Se press Release hd steve Kilbey (The Church) New Zealand tour July 07
Download 1.73 Mb.
|
| For all their apparent newness, on the basis of their performance at Selina's they are stillthe same dreary little outfit they always were. They couldn't ignite enthusiasm in their audiences even if they brought flame throwers on stage.
TD
Given the success of their new album and single, and the interest they have created recently in the US, this was a concert in which the real thinness of The Church's talent (or lack of it) was exposed. They clearly haven't won overseas accolades because of their live performances. In spite of seven albums, they'd be lucky to be able to segue two worthwhile songs together. Most of their material is dreary, post-Byrds psychedelia delivered in a flat, monotonal, emotionless way by the less-than-charismatic Steve Kilbey. On the night their hit Under the Milky Way stood out like a piece of zircon in a muddy billabong. The band's live performance is ordinary. Kilbey has no rapport with the audience. The band'sdelivery lacks the bash-and-thrash enthusiasm of The Lime Spiders (who, as support, were very good), the virtuosity of their mentors, The Byrds, or the stoned intensity of great psychedelic acts like The Grateful Dead, The Doors or very early Pink Floyd. The distinctive jangling guitars, which make songs like Antenna, Reptile and A New Season so distinctive and worthwhile on their album Starfish, are simply blurred by musical inadequacy on stage. Even Marty Willson-Piper's vocal highpoint, Spark, failed to ignite the audience. The international fascination with The Church seems not so much genuine admiration as an act of desperation produced by the dearth of good music coming out of Britain and the US. NS
NCAT : Content Types | NRVW : Review AN Document smhh000020011117dk5301dsn CLM SOUNDS SE WEEKEND HD Rock Looks Up Down Under BY Mark Jenkins WC 766 words PD 25 March 1988 SN The Washington Post SC WP
ED FINAL PG n19
LA English CY (Copyright 1988) LP AUSTRALIAN ROCK? You mean the one in that Peter Weir film? Until quite recently, the very mention of popular music from Down Under was enough to provoke snores. It meant easy-listening, low-octane pop like Olivia Newton-John and the Bee Gees. Oz may be wild, but its music wasn't. Save for AC/DC, Men at Work was about as feral as it got. These days, though, cultists regularly scour collector's stores like Yesterday & Today for the latest releases from grungy Aussie garage bands like the Lime Spiders and the Celibate Rifles. Brisbane's Go-Betweens (okay, they live in London now) made one of 1987's finest albums. TD
Just this past week, the thoroughly high- octane INXS made the Patriot Center sweat. And, by the way, AC/DC is still at it. INXS - "Kick" (Atlantic 7 81796-4). "Need You Tonight" may not be "My Generation," but it sounds pretty good on Top 40 radio. With its walloping rhythm section and scrubbing metal-funk guitars, it's got more juice than a bushel of Bon Jovi hits. Even the lukewarm follow-up, "Devil Inside," doesn't sound bad after the latest Debbie Gibson platter. So it's no surprise when that primal pounding dominates "Kick," this sextet's American breakthrough album. Like most self-respecting mainstream Australian bands, INXS also ventures into anti-nuke politics (the just-say-no-to-SDI "Guns in the Sky") and Brit-style art-rock ("The Loved One"). It's the bam-bam-bam chords of "Need You Tonight," though, that give this album its kick. STEVE KILBEY - "Unearthed" (Enigma ST-73297). The Church, the Sydney band for which Kilbey labors full-time as bassist and lead singer, is supposed to be poised for commercial success with its new album, "Starfish." That disc is a dreary disappointment, though, perhaps because Kilbey left so many good tunes behind on this 14-track solo album, released last year. Some of those cuts are noodling instrumental sketches, but this one-man project (Kilbey played all the instruments on 12 of the songs) still features more fully satisfying songs than some band's entire careers. "Out of This World," "Guilty" and "Judgement Day" are just a few of the most insinuating tunes. Highly recommended to followers of melodic, ethereal folk-rock. AC/DC - "Blow Up Your Video" (Atlantic 81828-4). "Heatseeker," which ignites side one of the latest from these Oz-metal perennials, doesn't quite have the megatonnage to blow up your video; it might singe it pretty good, though. The first AC/DC disc in a decade to be produced by ex-Easybeats Harry Vanda and George Young (the latter is the elder brother of the quintet's Angus and Malcolm Young), "Blow Up" brings the outfit, for better or worse, back up to form: It's gritty, grimy and galvanizing. Singer Brian Johnson may be all Robert Plant retread, but guitarist Angus is both explosive and even adventurous. Most of his moves, albeit effective, are overly familiar, but check out "Meanstreak," an agile exercise in funk that doesn't sacrifice an ounce of metal. THE JOHNNYS - "Highlights of a Dangerous Life" (Enigma ST-73309). The Johnnys, a country-punk quartet from Sydney, have a lot of good ideas. Marrying country and rock, for example, has been a fruitful notion since the Byrds first did it more than two decades ago, while a punky version of Archie Bell and the Drells' "(There's Gonna Be a) Showdown" was a clever brainstorm when the New York Dolls hit on it nearly 15 years ago. The Johnnys don't top the Byrds, the Dolls or any of their other models on "Highlights from a Dangerous Life," their American debut. Still, from the neo-folk-rock of "Bleeding Heart" to the rollicking punk of "Slip Slap Fishin'," the album has its share of catchy songs. BIG PIG - "Bonk" (A&M SP 6-5185). It's hard to decide which is more surprising here: the audacity of Big Pig's line-up (five percussionists, one keyboardist and one harmonica player, five of whom also sing) or the conventionality of the resulting sound. Songs like "Hungry Town" and the rousing "I Can't Break Away" are reasonably attention-getting, as is lead singer Sherine's smoky voice. Still, one wonders why this septet kept its polyrhythmic potential in check. Remarkably, Big Pig ends up just sounding like a pop band without guitars, and in this synth age we've certainly heard that before. IPD
REVIEW @Slug: N19ROC AN Document wp00000020011118dk3p00f3t SE ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT HD THE CHURCH HAS MORE THAN A LITTLE MUSCLE BY Lennox Samuels WC 703 words PD 1 May 1988 SN The Dallas Morning News SC DAL ED HOME FINAL PG 4c LA English CY (Copyright 1988) LP
While such Australian contemporaries as Men At Work and, currently, INXS have achieved wide success, The Church has continued to agitate just below big-venue, platinum status. The four-man group originally was slotted into the neo-psychedelic compartment following release of such records as Remote Luxury and The Blurred Crusade and the single Constant In Opal, a minor American hit. Given the group members' paisley shirts, songwriter Steve Kilbey's poetic ruminations and guitarist Marty Wilson-Piper's spacious and shimmering work, The Church seemed to fit the description well. TD
The group, however, offers more than retro-psychedelia. Live, The Church delivers tensile performances anchored by Wilson-Piper's driving, bravura guitar work. The band's new album, Starfish (Arista), doesn't quite achieve the power of the live shows, but a handful of songs, particularly Spark and Antenna, demonstrate the group's muscle. Lead singer Kilbey's moody drawl still lends a sense of smoky romanticism to the group's sound, but that doesn't mean the band should be dismissed as precious. Starfish offers a number of aural pleasures -- songs, such as Lost and North, South, East and West and, especially, the atmospheric Destination, that envelope the listener in a heady mist of chiming guitars and brooding vocals. In concert, Spark is a furious tour de force; and the LP version comes within a fair radius, in an attack led by Wilson-Piper, who also barrels into Antenna, a sinewy and intense tune that's built around a bluesy rhythm. As co-producers, the band hired LA veterans Greg Ladanyi and Waddy Wachtel, presumably with an eye to chart possibilities. There are several appealing pop tunes, among them A New Season and Under the Milky Way. The latter, a memorable tune with a good hook, intriguing bagpipe solo and strong harmony vocals, is the album's first single -- a smart choice. But although Starfish is a solid album, it illustrates that a facility for winning melodies still is not the band's forte. T-4-2, Shockra -- Composed of Jay Gillian and Jimron Goff, this Dallas act is an unabashed -- and proficient -- purveyor of British-style synthpop. Recorded largely at Dallas Sound Lab, Shockra is a confident LP that features eight songs -- including Lover and Don't Sit in Silence -- written by Gillian and swathed in layers of synthesizer textures. The essentially simple compositions are fed through computers to yield a surprisingly varied album. Goff and Gillian are quite adept at their chosen instruments and have channeled their influences into a canny sound that suggests such disparate acts as Gary Numan, Visage, Ultravox, Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode. Although Gillian's vocals bring a certain degree of animation to the project, the selections here are hampered by the shortcomings that typically bedevil synth bands: The music is technically laudable but too hollow emotionally. Toto, The Seventh One (Columbia) -- Toto's members still are influential members of the Los Angeles music scene, and they still make records that are technically unassailable. Indeed, the band's latest is a triumph in meticulous musicianship and production prowess. On the other hand, it all fails to connect. If anything, Toto is sounding even more like Chicago, if not Air Supply. There is something peculiarly hollow about this music. The songs here enervate and tranquilize, as they register dully on the ears. What does it profit a band to gain the whole studio and lose its . . . soul? Jean Carne, You're A Part Of Me (Atlantic) -- This LP's settings are by numbers, the lyrics predictable and the multiproducer approach inevitable. But behind it all lies Carne, a fine vocalist who probably would be an old-line soul singer if she had her druthers. Instead she's often bogged down in milquetoast arrangements (among them the title tune, plus Let Me Be the One and Givin' Up On Love) apparently aimed at the adult contemporary charts. The singer, however, shines through from time to time, notably on her account of Aretha Franklin's Ain't No Way, which sounds as if it's being sung purely for the joy of it. AN
Document dal0000020011210dk5102aym SE WEEKEND HD ON MUSIC The Church Taking Success on Faith BY By Wayne Robins WC 839 words PD 25 March 1988 SN Newsday SC NDAY
ED ALL EDITIONS PG 13
LA English CY (Copyright Newsday Inc., 1988) LP THE CHURCH is one of those bands with a stack of favorable press clippings but, so far, not a prayer of making the Top 10. Since 1980, the Australian quartet has been creating intelligent, oblique guitar-based albums that have given the band a presence on college and alternative radio stations. But they still aren't even a rumor at most big album-rock stations. With a typically well-crafted new album, "Starfish," on a new label, Arista, and a new American tour (they're at the Bottom Line, 15 W. Fourth St., tonight), the reflex might be to say that the big time is close at hand. That, however, would be reckless optimism. TD
"It's nothing you can break down and define, why or why not," guitarist Peter Koppes said the other day about the Church's continuing uphill struggle in the United States. "Timing, record companies, all those things are probably relevant. It hasn't really affected us for what we are. We'd make the same records with or without success, which is the greatest luxury you can have." The band is certainly not blase about the idea of making it. On "Starfish," they agreed to Arista's suggestion to have Waddy Wachtel and Greg Ladanyi produce the album. Wachtel is a noted L.A. studio and touring guitarist long associated with such foundations of the mellow rock establishment as Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor and Jackson Browne. Ladanyi was best known as a recording engineer (he won a Grammy in 1982 for "Toto IV"), who won accolades for his production work with Don Henley on the artist's "Building the Perfect Beast" album. It's music quite different from the dark, dreamy mood music for which the Church is known. "We were quite surprised that they were interested in working with us, actually," Koppes said. " `The Boys of Summer' that Greg did with Don Henley, was one of my favorite commercial singles of that year {1985}." The relationship between the band and its producers had some good moments and some frustrating ones. "They had similar ideas in keeping it simple and raw," Koppes said. "At times, their ideas conflicted with ours, but we had to allow each other a lot of space and trust the other's judgment. It wasn't an exceptionally smooth relationship, but ultimately, we're happy with the final result." As with all albums by the Church, "Starfish" features the world-weary, spoken-sung vocals of Steve Kilbey, whose writing and delivery suggest a poetry seminar version of Lou Reed's street style. Kilbey's lyrics go for mood rather than message. "Destination" gives one the impression of a danger-filled journey. "Under the Milky Way" is dark celestial romanticism, while "Blood Money" and "Reptile" have surges of controlled, sharply focused anger. Kilbey has a tendency to write spacey lyrics, none more typical than those in the poem printed on the new album's sleeve: "Golden clouded moon, enveloped by the family/Melting further in the cracks become chasms . . . " Couple that with the the group's droning but energetic guitars (played by Koppes and Marty WillsonPiper) and fluid rhythms (Kilbey on bass and Richard Ploog on drums) and it's not surprising that some admirers have placed the Church at the vanguard of the neo-psychedelic scene. "Until you really strike boldly and become the comparison for other bands, you have to accept that people need these straw comparisons no matter how flimsy they might be," Koppes said. "We can't really see the tags now." Koppes prefers to think of the Church as a "surrealist" group that has as much to do with the 1960s as with the future. Any band that has struggled as much as the Church is bound to have had problems with morale. Koppes recalled that the band broke up before their first album was ever released, and that it has been "touch and go" ever since. Right now, however, morale is solid, partly because Koppes, Kilbey, and Willson-Piper have all done solo recordings - something Koppes, whose album "Manchild and Myth" will be out in Australia next month, de- scribes as "very satisfying." Enigma records recently released "Unearthed," with material from Kilbey's personal archives. "The Church has become pretty much a democracy, and we write the bulk of the material together," Koppes said. "Together, we come up with different things than we do individually." The combination of the solo and group work is "the most ideal situation for a band to be in, really," he said. Some might feel that the ideal situation would be to have the kind of success that another Australian band, INXS, is experiencing. Koppes is not convinced. Giving INXS' music a backhanded compliment, he said, "I can see dance music being successful, {but} maybe we'll get there on our talent - which is much more satisfying." ART
Photo-The Australian band the Church is at the Bottom Line tonight. RE AUSNZ : Australia and New Zealand | AUSTR : Australia IPD MUSIC PROFILE INTERVIEW CHURCH AUSTRALIA AN Document nday000020020503dk3p02md1 SE Music HD Church tunes BY Ong Soh Chin WC 622 words PD 30 March 1990 SN Straits Times SC STIMES LA English CY (c) 1990 Singapore Press Holdings Limited LP Pop
TD Chances are you would have missed an unobtrusive little jewel embedded in th e top 40 charts then. Called Under The Milky Way, it was a dreamy number that did not cause major ripples but nonetheless represented a breakthrough for an Australian group called The Church. Under The Milky Way was the band's watershed single and the album it came from, Starfish, made many sit up and notice what they thought was a new band. On the contrary, The Church have been together for 10 years. Starfish was it s 12th album. Now, the group has released a new album and true to its tradition of cryptic album titles (the past 10 years have produced Remote Luxury, Of Skins And Heart, The Blurred Crusade and others), this one is called Gold Afternoon Fix. And it is perhaps timely now to rediscover this extremely resilient band. With House music, Stock Aitken And Waterman and bubblegum rock ruling the airwaves, The Church are something of an anomaly. Theirs is not mindless throwaway pop, nor is it compelling dance music, it i s not even folk rock, three of the staples of modern music these days. Instead, The Church specialise in atmospheric soundscapes. Theirs is music based largely on aural ambience, with lyrics playing a minor role except in evocation of imagery. Indeed, most of their prose is stylised babble. One would get as much mileag e out of their lyrics as one would with REM, those other underground darlings that hit the big time recently. But still there is a cosmic beauty in song titles like Constant In Opal, Russian Autumn Heart and Shadow Cabinet which cannot be overlooked. The group comprises three main members, bassist Steve Kilbey and guitarists Marty Willson-Piper and Peter Koppes. Longtime Church drummer Richard Ploog recently took a year-long leave of absence and will be replaced on tour by Jay Dee Daugherty who used to drum for the Patti Smith Group. On Gold Afternoon Fix, the members take turns on vocals, singing the tunes that each penned. Although the album is not as strong as Starfish which boasted some of the strongest Church tunes to date, the same intense swirling guitars and hypnotic melancholic vocals remain. The Church can perhaps be seen as modern purveyors of the famed Wall of Soun d approach invented by the great Phil Spector in the '60s. Just listen to the sonic buildup in the first track, Pharaoh, and one will b e convinced. The album also sees the group maturing towards a more direct approach in its music. Explained Kilbey: "I think for too long we've been sort of dreamy. And after going around for two years and touring, suddenly I'm filled with this desire to more or less tell it as it is. "I don't want to lose that surrealistic side that obviously attracted people to us in the first place, but now I think the time has come. I want to get a bit more bite," he said in the group's press release. And the evidence can be heard in You're Still Beautiful, a self-explanatory track which actually makes sense lyrically. As for the future, Kilbey predicts: "I think we're going to rock out a bit more. But once again, these things move in curves - and after doing these songs for a year on the road, we might totally curve away from it and go back to being vague and dreamy again." Gold Afternoon Fix is available at record shops here. IN
i97106 : Music/Sound Recording | i971 : Motion Pictures/Sound Recording | imed : Media | isound : Sound/Music Recording/Publishing NS gent : Arts/Entertainment | gmusic : Music | gcat : Political/General News RE singp : Singapore | asiaz : Asian Countries/Regions | seasiaz : Southeast Asian Countries/Regions PUB SPH AsiaOne Ltd. AN Document STIMES0020050603dm3u00j4o SE DATEBOOK HD 'Gold Afternoon Fix' shares The Church's wealth BY Craig S. Semon WC 624 words PD 1 April 1990 SN Worcester Telegram & Gazette SC WORC
ED ALL PG 11
LA English CY (c) 1990 Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All Rights Reserved. LP GOLD AFTERNOON FIX The Church (Arista) *** "Gold Afternoon Fix," the title of The Church's latest LP, is a stock market term for the price of gold, set every afternoon and fixed overnight. A peculiar title indeed, but in many ways quite suitable. TD
"Gold Afternoon Fix" is an album that showcases vast wealth in the band's musical creativity and execution. It is an album that appears splendidly calculated, precise to the last note but never heavy-handed. The album is a treat for fans of the Church and is a strong follow-up to the band's last recording, the breakthrough "Starfish". The Church's members - main vocalist, bass guitarist and keyboardist Steve Kilbey; guitarists Marty Wilson-Piper and Peter Koppes; and drummer Richard Ploog - co-wrote all the music and the lyrics are sung by whichever band member penned them. On the album, Wilson-Piper sings "Russian Autumn Heart," Koppes "Transient" and Kilbey the remainder. Noises and Instruments The opening track, "Pharoahs" begins with an atmospheric impression of noises and instruments, and builds into a choatic but controlled mood. The song emphasizes the band's strength through great buildup and tension which is never relinquished. Kilbey's voice is enchanting through such catchy bleakness as "Is there anybody there/I could swear that I'm not alone./Show your faces if you dare..." "Metropolis," which highlights lively guitars and graceful arrangements, works on capturing the band's sincerity. Even when it appears that Kilbey is making a romantic interlude, one can detect a tint of despair in his voice. When Kilbey confesses "There will never be another one like you./I am so involved in anything you do," it sounds bitter-sweet, not touching. "Terra Nova Cain," on the other hand, focuses on twangy guitars and faraway mysticism, creating a claustrophobic digression of images. Kilbey is relaxed with his often-abstract lyrics and his passion combined with the unquenchable drive of the other band members help to create the memorable tracks on the album. In "City," Kilbey creates a world that has always been but perceives it at a new angle. He gives a refreshing spin on such things as the buildings of the city, giving the city's aspects as an individual entity. Vision of Travel With a raspier voice, Wilson-Piper sings "Russian Autumn Heart" and develops the track into its own catchy poppiness. Koppes' "Transient" is an upbeat, hypnotic vision of travel. With its effective harmonies "Essence" is a mood piece which turns into a more worked out set piece. On this track, Kilbey makes such offbeat observations as "The universe is female." One of the biggest surprizes of "Gold Afternoon Fix" is the direct abrasiveness of "You're Still Beautiful." Kilbey gives an intense, verbal assault through the mocking chorus "You're still beautiful, baby./Nobody can take that away./Baby, don't believe what you see/even when you fall down that way." Through thrashing guitars and a pulsating back beat, Kilbey witty cynicism shines in such lines as "You're the walking picutre of Dorian Grey/At least, it's artistic I guess?" Directory: files -> 2008 2008 -> Preparedness for the Health Consequences of Climate Change as a Potential Influence on Public Health Law and Policy 2008 -> Darryl Heller Dissertation Proposal Draft April 7, 2008 Law, Labor, and Politics: Street Railways in Brooklyn and New York, 1884-1904 2008 -> Anna Palladino Professor Calvert 2008 -> Jails replace schools in the mountain region of guerrero 2008 -> University of Arkansas at Little Rock Plan No 2008 -> This is a list of search engines we (Polson Enterprises) have found helpful from time to time 2008 -> Rnib centre for Accessible Information (cai) Literature review #2 2008 -> Anne louise cohen 2008 -> Time race# Download 1.73 Mb. Share with your friends:
|