| Thursday, June 9th 2011 - 05:04:29 AM | |
| Name: | fip |
| Review Source: | Denis Semchenko, Rave (Brisbane Street Magazine), 24 May 2011 |
| Review or Comment: | THE CHURCH – Starfish (Reissue)
(EMI) AKA the big one with Under The Milky Way on it. The Church's 1988 US breakthrough, Starfish captured the Sydney janglesmiths at the apex of their powers. Co-produced by the band and veteran Californian hitmakers Waddy Wachtel and Greg Ladanyi, the album remains a sheer sonic marvel 23 years on - all the way from Destination's haunting intro to Hotel Womb's last heart-tugging notes. It was here that Steve Kilbey married his alternately mysterious and emotive lyrics with concise, stripped-down melodies - pinpointed by Marty Willson-Piper and Peter Koppes' (who respectively take excellent solo turns on Spark and A New Season) intertwining, snaky guitars. Classics like North, South, East and West, Antenna and Reptile anxiously seek, waltz and slither away, while it's now hard to imagine that the still-captivating calling card Under The Milky Way (co-authored by Kilbey and then-girlfriend Karin Jansson) was considered "filler" by engineers. The extra CD compiles choice rarities like Texas Moon, Anna Miranda and Frozen And Distant - plucked from the initial LP release's accompanying 12-inch EP and 1991's odds-and-sods collection A Quick Smoke At Spot's – and acoustic demos of Spark, Antenna and UTMW. Following Starfish's success, the combination of label pressure for another chart single and growing internal conflict resulted in 1990's commercially underperforming Gold Afternoon Fix and the departure of drummer Richard Ploog, yet the subsequent chaos begat 1992's 24-carat "magnum hopeless" Priest=Aura. |
| Tuesday, November 9th 2010 - 01:54:42 PM | |
| Name: | fip |
| Review Source: | Tom Ormonde, The Age (Melbourne), April 22, 1988 |
| Review or Comment: | At a recent live appearance in New York, The Church once again displayed their mindless penchant for amplifying beyond recognition, songs which on record have won them a loyal audience over almost a decade. No doubt they will continue to apply the same indelicate touch to tracks off their fifth album, 'Starfish', during the current Australian tour. 'Starfish' contains enough painstakingly created mood, enough tastefully layered guitar work for the boys to make a meal of on stage.
And, of course, the thoughtful, if sometimes obscure lyrics of Steve Kilbey will be utterly swamped in the noisefest, which is why you will have to go out and buy the album to appreciate the subtle progression from their previous release, 'Heyday'. On 'Starfish', the dreamy ambience of the first single, 'Under The Milky Way', is instantly pleasing and, therefore, more commercially acceptable than its predecessors. With other tracks -- 'Antenna', 'Hotel Womb', 'Blood Money' -- the result is equally atmospheric and almost as satisfying, but only after a few extra spins. The guitars of Peter Koppes and Marty Willson-Piper are overworked on 'North, South, East and West' and sound momentarily like Pink Floyd on 'Lost', but are otherwise played with innovation and finesse. 'Starfish' is typically patchy, but has enough powerful moments to indulge loyal members of the Church congregation. Those among the unconverted who thought that 'Milky Way' was the Church's first release since the 'Unguarded Moment' might also be surprised. |
| Thursday, November 4th 2010 - 06:51:14 PM | |
| Name: | fip |
| Review Source: | Unknown Australian Source, early 1988 |
| Review or Comment: | You only have to look at the cover. The grim black and white photographs of the four Church members contrasts starkly with the colourful and cheery paisley cover on the "Heyday" album. There is a similar contrast with the music inside the cover on this new LP.
Where "Heyday" was ornate, layered with countless guitar overdubs, brass and strings and produced with Peter (New Gold Dream) Walsh's light touch, "Starfish" presents a bare, almost live-sounding Church. With the production guidance of Americans Greg Ladanyi and Waddy Wachtel, the Church sound more rocky and less jangly, with rarely more than the standard vocal/2 guitars/bass/drums heard at any one time in the slightly thin-sounding mix. Despite the suggestions that the band might go for the commercial jugular and make a hit album this time, "Starfish" begins quite disarmingly with the stop-start jerkiness of "Destination" before settling down with the graceful first single "Milky Way" with its elegant fade-out. The remainder of side one feels just a little underheated, recalling "Seance" with its succession of long, slowish tracks. For a band that can kick it so well live the pace here is surprisingly leisurely. But on side two the Church suddenly relax, with Marty's "Spark" ignited by a rocked-up treatment that borders on thrash. Two killer tracks, firstly "Antenna" then second single "Reptile" follow. "Antenna" swings along in its waltz time beat with three strong chord motifs while "Reptile" powers along on a brutal riff from Marty with Peter Koppes adding the right counterpoint notes. This is the Church at their best: intertwining guitar and melody lines on a strong rhythmic base. After that peak the album winds down with Peter's solo song "A New Season" and Steve's "Hotel Womb," songs that wouldn't have sounded out of place on their respective solo records. It has been suggested that the Church might have been spending too much time on their solo albums and that the next band album would suffer, but overall "Starfish" is a solid and consistent effort. It may fall just short of "Heyday" and "The Blurred Crusade," but "Starfish" will still be hard to beat as Album Of The Year. Ultimately though, one's reaction to this LP will depend on whether you prefer your Church in colour or black and white. |
| Wednesday, August 12th 2009 - 07:54:20 PM | |
| Name: | fip |
| Review Source: | Jon Pareles, The New York Times (April 10, 1988) |
| Review or Comment: | The Church, formed in Sydney in 1980, is a guitar band that prefers subtlety to brute force, and it has slowly built an American cult following via college radio and assiduous record importers; only half of its albums have been released here. In most Church songs, Steve Kilbey sings ambiguous, imagistic lyrics in a gruff voice as the band's two guitarists, Peter Koppes and Marty Willson-Piper, entwine riffs behind him.
Although the band is steeped in 1960's folk-rock and psychedelia, it sounds far less antique than most psychedelic-revival bands. The Church's current album, "Starfish" (Arista 6521 LP, cassette and CD), revolves around images of loss, absence and uncertainty - between lovers and between the singer and the universe. "Starfish" was co-produced by the band and two Los Angeles folk-pop mainstays, Greg Ladanyi and Waddy Wachtel, and it often sacrifices impact for clarity; compared to the sound of the Church on stage, the album is a letdown. Given a few chances, however, the songs and their circular guitar riffs insinuate themselves enough to keep a listener coming back. |
| Monday, December 5th 2005 - 03:00:57 AM | |
| Name: | fip |
| Review Source: | SOUNDS [UK] 1988 |
| Review or Comment: | THE CHURCH 'Starfish' (Arista 208 895/CD) **** (4 stars)
The Church's music has always sounded partly submerged, its emotions buried alive in a fresh-faced backwash of guitars, leader Steve Kilbey's poetic lyrics and sleepy voice propping up the pretty dreamscape. 'Starfish' sees them bringing together their stylistic strands, resulting in a record with potential mass appeal. At times, as on 'Blood Money', it could be an REM/Dire Straits team-up. Elsewhere The Church prefer to be more elusive. Coltish melodies and an acoustic leaning underline the first side of 'Starfish'. A direction is established with the single 'Under The Milky Way', but it reveals itself slowly. Ghostly choruses reach out through the layers of guitar and the energy of the songs seems to reverse its flow, moving across your attention like a slow-motion wave that never actually splashes you. The spray is visible but not accessible. Smoother music than this is hard to imagine. 'Spark' opens the second side sharply. The Church have obviously decided to withhold their teeth until you've been lulled and when they do clamp down the effect is all the more unexpected. The teeth may not draw blood but then Kilbey's songwriting is not about attack but strategy. You begin to appreciate how ingeniously The Church have amalgamated their '60s inspirations and '80s realities. This is a style that doesn't have to look back to feel good, but the weight of history leans approvingly on it just the same. 'Starfish' is sure to provide Kilbey and co with substantial acclaim, to which they are wholly entitled for persevering with their ideas to create a really unique sound. - Ralph Traitor |
| Sunday, September 25th 2005 - 01:55:04 AM | |
| Name: | fip |
| Review Source: | Carlo Wolff |
| Review or Comment: | The Church's antecedents are the Byrds, Bowie and Pink Floyd, but the Australian band's guitar-charged sound is unique. Artful and phosphorescent, it's the result of eight years' work and startlingly sympathetic, original production by Los Angeles session veterans Waddy Wachtel and Greg Ladanyi. The Church is the brainchild of bassist and lead vocalist Steve Kilbey: until "Starfish," this band's best was "The Church" (Capitol, 1982), which yeilded the gorgeous "The Unguarded Moment." The topics include space travel ("Destination," "Under The Milky Way"), the cost of love ("Blood Money" and "Hotel Womb"), and geography ("North, South, East and West," a lyrically muddled view of the West Coast, redeemed by the vaulting guitars of Marty Willson-Piper and Peter Koppes). The Church's focus on texture has often come at the expense of variety. But this boasts such individual touches as Willson-Piper's driven vocals on the atypically animated "Spark" and guest David Lindley's mandolin on the nasty "Antenna." While the dominant mood is brooding and dark (the insistent "Reptile" is absolutely scary), the textural range is refreshing. |
| Friday, September 23rd 2005 - 01:10:54 PM | |
| Name: | fip |
| Review Source: | Andy Fyfe |
| Review or Comment: | **** (four stars)
The story of The Church is a funny old drama. Ever since they began people have been saying what a totally brilliant group they are now and how it's only a matter of time before they become a household name while at the same time not actually buying many of their records. So The Church apparently decided that it was time they wrote an album-full of songs with more of a chance at commercial success than their previous ones but also keeping their all-important "serious" image. Amazingly they have achieved exectly what they wanted with the oddly titled "Starfish". "Under The Milky Way" (complete with so-called "bagpipes" in the middle) aside, there are a number of sparkling pop tunes on "Starfish" i.e. every one of them. Only once do The Church "rock out" (as they say) which is on "Spark", and the others, for the most part, are more thoughtful, wistful warblings. All, of course, have the unmistakable (and often unfathomable) lyrical style The Church are well known for, so not surprisingly it occasionally sounds a mite pretentious, but the end result is a rather fantastic and cuddly album. |
| Sunday, March 13th 2005 - 01:13:35 PM | |
| Name: | Richie |
| Review or Comment: | THE album.
My fave is Priest=Aura for what they achieved artistically with that album but one cannot deny Starfish. Destination opens the album with that multi-layered vocal that engrosses from the fist words. A truly brilliant song to hear live as well. Then, of course, there is the song that started them here in the U.S....Under the Milky Way. Brilliant piece of work that cannot be praised any more than it has. In fact, this works out to be one of my LEAST favorite tracks here due to the commercial appeal! NOT that there's anything wrong with the boys getting their due, but there is SO MUCH here to fall in love with that UTMW is surrounded by that bears repeated listening over it. Lost is probably one of the most beautiful ballads that The Church have ever recorded. Simply, breathy lyrics along with an enchanting guitar riff make this a standout track and one that gets heavy rotation with me. This song could have been the title track for the TV show "LOST" if only someone had the balls to get the rights and put The Church into the mainstream...it's just that damned good! (not that they would probably have done it anyway, but I love this song way too much to not want to hear every week on a major network :) Antenna is a waltz that makes me sing out loud with it every time I hear it. Ecstasy with sound here... Reptile is a rock masterpiece. A friend of mine used to play the riff when he was learning guitar. Since he was still learning, I would always say, "I know that sound from somewhere..." Once he finally got it down, I said "HEY!!!! That's REPTILE!" He said, "I know...I love this riff...my guitar teacher says this is required reading!" Then I played him the Church song and he was like, "That's the song???? WOW!!!!" It was a fun little moment :) Hotel Womb is probably the finest thing Mr. Steven Kilbey has ever written, which is just ONE reason why Starfish is such a superb outing. His lyric, "The mother of the storm has to roam the sky...searching for her child..." will give me shivers until the day I die... As will The Church, I am sure... |
| Tuesday, March 1st 2005 - 01:28:54 PM | |
| Name: | sebastian |
| Review or Comment: | jan pieter no seas posero si tegusta solamente un cancion no es necesario q te compre el disco |
| Friday, June 11th 2004 - 03:01:50 AM | |
| Name: | Tom |
| Review or Comment: | Starfish is often credited as the album that gained the Church much-needed commercial/critical success, re the single 'Under the Milky Way'. Lush as this song is, it doesn't really do justice to the simple, sophisticated pop treasure that is Starfish.
The opener, 'Destination,' rumbles into ominous life with Steve murmuring about the secret life beneath suburbia. This sets the tone; no matter how the guitars shimmer and jangle under the studio sheen, there is always a sly darkness humming under the surface (Blood Money, A New Season). Although on subsequent records the Church would leave the three minute pop song well alone, Starfish showed the world just how it should be done. |
| Tuesday, February 3rd 2004 - 02:23:01 AM | |
| Name: | Stefano |
| Review or Comment: | Comprai quest'Album a "scatola chiusa" nel lontano 1988 soltanto dopo aver ascoltato il primo singolo "Under the Milky Way" e ne rimasi folgorato..........ormai LP č consumato.......e devo dire che nel corso degli anni costantemente ritorna nel mio lettore CD ed ogni volta sembra una nuova riscoperta.........adoro tutti i dischi dei "The Church", ma questo occupa decisamente un posto particolare nel mio cuore...............decisamente da avere!!!!!!!!!! |
| Tuesday, October 28th 2003 - 10:30:42 AM | |
| Name: | jan pieter |
| Review or Comment: | i only know the songs reptile, destination and under the milky way, but they are all in my all time favorite list. the sound is so beautiful! i have an acoustic version of under the milky way and that one is 10 times better than the normal version! the normal version has a kind of ugly fading effect and the acoustic version is so much more pure and emotional! |
