From: Tara, night_of_light@yahoo.com
Subject: After everything, I finally got the new album!
Date: 2/14/2002 5:53:25 PM
To: seance@lists.no-fi.com


I feel a bit odd trying to say anything after the initial wave of reviews 
and the list going quiet.  It's like trying to jump onto the back of a 
wagon that's already gone by.  But I have to get this out, it's almost too 
much!
I've had my first listen to the album, with headphones, and it's so 
amazing.  I was tempted to bypass the songs I'd already been exposed to 
like "Seen It Coming" and "Radiance" and "Numbers" because they had almost 
no impact on me when I've heard them in the past.  But something told me to 
try out the album as a whole, with all the tracks in order and it was 
truly, truly magical.  When taken as a big cohesive work, this has to be 
the most impressive Church album I've ever heard.  I spent a lot of today 
listening to tracks from MATS and Sometime Anywhere that I'm only just 
starting to like now after YEARS of listening.  But I LOVED this album 
right off the bat.  As "Seen It Coming" began, I felt horrible because I 
realized that the album was almost over and I didn't want it to end.  I 
can't single out any particular song as moving me more than any other 
because I think the impact of it came from everything fitting together so 
well.  The segues between songs were wonderful, though, and I have to say 
that the segue from "After Everything" into "The Awful Ache" made "The 
Awful Ache" seem so truly special to me, even though I've heard it before 
and wasn't that knocked out by it.  It gave the song this anticipatory 
feeling:  "SOMETHING is coming."  And SOMETHING did.  Something beautiful.
One thing that did jump out at me, and almost distracted me, but not quite, 
was the "Pictures of Matchstick Men" middle part of "Reprieve."  Did anyone 
else notice this?  Would this be considered to be a middle eight?  ;)  It 
seems to be a song constructed of three totally different parts that are 
held together by the repeated verses, so does it even have a middle eight?
This album was definitely worth waiting over two years for.  And if I had 
any doubts about going to see the band before, they're gone now.  I have to 
hear these songs live!!  A beautifully realized package, from the songs to 
the production, to the packaging.  Those images on the cover and back could 
not fit in more perfectly.

Stick me with a fork, I'm done!
Tara


"I can't explain what I mean.  And even if I could, I'm not sure I'd feel 
like it." -- Holden Caulfield


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