by timetunnel
There are these songs people call "typical" for the Church. Songs that contain all the ingredients to make The Church's style and sound unique. One of the first songs which may be put into that category is Tear It All Away. Also, in the liner notes of 1987's Hindsight Steve Kilbey described Almost With You as "the definitve Church song" - but it never was for it me. No, from all the songs of early Church, Now I Wonder Why is, apart from Tear It All Away, THE DEFINITVE Church song. There's top notch guitar interplay, a great bass line and a very special atmosphere which no other song on Seance has. It's "Thought-travel by Sound", it's relaxed, melancholic, somehow psychedelic, a bit dark but not depressive. The song goes on forever and ever, and if you think "Now, I wonder if this songs ends here", another verse starts. But it doesn't matter. It never gets boring. It might - in a different mix - even have fitted on an album like Priest=Aura. More than any other song of the early Church it hinted to what their sound and songwriting developed to in the 90s. To put it simple: it's a Church classic.
Showing posts with label Seance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seance. Show all posts
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
It doesn´t change
by chrome3d
Organs and drums in the intro create a gloomy mood. I still don´t think it´s goth as there is clearly different kind of beauty in the twinkling of the piano and the way the song slowly builds. There isn´t much to fit in with the description of goth on this album but maybe this song is the closest there is but like always the stylistic categorization is quite difficult with the band. It can be taken as a really sad and dark piece but there could also be hope and love.
Even though you're continents away
A love song to Karen, perhaps? Like so many other album closers it could be seen as a simple (or "simple") SK lovesong. We´ll have to wait for Glow-worm kinda lyrics for a long time as this is the dark age of young love. When you are young the love is incredible and dramatic. Views are perfect, tides sweep and so on.
All the lyrics come in the first half of the song and the instrumental part starts at 2:45 and takes all the remaining 3:15. I didn´t actually remember that it´s so long as it´s one of those pieces of music that the band creates that seem to take their sweet time and keep it building as long as it takes. I feel it could go on even more but I guess the one side of the vinyl had it´s constraints. It reminds me more of The Blurred Crusade than other songs on this album. Great new landscapes and vistas float before my eyes as the journey of Seance is going to end. It´s a tranquil journey but with darker shades than their previous efforts. I also see Seance as some kind of companion piece to The Blurred Crusade as some of the images and feelings are so similar. In my mind these two albums are from the same tree despite their obvious differences.
Organs and drums in the intro create a gloomy mood. I still don´t think it´s goth as there is clearly different kind of beauty in the twinkling of the piano and the way the song slowly builds. There isn´t much to fit in with the description of goth on this album but maybe this song is the closest there is but like always the stylistic categorization is quite difficult with the band. It can be taken as a really sad and dark piece but there could also be hope and love.
Even though you're continents away
A love song to Karen, perhaps? Like so many other album closers it could be seen as a simple (or "simple") SK lovesong. We´ll have to wait for Glow-worm kinda lyrics for a long time as this is the dark age of young love. When you are young the love is incredible and dramatic. Views are perfect, tides sweep and so on.
All the lyrics come in the first half of the song and the instrumental part starts at 2:45 and takes all the remaining 3:15. I didn´t actually remember that it´s so long as it´s one of those pieces of music that the band creates that seem to take their sweet time and keep it building as long as it takes. I feel it could go on even more but I guess the one side of the vinyl had it´s constraints. It reminds me more of The Blurred Crusade than other songs on this album. Great new landscapes and vistas float before my eyes as the journey of Seance is going to end. It´s a tranquil journey but with darker shades than their previous efforts. I also see Seance as some kind of companion piece to The Blurred Crusade as some of the images and feelings are so similar. In my mind these two albums are from the same tree despite their obvious differences.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Dropping Names
by chrome3d
There isn´t much songs that rock in Seance. One Day is giddy pop and Dropping Names is the closest one to rock. From OSAH the band has gone "soft" in only 2 albums. This is perhaps the only song from Seance that could be seen in the context of OSAH. Sometimes I think that Dropping Names is here only because the albums has to have some songs that will be good when played live and this song fits the bill. It has almost the basic kind of Church intro with a bit more metallic twang. This is one of the few songs on Seance where MWP/PK guitar duo can really rip it out as many other songs were more driven by keys. I think the drum sounds fit to this kind of song quite okay. One Day is perhaps the one from this album that suffers the most from the drum sound.
At first I expected the lyrics to be more about dropping names, in the style of Welcome. However there is none of that. In the first verse Steve wants to break to be beautiful and think handful of words in the long nights. Your basic "I want be a rock n´roll star" song then? Maybe he is just informing us that he will do list songs in the future, like Numbers and Welcome (ignore this). These words come faster than in other songs, almost in a punky way. With all the ooo-wheee backing vocals there is a sense of urgency unlike in other songs of the album. I see this song closer to punk attitude than almost any other songs of their early period. A song to make the different shades to the big picture that is Seance.
There isn´t much songs that rock in Seance. One Day is giddy pop and Dropping Names is the closest one to rock. From OSAH the band has gone "soft" in only 2 albums. This is perhaps the only song from Seance that could be seen in the context of OSAH. Sometimes I think that Dropping Names is here only because the albums has to have some songs that will be good when played live and this song fits the bill. It has almost the basic kind of Church intro with a bit more metallic twang. This is one of the few songs on Seance where MWP/PK guitar duo can really rip it out as many other songs were more driven by keys. I think the drum sounds fit to this kind of song quite okay. One Day is perhaps the one from this album that suffers the most from the drum sound.
At first I expected the lyrics to be more about dropping names, in the style of Welcome. However there is none of that. In the first verse Steve wants to break to be beautiful and think handful of words in the long nights. Your basic "I want be a rock n´roll star" song then? Maybe he is just informing us that he will do list songs in the future, like Numbers and Welcome (ignore this). These words come faster than in other songs, almost in a punky way. With all the ooo-wheee backing vocals there is a sense of urgency unlike in other songs of the album. I see this song closer to punk attitude than almost any other songs of their early period. A song to make the different shades to the big picture that is Seance.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Now I Wonder Why 2
by Vedantic dreams from Aztlan
Through another channel, I find this song paralleling some of my felt intimate insecurities within the love experience, It plays out like a real confession of something very honest and dark. Inevitably I find myself having my own personal investment. That being said, the songs begins with the synchronized cascading guitars creating a very flowery and rainy progression. The harmonica unexpectedly comes into the fray sounding so good in its placement and punctuation, like a cosmic train from another system. The bass lines are nice and exaggerated giving the song a nice girth... SK's voice is so subdued and quiet sounding like hes negotiating with both his heart and mind... Finally, I love when the electric guitar gets to howl a bit at the end. The sentimentality and revealing nature of this song is penetrating.. Not many are willing to describe this level of longing, bewilderment and self analysis.. great song.. great album
By the virtue of faith I knew that I could be lost
Beyond this dark place
Unprepared to pay the cost
Through another channel, I find this song paralleling some of my felt intimate insecurities within the love experience, It plays out like a real confession of something very honest and dark. Inevitably I find myself having my own personal investment. That being said, the songs begins with the synchronized cascading guitars creating a very flowery and rainy progression. The harmonica unexpectedly comes into the fray sounding so good in its placement and punctuation, like a cosmic train from another system. The bass lines are nice and exaggerated giving the song a nice girth... SK's voice is so subdued and quiet sounding like hes negotiating with both his heart and mind... Finally, I love when the electric guitar gets to howl a bit at the end. The sentimentality and revealing nature of this song is penetrating.. Not many are willing to describe this level of longing, bewilderment and self analysis.. great song.. great album
By the virtue of faith I knew that I could be lost
Beyond this dark place
Unprepared to pay the cost
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Now I Wonder Why
by chrome3d
I have never seen much in Now I Wonder Why. It has always been there towards the end of the album and I have felt it´s not one of the highlights of the album. Pleasant and average. Like always starting point can be anything but after 5-6 new listens I might think in another way.
Acoustic guitar picking, lovely just lovely intro. Harmonica, wait there was harmonica? It fits nicely as all the instruments join in on the song. Drums come in and that bass is the icing on the cake. Dum-dum-du-dum. Is it fretless? As Steve is the songwriter he does sometimes put the bass out there almost as a solo instrument. The bouncy bass gives a nice counter balance to the more than usually whispery vocals. All the instruments are crisp and clear. It sounds so clear to me, there is nothing of the muddiness that I had in mind before listening to this. Drums have lost most of their boxy shotgun effect in this song and those harder drums wouldn´t have fitted in to this kind of song. Plim plom keys here and there. There is really playful and sunny atmosphere in this song. I don´t know if I can say this but it feels almost a song for kids. Harmonica paints a sad but funny stripes to the horizon. The voices mix in the end to create a bit eerie atmosphere like in some other songs of this period. I like this song more than I did before, as usual, but it´s not the most memorable tune. It works well in the album cycle before the last two goth-y tunes.
And during my drifting, I found that I was too deep
I always look for some key lines here and there. That one above sums quite a lot. Not just for the man of the song or this album but for the whole band. Like so many other lyrics by SK it can be taken in many ways. Is it happiness or sorrow? He just wonders why and has gotten to the point where sadness and happiness are irrelevant. I know that feeling. To wonder for days and thinking was something in the past any good or not, but in the end having no big opinions or passion about it. I choose to see this song painted mostly with happy colours as that bouncy bass and sweeping harmonica lead me to Dropping Names.
I have never seen much in Now I Wonder Why. It has always been there towards the end of the album and I have felt it´s not one of the highlights of the album. Pleasant and average. Like always starting point can be anything but after 5-6 new listens I might think in another way.
Acoustic guitar picking, lovely just lovely intro. Harmonica, wait there was harmonica? It fits nicely as all the instruments join in on the song. Drums come in and that bass is the icing on the cake. Dum-dum-du-dum. Is it fretless? As Steve is the songwriter he does sometimes put the bass out there almost as a solo instrument. The bouncy bass gives a nice counter balance to the more than usually whispery vocals. All the instruments are crisp and clear. It sounds so clear to me, there is nothing of the muddiness that I had in mind before listening to this. Drums have lost most of their boxy shotgun effect in this song and those harder drums wouldn´t have fitted in to this kind of song. Plim plom keys here and there. There is really playful and sunny atmosphere in this song. I don´t know if I can say this but it feels almost a song for kids. Harmonica paints a sad but funny stripes to the horizon. The voices mix in the end to create a bit eerie atmosphere like in some other songs of this period. I like this song more than I did before, as usual, but it´s not the most memorable tune. It works well in the album cycle before the last two goth-y tunes.
And during my drifting, I found that I was too deep
I always look for some key lines here and there. That one above sums quite a lot. Not just for the man of the song or this album but for the whole band. Like so many other lyrics by SK it can be taken in many ways. Is it happiness or sorrow? He just wonders why and has gotten to the point where sadness and happiness are irrelevant. I know that feeling. To wonder for days and thinking was something in the past any good or not, but in the end having no big opinions or passion about it. I choose to see this song painted mostly with happy colours as that bouncy bass and sweeping harmonica lead me to Dropping Names.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Electric Lash
by Hanani
Opening toy instruments and machine gun drum riffs are not normal staples of Church songs that we've come to love, and when the Church revisited "Electric Lash" for El Momento Siguiente, they wisely left that nonsense back in the grooves of the '80s Séance. I just wish they would have dropped the slide, too.
I suppose it's all the dressing of the '80s that mask the muse in this song, because I used to love this song, I really did. It sucked me into the album before I even heard "Fly" and "One Day." Jason and I used to sing this song together and argue about the lyrics, which he knew because he actually had the lyrics on the Carrere import version. unfair. Squeezed between "Disappear?" and "Now I Wonder Why," it all felt…good. There are some clean harmonies and nice pop melodies; of course, there is a nice hook and some vague, dreamy lyrics about love. Those are the very things I still like about the song and I suspect those are the things Steve Kilbey still likes about the song, too, because they've certainly played this song many times since even into the '90s. Their acoustic rendering on El Momento Siguiente suggests they still like the song as well. While the slide guitar solo is a tad lacking in ingenuity, I like how the song builds back into the chorus in that typical manner.
No matter the plastic trees in the studio, I've still no idea or concern what the lyrics are about.
Thanks, Danna, for making a charcoal-on-pink-board copy of the album cover for my 18th birthday~! One of those great gifts that time does not forget.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Disappear?
by chrome3d
I have praised almost every song on Seance so far because they are so good, at least the first 3. Fly was a mysterious little tinkerbell, One Day was an euphoric pop blast and Electric was a sad world weary european aristocrat. Disappear still towers above these gems. It´s my favourite from this album. It has everything right and good while it´s still not so remarkable on some single area. The lyrics, the part that usually attract me, are just words without a longer story where we walk through heaven, move underground. skip across the water etc.
Can't you see, like the trees so obviously...
Yeah, what is it obviously? Disappear gives no grand illusions, grand vistas and amazing trickery. It´s just one long feel good piece of a song. The good feeling just grows and grows and sometimes I feel that the song shouldn´t end, at least it could go on for a longer time as every part of it is just the way I like it.
I always connect this song with church ceremonies. I mean the real church not the band. The organ that starts at 2:15 and wanders there in the background is the part that makes it complete to me. While it´s only a supporting instrument and disappears for a while only to come back, it still becomes the central instrument in my mind. Like so many songs on this album I see the keys more not the guitars. All the ceremonies of life flash before my eyes in one autumnal spectral film. Weddings, christenings, burials. The highest joys and deepest sorrows that the life offers. This band can make songs that stay along me in all the important occasions of life. I don´t necessarily all the time see the religious side of the band but sometimes the sacral elements are so inviting and warm that I can´t resist myself. I give up and surrender to the power that this song gives me. With this song The Church offers me something that the real church usually doesn´t.
What could be enough to convince that Disappear is the song that I should praise more than the others? If I make a playlist of the best of The Church with a limit of 25 songs, then this song is there, no doubt about it. Chosen among the first ones. I still haven´t found the central theme of this album and as this is the track 6 I probably might not see it. I don´t see this album as a theme album about anything but I don´t care. With this song Seance gives me so much.
I have praised almost every song on Seance so far because they are so good, at least the first 3. Fly was a mysterious little tinkerbell, One Day was an euphoric pop blast and Electric was a sad world weary european aristocrat. Disappear still towers above these gems. It´s my favourite from this album. It has everything right and good while it´s still not so remarkable on some single area. The lyrics, the part that usually attract me, are just words without a longer story where we walk through heaven, move underground. skip across the water etc.
Can't you see, like the trees so obviously...
Yeah, what is it obviously? Disappear gives no grand illusions, grand vistas and amazing trickery. It´s just one long feel good piece of a song. The good feeling just grows and grows and sometimes I feel that the song shouldn´t end, at least it could go on for a longer time as every part of it is just the way I like it.
I always connect this song with church ceremonies. I mean the real church not the band. The organ that starts at 2:15 and wanders there in the background is the part that makes it complete to me. While it´s only a supporting instrument and disappears for a while only to come back, it still becomes the central instrument in my mind. Like so many songs on this album I see the keys more not the guitars. All the ceremonies of life flash before my eyes in one autumnal spectral film. Weddings, christenings, burials. The highest joys and deepest sorrows that the life offers. This band can make songs that stay along me in all the important occasions of life. I don´t necessarily all the time see the religious side of the band but sometimes the sacral elements are so inviting and warm that I can´t resist myself. I give up and surrender to the power that this song gives me. With this song The Church offers me something that the real church usually doesn´t.
What could be enough to convince that Disappear is the song that I should praise more than the others? If I make a playlist of the best of The Church with a limit of 25 songs, then this song is there, no doubt about it. Chosen among the first ones. I still haven´t found the central theme of this album and as this is the track 6 I probably might not see it. I don´t see this album as a theme album about anything but I don´t care. With this song Seance gives me so much.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Travel By Thought
by chrome3d
I always skip Travel by Thought when I listen to Seance. Well, at least in 80% of the times I listen to the album. In 20% of the times I accidentally leave it on at low volume and try to make it through to the cute, wonderful, brilliant and awesome Disappear?. That is hardly a good starting point to review this song. The only thing is to start listen to it about 4-5 times in a row and try to find some points from the song. Good or bad.
Funny thing is how the recent adventures of the band seem to influence the way I listen to TBT now. In the context of Seance this song is out of place, no doubt about it. Now that I have been listening quite a lot of their new soundtrack to Shriek this makes actually lot more sense if followed right after Shriek. In the context of Shriek this could be quite at home and it would fit very nicely in there. Before it was like a big red ugly pimple on a face of a supermodel, but seen in the linear of Shriek + TBT it feels more like just another handsome crack in the face of Keith Richards. Not that Shriek is anything like the face of Keith Richards.
I still can´t say something very profound about it. Somebody suggested to listen it at high volume and admittedly it makes a little bit more sense then. I always seem to wait for the part when that metallic guitar starts to give the song some form and structure at the 3:20 mark. I almost feel like giving up and starting to like it but I have to keep some common sense here and not praise this song because it´s not that brilliant. Even the band (or at least SK) has admitted that it came out half baked so I can always rely on that. Only thing is that the word of SK or other band members is not written in stone. They might not be the best people to judge their own works.
One compliment I can give to TBT and that is that Disappear? sounds sooooo cute, wonderful, brilliant and awesome after this song.
I always skip Travel by Thought when I listen to Seance. Well, at least in 80% of the times I listen to the album. In 20% of the times I accidentally leave it on at low volume and try to make it through to the cute, wonderful, brilliant and awesome Disappear?. That is hardly a good starting point to review this song. The only thing is to start listen to it about 4-5 times in a row and try to find some points from the song. Good or bad.
Funny thing is how the recent adventures of the band seem to influence the way I listen to TBT now. In the context of Seance this song is out of place, no doubt about it. Now that I have been listening quite a lot of their new soundtrack to Shriek this makes actually lot more sense if followed right after Shriek. In the context of Shriek this could be quite at home and it would fit very nicely in there. Before it was like a big red ugly pimple on a face of a supermodel, but seen in the linear of Shriek + TBT it feels more like just another handsome crack in the face of Keith Richards. Not that Shriek is anything like the face of Keith Richards.
I still can´t say something very profound about it. Somebody suggested to listen it at high volume and admittedly it makes a little bit more sense then. I always seem to wait for the part when that metallic guitar starts to give the song some form and structure at the 3:20 mark. I almost feel like giving up and starting to like it but I have to keep some common sense here and not praise this song because it´s not that brilliant. Even the band (or at least SK) has admitted that it came out half baked so I can always rely on that. Only thing is that the word of SK or other band members is not written in stone. They might not be the best people to judge their own works.
One compliment I can give to TBT and that is that Disappear? sounds sooooo cute, wonderful, brilliant and awesome after this song.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
It´s No Reason
by chrome3d
There was a rush to get the spot for the first songs of Seance. It´s understandable because that´s the kinda songs they are. Fly and One Day are songs that should instantly capture something in you if The Church is even somewhat familiar to you. Electric follows there after these two, not so excitable but good still. Then there is It´s No Reason. Now this song has been released as a single, it´s in the comps and there is even a new acoustic version or two. It should be one of the all time classics, right? SK says in Hindsight sleeve notes (once again) that this song is not suitable for general consumption and that is partially true. While the song has qualities there is still quite a lot holding it back from being a hit, even on the modest hit scale of The Church.
Let´s see. The church organ sounding keys start the song and they take their time. SK sings on top of this during the extremely sparse opening minute when sometimes it feels that even the keys are holding their breath and almost fade away. At exactly 1:00 minute mark the drums join in and the song starts to resemble a song, albeit not exactly a song for a 45rpm. At 1:40 the song finally comes to life, which is about 1:20 too late for a song to be released as a single. The steep black and white turns to colour photo and the camera lifts off the ground to fly over the forests...if this was a movie soundtrack to a movie that doesn´t exist, like many of their songs are. SK´s keys are the most prominent instrument here, carrying all the weight of the song. It´s surprising how little guitar-driven this song is.
And the colors take me down
It's no reason to be sad
And you leave without a sound
It's no reason to be glad
I see the colours there. This is very much a movement between colour palettes for me. People fade to gray and black smoke comes from the chimneys in other verses but in the chorus it all comes to life although it´s not very happy life as there is no reason to be sad or glad. No reason to be sad or glad? What is left then? Some kind of gray nothingness of every day life where the people you love has left without a sound? This sounds so hopeless that the next logical conclusion for the main character is probably suicide. Again, not exactly the summer hit material.
I found myself thinking that I should write something bad about this before I started. It´s not on the level of the previous 3 songs or it´s dull and boring or something. In the end that thing happens again that almost always does with the songs of The Church. All the details and the ability to create atmospheres is so strong that I can´t fight it. I have to surrender to those moments when the song flies in the sad skies and then accept the time in between when they wallow in the ashes.
There was a rush to get the spot for the first songs of Seance. It´s understandable because that´s the kinda songs they are. Fly and One Day are songs that should instantly capture something in you if The Church is even somewhat familiar to you. Electric follows there after these two, not so excitable but good still. Then there is It´s No Reason. Now this song has been released as a single, it´s in the comps and there is even a new acoustic version or two. It should be one of the all time classics, right? SK says in Hindsight sleeve notes (once again) that this song is not suitable for general consumption and that is partially true. While the song has qualities there is still quite a lot holding it back from being a hit, even on the modest hit scale of The Church.
Let´s see. The church organ sounding keys start the song and they take their time. SK sings on top of this during the extremely sparse opening minute when sometimes it feels that even the keys are holding their breath and almost fade away. At exactly 1:00 minute mark the drums join in and the song starts to resemble a song, albeit not exactly a song for a 45rpm. At 1:40 the song finally comes to life, which is about 1:20 too late for a song to be released as a single. The steep black and white turns to colour photo and the camera lifts off the ground to fly over the forests...if this was a movie soundtrack to a movie that doesn´t exist, like many of their songs are. SK´s keys are the most prominent instrument here, carrying all the weight of the song. It´s surprising how little guitar-driven this song is.
And the colors take me down
It's no reason to be sad
And you leave without a sound
It's no reason to be glad
I see the colours there. This is very much a movement between colour palettes for me. People fade to gray and black smoke comes from the chimneys in other verses but in the chorus it all comes to life although it´s not very happy life as there is no reason to be sad or glad. No reason to be sad or glad? What is left then? Some kind of gray nothingness of every day life where the people you love has left without a sound? This sounds so hopeless that the next logical conclusion for the main character is probably suicide. Again, not exactly the summer hit material.
I found myself thinking that I should write something bad about this before I started. It´s not on the level of the previous 3 songs or it´s dull and boring or something. In the end that thing happens again that almost always does with the songs of The Church. All the details and the ability to create atmospheres is so strong that I can´t fight it. I have to surrender to those moments when the song flies in the sad skies and then accept the time in between when they wallow in the ashes.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Electric
by chrome3d
Electric is important song in my view that it´s the first that shows that side of the band that will become quite prominent later on. The drums start the song and then it´s time for that classic Church twin-guitar stuff. First one guitar picks pearly notes and then another joins in with that majestic solo. Steve sounds so dreamy and sad on top of the atmospheres that make my heart sing. The side one of this album is so high quality that I can´t believe it. All that malarkey with the drum sounds disappears from my mind. I can´t see that anymore. Only Travel By Thought rips me out from my blissfull journey in a cruel way. Electric has quite loose feeling and the keyboards wander in the background creating an atmosphere that evokes images of something romantic and quite European and that piano on top of everything is a much needed icing on the cake that takes me waltzing all the way to Vienna. Yes, it´s hard to imagine them doing this stuff far away in the heat of Australia as there is something so unmistakably European to my ears. I almost feel that the 6 minutes it takes is not enough and it could continue for some time more and disappear gently to the horizon without caring about the boundaries of the vinyl format.
Lyrically it´s a very simple breakup love song. It seems SK has one or two in every album where it comes more directly without complexity. Or at least that´s the way I read the wholy story as SK stands before the relics that used to be you and me.
This is only their third album but there is never a suspicion that there is a style that they could use and end up out of depth. I like Seance because it´s not rock. Even though the approach is quite rock, as it always is with The Church, there are very few songs that even pretend to be rock. This is good for me as sometimes I just tolerate their rock rock-songs and wait for the more ambient soundscapes. There aren´t that many rockbands who can or want to do that convincingly. So from that point of view Seance is a goldmine for me. It very rarely claims that there will be rock soon but the element is always there. Like a good black and white photograph needs white highlights and deep black shadows.
After all the praise that I now give to Electric it´s no secret that I think that this is the better electric titled-song of Seance. Or at least the right electric-song for me.
Electric is important song in my view that it´s the first that shows that side of the band that will become quite prominent later on. The drums start the song and then it´s time for that classic Church twin-guitar stuff. First one guitar picks pearly notes and then another joins in with that majestic solo. Steve sounds so dreamy and sad on top of the atmospheres that make my heart sing. The side one of this album is so high quality that I can´t believe it. All that malarkey with the drum sounds disappears from my mind. I can´t see that anymore. Only Travel By Thought rips me out from my blissfull journey in a cruel way. Electric has quite loose feeling and the keyboards wander in the background creating an atmosphere that evokes images of something romantic and quite European and that piano on top of everything is a much needed icing on the cake that takes me waltzing all the way to Vienna. Yes, it´s hard to imagine them doing this stuff far away in the heat of Australia as there is something so unmistakably European to my ears. I almost feel that the 6 minutes it takes is not enough and it could continue for some time more and disappear gently to the horizon without caring about the boundaries of the vinyl format.
Lyrically it´s a very simple breakup love song. It seems SK has one or two in every album where it comes more directly without complexity. Or at least that´s the way I read the wholy story as SK stands before the relics that used to be you and me.
This is only their third album but there is never a suspicion that there is a style that they could use and end up out of depth. I like Seance because it´s not rock. Even though the approach is quite rock, as it always is with The Church, there are very few songs that even pretend to be rock. This is good for me as sometimes I just tolerate their rock rock-songs and wait for the more ambient soundscapes. There aren´t that many rockbands who can or want to do that convincingly. So from that point of view Seance is a goldmine for me. It very rarely claims that there will be rock soon but the element is always there. Like a good black and white photograph needs white highlights and deep black shadows.
After all the praise that I now give to Electric it´s no secret that I think that this is the better electric titled-song of Seance. Or at least the right electric-song for me.
Fly
by Heyday2day
We all have songs that teleporte us to another time and place or that evoke specific memories, places, faces, times, smells, dreams........ Fly, in it's short 2:09 duration, was one of my first ones to fit that bill in my life. Sure, there had been others in my 20 years but up to then, nothing did to me what this one did. I picked this album up in 88 when the band was at their peak in US popularity. I still remember where I was when I got it and how the pink goth girl on the cover teased my wonderment at what was contained within. I remember taking it to my apartment and sliding it into my just purchased single disc Technics CD player and sitting down at my desk to take it in. Fly begins and immediately I am transported to another place, a place that in my younger years I barely knew existed. A place that I am well aware of now, but that I don't get to visit as often as I'd like. It's a place that created a life long quest to find music to take me back there. Before Fly, I was just a set of ears that didn't have the experience or knowledge to understand what music can do. After Fly, I was somehow..........changed. How can something so seemingly simple be so damned powerful? I don't know. Still today, when I hear that opening strum of the acoustic guitar, it's like nectar for my soul. Faces and places pass thru and I'm taken back. An early morning long distance drive across the scrub of the south Texas plains, a hazy morning mist making the earth golden. That's Fly to me. The smell of the ozone in the air before the storm hits.....takes me there too. A girl that I deeply loved but never quiet understood. Now that I think of it, she often did smile like a tiny child. Fly is all of this for me. This song was a beginning to a journey that continues to wind on. Fly is the catalyst for all that I have searched for in my music since I first heard it 21 years ago in an apartment in Lubbock, Texas. It's importance in my life can not be encapsulated in a few paragraphs. My catalyst.
We all have songs that teleporte us to another time and place or that evoke specific memories, places, faces, times, smells, dreams........ Fly, in it's short 2:09 duration, was one of my first ones to fit that bill in my life. Sure, there had been others in my 20 years but up to then, nothing did to me what this one did. I picked this album up in 88 when the band was at their peak in US popularity. I still remember where I was when I got it and how the pink goth girl on the cover teased my wonderment at what was contained within. I remember taking it to my apartment and sliding it into my just purchased single disc Technics CD player and sitting down at my desk to take it in. Fly begins and immediately I am transported to another place, a place that in my younger years I barely knew existed. A place that I am well aware of now, but that I don't get to visit as often as I'd like. It's a place that created a life long quest to find music to take me back there. Before Fly, I was just a set of ears that didn't have the experience or knowledge to understand what music can do. After Fly, I was somehow..........changed. How can something so seemingly simple be so damned powerful? I don't know. Still today, when I hear that opening strum of the acoustic guitar, it's like nectar for my soul. Faces and places pass thru and I'm taken back. An early morning long distance drive across the scrub of the south Texas plains, a hazy morning mist making the earth golden. That's Fly to me. The smell of the ozone in the air before the storm hits.....takes me there too. A girl that I deeply loved but never quiet understood. Now that I think of it, she often did smile like a tiny child. Fly is all of this for me. This song was a beginning to a journey that continues to wind on. Fly is the catalyst for all that I have searched for in my music since I first heard it 21 years ago in an apartment in Lubbock, Texas. It's importance in my life can not be encapsulated in a few paragraphs. My catalyst.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
One Day
by timetunnel
Quite often I associate the colors of an album cover with the music of that album. If that happens it's maybe caused by the fact that the album cover is either well chosen by the band, or at least is seen by the band as something that somehow correlates with the music. One of the albums that really bring up this album color <=> music connection thingy in my brainery is "Heyday". The colors of the carpet and band's shirt colors on the cover and the music simply fit like an ass on a bucket (as we say in Germany). Warm music, warm colors. Now on to "Seance". The cover shows this pale faced woman and gives it a kind of gothic feeling. The European vinyl version was blue, whereas the Australian (and maybe other) and the CD releases featured Gothic Girl in pink. Pink, whoah! I had owned the blue vinyl version for some years until I bought Arista's pinkish CD release, and I remember thinking something like "oh my, what the hell is THAT? PINK?!?!". Now, that was all a long time ago and today I'm quite used to the pink cover. Same music, different colors. Seance's music IS pink now. As it once WAS blue. Or not? What does that tell us about the color-music-connection in this case? Well, either it's all rather about just being used to an album cover and connecting that one to the music (whatever it looks like), or maybe in this case blue and pink both fit the music. I dunno. All in all the color-music connection was never as strong on "Seance" as it was on "Heyday". So why the hell am I writing about it then...?
Better on to "One Day": it's the first song on "Seance" featuring the, uhm, "distorted" drums. This dums sound - it never disturbed me on "One Day", even after I had learned how angry Steve was about it and how the band and producer/mixer Nick Launay must have fought about it. On "One Day", it fits somehow - though it wouldn't make the song worse if it had normal drum sound. Actually, it might even sound better with normal drums sound. However, the distortion exists and there are other songs like "Electric Lash" or "Disappear" on which the drums' sound is more annoying.
The song starts with a guitar riff that is more or less the cornerstone of the whole song. It's catchy, and it's edgy. It's smooth in the first few notes and then let's you trip over it. Imagine riding your bike on a street with frequently changing surface: asphalt - cobblestone - asphalt - cobblestones. It's a beautiful ride on the asphalt, but each time you enter Cobblestone Area you'll be shaken to the bones. Additionally, each time you get shaken by the cobblestones a hefty wind starts blowing in your face and you have push the bike's treadles heavily in order to keep going. So that's how the intro riff feels... but only until all the other instruments join, because from then on it all makes sense and the cobblestones are suddenly a joy to ride on.
The song's structure is standard: intro - verse - chorus - verse - chorus - middle part - verse - outro (or what the hell do you call the opposite of an intro?), but this standard structure is melted together and therefore made more interesting because the riff is going through verse and chorus most of the time, and the middle part guitar solo appears in the succeeding verse as well. It's the cobblestone guitar riff and this kind of "melting" the parts together that elevates "One Day" above a plain rock song.
If I remember correctly "One Day" was the song which made me realize that I should pay more attention to the The Church's lyrics. Songs on former albums "Of Skins And Heart" and "The Blurred Crusade" hadn't done that job for me to that extend (I actually bought all these three albums together one day, because they were the back catalogue from my point of listing view in 1986). "One Day" was the one that started my imagination engines because it's painted with lyrics all over. Like some other songs on "Seance" are. On one hand there were lyrics parts which somehow deal with our everyday live, but without being too concrete: "Tell me, is everything unplanned, is all so unexpected that we just can't understand? We run so hard and always end up in the same place, 'Glad that went so smoothly', well that never is the case"). On the other hand there were parts which simply hijacked and transported me into other worlds: "A woman standing on a hill is gazing out to sea, dreaming of a new age, waiting there for me". And all that in one song!
Quite often I associate the colors of an album cover with the music of that album. If that happens it's maybe caused by the fact that the album cover is either well chosen by the band, or at least is seen by the band as something that somehow correlates with the music. One of the albums that really bring up this album color <=> music connection thingy in my brainery is "Heyday". The colors of the carpet and band's shirt colors on the cover and the music simply fit like an ass on a bucket (as we say in Germany). Warm music, warm colors. Now on to "Seance". The cover shows this pale faced woman and gives it a kind of gothic feeling. The European vinyl version was blue, whereas the Australian (and maybe other) and the CD releases featured Gothic Girl in pink. Pink, whoah! I had owned the blue vinyl version for some years until I bought Arista's pinkish CD release, and I remember thinking something like "oh my, what the hell is THAT? PINK?!?!". Now, that was all a long time ago and today I'm quite used to the pink cover. Same music, different colors. Seance's music IS pink now. As it once WAS blue. Or not? What does that tell us about the color-music-connection in this case? Well, either it's all rather about just being used to an album cover and connecting that one to the music (whatever it looks like), or maybe in this case blue and pink both fit the music. I dunno. All in all the color-music connection was never as strong on "Seance" as it was on "Heyday". So why the hell am I writing about it then...?
Better on to "One Day": it's the first song on "Seance" featuring the, uhm, "distorted" drums. This dums sound - it never disturbed me on "One Day", even after I had learned how angry Steve was about it and how the band and producer/mixer Nick Launay must have fought about it. On "One Day", it fits somehow - though it wouldn't make the song worse if it had normal drum sound. Actually, it might even sound better with normal drums sound. However, the distortion exists and there are other songs like "Electric Lash" or "Disappear" on which the drums' sound is more annoying.
The song starts with a guitar riff that is more or less the cornerstone of the whole song. It's catchy, and it's edgy. It's smooth in the first few notes and then let's you trip over it. Imagine riding your bike on a street with frequently changing surface: asphalt - cobblestone - asphalt - cobblestones. It's a beautiful ride on the asphalt, but each time you enter Cobblestone Area you'll be shaken to the bones. Additionally, each time you get shaken by the cobblestones a hefty wind starts blowing in your face and you have push the bike's treadles heavily in order to keep going. So that's how the intro riff feels... but only until all the other instruments join, because from then on it all makes sense and the cobblestones are suddenly a joy to ride on.
The song's structure is standard: intro - verse - chorus - verse - chorus - middle part - verse - outro (or what the hell do you call the opposite of an intro?), but this standard structure is melted together and therefore made more interesting because the riff is going through verse and chorus most of the time, and the middle part guitar solo appears in the succeeding verse as well. It's the cobblestone guitar riff and this kind of "melting" the parts together that elevates "One Day" above a plain rock song.
If I remember correctly "One Day" was the song which made me realize that I should pay more attention to the The Church's lyrics. Songs on former albums "Of Skins And Heart" and "The Blurred Crusade" hadn't done that job for me to that extend (I actually bought all these three albums together one day, because they were the back catalogue from my point of listing view in 1986). "One Day" was the one that started my imagination engines because it's painted with lyrics all over. Like some other songs on "Seance" are. On one hand there were lyrics parts which somehow deal with our everyday live, but without being too concrete: "Tell me, is everything unplanned, is all so unexpected that we just can't understand? We run so hard and always end up in the same place, 'Glad that went so smoothly', well that never is the case"). On the other hand there were parts which simply hijacked and transported me into other worlds: "A woman standing on a hill is gazing out to sea, dreaming of a new age, waiting there for me". And all that in one song!
Fly
by chrome3d
Many openers of The Church are really standout tracks. Majestic sweeping epics that take you on a journey to far away distant lands. Fly is one of those but in a very different way than, say, Pharaoh or Block. Fly is short and sweet, warm and mysterious as ever. It creates the atmosphere with extra dreamy guitars, bongos and flying keyboards. It has acoustic instruments, or at least a feeling of those, and it separates the song from the rest of the album. Unlike the rest of the album with hard overproduced drums it has a world of it´s own and I see it as a transitional song between reality and the rest of the album. Fly takes me along and opens a new door for me.
And they fly
She pointed up into the sky
And you can't touch them if you try
And they fly
Earlier in the lyrics there was a mention of dark clowns but they can be heard as clouds too. There can be so many things that fly in the sky that you can´t touch. I never actually thought about what is the fly of the song. Sometimes it has been a fly, the insect, or then it´s birds, clouds, dreams or whatever. It doesn´t really matter and the title is very clever to open one of those SK double meanings but this could be triple meaning or even more. This song means so many things to me and it always escapes all rational explanations. It´s something that only The Church can do. I´ve said it many times before in these reviews how they sound only like themselves but it´s more and more clear in Seance than it was in previous albums. I really can´t see anybody else doing this kind of stuff. A bit familiar but still inhabiting a universe of it´s own.
I sometimes place certain songs in to certain periods of life because they have been such essential parts of that period in life. I see myself looking at the LP sleeve in late 80´s/early 90´s, drawing something to the inner bag as I usually did. Looking at the black and pink xerox pics of the band having no idea who does what. Outside is a sunny winter sunday with cold freeze and wind. The black vinyl disc spins around sending messages from another world. And they fly...bongos and guitars gently weave a magic carpet to take me away somewhere else. Something ancient in these atmospheres yet it´s rooted firmly in the early 80´s. I admired The Blurred Crusade. It´s a huge journey without forgetting the human details...but I think it´s Seance that I love in a more personal way. Like in The Blurred Crusade I see both sides following the same kind of arc. Both sides of Seance start with the most beautiful songs I can imagine and then slowly but surely descend in to darkness. It will be fun to once again fall in love with it because that´s the kind of album Seance is and Fly is there to inform that first
This album is Pink to me. That´s why the colour of text.
Many openers of The Church are really standout tracks. Majestic sweeping epics that take you on a journey to far away distant lands. Fly is one of those but in a very different way than, say, Pharaoh or Block. Fly is short and sweet, warm and mysterious as ever. It creates the atmosphere with extra dreamy guitars, bongos and flying keyboards. It has acoustic instruments, or at least a feeling of those, and it separates the song from the rest of the album. Unlike the rest of the album with hard overproduced drums it has a world of it´s own and I see it as a transitional song between reality and the rest of the album. Fly takes me along and opens a new door for me.
And they fly
She pointed up into the sky
And you can't touch them if you try
And they fly
Earlier in the lyrics there was a mention of dark clowns but they can be heard as clouds too. There can be so many things that fly in the sky that you can´t touch. I never actually thought about what is the fly of the song. Sometimes it has been a fly, the insect, or then it´s birds, clouds, dreams or whatever. It doesn´t really matter and the title is very clever to open one of those SK double meanings but this could be triple meaning or even more. This song means so many things to me and it always escapes all rational explanations. It´s something that only The Church can do. I´ve said it many times before in these reviews how they sound only like themselves but it´s more and more clear in Seance than it was in previous albums. I really can´t see anybody else doing this kind of stuff. A bit familiar but still inhabiting a universe of it´s own.
I sometimes place certain songs in to certain periods of life because they have been such essential parts of that period in life. I see myself looking at the LP sleeve in late 80´s/early 90´s, drawing something to the inner bag as I usually did. Looking at the black and pink xerox pics of the band having no idea who does what. Outside is a sunny winter sunday with cold freeze and wind. The black vinyl disc spins around sending messages from another world. And they fly...bongos and guitars gently weave a magic carpet to take me away somewhere else. Something ancient in these atmospheres yet it´s rooted firmly in the early 80´s. I admired The Blurred Crusade. It´s a huge journey without forgetting the human details...but I think it´s Seance that I love in a more personal way. Like in The Blurred Crusade I see both sides following the same kind of arc. Both sides of Seance start with the most beautiful songs I can imagine and then slowly but surely descend in to darkness. It will be fun to once again fall in love with it because that´s the kind of album Seance is and Fly is there to inform that first
This album is Pink to me. That´s why the colour of text.
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