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

I can't find a link yet but will post it if I do. He went live at 2 AM in the USA so I only caught Day 5 and Almost With You but he sounded good!

 

I finally received The Hypnogogue vinyl from Amazon. Seems that those shipped "last-ordered-first-out" as a buddy of mine got his (on my recommendation) a week+ before I got my copy.

At any rate, I liked the album well enough on hearing the songs but attentive vinyl listening might rank this album as top-tier Church. I'll give it more time before passing final judgment but it is one remarkable album.

 

I have the neon violet vinyl version (in fact I have two copies due to a mix up) and it plays flawlessly across all four sides. Isn't a bit smoke and mirrors with colour vinyl as black is added to make the vinyl black?

That said, I know the metallic colours can be a tad noisy - my James Bond 50th LP gold is slightly noisy in places.

 

https://www.instagram.com/stvklby/live/18022176457551309

If anyone is up right now, Steve is doing another Instagram live set. He opened with a gorgeous rendition of Buffalo, and made up a song on the spot making fun of AI. Now he's doing Into My Hands...

 

Steve's IG set from May 8th. That YouTube channel is amazing BTW, lots of Church/solo gold.

 

Easy Action vinyl showed up today. Listening now...

So far, so good. Vinyl is quiet, flat and centered on side 1. The violet vinyl is more like a magenta or cranberry color than violet, but no complaints. It's a nice alternative to the 'none more black' edition.

The edition comes with better quality inner sleeves. Black with a slightly slick (poly-like) inner coating. I may leave these as-is. With the US edition, the inners were stock white paper (IIRC) and had shed a bunch of paper dust onto the LPs. So I did what I typically do, which is to replace them with MoFi inner sleeves.

I'll report back if anything changes on sides 2-4, or if I detect any printing differences in the gatefolds. Nice hype sticker included on this Easy Action edition.

 

This ended up here... and thank you so very much for alerting this thread about these wonderful May 2023 Instagram shows.

The title 'Phoenician Extraction' makes my eyes wide wondering if SK is getting a rope and pulley extraction of the chipped tooth... So worried right now!

 

In other news... did Jeffrey Cain start playing a cover of 'Terra Nova Cain,' and... did it work?

...and was Heather Nova (Cain) opening the gig? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Please tell me someone gets the inside joke and background of the second line... otherwise I'm getting too o*d, erm... I mean, 39 again.]

 

Okay, quoting myself. The second disc (side 3, at least) has a slight edge warp. The disc is flat and centered and sounds great. But, I did notice the cellophane was wrapped really tight before I opened this edition. One jacket corner was pulled backwards. After unwrapping, the jacket was fine, but I suspect this might have caused a slight edge warp.

Anyway, just reporting the facts. I have no prob. with a slight edge warp, especially since the sound of this pressing and its tonality were not affected. Peace out my Churchen Brethren.

 

Aura- how’s the sound compared to CD/streaming? Unable to play any vinyl for a few months.

 

The vinyl sounds great, both the US and UK. I don't hear a difference betwen the two. I slightly prefer the vinyl to the hi-res download I received as part of the US vinyl purchase.

 

Also, the jackets between the US and UK versions differ. The US version is a slightly glossy or semi-gloss sleeve and has richer color, most noticeably deeper black. The UK version is a matte jacket and more subdued colors. The US version is easier to read the track listing since the gold lettering is rendered better overall.

 

I can't justify buying the album again, but I'd certainly buy the title track 12" single with that incredible sleeve art. Especially if they stuck a remix and two non-album b-sides on there!

 

A 12" with b-sides would be awesome. That doesn't appear to be in the works. The US art is great. The UK vinyl is equal to the US vinyl. Glad I have both. I do not have the gold US pressing, yet...

 

I went ahead and got all three vinyl variations. And the CD haha.

 

Looks like The Church will be playing in Austin Oct 26 as part of Levitation, which is a Psych music festival I hadn't heard of until now. I can't find any info about other dates but it certainly seems possible if they're coming to the US around that time.

LEVITATION 2023

 

Wow. Ton of great bands on that poster! It seems like they'd have to do some more dates around this to make it feasible.

 

Not a bad lineup this year. But 2015 would've been the year I'd have love to have attended - from Wiki: "The lineup included The Flaming Lips, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Spiritualized, Tame Impala as well as a reunion performance by The 13th Floor Elevators, the band's first performance in 45 years."

 

Finally have this back on LP. I let it go somewhere along the way. Back when it came out was my roaming days so cassettes only for most of the 80s
Good price too.

 

One of my favorites. Hopefully it'll be reissued someday.

 

Bought the CD for my dad for his birthday (I turned him onto The Church approximately 20 years ago)
and just bought the vinyl version for me.
Can't wait for it to arrive!
Love The Hypnogogue album.

 

Yeah, Levitation is a fun festival. Slowdive in 2018 was epic. Before that show, I last saw them at the original final show at Lee's Place in 1994, where I met the band at the bar before the show and Neil told me how much he preferred Budweiser over English beers... wut!? Granted this was long before micro breweries were a thing in the US. But still, I can't imagine a Bud over Samuel Smith or Fullers or really anything but a Budweiser. Lol!

Orginally Levitation was Austin Psych Fest, then became Levitation for a decade and now Austin Psych Fest is back as it's own thing.

Looking forward to the Oct. 26 show. I have that week off work too.

 

Was looking at rice cookers at jb hifi yesterday, as they were out of stock I moved to the music section. Spotted the hypnogogue gold vinyl double album for 72AUD, more that I usually spend but decided to take a gamble. So glad I did, completely surpassed my expectations, have just listened once but I know already it will be up near the top of my favourite church albums, so much to devour, they really have no right releasing an album so great, So late in their career. If your are a church fan but have been hesitating getting this because of line up changes or recent releases I implore you to give this album a chance. Also picked up Clouds Penny Century blue vinyl 30th anniversary edition after catching their fabulous recent live gig, great sounding vinyl. But the new church omg, so good

 

So I have the black US vinyl version, as well as the purple UK version. Both sound really good, however, my black copy has a whooshing sound on all sides. You don't notice it once the songs begin, but you certainly hear it on the lead in/out grooves as well as between tracks, and sometimes very lightly during quieter moments on the album. I haven't seen any comments about this, but being that it's on all 4 sides, it can't be just my copy, or is it? Does anyone else have this issue? Not sure if I should try another coy thru Amazon or not. It sounds good otherwise and is a great album.

 

In case it's not clear, I'm talking about the Hypnagogue vinyl.