The Church - C or D/S&D/CB&TT

No I would prefer to learn guitar. I teach for a living, I’m not paying him to get a drum lesson! :)

i wish steve kilbey would do another album in the earthed/unearthed style, maybe re-earthed? de-earthed?

A few of the Kilbey-Kennedy albums might fit here? They're all pretty good.

Reading between all the lines, I had a feeling Peter was going to split after the last tour.

I would happily pay £35 to hear about LL's impressions of Skype-MWP!

MWP has a new band too - Atlantæum Flood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b06eo3BGIU

Sounds kinda like a Greg Dulli b-side on mogadon.

Livestream moment of the week - Kilbey and George Ellis play "Aura"

https://youtu.be/87E7Zxs6pww?t=3180

Someone told me that Steve Kilbey's at home concerts these past few weeks have been a joy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVUE6KbEBTs

Good interview with Peter here - gets into his final days with the band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juVh2xtX67A

Great find, ET, thank you

best kilbey work in many a year imo https://kilbeykennedy.bandcamp.com/album/jupiter-13

Sounds good!

God, his solo catalog is massive. Could go for a guide or best-of or playlist.

I still rep for Unearthed and The Slow Crack. Narcosis is pretty excellent too, but I lost track sometime in the early 00s.

I gotta break out Unearthed some time soon. Loved it.

Yes I loved that album! Earthed isn't bad but it's no Unearthed! "Judgement Day" is my favorite song featuring a drum machine. It was a mixtape staple back in the day because I didn't know anyone diehard enough to have solo Kilbey albums and it's such a good song :)

Hard to believe it's contemporaneous with Starfish, the yin to that album's yang. "Nothing Inside" could have been a Church single I think, but "Othertime" might be the loveliest song he's written.

I'll take this opportunity to strongly recommend Peter Koppes' latest project, Syncretism. The vocals and lead guitar are by Dave Scotland, who he first worked with in Baby Grande, SK's band prior to the formation of The Church!

Ha, wow, there's some continuity!

More kilbey songs need drum machines, IMO.

you're gonna *love* Remindlessness then

electricsound!!!

That album cover is very stoner rock, reminds me of 'The Black Code' by Wo Fat.

Some good news on the reissue front. Intervention’s 2021 deluxe reissue of Starfish sounds beyond spectacular. If you're on the fence about it, just pull the trigger - it's that much of an improvement over what's been out there.

Really. Very intrigued!

ordered

I purchased the Intervention remaster on the basis of ET's recommendation above, and he's not wrong. Listening to it on my little-used SACD player, there's somehow much more of everything - which shouldn't be possible, but it underlines how superlative the engineering and mixing on Starfish was.

The EMI reissues were a great series, but the remastering on them was a little hot so... I'm in!

Yeah I prefer the original cd of priest=aura to the remaster for sure

The original US Arista CDs in the late 1980s were remastered by Bill Inglot, one of the best folks doing such work at the time -- I specifically remember his prominent credit for doing that, a relative rarity then -- but I forget if he did the original issue of Starfish too but I wouldn't be surprised.

Starfish is guaranteed to sell pretty well, but the real get would be a remastered edition of the Remote Luxury/Persia/Sing Songs CD compilation

Mostly loving the remaster, it's cleared a bunch of the upper-mid congestion which made the tracks sound thick and unfocused - but not too much. The exception is UTMW for which someone has either EQ'd a mid bass hump or added something to goose the kick drum - it sounds like listening to the song while somebody thumps their foot along in time.
It's quite an odd sounding album in its way, I would like to hear these songs produced like Heyday was. Of course Wachtel ditching the band apart from Kilbey for UTMW doesn't help. I think Ploog was sidelined for a lot of it if I recall Kilbey's blog correctly.

Man that was an epic blog post

If you thought Kilbey's was long ... https://martywillson-piper.com/starfish-2/
(only Ploog was ditched for UTMW apparently)

and ther Kilbey one because it's hard to track down these days: https://thetimebeing.com/sel-fish/

just revisited Sometime Anywhere for the first time in a decade and was surprised how good it is compared to my recollection.

with some exceptions

Looks like Steve's going to do a big ol' catalog revisit:

https://stevekilbey.bandcamp.com/album/of-skins-and-heart-acoustic-sessions-vol-1

Steve Kilbey's solo acoustic version / reinterpretation of The Church's 1981 album Of Skins and Heart, 41 years after its initial release.

.....

'The first in a serious of acoustic reworkings of classic Church albums. Of Skins And Heart was The Church’s 1981 debut, and featured the band’s first major hit “The Unguarded Moment”. Steve Kilbey has reimagined the album for the 2020’s as a predominantly acoustic album. Steve’s unadorned guitar and vocals grab the listener from the outset and never let go until the final ringing notes of “Don’t Open The Door To Strangers”. These are brilliant performances of classic songs from a truly amazing songwriter.'

"Back With Two Beasts" from 2009. It's really good! Missed it first time around.

Yep, solid stuff!

I missed Television on their reunion tours, but I did get to see Verlaine once in late 1988: a solo acoustic set opening for The Church & Peter Murphy at the Hollywood Palladium. Verlaine joined for The Church’s encore of Neil Young’s “Cortez The Killer” and then The Church’s own “You Took.” A spectacular 3-guitar blowout. The Church were touring Starfish and just unstoppable live. Kilbey later writes in his book that Ploog was playing so fast because he wanted out of the band and therefore would finish the set as fast as possible.

No recording of the LA show exists but two other nights of the tour with Verlaine are here: (SLC sounds good)
https://shadowcabi.net/concerts/1980s-rev.html

Ha, you have reminded me that I really should get that book.

Have heard an advance of the new album -- it's solid, I think maybe a grower, but I will be very interested to hear it live.

New one is good but...it sounds to me more like a Steve Kilbey collaborating with (X,Y,Z) album than a Church album.

With both Willson-Piper and Koppes gone, we're deep into Ship of Theseus territory. SK is undoubtedly the wellspring of inspiration, but so much of the appeal of the classic Church era derives from their fantastic musicianship and sound.

username checks out

Hey c’mon, he replaced them with the guitarists from two of the most boring bands of the ‘90s — that’s real value!

I missed Television on their reunion tours, but I did get to see Verlaine once in late 1988: a solo acoustic set opening for The Church & Peter Murphy at the Hollywood Palladium. Verlaine joined for The Church’s encore of Neil Young’s “Cortez The Killer” and then The Church’s own “You Took.” A spectacular 3-guitar blowout. The Church were touring Starfish and just unstoppable live. Kilbey later writes in his book that Ploog was playing so fast because he wanted out of the band and therefore would finish the set as fast as possible.

No recording of the LA show exists but two other nights of the tour with Verlaine are here: (SLC sounds good)
https://shadowcabi.net/concerts/1980s-rev.html

I saw the Denver date on August 18 of that year. It was a really good show.

(xpost)

I will say that I think Ian Haug's style meshed really well with Koppes on Further/Deeper.

yeah I saw them on that tour and the band was dece tbf

Hey c’mon, he replaced them with the guitarists from two of the most boring bands of the ‘90s

Bores of the new Church

Man, I had a tape of a show from the Starfish tour — I think it was even a King Biscuit Flower Hour or some such, I taped it from the radio — it was fantastic and I've never found it on the internet.

I was a big fan but didn't really follow them in the later years. But then they came through my hometown a couple years ago (last tour with Koppes I think) playing Starfish and then lots of later stuff and I was totally blown away.