The Church - any of the congregation here?

Compressed....awful....the only reason I got them was for the bonus second disc originally. I went back and rebought all the Inglot/Perry discs.

 

It was no noised...

 

Gregor! you pop up everywhere

Phillipa C.
Juggernaut Boy
etc

 

Starfish was one of my first CD purchases (the only CD from that period I still own). I've listened to it more times than I care to count. At the time their other releases didn't grab me but over the last few years that has changed. Picked up Sometime Anywhere yesterday for $4.00. Great music (love that guitar tone) but some of the lyrics are just terrible.

I still have the Under The Milky Way cassette single around here somewhere. I've always enjoyed the B-Side track, Musk.

 

Nice to be reminded of this band. I played them as a DJ back in college in the 80s and always enjoyed them. Never bought an album though and forgot all about them till I stumbled onto this thread. I think I'll grab one or two releases and see if it sounds as good as I remember.

 

Bill, let us know how you get on! I go through phases with this band (like we all do with our favorites), and the first few albums still sound just great to me, re-listening after a very long break. Going against popular opinion, I still think they lost the plot with Starfish, a cold-sounding album after the glorious Heyday. GAF still does nothing for me, and only Priest = Aura (a difficult album to get into) does anything for me since. But that run of albums from Skins & Heart through to Heyday is simply extraordinary. That they're still performing and recording is some kind of small miracle.

 

I absolutely love the band, and they're the only thing that gets me close to any sort of religious experience! (pun intended)

Best album is Heyday. I dig "Under The Milky Way" but always thought they had better songs that should have been hits. "Metropolis" and "Columbus" are probably my favorite tracks. Also love "Paradox" from Priest = Aura.

 

Wow--I didn't know they did "Hiroshima Mon Amour"! Is it with saxophone solo?

 

Huge Church fan here, but have a bunch of wholes in my collection that I'm looking to fill. I've got a few questions I hope the more knowledgeable here can help me contend with.

I find the Church discography a pretty confusing sprawl, but they're a band I really feel an urge to be a completist with. Over the span of their career, they're pretty diverse stylists and I love their musical textures. I plan on getting the Australian deluxe edition cds, so I want to know if those new editions make any of the following compilations expendable:

Remote Luxury
Hindsight
Almost Yesterday: 1981-1990

Are there any tracks on those cds just listed that are unique and not available elsewhere, particularly on the Aussie deluxes?

Thanks ahead of time!

 

BTW, I'd love to recommend After Anything Now This. I was a Church fan in the late '80s as a teen but lost track of them after Priest=Aura. AANT was my first album back in the fold and it's not just a great Church record, but I'd put it up against anything released this decade. I go back to it again and again and love it almost as much as I did upon first listen.

Actually, that's not entirely accurate. I recall not being blown away by it on first listen. But after 3-4 listens, its greatness finally overcame me.

 

Love The Church-a very under rated band IMO.Thought "Uninvited Like The Clouds" was their best since Starfish (maybe better).Also love "After Everything Now This" from a few years back.Their new one Pangaea releases later this month with a limited ep with an interesting song titled "So Love May Find Us"-sounds worth checking out.

 

Just picked up a servicable copy of Starfish (US Arista) for 33 cents (flea market). I have their major singles on various comps (Unguarded Moment, Under The Milky Way), but never got around to picking up any of the albums.

 

I have "Deep In The Shallows: The Classic Singles Collection", the double CD set released by EMI (it's career-spanning, though) two years ago. I rarely listen to it - probably I had to choose another title as an introduction, not every phase of their career captured my attention - and I can remember it's pretty loud, compressed and some 7" mixes indeed come from 7" vinyl copies instead of the original masters :thumbsdn:

http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Shallows-Classic-Singles-Collection/dp/B000PUB3OW

 

I like this band as well.

 

Probably the rarest Church Merch I have is the first single, She Never Said, with an entirely different mix to the album version (I don't know if this is on the comps mentioned above), incorporting weird cartoon-style b/g vox.

I'm listening right now the The Back With Two Beasts, an album which may have slipped under the radar as it's download-only (thechurchband.com). It has its moments, but the lack of great tunes (which were all over the first five albums) is still too noticeable for me to think I'll ever love it too much.

 

yeah look out for the song "you've got to go" on vinyl ...12'bside...totally different mix with heavy phasing...awesome!

 

Wow! So glad you mentioned this! Just did a bit of looking around - there's this new EP this month and then a new album (Untitled #23) in May - looking forward to both.

 

If you don't want to pay for pricey shipping (and sometimes long waits) from the band's website, the two new EPs are available for download:

http://www.secondmotionrecords.com/home/artist/get/14

Pangaea is also available on iTunes.

 

It's on the Deep in the Shallows collection in not exactly stellar quality if I'm remembering correctly. It's been a while since I listened to it.

 

The EP 'Pangaea' is well worth it. The "So Love May Find Us" track that you mentioned is nearly 40 minutes in long!!

 

I meant to say also...I have heard that the 2 disc remasters sets of The Church are about to be (or have already been) deleted in Australia with the exception of 'Starfish'.

 

Are these really good? Not the sound, but the songs. I have most of the org. cds and have been happy. But now I feel like I'm missing some good stuff.

 

I like the sleepy, moody, post-Ploog Church, but not nearly as much as the classic era of Blurred Crusade - Gold Afternoon Fix.

The later records are all a bit cold and distant. It's the sound they established on Priest=Aura, and they've stuck with it ever since. There are some really nice tracks sprinkled about the later albums, but I miss the jingle-jangle.

 

I just bought "Of Skins & Heart" as the 2-cd remaster for a whopping $5 used,
I hope I make it thru it if it's really loud (I have not heard this disc yet).

 

I suggest you put some cotton in your ears before playing. Those discs sound like a buzz saw.