to come.The Australian tour will start early November (stay tuned for venues and dates), and Europe and USA will be early 2004. HANG ON !!!!!Great things come slow !!!!!!"

But Ned, how did you manage to snag a listen? I thought "After Everything" was much better than I thought it would be, so I'm really looking forward to this one. And a tour, too? So cool.

― Erick H (Erick H), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Connections, that's all I can say (and it wasn't p2p).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 17:23 (twenty-two years ago)

i think every woman that i know got a mix tape in 8th grade from some weenie boy with "under the milky way" on it, a concept that was so dud it was classic.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

My favorite Church song is "No Explanation" off Remote Luxury ... once of those blissful happy sounding songs with completely despondent heartbroken lyrics.

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 18:56 (twenty-two years ago)

i found "Unearthed" in an old shoebox a few nights back. 1987hmmm did he split from the band or something? i get the feeling people hate this album . i like it more than i imagined.

― kephm, Wednesday, 10 September 2003 22:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I think 1987 is when all the members started putting out solo recordings. Koppes' albums usually came out on top.

― Andrew Frye (paul cox), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the band did an intentional temporary hiatus around that time, because Kilbey, Willson-Piper and Koppes all released solo debuts at that point. I like the album myself.

x-post!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, wait, you liked Koppes' the best? Wow, that's a minority opinion! Willson-Piper's are generally my fave.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:15 (twenty-two years ago)

(just put it on again) tyrant and judgement day have george w all over them

― kephm, Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:37 (twenty-two years ago)

The Church has a new song out? My childhood calls, and I'm praying it doesn't scream "rehash of warmed-over synths"

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 23:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Willson-Piper's songs within the confines of The Church are usually great, but left to his own devices I find he loses focus. Koppes is more restrained both with the band and solo and that makes repeated listening an easier task.

Kilbey's somewhere in the middle.

― Andrew Frye (paul cox), Thursday, 11 September 2003 00:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, "After Everything" was their best album since "Priest=Aura", so I'm interested to hear the new one. The title track was in my Top 5 of 2002.

― blutroniq (blutroniq), Thursday, 11 September 2003 01:18 (twenty-two years ago)

They are one of the most consistently good bands I can think of, so I bet it will be a pretty great album.

As for S&D I actually (contradicting my above statement a bit) Don't like Starfish nearly as much as Heyday or also Remote Luxury (which I feel are the 2 best). This was one of the first bands I got into when I started listening to music. They have such a nostalgia for me, and thier sound only encourages this.

― A Nairn (moretap), Thursday, 11 September 2003 01:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I've been listening to Forget Yourself for the past week and I can't think of many other bands (maybe The Cure) that 20 years into their career puts out an album as inscrutable as this. No one track has grabbed me in the same way that "Numbers" did, but as a whole the album is one big sprawling splat of brooding ruminations. Can't listen to it as a collection of songs, but as a linear piece. It reminds me more of T.Rex than anything else and I mean that in the best possible ways.

Best since Priest = Aura. And P=A is my fave album of theirs.

― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 11 September 2003 03:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Chris and Ned are taunting us, and I don't like it one bit.

― Andrew Frye (paul cox), Thursday, 11 September 2003 03:38 (twenty-two years ago)

These guys are my brother's favorite band. I think they're like a wannabe Chameleons and pretty boring. Their only album I've heard of 4 or 5, that I think is more than so-so is Starfish- but their best of "Almost Yesterday" is 1/2 decent and 1/2 absolutely classic. Well, thanks because this is good stuff to pass on to him.

― sucka (sucka), Thursday, 11 September 2003 04:36 (twenty-two years ago)

a wannabe Chameleons

As a Chameleons hyperfanatic, I see the point of comparison, but really I think they're two different bands with a slew of shared core influences in common, nothing more.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 September 2003 04:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Most of the Church's pre-Starfish albums are their best. Starfish is more or less where the rest of the world discovered them courteousy of Under The Milky Way. The Blurred Crusade is my personal fave, one of those rare beasts that you can play from woe to gowithout pressing the skip button once.

― mentalist (mentalist), Thursday, 11 September 2003 05:00 (twenty-two years ago)

This isn't usually the case, but The Church's most popular album, Starfish, is actually my favorite. I usually dig it out every October and listen to it habitually for a couple weeks. At first, this practice was just a cyclic coincidence, but has since become a planned ritual...I may start early this year.

― Andrew Frye (paul cox), Thursday, 11 September 2003 05:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Hologram of Baal is both my favourite of theirs and was, at the time at least, my favourite album from '98. But for some reason I never got the follow-up, as if one that album everything i wanted to get from The Church had been satiated. Was I mistaken? Will I like this new one if that's my point of reference? (I love Priest=Aura too).

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 11 September 2003 06:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Knowing your current loves, Tim, I'm of two minds -- you might find this mere frosting on the cake in some cases, but I honestly think this really is a particular step up, at least in terms of rearranging and reinterpreting their own passions and approach in a (for them) strong new way. Even if the follow up (I assume you mean After Everything rather than the covers album) didn't work for you as much, at least give this one a listen.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 September 2003 14:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Can't wait to hear this new one! Going to dig up Kilbey's "Remindlessness" tonite and play it.

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Thursday, 11 September 2003 15:05 (twenty-two years ago)

[Box of Birds] is the sleeper in the Church catalog. Remedies both the energy crisis that slowly overtook them and their collective inability to write catachphrases.

― Dock Miles (Dock Miles), Thursday, 11 September 2003 17:13 (twenty-two years ago)

six months pass...

Time to revive a bit, as the US tour is on and "Telepath" from Forget Yourself is so spectacularly good it hurts.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 02:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Search: "The Unguarded Moment", the GREATEST! INTRO! GUITAR! RIFF! EVER!!!!

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 02:56 (twenty-one years ago)

And wasn't it all mostly improvised off of jams?

I wasn't very impressed to see them live. I mean it was interesting and all but they were doing a partly acoustic set and the recordings are soo much better. Maybe if I see them do a full electric set it'll be better.

― A Nairn (moretap), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 02:57 (twenty-one years ago)

(x-post)

― A Nairn (moretap), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 02:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Was this recently, A? Because the last few times I've seen them it's all been electric to my knowledge. The report of the Saturday night show was megasprawling electric stoned weirdness, which I'm all for.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 03:00 (twenty-one years ago)

it was just after the release of after everything now this

― A Nairn (moretap), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 03:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Blurred Crusade must be the greatest album released by any Australian band. Or maybe just the most influential.

― mentalist (mentalist), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 04:04 (twenty-one years ago)

neither, but it's good

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 05:29 (twenty-one years ago)

for all his way with a tune, i have a low opinion of kilbey's lyrical "skills"

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 05:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 524 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I remember feeling let down in the "Box of Birds" era but I love how the new stuff sounds, and that KEXP recording up thread is fantastic. Sorry I missed the tour.

― fajita seas, Friday, 9 February 2024 21:13 (one year ago)

Man, you didn't like that era? I saw the tour for that very album and it pretty well killed.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 9 February 2024 21:15 (one year ago)

they may not have hit the highest of highs but can't think of another band so consistently great from their debut 20+ albums into it

live they remain a FORCE

― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 9 February 2024 21:32 (one year ago)

yeah I'm mad their set last year in Austin was abbreviated so I'm definitely seeing them on this tour

― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Friday, 9 February 2024 23:34 (one year ago)

one month passes...

new one is my fav since untitled 23. great title too

― ciderpress, Friday, 29 March 2024 18:10 (one year ago)

seven months pass...

Saw the kick-off show of the new tour last night - charmingly described by SK at the outset as “nearly three hours of artery-clogging nostalgia”! In the same venue I first saw them in 1990, so extra retro points.

Focus was on the first 4 LPs and it was a lot of fun, probably could have done without most of the selections from the first LP but I am not a True Fan. Highlights were just about everything from The Blurred Crusade, and Tantalized.

The very casual fans I was with were a bit underwhelmed, as with the Cure Disintegration shows here a few years ago a long set packed with deep cuts and b-sides probably isn’t making too many converts (nor is it looking to I guess).

Anyway the band sounds good - the new drummer is great! - it is a bit anonymous but still works - tho with this material it is a shame not to have the “proper” guitarists, in retrospect that dynamic of two big personalities and keen songwriters held in check by Kilbey’s talent/ego was a pretty cool creative engine room.

Anyway have enjoyed revisiting the world of The Church - a band I always enjoy listening to, even if something somehow keeps them from being essential for me.

― Cognosc in Tyrol (emsworth), Saturday, 23 November 2024 22:55 (eleven months ago)

I absolutely appreciate how he’s going for it in this late-by-default stretch. Forgot to post in this thread earlier in summer that I saw them with the Afghan Whigs in July — powerhouse of a show.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 24 November 2024 00:29 (eleven months ago)

three weeks pass...

been on a deep dive with this band since seeing that show, far out The Blurred Crusade is just an incredible LP - truly wild that Capitol passed on a US release!!!

― Cognosc in Tyrol (emsworth), Monday, 16 December 2024 21:17 (ten months ago)

Pretty nuts! Their loss.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 16 December 2024 21:28 (ten months ago)

Would love to see the on this tour. Sprang for the new vinyl pressings of the first four and they sound fantastic.

Saw em a few years ago on what was Koppes' last tour with the band, and it was really really great. I admit I hardly knew anything from after Priest=Aura, but the band sounded great and the "new" stuff held up. But when they dropped Constant in Opal I lost my mind.

― three of the doctor's valuable bats are now dead (broom air), Tuesday, 17 December 2024 21:51 (ten months ago)

ah Constant in Opal would have been terrific - I have been spending a LOT of time with the sing-songs/persia/remote luxury EPs on Spotify and it is pretty revelatory - like, not only a clutch of totally great songs but also lots of stylistic "roads not taken" tracks like The Night Is Very Soft, Maybe These Boys, I Am A Rock, Volumes...

― Cognosc in Tyrol (emsworth), Tuesday, 17 December 2024 22:04 (ten months ago)

haha, I love Volumes, it's got silly lyrics I love anyway

― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Tuesday, 17 December 2024 22:16 (ten months ago)

yeah volumes is like some Barrett whimsy thing they never really did again

but man like they have a song this good and it is still kind of a minor song in their catalogue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Kep6Ifa-E

also in reply to the original post - what if they were one of Australia's greatest bands on account of being vacant druggie fucks?

― Cognosc in Tyrol (emsworth), Tuesday, 17 December 2024 22:18 (ten months ago)

Shadow Cabinet also top notch

― three of the doctor's valuable bats are now dead (broom air), Tuesday, 17 December 2024 22:53 (ten months ago)

I wouldn't say vacant.

― three of the doctor's valuable bats are now dead (broom air), Tuesday, 17 December 2024 22:53 (ten months ago)

but ... yes

― three of the doctor's valuable bats are now dead (broom air), Tuesday, 17 December 2024 22:53 (ten months ago)

yeah vacant isn't really fair - I think there is a (conscious, deliberate) escapist quality to their work that maybe means they aren't taken as seriously as they might be?

but if you take the project on its own terms, it is such an incredible body of work

― Cognosc in Tyrol (emsworth), Wednesday, 18 December 2024 00:44 (ten months ago)

They strove to be visionary and it didn't always work, but when it did it was fantastic. And I am always down with the people who really commit to the vocation as psychedelic warrior.

― three of the doctor's valuable bats are now dead (broom air), Wednesday, 18 December 2024 01:03 (ten months ago)

ha yeah was just reading about Kilbey hearing Hawkwind at a formative age

― Cognosc in Tyrol (emsworth), Wednesday, 18 December 2024 02:25 (ten months ago)

there aren't many world-building lyricists I can think of better than SK, perhaps Bid from Monochrome Set/Scarlet's Well

― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Wednesday, 18 December 2024 03:49 (ten months ago)

I agree. SK is probably my all-time favourite lyricist and the 45-year consistency of his cosmic vision is a big part of it. He has an occasional weakness for regrettable whimsy, but for someone so incredibly prolific, his hit/miss ratio is very, very impressive.

― Vast Halo, Wednesday, 18 December 2024 09:06 (ten months ago)

Made me think of the lyrics of "Shadow Cabinet" which are pretty much perfect

― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 18 December 2024 10:34 (ten months ago)

are there any other bands at all with lyrics more suited to conversion into a D&D module than the Church?

― hope is the thing with challops (f. hazel), Wednesday, 18 December 2024 15:58 (ten months ago)

Intending no disrespect at all to D&D, aren't you doing the band a disservice with that suggestion? The uninitiated would assume that it means that SK's on some kind of swords and sorcery trip, which is most definitely not the case.

― Vast Halo, Wednesday, 18 December 2024 16:52 (ten months ago)

nah, that's just about one of the highest compliments I can make for a lyricist

― hope is the thing with challops (f. hazel), Wednesday, 18 December 2024 16:54 (ten months ago)

Heh, alright then

― Vast Halo, Wednesday, 18 December 2024 16:57 (ten months ago)

also I'm not entirely sure he isn't on something closely paralleling a swords and sorcery trip!

― hope is the thing with challops (f. hazel), Wednesday, 18 December 2024 17:07 (ten months ago)

I mean...the most recent main studio album (not counting the complement/followon) was a full on concept album about a weird future creature/thing so what more evidence is needed!

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 18 December 2024 17:08 (ten months ago)

yeah probably more accurate to say he's more of a Gamma World guy

― hope is the thing with challops (f. hazel), Wednesday, 18 December 2024 17:10 (ten months ago)

If you've checked out the Kilbey-Kennedy albums (especially Persephone Nimbus), the Gamma World description is too far off

― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 18 December 2024 21:02 (ten months ago)

Listened to Sometime Anywhere and Somewhere Else last night on headphones, I love this band so much

― hope is the thing with challops (f. hazel), Tuesday, 24 December 2024 16:31 (ten months ago)

not sure if book is mentioned upthread but just finished the 33 1/3 (“Oceania” series) on Starfish and it was a solid read. Not revelatory but nicely constructed and did a good job sketching in the context. New interviews with all protagonists bar MW-P (bad vibes? Would have thought he would be keen to participate in the historicisation of his group - altho maybe he had said all he wants to say, and the book draws extensively on his liner notes for the reissues)

Anyway the main takeaway for me was what a commercial dead end they were at prior to Starfish. Just incredible to turn in an LP as good as Heyday and then find yourself without a record contract.

I listened to Blurred Crusade a lot on my Walkman in the late 80s and early 90s, when I was a mad keen NME reader and watching UK bands go through that hype cycle. And I remember feeling that The Church really were ahead of the curve on so much stuff - like, they had melodies as good as The Smiths, a psychedelic pop rock guitar heroism thing that smoked the Stone Roses (IMO), mandolin jangle action comparable with REM… they were so good! a little bit pre-shoegaze, proto “dream pop” - and “in your eyes” seems to prefigure some grunge moves as well, in the way it hovers around that central chord and avoids being too demonstrative

also - personally - growing up in australia there was such excitement about having a band that good come out of one’s local scene - it was fuckin cool! And Steve Kilbey would put out his “artier” solo records on local label Red Eye and it was a great vibe

but for some reason it never quite clicked, geographical isolation for sure and bad timing I guess - they were never quite doing the “right” thing at the right time

but yeah so Starfish was the big one I guess and they deserved a big one but even though they are somewhat feted I still feel they are perhaps under appreciated? it is wild to me that they never played the really big rooms in Australia, 2000-seat venues seems to be about their max, even during Starfish era

anyway has been a great trip revisiting this stuff- 3rd band I ever saw! (gold afternoon fix tour 1990)

― Cognosc in Tyrol (emsworth), Friday, 3 January 2025 23:37 (ten months ago)

Great story all around! Granted it really isn't the same band any more now once Peter left but the current incarnation's been doing pretty well on the road here in the US based on the last three jaunts in the past two years, and it is a crazy weird arc over all this time they've had -- not many acts that in blunt commercial terms were one-hit wonders here back with that album and song in just pre-interzone days who still have it, pull in a crowd and just keep releasing all kinds of things.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 4 January 2025 00:53 (ten months ago)

I remember feeling that The Church really were ahead of the curve on so much stuff

Me too. Although I liked the records that REM and U2 were releasing at the time, I thought that The Church were way better than the two of them put together. It seems like an archetypal case of cosmic injustice that, Starfish aside, the commercial returns for their extraordinary creativity were so meagre. (My CD of Hologram of Baal came with a bonus disc entitled Bastard Universe, which sums it up.)

Speaking of MW-P and meagre returns, I caught up on his blog a few days ago and was sorry to see him mention that he got divorced in November. He's living alone in Portugal and appears not to be in a great place financially. Not much of a reward for a life spent in the service of great music.

― Vast Halo, Saturday, 4 January 2025 11:30 (ten months ago)

A great musician and friendly guy when I met him a couple of times in the late 90s with the band, though I seem to recall some of his more recent solo work seemed a bit off, for lack of a better word.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 4 January 2025 18:35 (ten months ago)

I was reminded the other week that Hologram of Baal is one of my favourite sounding guitar rock albums of all times, the ember glow and sheen on tracks like "Tranquility" and "This Is It" and "Another Earth" is unbelievable, just a pinnacle of rock production.

I could well imagine Sonic Youth having taken cues from it for Murray Street and Rather Ripped.

― Tim F, Monday, 6 January 2025 00:42 (ten months ago)

So wild to see and hear Marty WP and Kilbey promoting "Sometime/Anywhere" - with an added bonus Jack Frost song - as an acoustic duo. Great set.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz7ARBOu-zQ

― completely suited to the horny decadence (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 6 January 2025 01:10 (ten months ago)

My first time seeing the band in any form was a stop on the tour they did that way in OC in the mid-90s. Remarkable performance.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 6 January 2025 02:06 (ten months ago)

Yeah I saw them play the Uni Bar in Hobart on that tour. Absolutely no memory of it … for some reason.

― assert (matttkkkk), Monday, 6 January 2025 02:33 (ten months ago)

The two Jack Frost albums are a fantastic side project for Kilbey...

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 6 January 2025 15:45 (ten months ago)

Love the first Jack Frost album. I never gave the second much of a listen. I should do that.

― completely suited to the horny decadence (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 6 January 2025 15:56 (ten months ago)

(xpost)

That acoustic duo tour was also my first Church live experience. They were performing in a small club and I remember that SK seemed somewhat despondent. The part I recall most clearly is that they finished with a cover of "Cortez the Killer". It built up to an astounding solo by MW-P with his Takamine 12-string and a distortion pedal, that pretty much peeled the paint off the walls. One of my all-time greatest musical experiences.

― Vast Halo, Monday, 6 January 2025 16:38 (ten months ago)

The Jack Frost catalog is getting a reissue: https://thesoundofvinyl.com/collections/pre-orders/products/as-seen-on-tv-3cd

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 8 January 2025 04:31 (ten months ago)

Welcome news indeed. Wish they said what exactly the third disc was!

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 January 2025 05:00 (ten months ago)

Yeah I really love the first one and struggle to remember the second. I even got to interview GMcL and tell him how much I loved “Trapeze Boy”.

― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 8 January 2025 09:59 (ten months ago)

“Trapeze Boy” is wonderful, very evocative. The first Jack Frost was always my favourite too, but I remember back in the day, the cognoscenti opinion was that Snow Job was superior to it. I'd hazard a guess that was because it occupied a more familiar sonic territory for fans of The Church, being primarily built around electric guitars. In comparison, when they made the debut, SK was still keen on electronic arrangements (cf. the Hex albums) and sound-wise, it's all over the place. Which is a great thing, obviously. You've got the eerie synths of "Number Eleven" as well as the emotional and musical directness of GMcL's "Thought That I Was Over You". "Every Hour God Sends" reminds me of BAD's "C'mon Every Beatbox".

― Vast Halo, Wednesday, 8 January 2025 12:38 (ten months ago)

The third disc is a live gig from 1991

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 8 January 2025 16:16 (ten months ago)

nine months pass...

new song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPcXgw8W9yg

― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 6 November 2025 19:56 (four days ago)

His voice has been a little odd the last few albums. Age or dental surgery?

― mr.raffles, Thursday, 6 November 2025 20:11 (four days ago)

I like the song!

― completely suited to the horny decadence (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 6 November 2025 23:53 (four days ago)

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