From: Robert Cullen, oceaenica@yahoo.com
Subject: Comparing Church releases
Date: 2/9/2002 9:41:12 AM
To: seance@lists.no-fi.com


Seancers...

I've been a Church fan since Starfish. I was in Japan
at that time with the Marine Corps, and the album
struck me as a beautiful diamond in the rough. Poison,
Guns and Roses and the rest of the big hair 80s trash
mainstream was all the rage. I have never been a Top
40 kind of guy. I have always been drawn to the
darker, brooding stuff like Scary Thieves, Sisters of
Mercy, Bauhaus, etc. I have since bought every Church
album that has hit the presses and am now waiting for
a couple of older CDs that I ordered from Whammo to
arrive to complete my collection.
I order an album and then forget about it. When it
arrives, I do have expectations, but I never compare
one Church album to another and here is my reasoning:

The Church, like any successful, long-lived band, have
lives like we do, and every album that they have
released and will release act as sonic chapters that
chronicle the members lives, albeit from a psychedelic
and/or altered-plane point of view. Every album is an
extension of the members' individual life point of
view. I accept what they play and see it for what it
is, although from my own perspective. Like most people
who listen to the Church, I conduct lyrical analysis
as well, and let the lyrics settle where they may. I
occasionally hear snippets of Church songs from the
newer releases that take me back to Japan and the
orient in my mind's eye, despite the album having
never existed at that point. Too many people get their
hopes up and then try to compare one album to another.
I've found that this leads to dissapointment more than
ecstatic joy over a particular release.
I don't have a favorite Church album, only favorite
songs. I make it a habit to listen to an album several
times and at different times of the day. I always
listen to them alone as no one I know likes the Church
or has even heard of them, which is their loss, not
mine.
As far as some members finding it hard to find some
Church material, I say that this is a good thing,
despite the frustration. It lends to making the music
all the more valuable to you and more personal. We
listen to a band, that while not mainstream, is
successful among themselves and the hordes of loyal
listeners the band counts as fans.

Thanks for enduring my 2 cents worth...

Robert


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