Old people get confused easily. Also, it's funny.

Thanks. In a way that is all what I was looking for: one person to connect to the music of The Church.

https://i.imgur.com/JEQK3kq.jpg?1
^ click the jpeg for a vinyl recording on YouTube complete with skips.

This one was a "meh" for me. Never got into them back in the day and the passage of time hasn't changed my opinion of the band. They sound like a lot of other bland, boring, early 80's/mid 80's pop/rock groups of that time. The musicianship is good but nothing in the music, lyrics, or vocals stands out or seems particularly exciting. The production sounds typically bright/clean and treble oriented for albums of that style and time, which is something I've never liked. If there were any rough edges to the music, it's as if they were smoothed off and polished to the point of blandness.

The last 3 tracks were the only songs I found slightly interesting enough to listen to a second time but I probably won't return to them again. Not a particularly bad album, it just went in one ear and out the other without captivating my attention or imagination.

5/10

Before I ever became a member of Music Banter I would recs from articles from guitar rags I find here and there. I've read about Television, Nick Drake and Sonic Youth before I ever heard one note by them. I always have a special attachment to recs that come from guitar players. In those interviews I found out who influenced Steve Howe: Les Paul, Chet Atkins and Wes Montgomery. I thought since they were his influence I had to checked them out. They became my favorites as well. So long story short, I've seen this band mentioned by Peter Buck and the Edge. I thought well if they mentioned them I have to checked them out. I was thinking here Peter Buck from Georgia and Edge from Ireland and they both mentioned The Church? Who are they? I gotta hear this band. So I did and I was hooked.

I've also read that The Church mentioned The Beatles, the Stones and Pink Floyd as an influece. I hear other similarity between other bands though I am not certain. When I hear Marty Willson-Piper play the twelve string I think more of Roger McGuinn that anything else. I don't think of every other Jangle pop band. In fact if anything The Church were more ahead of the curve for neo-Psychedelia and ethereal sounds. It's more likely they were influential to other 80s bands.

My main interest are guitar bands. I think The Church especially in their early days are one of the best. However another one thing I think that really set them apart from other bands is the singing and the lyrics. I love Steve Kilby's voice, I think it is one of the best in Rock. When I hear him sing I am always trying to figure out who sounds like, and in my opinion I think it comes down to this: Steve Kilby is blend of Ian Hunter, Marc Bolan and Peter Perrett. Not so much the exact vocal style but the sound of his voice. Steve Kilby is also one of my favorite lyricist. His lyrics are very imaginative and can paint an incredible story with a few words. Fields of Mars and A Fire Burns are good examples. Both are tied as my favorite songs on the album. All the other are tied for second. There isn't a bad song on the album.

Blurred Crusade came out in '82, the same year as Shabooh Shoobah. I never met anyone who knew of The Church, plenty who knew INXS. I always thought that The Church had an individual sound that got under my skin, and the songs are dear to my heart. They truly are a band of skin and hearts.

Since this was my first go I wanted to pick an album that would work for everyone - or more realisticly something that would't offend the majority. I was thinking of Dystopia but I thought well Nadia Oh! didn't go over so well, so I forego that album. I also thought of Gash but thought it would be too divisive for the club cause it is so left field. I thought The Only Ones would be too raucous of a Rock album so I ditch that idea too. The album I finally settles on was Release Me by The Like, but strangely enough rubber soul picked that album. I am still calculating that odds, of all of the million of albums that were ever release we were thinking of the same album.

I am not familiar with the crowd so I have no idea how to gauge my pick. Sorry if anyone found this to be too disappointing pick to participate it. I thought a good pick would help the Album Club - the better the album the better the Album Club, imo.

Man, anyone who can’t see this is a lost treasure is lost.

I will say that I'll take the Church over INXS any day (though Midnight Oil is my favorite Aussie band). I also discovered during my project that Starfish is actually going to make my top twenty-five when the time comes so maybe later era Church isn't all meh :)

It's like someone thought that, hey, Midnight Oil is a little bit too exciting, so lets replace the singer with some guy from the local karaoke bar and replace any musically interesting bits with cut-rate U2.

Pleasant music, I suppose, but I guess I see why I've never heard of this band. I definitely don't see anything about them that stands out, compared to so many other 80's bands in a semi-similar vein.

"What's a hook? Who needs them anyway. This isn't radio oriented music after all - oh wait, it is! ****! We forgot the hooks! Oh the horror! Well... too late, the album is all wrapped up and we're too nice and docile to make a fuss."

Occulthawk, no one considers this a lost treasure, because it isn't one.

Just kidding. I'm not good at playing the opinionated jerk. But I personally find this album tedious and unremarkable.

Disliked it somewhat as I couldn't stop checking how many songs were left for me to go through.

Church. :)

It's far from my favorite Church album, but it's still very good. "I'm Almost With You" in particular is a classic.

Oh brother