The Church - Starfish
Product Information
Track List: Starfish
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- DestinationDownload & Buy
- Under the Milky WayDownload & Buy
- Blood MoneyDownload & Buy
- LostDownload & Buy
- North, South, East and WestDownload & Buy
- SparkDownload & Buy
- AntennaDownload & Buy
- ReptileDownload & Buy
- A New SeasonDownload & Buy
- Hotel WombDownload & Buy
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Album Details: Starfish
- Release Date:
- 02/16/1988
- Label:
- Arista
- UPC:
- 078221852128
User Reviews: Starfish
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Starfish
, September 4, 2006Reviewer: Robert K - See all Robert K's reviews -
Captured a moment
, May 1, 2003Reviewer: thechang7 - See all thechang7's reviewsStarfish captured a dreamy, hazy moment near the end of the Eighties, fusing Television style guitar textures, REM style folk-punk pop, and 60s psychedelia (The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Nick Drake, etc.). Starfish combined all of this with the minimalistic melodic atmospheres that U2 and Brian Eno laid claim to with Joshua Tree. Where U2 had the urgency of The Who, The Church had more of the meandering, childlike quality of Pink Floyd and Syd Barret. Every song on Starfish sounds inspired and well-crafted; and the whole is cohesive, even with three lead vocalists - a rare feat for most bands of the Eighties. The closing song, Hotel Womb, is a hazy Summer daydream of a song that suggested mysterious and fruitful things to come. What followed were only a few truly transcendant moments(Metropolis,Priest=Aura) but like Cocteau Twins, or The Cure, The Church seemed to fall out of step with the aggressive direction that alternative music took in the Early Nineties, and it caused them to lose their balance. However, with Hologram of Baal, they not only found their stride again, they also produced an album that was as beautiful and consistent as Starfish, and more effortless sounding. ...
read all (6) user reviews for Starfish
Pro Reviews: Starfish
| EXPERT RATING: From AMG Reviews Signing to Arista might have seemed an unusual move to start with, getting produced by L.A. studio types like Waddy Wachtel even more so. But for the Church the rewards were great -- if sometimes too clean around the corners in comparison to the song-for-song masterpiece Heyday, Starfish set up the band's well-deserved breakthrough in the States. The reason was "Under the Milky Way," still one of the most haunting and elegant songs ever to make the Top 40. As Kilbey details a lyric of emotional distance and atmosphere, the band executes a quietly beautiful -- and as is so often the case with the Church, astonishingly well-arranged -- song, with mock bagpipes swirling through the mix for extra effect. That wasn't the only strong point on an album with more than a few; the lead-off track "Destination" was as strong an album opener as "Myrrh," if slower paced and much more mysterious, piano blending through the song's steady pace. The rest of the first side has its share of highlights, such as the quietly threatening edge of "Blood Money" and the confident, restrained charge of "North, South, East and West." Willson-Piper gets to lead off the second side with "Spark," a vicious, tight rocker that captures some of the best '60s rock edge and gives it a smart update. Equally strong is Kilbey's "Reptile," with an appropriately snaky guitar line and rhythm punch offset against weirdly soothing keyboards. Koppes has an okay vocal to his credit on "A New Season," but the stronger tracks are Kilbey's other contributions, the strong guitar waltz of "Antenna" (with great guest mandolin from David Lindley) and the closing charge (and very Church-like title) of "Hotel Womb." Performances throughout are at the least fine and at the most fantastic. - Ned Raggett, All Music Guide |
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The Church Biography
Best known for the shimmering "Under the Milky Way," their lone Top 40 hit, the Australian band the Church combined the jangling guitarpop of '60s icons like the Byrds with the opaque wordplay of frontman Steve Kilbey to create a lush, melancholy bra...Full The Church Biography
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-- ©2008 All Media Guide, LLC
Pros: etheral
Cons: way too cool for themselves
A beautiful album. Other albums had a few songs which were good. All the songs on this album are fantastic.