The Church

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by intlplby, Jan 27, 2007.

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  1. intlplby

    intlplby New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    São Paulo, Brazil
    Any other fans of The Church on here?

    I only have Remote Luxury and Seance..... Seance is an incredible album

    surprisely, I still have never heard Starfish which is their most successful album.

    any differences between quality of CDs and LPs

    how are the remasters compared to the originals
     
  2. eelkiller

    eelkiller One of the great unwashed

    Location:
    Northern Ontario
    Most forum members will not like the Australian remasters as they are loud and bright when compared to the originals. However the bonus material on them makes it hard for a fan to say no.

    The original Arista Inglot/Perry CD's of Remote Luxury and Heydey (there are others) sound good to these ears but avoid the Raven Best of "Almost Yesterday" which sounds awful (NR'ed to death). Make sure you get copies of Heydey and Starfish - 2 great albums.
     
  3. serj

    serj Forum Resident

    Location:
    Moscow
    I have the Australian double remasters of 3 albums: "Starfish", "Priest = Aura" (my favourite album) & "Sometime Anywhere". They are loud... But not very bright.. Also i don't like the original "Starfish" CD.. I think that the remaster is slightly better.. Also i have "After Everything Now This" UK CD. Very good sound... And wonderful music.
     
  4. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    My wife and I saw them this summer and they were great. I'd stopped following them after Sometime Anywhere and that was a mistake; I've rediscovered the group in a big way in the past year.

    The band has been on a roll for more than a decade, since Tim Powles joined on drums. Last year's Uninvited, Like The Clouds is a fine album packed with a nice variety of material that plays to all their strengths. Working backwards from there, Forget Yourself, After Everything Now This and Hologram of Baal are all first rate albums. Magician Among the Spirits is more of a mixed bag... sort of a transitional album along with Sometime Anywhere. I always liked Priest=Aura and it sounds like you have some of their earlier records; my favorites were Blurred Crusade and Seance.

    But honestly, I like their last four albums more than the early stuff. And they keep themselves busy so they've also released a remix + outtakes album (Parallel Universe) a covers album (Box of Birds) an acoustic album (El Momento Descuidado) and an album of Uninvited outtakes (Back With Two Beasts) in the past decade, all of which are very worthwhile. There's a second acoustic album finished that will be available only over their website.

    They're some of the last guitar-slingers standing from their generation and they're holding their heads up proud.
     
  5. eelkiller

    eelkiller One of the great unwashed

    Location:
    Northern Ontario

    I did not know about the acoustic albums. Is the first one available in stores?
     
  6. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    Yes, and at your better on-line shops. I can't remember exactly, I think there are three or four new songs among the 14 and then re-recordings of songs selected from throughout their career including their best known; The Unguarded Moment, Tristesse and (of course) Under the Milky Way.
     
  7. eelkiller

    eelkiller One of the great unwashed

    Location:
    Northern Ontario
    Thanks - found it on-line and saw the new Acoustic disc on their web page.
    Back With Two Beasts is another I have never seen for sale. Perhaps only available in Australia?
     
  8. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    I bought Back With Two Beasts at the merchandise stand at their Irving Plaza show last summer. It's an album of out-takes and to my ears it's not as satisfying as Uninvited, Like The Clouds. But when I say "out-takes" I don't mean that there's anything unfinished about the tracks, they just decided not to released them commercially and there are some good ones and interesting ones, especially the 20:00-long Anthem X.

    What with Internet-only releases and their solo albums there's a lot to keep up with in Churchland.
     
  9. bonjo

    bonjo Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Blurred Crusade and Heyday are essential, but avoid the remasters. They are painful. The older Bill Inglot/Ken Perry Arista CDs are the way to go. The original EMI Australia vinyl sounds very good too.

    The Starfish and GAF remasters are an improvement over the first 5, but IMO the originals are still better and should be easy to find cheap in the used bins. Then again, all of the remasters include bonus tracks, and the ones on Starfish and GAF are pretty good to pretty great...so it's a tough choice.

    Of the more recent material, I like Uninvited Like the Clouds and Forget Yourself the best. Some great music to discover but like most current releases they are too long and include some filler. The mastering is nothing special and a bit cold and clinical. I've never cared much for the acoustic cd, it's ok but nothing essential, and none of the remakes improve on the originals.
     
  10. eelkiller

    eelkiller One of the great unwashed

    Location:
    Northern Ontario
    Apparently Back With Two Beasts is OOP - lucky you got it when you did. I better get the new Acoustic disc before it's gone too.
     
  11. Jack Son #9 Dream

    Jack Son #9 Dream lofi hip hop is good

    Location:
    U.S.A.
    I don't like the fact that most of their new releases are so hard to get...then they go out of print almost immediately. I really love the band and there are a lot of things I'd like to get by them, but some of their music is almost impossible to find.
    :love:
     
  12. Jack Son #9 Dream

    Jack Son #9 Dream lofi hip hop is good

    Location:
    U.S.A.
  13. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    According to their website the new acoustic album is going to be commercially released in Australia on February 3.

    Another album of theirs I'd like is the Besides collection, but ordering something on their online shop from Australia is about $25 + $10 S&H... that's US dollars. I'm a fan of The Church, but $35 for a CD is an awful lot.
     
  14. child of nature

    child of nature dreaming, more or less

    Location:
    Tennessee
    I just wanted to add that I am also a fan of The Church, but unfortunately, I stopped following them after Gold Afternoon Fix, which was released when I was in high school. (Believe it or not, the US girlie magazine Seventeen did a small feature on The Church. I wrote a letter to thank them, and they printed it.) I only have Remote Luxury and Blurred Crusade on cd--the rest are on cassette tapes. I would really be interested in getting some of the albums that have been released since then--what would some of you recommend (Blurred Crusade is my favorite of their's)?

    Does anyone else have their video collection/documentary Goldfish (Jokes, Magic, and Souvieners)?
     
  15. art

    art Senior Member

    Location:
    520
    loved 'em. "Tristesse" from 'HeyDay' was, and still is, a lovely pop song -- a kind of soft wink to Kerouac with all this sadness. All those early albums hit (me) at the right time. I Loved how Kilbey's voice bottlenecked his influences; a sweet blend of George Harrison, John Foxx and Jim Carroll -- and those bass lines were all McCartney envy. I saw Kilbey do an acoustic set in Los Angeles once and he was elbows, jitters and nervousness. Kept stopping songs because he couldn't find the right opening vocal note. I loved that he couldn't really pull off an acoustic set. Just this scared guy trying to sing his songs for a couple hundred gathered as if performing live was some necessary evil.
     
  16. eelkiller

    eelkiller One of the great unwashed

    Location:
    Northern Ontario
    Priest = Aura is brilliant. I suggest starting there.
     
  17. child of nature

    child of nature dreaming, more or less

    Location:
    Tennessee
    Thank you! I actually had the cd at one time, but it was stolen--you know how that happens in college. I'll start by getting that one again.
     
  18. I have the video collection, purchasd back in the day, c.1990. Great stuff.

    On vinyl I have:

    The Church - EMI Canada's version of Of Skins And Hearts
    Seance - Warner Canada
    Remote Luxury - Warner Canada

    On CD I have:

    Of Skins And Hearts - Arista (Inglot)
    Seance - Arista (Inglot)
    Remote Luxury - Arista (Inglot)
    Starfish
    Under The Milky Way - Arista promo CD single
    Gold Afternoon Fix
    Megalopolis - CD single/EP
    Russian Autumn Heart - CD single/EP
    Feel - CD single/EP
    Priest=Aura
    Somewhere Anytime - w/ bonus CD
    Hindsight - EMI Australia 1988 - 2 CD comp/best of
    Almost Yesterday - Raven (purchased back in the day, had no idea it was no-noised :shake: )
    A Quick Smoke A Spot's - Mushroom Records

    Solo CDs

    Steve Kilbey
    Remindlessness
    Unearthed

    Marty Wilson-Piper
    Art Attack
    Rhyme

    Peter Koppes
    From The Well

    On mp3 I have (from EMusic.com)
    A Box Of Birds
    great selection of cover tunes including "Cortez The Killer
    , The Porpoise Song and It's All Too Much.
     

    Attached Files:

  19. child of nature

    child of nature dreaming, more or less

    Location:
    Tennessee
    I just remembered that I have a 12" single with an acoustic verison of "Grind", the album version of "Terra Nova Cain" and a bonus cut "Take it Back." I also posted on the CD3 thread about Destination and More that has a beautiful acoustic version of "Under The Milky Way."

    Thanks for bringing back some wonderful memories and inspiring me to get out these albums. :agree:
     
  20. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    Once again, I'll try to steer some of you to their more recent work. Uninvited, Like The Clouds is a nicely varied collection (from soaring guitar workouts to acoustic mandolin) that displays pop smarts. After Everything Now This is an album to get lost in; it conjures a palpable narcotic mood that really hits the spot. Forget Yourself is a bit harder-edged and Hologram of Baal falls somewhere between those two.

    I don't think there's anything approaching a consensus that any of those albums trumps the other three... it's just a strong body of work from a band who lost their bearings with Gold Afternoon Fix (Clive Davis wanted them to go head-to-head with U2) and then rediscovered their collective strengths and have followed their muse ever since.

    The only thing I'd offer in the way of a caveat is that their music is strong on "mood" and the songs, though often wonderful, don't generally have the kind of sculptural pop presence I often look for in music. It usually takes a few listens before they register as "songs." Their early work was poppier. That said, I like those four albums mentioned above more than their first four.
     
  21. Eric

    Eric Member

    Location:
    crownsville md
    I really love the Church, and has been mentioned by a few people, they have been on a roll for the past decade. Uninvited, Like The Clouds is one of the very few CDs I have that I prefer to listen to on Headphones. Over the years, I've managed to pick up many Lps and Cds by the Church, and when I am in the right kind of mood, I play them often.
    Marty Wilson Piper has some pretty good solo CDs (and a really bad one marred by way too much synth drum). He also toured as guitarist with The Saints last year, and everything I have read about it was positive.

    NP- Hologram of Baal
     
  22. DjBryan

    DjBryan New Member

    Location:
    USA
    Under the Milky Way Incedible song, really stands up today
     
  23. Jack Son #9 Dream

    Jack Son #9 Dream lofi hip hop is good

    Location:
    U.S.A.
    That's still my favorite. "Lustre" is the most haunting song ever.
     
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  24. thxdave

    thxdave "One black, one white, one blonde"

    I only found them by accident with the inclusion of "Under The Milky Way" in a comp CD I bought. I love that opening guitar part and Kilbey's voice is very captivating. I always think of his voice in the same way that I do of Richard Butler of the Psych Furs.....unique quality that's hard to define.
     
  25. bonjo

    bonjo Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    cf. David Bowie
     
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