The Church - Starfish
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Free Music Notes for Starfish
Free Music Review: Great great great
Hit: 5 Stars
Great album with no filler. It's a perfect rock album to play on a night when things are quiet.Free Music Review: Found the definitive footprint in retracing my roots
Hit: 5 Stars
I started listening again to the music that defined my taste 20+ years ago. When I got to "Starfish" (hearing it for the first time in several years), an immediate smile came over my face. I remembered the easy-on-the-ears, casual summer hackey sack fest, driving with the top down style that made this album sweep through my college campus like wildfire. Now and then, I'll place a couple of tracks from "Starfish" onto my outdoor party playlist and I just watch the people almost unwittingly start bobbing their heads to the music. Then they typically ask me for the band's name.
"Under the Mily Way" is still one of my favorite songs. And although unknown to the general public, this album is a classic and still very playable.
Free Music Review: The worst of the Church
Hit: 2 Stars
I got into the church with the album Priest=Aura, and followed them through Sometime Anywhere, Magician, and Forget yourself before working backwards to their earlier materials. To say the least, I found this album rather boring and lacking the church elements, which in my mind defined the band: subtle screaming guitar, evil twisted lyrics sung with happy sarcasm, musical experimentation, churchy humour, and art rock melody with an overtone of beautiful noise. This album does have great moments like "Spark" and "Hotel Womb" but most of the album is overshadowed by a monotone feeling that left me asking "Where's the energy?" The late 80's sound intertwined with a radio friendly attitude, especially in the vocals, reveal an album produced by a formula rather than sonic exploration. My ears dismiss this album as a small step above many mediocre 80's bands, but by no means a golden moment in the career of a band that is worthy of the RR Hall of Fame. Their follow-up album Gold Afternoon Fix is equally as humdrum.
IMHO, The Church is better defined by:
Priest=Aura -- Chaos, Disillusionist, Priest=Aura, Witch, Kings
Magician -- Ritz, Time Being, Romany Caravan
Forget Yourself -- June, Appelatia,
After Everything -- Chromium
Heyday -- On the way to Paradise, tantalized
Sometime Anwhere -- Russian Instrumental, Authority
Free Music Review: Needs a Reassessment
Hit: 5 Stars
STARFISH, the 1988 album by psychedelic jangle rockers The Church. Regarded by some as the work of one hit wonders (the band is still going strong after 25 years) or as a sell out move (it was produced by LA uber studio stud Waddy Watchell) by some long time fans, STARFISH holds up surprisingly well some 18 years after it's original release. There are not many other works by 80's artists that you can say the say the same thing about these days.
Of course this contains their big "hit" UNDER THE MILKY WAY, but actually is packed with many songs of equal or greater quality. From the haunting opener DESTINATION, to the haunting closer HOTEL WOMB, The Church do what they do best, creating hazy lyrical musings over taut guitar workouts with a subtle but strong rhythmic bed beneath. They can also rock out to good effect as one can hear on SPARK, BLOOD MONEY and the sublime REPTILE. Reference points could easily be The Byrds, Television and Echo and the Bunnymen.
While the bands lyrics are never going to be quoted as great rock poetry, the melodic talents of the band will create music that will echo in ones mind long after the disk has been retired to it's case. STARFISH provides evidence that there actually was good music made during the 80's and some of it was actually semi-popular.
Free Music Review: "Under The Milky Way Tonight" is only one of many great songs here - this is GREAT college rock!
Hit: 5 Stars
Like most people who are reading this review they've probably only heard "Under The Milky Way" and are wondering whether the rest of their songs are any good - the truth is, folks, that they're basically just as great! Every song here is fantastic, and although it may not necessarily hit you at first give it a couple listens (and play it on a GOOD sound system) and you will discover the greatness that is The Church. Frontman Steve Kilbey has a very 80's dreamy college rock/new wave voice that I'm pretty sure most people will love - he has great personality and charisma and fits the style of music almost perfectly. The lyrics tend to be a little hard to make out sometimes, but whenever you can decipher them they're absolutely worth paying attention to. Musically it's distinctively 80's college rock in the veign of R.E.M.'s jangle pop and Echo & The Bunnymen's dreamy soundscapes with a little new wave mixed in; all you need to know is that it sounds fantastic and definitely inspired. Every song here is very good, and although some aren't arguably as good as their hit "Under The Milky Way" they're ALL very satisfying in their own right. The reason I'm giving this "5" stars is that it's consistently very good, inspired and satisfying - a hard feat for practically any band. I'm pretty sure that college/pop rock fans will love this album along with "Heyday". Absolutely recommended!
Highlights include:
"Roman"
"Under The Milky Way"
"Lost"
"North, South, East & West"
the rest are great, too