The Church - any of the congregation here? (Part Two)

I want to amend my earlier sort-of-lukewarm comments about the new album.

Originally I just skimmed over it (via streaming) and decided, yeah another Church album. Now that I've taken the time and really listened to it (i.e. I bought the CD), I love it. It's just a really strong batch of songs. Their best album in 20 years (since HoB), maybe even the best since P=A.

 

I've not yet managed to get past "Another Century" without starting it over. Brilliant tune. I think I'll have to start listening from track 2.

 

Untitled #23 & Priest=Aura rank pretty high for me, looking forward to picking up the new one this weekend while on an epic SF Bay Area record store road trip.

 

The Church – an album-by-album thread?

We've been kicking this around for several years now. Are we up for a dedicated Church album-by-album thread? I don't want host it all on my own, because it is going to be a massive undertaking.

I thought we could break it up into 3 sections:

1. Debut through P=A
2. Sometime Anywhere thru Jammed
3. Uninvited thru MWLDI.

^ All including EPs, companion albums and compilations.

I could commit to taking on the middle section (2.).

Are there two others here who would be willing to do this with me? We need one person to kick things off with the earlier releases (1.), and then one person to take over when I'm done to handle more recent times, up to the present (3.).

One album per week?

Thanks,
Louis

 

Just curious as they appear to be missing, where do Descuidado and Back With Two Beasts fit in there? Second or third section?

 

Descuidado middle section

Back With Two Beasts third section

The Church

 

Not sure why Uninvited is listed as 2005 on there. Threw me off. Man, they were busy in 2004!

 

1998-2006 was an impressive, solid output.

 

They never had a "lesser" period, unless you count Gold Afternoon Fix, which was more a case of struggling to handle their new fame and adjust to a place they hated.

Listening to "Operetta" right now, I really need to get Untitled #23. Bands aren't supposed to make music this good so far into their career!

 

I still haven't cracked the new one yet. This week it was Forget Yourself, Beside Yourself, Hologram of Baal, Parallel Universe ... I guess I'm getting myself psyched up for the vinyl release in January.

 

I really dig "Particles Matter" off the Operetta EP. Shame Jammed is so hard to find now, I'm sure I'd love that. Then again, I lucked into Operetta... anything could happen...

 

Yeah, hang in there. I can't believe how scarce the second Momento is. Glad I snatched that one up right away.

 

Funny you mention that - I snagged a copy for twenty bucks on Friday and it just came today (Unorthodox reissue). Strange that the CD on Kilbey's own label is also out of print.

 

It felt at the time like they should've just done a subscription service, they were putting out so many releases.

 

I didn't answer the question before for some reason, but I'd be up for an album-by-album thread.

 

So does that mean you'd be willing to take some of it on?

We could even break it up into 4 sections. The idea is to keep it moving at a fairly even pace without overwhelming a single individual. One release per week.

4 sections might look like:

1981 - 1984
1985 - 1997
1998 - 2005
2006 - present

^ A lot of work for 2 people, a fair amount of work for 3. Looking at it like that, I guess it would probably be best if we had 4. This discography is deep water.

I'm open to suggestions.

Anybody?

 

Do you mean all concurrently or one at a time?

 

One period at a time. Albums, EPs, compilations, and perhaps any obscurities, b-sides, etc. In chronological order. I'd still like to take on one of the middle bits.

 

A heads up to collectors out there: the SchoolkidsRecords Discogs page has been selling Unorthodox copies of El Momento Siguiente for $19.99 - they've had at least 3 in the past month or so. I got one and it's the real deal.

I don't know if they have any more, but they've sold at least 3 now and suggested that they have quite a few. So if you need this one for your collection, throw it in your watch list and be patient. They went a few weeks between putting the second and third one up, so just keep watching.

 

'I Don't Know How I Don't Know Why.'

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1731851996848019

 

Bonddm post 'I Don't Know How I Don't Know Why.'.....................thats a great clip!!! LOVE Ian's custom Piers Crocker green Rickenbacker-esque guitar......the one Church era i haven't warmed to, and own the releases, is the "Hologram.." thru "Shriek soundtrack"....just doesn't, hmm, 'stick' to me so much......

 

Wonderful indeed!

 

I had been going through a period where I was a little burned out on The Church and didn't grab the new album right away. What a fool, because this is my favorite release of theirs in some time. Great balance of melody and atmospherics.

 

Man, Woman.....is a great album.
I saw them in Natick, MA this past October.
They were really on, and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen them play.
I miss Marty as much as anyone, but Ian was great, and they were inspiring that night.
I would love an album by album thread.

 

Just read the Robert Dean Lurie biography No Certainty Attached and loved it. I do wish that his album critiques were removed from the text itself and added as an appendix, and he does occasionally tend to slip into rock-critic stream-of-consciousness nonsense at times, but I like that he integrated his own story into the biography - it made it feel alive and personal, as the Church are, rather than a giant Wikipedia article. Also found it a bit strange that there wasn't a discography section, especially since both the Church and especially Steve's solo career

Have also had some good fortune on the collecting side; as I just posted in another thread, I stupidly passed on a near-mint Beside Yourself for $70 - a mistake I won't make again - but in its place I did get Jammed (!!!), and for less than half of what I expected to pay to boot. Also nabbed a Second Motion Of Skins And Heart and the original Liberation El Momento Siguiente (I've listed my Unorthodox copy for sale here, if anybody's after this album).

Currently blasting the Psychedelic Symphony version of "Two Places At Once" at equilibrium-disrupting volume. Life is good.