by chrome3d
Acoustic guitar strumming, slow rhythm section, Steve sounds sleepy and deep. Piano starts and somewhere in the background organ weaves a Procol Harum-ish melancholic web. There is some Elton John-vibes too in here too, if I knew what Elton is all about. When everything feels complete the slide guitar starts to squeeze some extra emotion at 2:06. During the last lines when Steve sings ...tonight...tonight...the wiuu-wiuu-wiuu slide squeezes are just a tad too much but all in all it has some charm and I´m not tired to listen it again a couple of times. After all the chug chug of the album it´s a real conventional album closer to show the sensitive side of the band. The kinda song a band would end with their debut album and maybe get the lighters out at a gig. It feels oddly conventional in many ways. This is The Church after all.
During one game user Jesuskrishna made a joke that it was good that Steve never followed his advice of not opening the door to strangers and now we have "Just For You"! That was so hilarious.
Showing posts with label Of Skins and Heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Of Skins and Heart. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Fighter Pilot...Korean War
by chrome3d
I was playing Of Skins And Heart at work. There was also these two younger guys and they started to laugh at it. "This is 80es! Hah haa! What sounds!" As I'm so deep in to the world of Church I can´t hear that stuff. I listen to it probably in another way. When we came to Fighter Pilot another one became kinda excited. "Hey this is the devils notes (Tritone) ! Then he became this story how it was played by Paganini and it was forbidden to play that melody in medieval times. I learned something new. Year later I happened to play it randomly and he was present there and started the same story. Anyway, I respected his knowledge of music. One of his paychecks he spent on a sitar...that tells a lot. I learned never to play Of Skins And Heart or this song again if he is present. Raw energy song, kinda like basic Of Skins And Heart style song. Not the best nor the worst.
I was playing Of Skins And Heart at work. There was also these two younger guys and they started to laugh at it. "This is 80es! Hah haa! What sounds!" As I'm so deep in to the world of Church I can´t hear that stuff. I listen to it probably in another way. When we came to Fighter Pilot another one became kinda excited. "Hey this is the devils notes (Tritone) ! Then he became this story how it was played by Paganini and it was forbidden to play that melody in medieval times. I learned something new. Year later I happened to play it randomly and he was present there and started the same story. Anyway, I respected his knowledge of music. One of his paychecks he spent on a sitar...that tells a lot. I learned never to play Of Skins And Heart or this song again if he is present. Raw energy song, kinda like basic Of Skins And Heart style song. Not the best nor the worst.
Is This Where You Live?
by chrome3d
"Branching off, the road winds east
Deluxe locations just near completion
Come dine with wine and oyster feast
The pearls are real, have one for free
They're washed up by the foam-waved sea"
It´s funny to see how that was written waaaay back in 1980 or even earlier but those themes surface over and over again in Steve´s blog. Those lines are something that I could imagine reading today in the blog and I probably have seen something similar there. Standing in awe looking at all the beautiful things world has to offer. The wonders of nature and life and enjoying them like there is no tomorrow. Also there is the almost constant undercurrent of guilt to enjoy it or the envy of the rich. These themes pop up so often in the stream of thoughts in the blog too. Those lines flow from there like from a fountain and it´s not your usual new wave lyrics. How many artists you could imagine doing this kind of lyrics on top of this music? Even at early age Steve is an old sage trapped inside a body of a new wave rocker. This feels very wordy song and I feel that the lyrics are important here.
This song reminds me a lot of ´Not What You Say´ from the new Painkiller album. Long without feeling too long. Oh, and minus the whale noises or whatever.
"Branching off, the road winds east
Deluxe locations just near completion
Come dine with wine and oyster feast
The pearls are real, have one for free
They're washed up by the foam-waved sea"
It´s funny to see how that was written waaaay back in 1980 or even earlier but those themes surface over and over again in Steve´s blog. Those lines are something that I could imagine reading today in the blog and I probably have seen something similar there. Standing in awe looking at all the beautiful things world has to offer. The wonders of nature and life and enjoying them like there is no tomorrow. Also there is the almost constant undercurrent of guilt to enjoy it or the envy of the rich. These themes pop up so often in the stream of thoughts in the blog too. Those lines flow from there like from a fountain and it´s not your usual new wave lyrics. How many artists you could imagine doing this kind of lyrics on top of this music? Even at early age Steve is an old sage trapped inside a body of a new wave rocker. This feels very wordy song and I feel that the lyrics are important here.
This song reminds me a lot of ´Not What You Say´ from the new Painkiller album. Long without feeling too long. Oh, and minus the whale noises or whatever.
Bel-Air 2
by fandorin
Just a small second perspective on Bel-Air.
Yes, with the first 4 songs, The Church established themselves as wavy power pop heroes. Accelerate, hehe. I guess I have to defend Bel-Air from the "twee" label. Apart from being (IMHO) a pretty masterpiece, it was again showcase for a band having already mastered a lot of rock tradition. They knew how to kick ass, how to sling guitars and how to be cool and fiery all at once. SK had already assimiled the whole rock tradition minus blues minus folk up til 1980 and sat on the head of a spear flying somewhere.
First song featuring the "Byrdsian" jangle, arpeggi replacing the chop chop dang dang, but maybe the crucial problem solved in Bel-Air was - how to write a structurally highly unconventional song (extensive solo stuck to the beginning, no chorus, different sections, a climax almost taken from classical music...oh..hey...wow...i have heard that somewhere, wasn't it called Prog Rock? and isn't it great how the condense an essence of prog in 5 minutes? Prog for people with clear minds and little time? And go, and find Levitation's CD Need For Not!) and making it sound smooth and beautiful. It features a great trick of instrumentation, showing PK's musical leadership in the band - the first jangle is played by PK on a six string while Marty does chop chop chop, then MWP takes over, and it's a wonderful effect when the 12 string takes over...
Tell me what you want, the line "her ruby lips can't excite me anymore" together with the musical reversal point in that verse, is to me the first truly Great Moment in The Church's catalogue. How the "twee" song explodes into something greater, monumental. The band is arse-tight and oozes energy, the timing is fantastic. It still doesnt sound "confidential", but hey, how to sound confidential when you are about to leave the moon carrier?
The worst thing about it is MWP chewing that fucking chewing gum during the video performance. Oh, hey wait, John Lennon did that on All You Need Is Love, too, so I guess it's a righteous homage. Chew on, Piper!
Just a small second perspective on Bel-Air.
Yes, with the first 4 songs, The Church established themselves as wavy power pop heroes. Accelerate, hehe. I guess I have to defend Bel-Air from the "twee" label. Apart from being (IMHO) a pretty masterpiece, it was again showcase for a band having already mastered a lot of rock tradition. They knew how to kick ass, how to sling guitars and how to be cool and fiery all at once. SK had already assimiled the whole rock tradition minus blues minus folk up til 1980 and sat on the head of a spear flying somewhere.
First song featuring the "Byrdsian" jangle, arpeggi replacing the chop chop dang dang, but maybe the crucial problem solved in Bel-Air was - how to write a structurally highly unconventional song (extensive solo stuck to the beginning, no chorus, different sections, a climax almost taken from classical music...oh..hey...wow...i have heard that somewhere, wasn't it called Prog Rock? and isn't it great how the condense an essence of prog in 5 minutes? Prog for people with clear minds and little time? And go, and find Levitation's CD Need For Not!) and making it sound smooth and beautiful. It features a great trick of instrumentation, showing PK's musical leadership in the band - the first jangle is played by PK on a six string while Marty does chop chop chop, then MWP takes over, and it's a wonderful effect when the 12 string takes over...
Tell me what you want, the line "her ruby lips can't excite me anymore" together with the musical reversal point in that verse, is to me the first truly Great Moment in The Church's catalogue. How the "twee" song explodes into something greater, monumental. The band is arse-tight and oozes energy, the timing is fantastic. It still doesnt sound "confidential", but hey, how to sound confidential when you are about to leave the moon carrier?
The worst thing about it is MWP chewing that fucking chewing gum during the video performance. Oh, hey wait, John Lennon did that on All You Need Is Love, too, so I guess it's a righteous homage. Chew on, Piper!
Bel-Air 1
by chrome3d
There is no need to have so many words. It´s just the excitement of starting it. Later I will probably be more economical with the amount of words. I also feel that the 4 first songs form a unified group in the beginning of the album. Chug chug bang bang, take no prisoners kind of attitude. Although Bel-Air was chosen here as the best song of OSAH it´s still a bit of a letdown in the context of the album. After the 4 first songs I´m ready for some more chug but after the metallic bang it feels a bit twee. Of course every rock album needs quiet moments too but it´s sort of too pretty and that´s why it has fallen off my radar usually when I listen to OSAH. Next song ´Is this where you live?´ despite it´s slow opening fits quite perfectly to the feel of the album. I can´t be wordy or exploring this song properly as much as it needs, so if you want to write more and better about it then go ahead.
There is no need to have so many words. It´s just the excitement of starting it. Later I will probably be more economical with the amount of words. I also feel that the 4 first songs form a unified group in the beginning of the album. Chug chug bang bang, take no prisoners kind of attitude. Although Bel-Air was chosen here as the best song of OSAH it´s still a bit of a letdown in the context of the album. After the 4 first songs I´m ready for some more chug but after the metallic bang it feels a bit twee. Of course every rock album needs quiet moments too but it´s sort of too pretty and that´s why it has fallen off my radar usually when I listen to OSAH. Next song ´Is this where you live?´ despite it´s slow opening fits quite perfectly to the feel of the album. I can´t be wordy or exploring this song properly as much as it needs, so if you want to write more and better about it then go ahead.
Memories In Future Tense
by dugster
For me the first 4 tracks on Of Skins and Heart are a bit interchangeable. They are all of a sort if you catch my drift. Real rockers almost unique as a group of songs in the Church cannon. Great chugging guitar riff and brilliant interplay between the 2 very different guitar parts. The echoey vocals sound good too. Not sure about the chorus - a bit too simplistic. Great solo around the 3.45 mark. Funny little drumming outro. I first heard this album in 89 as well and to my 15/16 year old ears this stuff sounded like nothing I'd ever heard before - believe me going back 8 years for an album at that age was not something done without careful consideration. I think it was the "last" album I bought of the back catalogue and was very different to the rest of the albums up to Starfish. The energy in the opening 4 songs is overwhelming. Culminating in Memories in Future Tense. I dunno - not sure I'm as wordy a reviewer as the rest of you! Its a decent song. Not sure I'd still be buying the Church 28 years later if they still sounded like this but as a one off I do really enjoy Of Skins and Heart. Memories in Future Tense fits in pretty well.
For me the first 4 tracks on Of Skins and Heart are a bit interchangeable. They are all of a sort if you catch my drift. Real rockers almost unique as a group of songs in the Church cannon. Great chugging guitar riff and brilliant interplay between the 2 very different guitar parts. The echoey vocals sound good too. Not sure about the chorus - a bit too simplistic. Great solo around the 3.45 mark. Funny little drumming outro. I first heard this album in 89 as well and to my 15/16 year old ears this stuff sounded like nothing I'd ever heard before - believe me going back 8 years for an album at that age was not something done without careful consideration. I think it was the "last" album I bought of the back catalogue and was very different to the rest of the albums up to Starfish. The energy in the opening 4 songs is overwhelming. Culminating in Memories in Future Tense. I dunno - not sure I'm as wordy a reviewer as the rest of you! Its a decent song. Not sure I'd still be buying the Church 28 years later if they still sounded like this but as a one off I do really enjoy Of Skins and Heart. Memories in Future Tense fits in pretty well.
The Unguarded Moment
by chrome3d
First of all, I want to say that I feel unworthy to review this song. To me it´s just a song without any deeper meaning or story when I first heard it. Only a lot later than 1989, when I got this album in then hypermodern CD-format, did I even knew it had been some kind of hit.
So deep, deep without a meaning
I knew you'd find me leaving
Tell those friends with cameras for eyes
That their hands don't make me hang
They only make me feel like breathing
In an unguarded moment
A lot of the lyrics in Unguarded Moment feel almost throwaway stuff. Rifles for minds? Cameras for eyes? All of the songs in OSAH, while clearly executed by young band still show mature skills in songwriting. It´s not like there is a huge quantum leap from OSAH to TBC in terms of songwriting. SK was ready to produce songs that last and are still interesting enough to explore in 2009 and beyond. In his blog recently SK lambasted Oasis and Liam Callagher and dismissed Liam´s songwriting completely based on his first sketch of a song ´Little James´. I wanted to say that Liam has actually written many more songs later that are probably better. It´s not a big deal if your first songs are sketchy, Liam just got bigger exposure to his sketch than 99,99% of other starting songwriters. I don´t know as I don´t actually follow Oasis. I just feel that this song is the Oasis-moment for the band if that´s some funny connection. Anyway, SK is in a position where he doesn´t actually need to shame anything he has done in the past and even OSAH is quality stuff. The Unguarded Moment, however, feels a bit sketchy and most of the lines are just lines that doesn´t connect that brilliantly. There is also the line "So deep, deep without a meaning" that strangely enough is brilliant and goes on to define the whole album and even large part of the band´s career.
It´s just that it´s a great simple rock song that appeals to many people. It was written and done faster than others (?) and it then lacks the perhaps disturbing intellectual sheen that the other songs have. This is The Church stripped bare of most of it´s complexities, while they still do exist under the surface. Many great songs have been done this way, just to fill a void in the album. Take a simple riff and sing some fast daa-daa on top of it. Some of them end up as hits, some go to b-sides. This is the ´Paranoid´of the band. Luckily it was not the last big hit they did. If it had been the last hit then the image of the band would have been considerably different than what it is now.
First of all, I want to say that I feel unworthy to review this song. To me it´s just a song without any deeper meaning or story when I first heard it. Only a lot later than 1989, when I got this album in then hypermodern CD-format, did I even knew it had been some kind of hit.
So deep, deep without a meaning
I knew you'd find me leaving
Tell those friends with cameras for eyes
That their hands don't make me hang
They only make me feel like breathing
In an unguarded moment
A lot of the lyrics in Unguarded Moment feel almost throwaway stuff. Rifles for minds? Cameras for eyes? All of the songs in OSAH, while clearly executed by young band still show mature skills in songwriting. It´s not like there is a huge quantum leap from OSAH to TBC in terms of songwriting. SK was ready to produce songs that last and are still interesting enough to explore in 2009 and beyond. In his blog recently SK lambasted Oasis and Liam Callagher and dismissed Liam´s songwriting completely based on his first sketch of a song ´Little James´. I wanted to say that Liam has actually written many more songs later that are probably better. It´s not a big deal if your first songs are sketchy, Liam just got bigger exposure to his sketch than 99,99% of other starting songwriters. I don´t know as I don´t actually follow Oasis. I just feel that this song is the Oasis-moment for the band if that´s some funny connection. Anyway, SK is in a position where he doesn´t actually need to shame anything he has done in the past and even OSAH is quality stuff. The Unguarded Moment, however, feels a bit sketchy and most of the lines are just lines that doesn´t connect that brilliantly. There is also the line "So deep, deep without a meaning" that strangely enough is brilliant and goes on to define the whole album and even large part of the band´s career.
It´s just that it´s a great simple rock song that appeals to many people. It was written and done faster than others (?) and it then lacks the perhaps disturbing intellectual sheen that the other songs have. This is The Church stripped bare of most of it´s complexities, while they still do exist under the surface. Many great songs have been done this way, just to fill a void in the album. Take a simple riff and sing some fast daa-daa on top of it. Some of them end up as hits, some go to b-sides. This is the ´Paranoid´of the band. Luckily it was not the last big hit they did. If it had been the last hit then the image of the band would have been considerably different than what it is now.
Chrome Injury
by fandorin
Most great debut albums show a certain tendency to transcend music, the band and itself by what you could call "show off", caused by a deep desire of "defining", so you always hear more than the music itself. It's almost an indicator to me - if you can hear a band of that time, let's say, 1975-1982, seriously thinking about music and their approach to it, it's almost dead sure it's a band for me. U2's "Boy", Patti Smith's "Horses", Television's "Marquee Moon" and XTC's "White Music", the first Waterboys album, maybe R.E.M. and The Chameleons' "Script of the bridge" come to mind. Don't kill me, but I'd even count the first Dire Straits album among them. All simply highly intriguing, catchy and intelligent debut albums, all showing
The reason why I'm farting this obnoxious guff into your face is that The Church could have gone many many ways from OSAH on without having to strain their multifaceted concept.
Chrome Injury shows many many things The Church avoided ever after. It's sunshiny, crashey-bangey, it has chop chop chop guitars, it has west coast harmony vocals and that fantastic, huge explosive drum sound (which is pretty unique). It's the opposite of "shimmering and ethereal" (btw, everyone using these words on these boards owes a drink), but the harder sound, the rocker wail of the guitars suit the overall atmo of OSAH perfectly. However, there IS something they would explore later - the infinite variations of a D - Dsus4 - Dsus2 chord progression. A riff so basic and catchy, a real arch-riff, an riff-of-Columbus.
There will be few fans who'd say "Chrome Injury is my favourite song by The Church", but sometimes, when I'm drowning in the opiated desert night dust of P=A or the heavy-eyelidded sea piece of AENT, something in the back of my mind longs for the sheer swagger and road movie power of something like Chrome Injury, youthful, maybe a little bit sturm and drang, more airguitarey than airy.
Always really really liked that song!!
DANG DANG DANG DANG DANGDANG DANG DANG DANG DANG - DANG DANG DANG DANG!!!!
Most great debut albums show a certain tendency to transcend music, the band and itself by what you could call "show off", caused by a deep desire of "defining", so you always hear more than the music itself. It's almost an indicator to me - if you can hear a band of that time, let's say, 1975-1982, seriously thinking about music and their approach to it, it's almost dead sure it's a band for me. U2's "Boy", Patti Smith's "Horses", Television's "Marquee Moon" and XTC's "White Music", the first Waterboys album, maybe R.E.M. and The Chameleons' "Script of the bridge" come to mind. Don't kill me, but I'd even count the first Dire Straits album among them. All simply highly intriguing, catchy and intelligent debut albums, all showing
- both a sense of direction and adventurous minds, ready to change direction as well
bands that have been playing together live for a long time already, so the debut was not a sketch, a study or a "nice first try" - enough promise to make people go out and buy the second one (he he Television, some 14 years later)
- a certain openness, to dream it all up again on a different stage. Neither Achtung Baby nor Nonsuch could have been extrapolated from Boy or White Music. XTC could have taken up an industrial shoegazery direction, while U2 could have thought about their Celtic roots after playing the Big Music.
The reason why I'm farting this obnoxious guff into your face is that The Church could have gone many many ways from OSAH on without having to strain their multifaceted concept.
Chrome Injury shows many many things The Church avoided ever after. It's sunshiny, crashey-bangey, it has chop chop chop guitars, it has west coast harmony vocals and that fantastic, huge explosive drum sound (which is pretty unique). It's the opposite of "shimmering and ethereal" (btw, everyone using these words on these boards owes a drink), but the harder sound, the rocker wail of the guitars suit the overall atmo of OSAH perfectly. However, there IS something they would explore later - the infinite variations of a D - Dsus4 - Dsus2 chord progression. A riff so basic and catchy, a real arch-riff, an riff-of-Columbus.
There will be few fans who'd say "Chrome Injury is my favourite song by The Church", but sometimes, when I'm drowning in the opiated desert night dust of P=A or the heavy-eyelidded sea piece of AENT, something in the back of my mind longs for the sheer swagger and road movie power of something like Chrome Injury, youthful, maybe a little bit sturm and drang, more airguitarey than airy.
Always really really liked that song!!
DANG DANG DANG DANG DANGDANG DANG DANG DANG DANG - DANG DANG DANG DANG!!!!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
For a Moment We're Strangers
By chrome3d
It sounds so perky and upbeat. It's a perfect opener and tells what kind of album it will be. It's not extremely remarkable or memorable but it works like a train for what it´s supposed to be: an introduction to the band or a manifesto of their style. The announcement that we are here and this is how we do it. I listened to this song 7 times in a row and it has a lot of stuff going on. I have a CD-Rs for cartrips and the first one is Of Skins and Heart-Heyday. I usually have it on random but most of the times not. Every time I drive out to the street and this first song starts it makes me so happy. It's excellent for driving as it has a lot of drive! The song is rock but with The Church it's never straightforward. While many would have made the song more linear, it's clear that the band has more complexities inside them. There is actually quite many parts in the song and the twin guitars have to show many tricks all contained in the 3:57 that it takes. They want to show all they have and the first song is bursting with ideas and directions. In the end they have to to do ooh-aah lines that travel from left to right just to show that trick too.
It's very much in the vein of the then fashionable new wave but there lies also under currents of 60es jangle and of course Byrds and whatever. I think I see David Bowie there too but he is also a figure that looms heavily over the early Church. A band on their debut album usually wears their influences on their sleeves, but with The Church even at their beginning it's hard to pinpoint the exact source of inspiration.Maybe because the source of inspiration is always somehow within them and the outside world is only mirrored in their actions. It sounds perhaps too grand as it's only a popsong but you know that it's true.
"In the empty place the soul stripped bare
Of skins and heart and I come apart
In your icy hands
I forget my role, as I stare into your soul"
The first verse and Steve starts his journey that he has never stopped. Even those couple of lines evoke so many images, but none of them is simple or stupid. It hints at sexuality in some words, good thing in the context of a young rockband, but of course it quickly turns in to intellectual melodrama and the man is staring at the soul of the uninterested woman. He is never content to being just a brute (his role as the icon of adoration) but brings the intellectual side in play and that's the way it will be in the future too. Deep without a meaning is the line that always comes up when I think about this album.
It sounds so perky and upbeat. It's a perfect opener and tells what kind of album it will be. It's not extremely remarkable or memorable but it works like a train for what it´s supposed to be: an introduction to the band or a manifesto of their style. The announcement that we are here and this is how we do it. I listened to this song 7 times in a row and it has a lot of stuff going on. I have a CD-Rs for cartrips and the first one is Of Skins and Heart-Heyday. I usually have it on random but most of the times not. Every time I drive out to the street and this first song starts it makes me so happy. It's excellent for driving as it has a lot of drive! The song is rock but with The Church it's never straightforward. While many would have made the song more linear, it's clear that the band has more complexities inside them. There is actually quite many parts in the song and the twin guitars have to show many tricks all contained in the 3:57 that it takes. They want to show all they have and the first song is bursting with ideas and directions. In the end they have to to do ooh-aah lines that travel from left to right just to show that trick too.
It's very much in the vein of the then fashionable new wave but there lies also under currents of 60es jangle and of course Byrds and whatever. I think I see David Bowie there too but he is also a figure that looms heavily over the early Church. A band on their debut album usually wears their influences on their sleeves, but with The Church even at their beginning it's hard to pinpoint the exact source of inspiration.Maybe because the source of inspiration is always somehow within them and the outside world is only mirrored in their actions. It sounds perhaps too grand as it's only a popsong but you know that it's true.
"In the empty place the soul stripped bare
Of skins and heart and I come apart
In your icy hands
I forget my role, as I stare into your soul"
The first verse and Steve starts his journey that he has never stopped. Even those couple of lines evoke so many images, but none of them is simple or stupid. It hints at sexuality in some words, good thing in the context of a young rockband, but of course it quickly turns in to intellectual melodrama and the man is staring at the soul of the uninterested woman. He is never content to being just a brute (his role as the icon of adoration) but brings the intellectual side in play and that's the way it will be in the future too. Deep without a meaning is the line that always comes up when I think about this album.
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