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| Name: | Richie |
| Review or Comments: | I don't know why, but I just can't get into this album.
There are some great tracks here, but all too often I turn away and I can't figure out why... Welcome is not as bad as people make it out to be, with Steve's name dropping...hell, Billy friggin' Joel makes a piece of slop called "We Didn't Start the Fire" which is nothing but and he's considered a legend? PLEASE! Comedown is the best song on this album, not just for it's commercial value, but for the arrangement and performance. GOD this song rocks!!! They seem to be having FUN on this track as opposed to the melancholy of the rest of the album and this is why I love it so much. It's great to have a band that enjoys the atmosphere and gloom especially when they make such beautifully haunting melodies out of that type of subject matter, but when that kind of band opens up and ROCKS for over four and a half minutes, it is something to behold! Masterpiece material. The rest of the album is tepid and I consider it a letdown of sorts. Never really grabbed me. The title track, Magician Among the Spirits is a great song but way too long and wears out it's welcome after about ten minutes. Strange, considering it is the band's "long songs" that usually grab my attention. Maybe I am not being fair, in that I haven't really listened to this album enough times for it to grow on me, but I just think there is something missing...Peter Koppes maybe? He "guest stars" for a few tracks and he is missed on others. He wasn't even on Sometime Anywhere, but that album still worked. Magician has sadly few tricks up its sleeve though... |
| Name: | Christian Schreier from Guatemala |
| Review or Comments: | It's hard to like something new or different when you are comfortable with what you have been listening for a long period of time. So when something like MATS comes along, it is for sure the Church long time fans are going to have a hard time swallowing it. The reason I am writing this review is because in a quick introduction I made to a friend, of the whole Church studio material, this one was the one that made the most impression on her, go figure!
Lets start by saying that this is the most organic, eclectic and experimental record the band has made (musically), if you count that Peter Koppes only appeared as a guest. One of the factors that made this record so inaccessible for a lot of people is that it has an almost permanent mood, so if you are not in THAT mood its going to be difficult for someone to digest the whole in one session. This is definitely a late night sedator; and I mean it in a good way. Just listen to the 14 minutes title song and you will know what I am talking about. The constant use of violin is one of the trademarks of the production and may be a way to compensate the lack of PK's guitar in some parts. In my opinion what makes this album what it is in first place is the musical approach, and second, the sometimes-kind-of Tribal drumming of Tim Powles. Listen well to this record compared to other Church productions and you will get the idea, maybe Day of the Dead from SE does have the same vibe, but that's it. It's kind of like TP is using his drum kit as African war drums. It is more evident from It Could Be Anyone to Romany Caravan. I think this is TP strongest playing with The Church yet. Marty's guitar sound is also kind of unique, like the delicate acoustic guitar in Romany Caravan, that is an outstanding atmospheric instrumental and the lovely Spanish guitar in the dream-like instrumental, Afterimage (in this one I almost hear Sade singing). In the electric guitar area, Welcome has the catchiest riffs followed by the power chords of Comedown, the "commercial one" for some people. I think Marty is very loose in this album, creatively and technically, maybe because he is the owner of the guitar show here. I dare to say that I like, creatively speaking, much better what he has done in MATS than in his solo work. The lyrics are good, but nothing that stands out. I mean for Church standards, that’s their fault for spoiling us. But I don't think this album was lyric-oriented, I think the singing is more like another layer in the music that blends for you to feel it and not to sing along and give meaning to something. Well it's hard not to sing along in Welcome and Comedown. All in all MATS is a very good album. Not my favorite but yet a very special one, I kind of transport my self into a fantasy world with strange creatures in it when I hear it. The secret to appreciate this album is to listen to it with an open mind, forget the other material, and just listen to it as if it was a different band. If this would have been from another artist I assure you everybody would have talked about it as something remarkable. But again it's their fault for spoiling us with such great music for all this time;) |