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(Oct 2, 2004)
Rating - ***
The Church page
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This latest offering from The Church, an Australian band that has been
around forever, is a very enjoyable collection of 14 hypnotic songs that add
up to well over an hour of music. Quantity is nothing without quality (after all,
who needs to look for a way to artificially prolong suffering what with three
more presidential debates still to come?) but this CD delivers the quality as well.
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The Church hit the charts back in the 80s with the hit "Under the Milky Way," without a
doubt an alternative rock classic in its day. I came across their 1994 CD, Sometime Anywhere
in the used section several years ago and wore it out as background music for my epic cardio
workouts, for which purpose it was ideal. Unfortunately, of the "big 3" (wine, women and song),
only wine tends to improve over a 10-year period, and The Church is no exception to the
rule. They were no spring chickens when Sometime Anywhere came out, and now
they aren't even summer chickens anymore.
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But their music still sounds good - imaginative, flowing, extremely smooth, and
conducive to repeated listening. I had planned to do this review almost two weeks ago,
but couldn't decide whether to give this CD a 3 or a 4 star rating. I kept
listening to Forget Yourself over and over, during which time the
proprietor of this website undoubtedly suspected me of screwing around rather
than working diligently, waiting for that defining moment when it would hit
me: "Hey, this is really great!" But that moment never came, with the possible
exception of the first track, "Sealine." The first 6 tracks are very good, then
the middle of the album slumps noticeably, getting slower and less creative, and
then recovers towards the end by pushing the creative edges a bit more. Definitely
worth the money, all things considered. A solid three stars.
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