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Gold Afternoon Fix

The monumental recording that Starfish is was always going to be a hard act to follow. Gold Afternoon Fix isn't a bad album by any stretch, just not a great one. The recording was plagued by all sorts of drama according to rumour; Ploog's firing from the band (or him leaving it), disagreements over production, etc. and the album suffers as a consequence.

The production on Gold Afternoon Fix sounds awful, to put it bluntly. The drumming (machine or human) is flatly recorded on most tracks and Kilbey's vocals seemed stretched and less than impressed. This sad fact when coupled with some downright awful music adds up to disappointment. It starts off promising enough with Pharaoh, a sleeper along the lines of Destination from Starfish. Then we come to Metropolis. I like it; it's a great song and deserved a bit better chart success than it got. A great track. Terra Nova Cain is one of the flat drumming songs.

Apparently a drum machine was used to imitate Ploog's original drafts for these songs and on this song it sounds like it. A drawn out drama about nothing in particular and actually an effort to listen to on repeated listenings. City bounces back into meditative excellence and Monday Morning takes it one step further, a lovely track reminiscent of rainy days in the inner suburbs of Sydney in old terrace houses. Russian Autumn Heart sung by Marty is a rocker, though constrained by the production to a large degree.

No idea what he's really singing about, but he sings it with vigour. A great song and up there in the top four on this album. Essence closes side one (on the cassette and LP anyway) and is one of the album's nothing songs. You're Still Beautiful is the worst song this band have released as a single.

It's a downright dirty dog of a song, to be blunt. Kilbey thinks he is Morrissey lyrically and the music is tinnishly recorded and presented. Since the song contains the word "fuck", the release-for-radio single had a weird drum roll over where Kilbey sings it. Oh well.

Disappointment is a wonderful track, sonorous, close to being the albums highlight, a real reflective and memorable song; shame about the drums though. Most reviewers of this album chose this as the album best. Transient is sung by Peter, and frankly, blows. Like As You Will on Heyday, the track sounds so "same-ish" and the flip-flop drumming doesn't lend aid to the cause either.

Monotonous giving musical meaning. Laughing is the albums highlight. Extraordinary stuff, delicious sad music here; hard to describe. Fading Away brings the drums to the fore and is a very strong and positive track. Grind, which closes the album, sadly describes it. A laborious track to end what was obviously a laborious album to craft. They bounced back in a big way for their next platter.

Summary A not-too-bad album made at a hard time for the band. The hard times show all over this platter and should be listened to as a "transitional" piece of work.

Priest=Aura

Good-bye Richard Ploog, enter J D Dougherty. Dougherty's drumming leaves Ploog's in the dust. Although he is credited with co-authorship on many of the songs here, there is an air of temporary session musician here, and this is the first and last album he did with The Church. Nonetheless, Priest=Aura is an excellent album. It combines the shimmer dream pop of Heyday with the near-abysm of Seance without sounding like a merger of the two.

The production, by Gavin McKillop is a light year ahead of the utter mess of Gold Afternoon Fix. Aura leads off the album, a chanting, driving tune. Ripple, a single, is an album highlight, continuing the shimmer along the path to glory. Paradox is a slight letdown and one of the platter's weak links for no reason I can put a finger on.

Lustre gets back on track nicely. Swan Lake was reviled by a few reviewers of the time of being coy and somewhat silly. Crap, it isn't that bad a song with some lovely cynical lyrics. Feel continues the cynicism onward and upward as does Mistress, which is another album highlight.

Kings is a brilliant cut - jangling and mysterious, the air is full of secrets waiting to be revealed. Dome is a straightforward track, though lyrically The Church go for science fiction about the fall of a domed city and their civilization. Witch Hunt is a sinister little effort leading up to The Disillusionist.

A stark and energetic song. A chanting chorus tells us The Church a trying to make some point with this song. What is it? Who cares; the song rocks. Old Flame carries the cynicism into Psychedelic Furs territory here; a short but not so sweet treatise on lost loves.

Chaos is a monumental song. Song doesn't describe this track in apt terms I'm afraid. A band going off in the studio using all their musical talent would be more appropriate. Awesome in every way, listen to that middle section! The reality generator has malfunctioned! Astounding, astonishing, this has to be the weirdest thing this group has ever done and it comes off in a big way.

After the rampant dynamism of Chaos, Film counterpoints the energy with reflection. An acceptable instrumental and a damn fine way to finish off an album, while not The Church's magnum opus, is a great polished effort.

Summary Great stuff, but the start of the decline of The Church as a commercial act. That's not a bad thing, but this group deserves more than just cult act status in this day and age.