The obligatory new Church album thread-Untitled#23

[Dave Smith]

Any Church fans lap this up.23 albums in and this could be the best since Starfish.Settling in sound somewhere around Priest=Aura,this is a current pysch masterclass showing all the latest 'landfill' indie bands how to make a proper record.The record is layered to near perfection with reams of floyd-esque atmospheres and really is their most consistent album in decades.The last five tracks are stunning.

Mac/Will take note,since their last album three years ago ALL members have not only released solo records but put together something as vibrant as if they'd just started out.Whilst Mac labours 'Whatever you want',Kilbey purrs sweetly 'Pangaea' and shows that artists can still cut the mustard at 50.Recommended.


Download from itunes UK fans because its £18 on Amazon!

[JackT]

reptile song

[withahip]

I pick it up this week.

[withahip]

http://blogcritics.org/music/article/mu ... titled-23/



Absolutely mesmerizing. I had no idea The Church still had a record like this in them. Untitled #23 is hands down their best since Heyday, and it gives that one a run for the money. I was so floored I began composing this review before the disc even ended.

One of the things that makes these songs so good is their textured sound. The majestic pop of “Already Yesterday” or “Under The Milky Way” was a thing of beauty, no question. But that style dated very quickly, which is one of the reasons they had such difficulty following up their early success.

The atmospheres The Church toyed with back in the day have now fully matured. Untitled #23 is a dark dream of a record, hypnotic almost. The opening track “Cobalt Blue” draws the listener in immediately. With Marty Willson-Piper’s chiming guitars framing Steve Kilbey’s haunting refrain “Let it go, let it go” the results are riveting.

“Pangaea” and “Space Saviour” continue the mood, but it is with “On Angel Street” that this record becomes triumphant. It is a film noir journey through Kilbey’s subconscious, as he ruminates on a relationship’s end. This is the most personal song I have heard in ages, an achingly beautiful piece of music.

“Anchorage” is another peak, the interplay between the band is just incredibly tight as the song builds to it’s climax. “Operetta” closes things out as they began, with swirling guitars framing stream of conscious lyrics, as only The Church can do.

Given the band’s spotty record since Starfish, I thought they might have front loaded the best tracks, and I kept waiting for the clunkers to appear. There are none on Untitled #23. To record what is quite possibly their best album ever after nearly 30 years together is an extraordinary achievement.

It is also one hell of a record. I wish I knew the significance of the title, but like everything else here, it really does not matter. All that matters is the music, and in that regard The Church have hit a home run.

[withahip]

The Church – Untitled #23
Review by Mike Bax

It’s been a wee while since ‘Under The Milky Way’ captured the alternative airwaves… and almost 30 years in business for The Church as a band. They are certainly not musicians with anything to prove. And if you approach their new record with this headset, you’ll totally love the album. With the success of bands like Sigur Ros and many UK Space-rock bands, The Church almost seem like they are owed payment of dues or something – as they have been crafting clever dream-pop in this genre for so many decades now. Available on a limited pressing as a 180 gram vinyl double album with three bonus tracks, audiophiles should be all over this quiet little comeback album. Watch for tour dates from The Church with Adam Franklin of Swervedriver handling the opening duties through June and July.

‘Space Saviour’ should hit home with fans of Spiritualized, it’s rumbling and steady-building chorus of “I gotta get up / I gotta get on” building to an impressive crescendo at the midway point of the album. Heady stuff!

[withahip]

The Church have been around for decades now. Here's a reminder that not only are The Church coming up on 30 (!) years as a band but also just how simply elegant they remain. Like a gentle breeze across the sea line, here we find Australia's finest giving us their 23rd album. Somehow they have managed to record the sound of an opening bloom (the lead single "Pangea") and also retain their ability to write about heartbreak and loss as no one else: "Angel Street".

The intertwining sparks of guitars courtesy of Marty Willson-Piper and Peter Koppes almost come out like barbs from an immaculate row of briars. Vocalist and bassist Steve Kilbey can still channel the subconscious unconscious on his own terms, weaving his basslines as fluidly as any calligraphic scribe. The percussive end of things are punctuated in a subdued stylized manner which somehow brings even more dynamic tension to the proceedings, so kudos to you Mr. Powels.

What is most evident amidst all the textures and tactile ecstasy, is that this band are survivors, veterans: they are intuitive in their songs at this point; it will seem maudlin to the uninitiated it may even come across as listless, this could not be further from the explosive chemistry at work here. The Church do not exist through the usual channels, they let the music speak - and what music it is. To call them surreal would be an understatement; their atmospheres conjure everything from alien vistas to rain drenched misanthropy looking back on its excesses.

Nearing 40, I cannot believe this band are as pertinent and vital as they are. Who would have figured 80:s icons could cast such long and defining shadows some twenty years after their "big break". Talent, ladies and gentlemen, is what we have on display here. Raw, unadorned shamanistic creative abandon continues to flow through them, pray it never stops.

PETER MARKS
http://www.releasemagazine.net/Onrecord ... rchu23.htm

[shadows on the trees]

I've been listening to it all day. Excellent!

[black francis]

I get nervous when reviewers refer to "atmosphere" and "textures" as to me that generally means a lack of melody.

[shadows on the trees]

It's melodic enough. In one song, though, there is a sound that reminds me of a car alarm going off. Not pleasant.

[withahip]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_(band)#.22One_straight_from_the_factory....22:_Gold_Afternoon_Fix_.281990.29

If this is correct, I did not realize why Richard Ploog got the boot. If there is one person in the band that needs to stay sober - it is the drummer.


"One straight from the factory...": Gold Afternoon Fix (1990)

After an extraordinarily exhausting tour, the Church returned to the studio to craft a follow-up to Starfish. With one gold album now under their belt, there was mounting pressure from Arista to create another. The band had been negotiating over bringing in former Led Zeppelin keyboardist and bassist John Paul Jones, who had recently built a reputation as a sophisticated producer. Despite enthusiasm by all four members, company and management vetoed the option. To reproduce Starfish’s success, the Church would record in LA with Waddy Wachtel once again.

While the last recording sessions were tense, the next were to prove poisonous. Already unenthusiastic about the forced pairing, the band now had the double stress of needing to create another hit album. From the start, the musical angle was very different. While Starfish focused on a raw, live sound, the new recordings employed more ambient aspects, piano, acoustic guitars and keyboards. On some tracks, the music was punctuated by clanging metal, rustling wind or sharp, industrial sounds, like in some David Lynch movie. But the conflicting undercurrents were all there. "Metropolis" had a commercial, but typical Church ring, while the bleak "Pharaoh" concealed thinly veiled barbs at the stifling music industry around the band. Resigning tones dominated in some songs ("Monday Morning," "Disappointment"), while tinges of nostalgia filtered through others like "Fading Away" and "Laughing."

The external demand for perfection was bound to take its toll somewhere. The breaking point came to be centered on drummer Richard Ploog. All members were fairly outspoken about the creative role that drugs played in the Church’s creative process. Ploog, however, began to retreat further into his own habit as the pressure increased. As recording takes numbered into multiple double digits, his relationship with Kilbey rapidly deteriorated - only accentuated by Wachtel's demands for a consistently reliable tempo. In time, his isolation led to exclusion, and his drum tracks were sampled out and replaced by a rigid, but meter-perfect drum machine. Initially intended to last for a year, his "temporarily excommunicated" status eventually turned out to be permanent.

The final result, Gold Afternoon Fix, was heavily backed by a marketing and promotion campaign by Arista. The band went on tour for almost two years, hiring Patti Smith drummer Jay Dee Daugherty to replace Ploog. Despite the company push, the album spawned only minor hits with the singles "Metropolis" and "You're Still Beautiful", and sales fell noticeably short of Starfish's. Strong commercial pressure and private affairs left their mark. Press was mixed and interviews tended towards incoherence or peevishness. The band - and particularly Kilbey - would later go on to dismiss the album as "lousy," "hashed together" and "hideous." The mega-release that would catapult the band to superstardom was not to be.

[withahip]

I got Hologram of Baal - finally - wow - I think it matches Starfish -

[black francis]

I got Hologram of Baal - finally - wow - I think it matches Starfish -

Surpasses. Nothing beats Priest=Aura in my mind though.

No Certainty Attached best song on Baal.

[JackT]

Anyone get the new Bin Laden tape?

[shadows on the trees]

Anyone get the new Bin Laden tape?

I heard some leaked lyrics on NPR this morning, planning on buying it today.

There's a track about pickled infidels.

[withahip]

Is that the one that goes

"You are black olives
kept in the can
while the lighter skin olive
gets sun in a jar!"