It drives my oldest kid
crazy that I don’t keep a constant list of my top ten favorites of everything
in my head (or my ALL TIME FAVORITES, for that matter), but the Church are one
of my favorite bands - a lengthy career
with a lot of high-quality, varied releases and an excellent lyricist (and twin
guitar attack).
So………… the new album is kind of disappointing, which
bums me out. Maybe it’s a grower, we’ll
see. The last one (FURTHER/DEEPER) was
consistently great and gripping right from the first listen, so maybe that’s
part of the problem - this new one just
seems to be float by for most of its length.
Nothing really sticks, and the guitars never really seem to take
off. Additionally, Kilbey’s lyrics are
starting to get a little shaky. He’s got
the Sonic Youth problem. Their hipster
boho lyrics worked on earlier stuff like EVOL and DAYDREAM NATION, but really
started sounding silly as the band passed their mid-30s. Well, that and the fact that DAYDREAM NATION
was a career musical peak, and then they just ran around in circles for 20 more
years while dippy old critics like Christgau
raved about their awesomeness. But he’s always been a bit of a pretentious
dipshit.
Anyhoo, Kilbey’s lyrics
seem to be encountering this age-centric problem, too. Some of the shit on this new release sounds
like either a sad failed attempt to be “cool” and “now”, or else it sounds just
plain silly (“For King Knife”, I’m looking at you).
So, we’ll see. Like I said, maybe this one will grow on
me. I’ve been saying the same thing
about FORGET YOURSELF and UNINVITED, LIKE THE CLOUDS for years now, too, but
those had a different configuration – 1/3 greatness, 1/3 decent tunes, 1/3
generic fuller. After my first 3 or 4
listens, I still haven’t picked out any real high points on this new one. No real low points, either (beyond some of
the lyrics), but I was kind of hoping for more.
Oh well. I’ll always have GOLD
AFTERNOON FIX, I suppose……
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