The Church - Sometime Anywhere and Magician Among The Spirits
Sometime Anywhere
Exit Peter Koppes on guitar, enter Tim Powell on drums. Unlike the previous reviews, where I've ran through them song by song, I can honestly say I do not know any of the tracks off by heart or even vaguely. I bought the album when it was first released and it came with a bonus CD containing a few tracks.
I listened to Sometime Anywhere through quite a few times and my conclusion was that it sucked. I'm sorry...every track, to me, sounded identical and the album lacked any spark or memorable hooks. Maybe I should pick it up and give it another go?
Well,
Rush's Power Windows blew chunks when I first listened to it as well. I was accustomed to the sound of Rush circa 1980 and Power Windows sounded like Foreigner (perish the thought) to me. On many a repeat listen, the album coalesced into a beauty and remains on my favourites list. Maybe Sometime Anywhere can be the same? Possible.
Summary. Not much to say on it. I hated it; what can I tell you?
Magician Among The Spirits
Now this is more like it. This album is a swirling, trippy piece of fantasia. It does contain some dross (Lady Boy), but in the main it is a magnificent work. Doesn't hold a candle to Seance or Starfish yet I liked it from the first listen.
The production is a lot sharper than it was on the syrupy and soft Sometime Anywhere and the return of Peter Koppes to the fold guarantees a more consolidated band effort. Ritz and Grandiose are the standout tracks here, especially the former. It's a cover version of a Steve Harley and the Cockney Rebels song. It's probably the most over-the-top thing The Church has ever recorded.
Grandiose is an instrumental and it lives up to its title very well. The remainder of the album is probably in the Grandiose vein with two exceptions. The opening track Welcome is a very straightforward piece of music in which Kilbey rhymes off people he's known or thinks are influential, including former band-mates and producers.
Sorry guys, R.E.M did this sort of thing better with world events. Comedown, released as a single, throbs along OK. Naturally it went nowhere in the charts, not that anyone cared. Magician Among The Spirits is also the last Church album I've listened to. The next page is basically a collection of other album covers and assorted nonsense.
Summary. Weird and wonderful. Not commercial material, but in this stage of The Church's career, no one cares.
Coda
The band re-did this album a few years after as Magician Among The Spirits And Some. They got rid of Ritz and included a few new songs. Shame that re: Ritz, as it's one of the most delightfully extravagant things the band has released.
