the chills c/d?

The songs are great (Dan Destiny!) but I think there was some issue with the production or mixing?

"Brave Words" was considered a little bit of a letdown after the initial salvo of singles and EPs. And definitely compared to "Submarine Bells."

wow, cannot get my head around this, as somebody for whom "Submarine Bells" was a letdown after "Brave Words," which remains the Chills I come back to.

Yes, it's better than Submarine Bells.

"Brave Words" was considered a little bit of a letdown after the initial salvo of singles and EPs. And definitely compared to "Submarine Bells."

This was definitely true at the time. "Brave Words" is very good, and shows Martin has matured as a songwriter after the punky early singles, but the reception was mixed. "Submarine Bells" was feted in the press and by fans as a major achievement, though personally I feel that "Soft Bomb" is the one that is completely underrated. I almost got into a car accident the first time I heard "Male Monster From The ID" on the radio, so transfixed was I. "Sunburnt" has the keyboards mixed way too high and loud and distract from the solid songwriting ("Come Home" is particularly great, should've been used over a romcom movie montage). "Sketchbook" is a set of demo which is surprisingly good. And it's a pity that "Secret Box" was so limited, it's chock full of brilliance.

Brave Words is my fave too, but I think the production was controversial. I think Martin Phillips himself dislikes it which is why it's hard to get. There's talk of a remix and reissue, which would be interesting.

I really like the production on Brave Words. Yes, it's muddy and muffled but that adds to the mystique as far as I'm concerned. Like Submarine Bells too but Brave Words is one of the top albums of the 80s for me.

I mean given that it came out in the same year as Hüsker Dü's Warehouse album the production doesn't seem too bad. Maybe they were after a pro 80s sound or somesuch, thankfully they picked Mayo Thompson to produce so that was never likely to happen.

Thanks for all the suggestions and yes, they are trying to remix it, but apparently they posted this a year ago:

THE CHILLS - BRAVE WORDS UPDATE

Very good news indeed! We are working with Martin and The Chills on a new reissue of Brave Words. As per Martin's instagram post above, we have most of the original multi-track tapes and these have have been digitised via the Alexander Turnbull Library. Work is underway on these tracks, but we still need to locate the third reel. As Martin says above, we are asking anyone who worked or recorded at The Point Studios, Belgravia, London in the late’80s to have a think and a look around just in case it can be located. We may have gotten to the bottom of this already, but if anyone has any further information please email us enquir✧✧✧@flying✧✧✧.c✧.n✧. Stand by, more release details and other info will be announced in the coming months.

(Anybody know if they ever found that missing reel?)

I should add that post came from Flying Nun. If by some miracle someone has an answer and can help them, the email address is: enquiries AT flyingnun DOT co DOT nz

yea pretty sure Brave Worlds is getting remixed/mastering process as we speak

Speaking of Flying Nun:

https://thirdmanrecords.com/collections/books/products/needles-and-plastic-flying-nun-records-1981-1988-special-edition

The remix is done - coming in 2023

https://www.facebook.com/thechills/posts/pfbid02riVuWeUu1hFzvQcvx5MCmP3Mqa2UhEp74G8pzJUa7v5o5WBMREWHsTK7tSnywRe8l

Excellent show tonight, though I was surprised that the late show was pretty empty compared to the early show.

Apparently they weren't sure what to call the tour, so you can ignore the "30th anniversary of Soft Bomb" label, it's basically a standard "fan favorites + stuff from the latest album" setlist.

Forgot to mention, it sounds like they’re in the process of releasing or recording ‘80s songs that were left on the shelf and they performed one called “Stay Longer” that was a highlight - the instrumental break alone was gorgeous.

Found this long interview with Phillipps for a New Zealand publication that's pretty excellent. They go into the unreleased songs project as well.

https://0800phantom.co.nz/martin-phillipps-chuffed-and-chilled-out/

Q: I notice that you did record an old song, ‘Lost in Space’ that goes back to your early days on that cassette Fire Records issued in 2016, Single-Burger…

A: Yeah, there’s a live version on Secret Box. (A three CD package of rarities, it had two limited press runs of 500 copies each.) Essentially because we didn’t get to record our first album for seven years there are at least two albums of Chills stuff that never got recorded. We’ve been talking seriously about making use of this downtime while we can’t tour overseas, and just nail those old songs one at a time and basically record what would've been the ’82 Chills album and the ’84 one.

I’m hoping that happens, there’s a lot of really good material. There are other things like ‘I Saw Your Silhouette’ and ‘Frozen Fountain’ and ‘Juicy Creaming Soda’, ’Steinlager’ crappy title but I have a different set of lyrics for it and it’s called ‘Stay Longer’. I reckon getting members of the old bands and the new bands together in a good relaxed environment, listen to the tape a few times, learn the songs and bash them out with as much of the old equipment we can find, not dwell on it too much, that would be a dream to finally record those.

Looks like the Chills cancelled their Detroit and Toronto shows due to exhaustion. They flew 16 hours into NYC then played two back-to-back shows the next day, so it's not that surprising. Hopefully Martin's voice will recover in time for Chicago.

Also *cough* http://wilfullyobscure.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-chills-secret-box-1980-2000-2001.html

huh. I was considering seeing them Friday, but had decided to sit this one out.

I see they're playing at Sleeping Village which actually feels like a venue for rock music whereas City Winery in NY is almost too posh and gentile, especially the new location which makes it feel more like a sprawling restaurant on the Hudson that happens to have a stage in the main dining room.

Menus alone couldn't be more different. A ton of beer (Pabst Blue Ribbon on top) vs. lots of fine wines and $30 salads and entrees.

Yeah, Sleeping Village. It's kind of a pain for me to get to.

DC show is at a City Winery that wants to be posh, but is simply overpriced for everything

Do people avoid City Winery because of the expensive menu? I know you don't have to buy anything, but I wonder if people do feel pressured into ordering something off the menu. As mentioned, it's not cheap beers or anything, you can easily spend more on food and wine than the show itself.

I like the City Winery, it's civilized! I don't order alcohol and get one dish and the cost is acceptable.

they played Austin last night it was pretty great... wish more people had turned up because they sounded really good. hope they get to tour again over the next few years so I have to chance to experience some different set lists. a lot of the newer songs sounded better than the classics!

It's been low turnouts (and as a result some bargain ticket promotions - $15 in L.A. IIRC) which is disappointing but I think the tour wasn't publicized well. I didn't even know they were playing at Baby's All Right in Brooklyn until I saw a post from someone else who's been following them closely. Unless you're actively following the Chills on social media, it's probably easy to miss word of these shows.

I noted somewhere else I think but that's been another effect of the death of alt weeklies and music journalism in general. no press, no previews, no listings or ads ...

If I didn't have another commitment on the 17th, I'd probably see them again, even if the setlist is likely to be the same. Who knows when they'll fly to the US again.

There are potentially lots of reasons why they may never tour the US again, unfortunately.

Saw them in Tucson on Friday. Not a great crowd, but bigger than I feared it would be. Band seemed in good spirits. Phillipps sounds great, especially for a 60 year old who has been through some significant health issues.

Just saw them in Boston, a fun gig, he's got a great young band that can add violin and trumpet as needed. He was in good spirits, very talkative from the stage but chose not to mingle after the show due to covid concerns. He said next year brings "Braver Words" and an album of old unreleased 80s material recorded by the current lineup.

They're playing tonight in Brooklyn at Baby's All Right. (Seems to have plenty of tickets left too.)

City Winery in Boston was only about half full, unfortunately.

It really is a shame, especially with ticket prices so low. (Tonight's show is only $20.)

On FB I saw someone saying that it was a mistake to have the Chills playing so many City Wineries as that club is less known for having pop rock bands like the Chills. Potential audience doesn't follow their schedule. City Winery wasn't able to reach out to the potential audience and as noted above less alt-weeklies. Younger arts editor of local online alt-weekly near me didn't highlight the show

Bingo. I only knew they were touring from this thread but couldn't make the show. They played a City Winery in DC with poor metro access on like a Monday, I can't imagine the turnout was good.

I'm sure they just went with places like City Winery for the money.

As I hypothesized on a couple of other threads, the death of free weeklies/music journalism/publicity etc. has I suspect taken a huge toll on touring bands. Especially with so many bands touring at once, it's just really hard for the average music goer to know what's going on, or what's worth seeing.

My wife has a co-worker who has taken up regularly going to concerts again, with the catch being she only buys tickets the day-of. She'll decide to see a show, look online and see what she can find, which sounds fun. Of course, if you're a relatively obscure band like the Chills, the odds of getting random concert goers are slim without someone bringing it to your attention.

Apparently Martin and several people in their crew came down with COVID after the opening NY shows, hence the cancellations in Toronto and Detroit due to illness. There was even a chance they'd cancel the entire tour for the same reason, but fortunately they recovered enough to do the remaining shows. Martin apologized for cancelling the Toronto and Detroit dates but said they'll be back - not sure if that means another tour is definite, but they will have a new release to promote fairly soon.

That’s rough, flying from so far and then getting sick.

"Party in My Heart" from the Brave Worlds remix/remaster released today. Comparatively sounds like someone just took a huge pile of dirty clothes away the front of my speakers. Really looking forward to hearing the new version of "Speak for Yourself".

(it's on Spotify)

Brave Words is sounding like a really good record today, via streaming. I doubt I would even have contemplated whether the sound quality was better if not primed by the years of chatter about the mix, but I'm prepared to believe that may be a subtle but significant factor?!? (I only previously had mp3 rips and it was less well imprinted on my brain than most of the early stuff as result, so I am not the best test subject.)

Just streamed the two tracks and it's definitely got more clarity and oomph compared to my CD. I'm probably alone in this but I'm slightly disappointed that it's seemingly not going to get a CD release.

You're not alone, mate.

all the recent new albums have turned up on CD... maybe they'll do it eventually?

I know it's not fashionable but woo hoo 'Brave Words: Spoken Bravely' is getting the 2 CD treatment!

Right there with you, happy to send Martin some dosh.

that's the stuff... will preorder CD and vinyl so they get some cash

Fashionable in my household.

Nice! I was wondering if that would happen. Besides the new mixes, a few "new" songs he was unveiling on the road were really good (basically finishing old songs that he kind of set aside and later included as-is on Secret Box). I imagine they may be included on this new deluxe set. Will definitely spring for it.

For some reason I never bothered with the Chills after "Submarine Bells" so today was the first time I ever heard "Soft Bomb" and my first impression is that it's really not very good at all. It's misleading because it's starts off with "Male Monster From the Id", which is great and sounds like the Chills, thereafter the album sounds like Martin Phillipps and some other people (which is apparently what it was) and there's a dearth of memorable songs. Winds down all the way to "Water Wolves", which is horrible.