the chills c/d?

One of these bands I never got into. :-( Which is a shame.

Not too late, (as discussed above) Snow Bound from last year is really great. Excited to see them tonight, hope we hear Bite (among many many other songs).

Snow Bound is just about as good as Soft Bomb and Submarine Bells, in its own contemporary way.

I must respectfully disagree. "Snow Bound" is good but the tunes don't linger in my head like stuff from "Soft Bomb" and "Submarine Bells".

I can hum "Time to Atone," "Easy Peazy, "Harmony." Whether you want to is another question.

Well, maybe that's fair, give or take an "America Says Hello." But I think if someone started with "Snow Bound" they wouldn't miss something fundamental about the slick side of the Chills that they would get starting with one of those other big-budget records. Similarly, if most of the songs on "Snow Bound" were dropped on "Soft Bomb" I think they would fit in pretty well, highlight or no.

I will say, apropos of nothing, that "Submarine Bells" is one of the prettiest songs ever written, and it was a surprise and a pleasure to hear it played live.

You know, I was reading an old interview, and while I understand the standard narrative that by the time "Soft Bomb" came out there was just no place for the Chills in the mainstream ..."Out of Time" was one of the biggest albums of the year! Still don't think there was a place for them in the mainstream, but there was clearly more at work. Label fuckupery. HIs accent.

Huh, I knew they were session guys, but I had no idea the rhythm section of "Sunburnt" was Dave Gregory and Dave Mattacks!

"Sunburnt" has some great tunes but overall it's spoiled by poor production.

Lovely set last night here in SF. New songs sounded great, old faves as wonderful as ever. My girlfriend thought "Submarine Bells" was the pinnacle of the show.

appreciate everyone recommending the tour. show last night in PDX was great and what a huge sound.
entire band sounded amazing, especially on the violin tracks.

St. Paul show was wonderful, one of my favorites by anyone ever honestly.

What's the latest on the documentary and Martin's health?

Saw the finished product today as part of Sydney Film Festival (it had been shown at SXSW apparently). These two reviews cover it better than I could, but suffice to say I'd be shocked if any Chills fan didn't enjoy it. There was a quick Q&A afterwards as well with Martin and the director Julia Parnell. The Hep C is cured, it's been over a year since he got the all clear and it hasn't come back.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jun/14/the-chills-review-martin-phillipps-triumph-and-tragedy-told-with-extraordinary-candour
https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/dead-man-singing-martin-phillipps-of-the-chills-20190613-p51x8t.html

Plus this interview with Martin and Julia, which may or may not work outside of Australia. https://radio.abc.net.au/programitem/pgOGnAOWE7

Thanks for all of those. I wonder how or if the movie will make its way here?

Well that's some welcome news! Long may Martin make music.

"Song for Randy Newman etc." is of course beautiful, but aside from the piano (I guess?) I've always thought it odd that Phillips would group Randy Newman with Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson, Nick Drake and, er, himself. Like, I guess as a recording artist Newman wasn't exactly topping the charts, but not even compared to those infamously tragic figures Newman was doing pretty well professionally (as he always had) by the time "Soft Bomb" was released. Maybe the '80s were relatively slow? I dunno, I guess I don't see why Phillipps invited him to his pity party.

None of them won an Emmy for Cop Rock, that's for sure.

I'd like to believe Martin Phillipps saw "Cop Rock," felt sorry for Randy Newman, then wrote this song.

The documentary is at last available for digital purchase here in the US

https://firefilms.lnk.to/ChillsFilm

Great!

Hey it's actually sort of hard to verify after poking around... does anyone know if he is still dealing with that grim prognosis on some level?

Last I saw, and it made no longer be current, was that hep c can now be treated. in fact I want to say it might have been pioneering Australian or New Zealand medicine that did it. But if Martin has so much as a sip of alcohol it could be deadly, iirc.

He seemed well and in good health at the show last year.

Oh, for sure, they and he were great live last year.

See I thought the hep c was gone as of 2015 or so, but then sometime later he got that bad prognosis during the filming of the documentary, but this is why I'm asking. I haven't actually seen the film yet.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/92358051/the-chills-dying-front-man-martin-phillipps-is-given-miracle-reprieve-from-hepatitis-c--just-weeks-from-the-end-of-his-final-tour

As Martin Phillipps drove across the North Island as part of The Chills' reunion tour, he received a call to tell him that it would not be his last.

Phillipps, the driving force behind The Chills, had been suffering with Hepatitis C since the 1990s. The virus attacked his liver for almost two decades, and in 2016, the 53-year-old musician was told he had barely a year to live.

The disease, coupled with heavy drinking, had taken its toll on his liver and was now threatening to end his life. "It got to the point where I was warned that even mouthwash with alcohol in it could kill me," he said. But as The Chills made their way to Napier for the latest leg of their 11-stop national tour, Phillipps got the extraordinary call from his doctor to say a New Zealand-pioneered wonder drug named Harvoni, his last line of defence, appeared to be working.

That must have been a heckuva a feeling to be on the receiving end of that phone call.

The doc was really well made. Phillipps seems a tough man to get close to, but that is ironically maybe the movie's hinge.

Hey, new single

https://thechillsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/youre-immortal

gotten to the point that this is one of those threads that scares me every time it's bumped, even though lately it's been good news.

The world's insane BUT new album in April!

https://thechillsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/scatterbrain

A ray of sunshine in this dingy world. Good to see he's not deviating from his album title shtick.

omg! still haven't gotten over the magnificence (and existence) of the last two

something to look forward to!

Is Phillipps actively suppressing Brave Words these days? It remains their only pre-millenial LP I've never seen in the flesh, in any format, a pattern now extended to the conspicuous absence from Spotify and Bandcamp.

pre-millennial, rather.

The Homestead CD used to be legion in the used bins around here

(it's a fantastic album, which I assume they'll re-release once they come up with a conforming title for it)

Haha. That title business is endlessly amusing.

I just found myself praising BW in what must have been one of my earliest posts. I guess I've been using mp3/etc copies for some two decades then. o_O

It's well known that Martin hates the production on Brave Words. I had a chat with him last time I saw the Chills live and he was adamant that he's still going to remix it. I'd be surprised if it resurfaced with the original mix.

I never thought the mix was that bad. In fact I prefer it to the reverb-swamped professionalism of the albums that followed, I wonder if he thinks it just sounded cheap?

loved the Chills so so much. "Pink Frost" one of the great tracks.

― Dr Morbius, Thursday, October 9, 2008 7:41 AM (twelve years ago)

The Homestead CD used to be legion in the used bins around here

― fbclid=fhAZ3l (f. hazel), Friday, January 29, 2021 12:54 AM (twelve hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

was lucky to come across one of those a few years ago. definitely sounds better than the mp3s I had.

I personally don't think Brave Words sounds bad, maybe it was the relationship with Mayo Thompson? Felt had a similiar experience, Lawrence was so disappointed with Thompson's production that he considered throwing the tapes into the Thames.

honor the monolith

I don't really love The Chills right now, I don;t know why I started this thread 13 years ago!

A pretty idiosyncratic selection in the Guardian today:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/15/from-eerie-folk-lullabies-to-bouncy-b-sides-ten-of-the-chills-best-songs

Kiran’s a great follow on Twitter, not surprised she came up with that list.

oh shit, I didn't even realize the new album was out!

The new album's another solid winner.

seems the record store's having trouble keeping it on the shelves! I'll try again in a few days

I love the sequencing of Scatterbrain -- the first half's mortality suite, then the second's return to earthly things, like he's granting permission. We're each alone, and yet.