The Church - Heydey (Yes, that's how they spelled it !)
By John Harrison

Every day seems to find another candidate for admission to the ever growing brotherhood of guitar-toting clans. Some of these are capable, even gifted,; yet there seems to be an inordinate number hell-bent on jangling us into submission or blinding us with radiant white badges with the words SINCERITY firmly embossed on them.

Yet, while a goodly number of these bands are the recipients of extravagant critical acclaim, The Church, which covered a lot of this territory (but with more style) three years ago, is practically ignored. In 1986 they still have crystalline guitars and rousing imagery that renders most of their imitators redundant, even if their latest offering Heydey (sic.) is at times a patchy proposition.

You are found wondering, for example, what a transcendental song like Disenchanted with its delicate filigrees is doing on the same album as a corpulent plodder like Tantalized, which sounds like nothing so much as sloppy U2 (erk! that name again !) outtake. Incredibly, it has been chosen as the follow-up to the taunting Already Yesterday. That amounts to a case of sabotage even the French Secret Service would be proud of.

It is a particularly strange choice because, apart from the overlong instrumental Happy Hunting Ground, the remainder of the material is as strong as anything the band has ever done, and that includes songs from the sublime Blurred Crusade. Myrrh, Columbus, Night of Lights (sic) and the aforementioned Disenchanted are The Church at their intoxicating best, with guitars that at once suggest tranquility and menace and the plaintive tease of their lyrics.

The production of Peter Walsh is laudable. He has enhanced the band's undeniable assets - the fragile elegance of Steve Kilbey's voice and those exquisite guitars, without trying to inject any form of unnecessary flamboyance into the mix. Consequently, the essentially muted beauty of The Church is left intact, something other producers have failed to achieve.

The Church presents a challenge to us all. They do not flounder like so many others trying to keep up with new trends; they do not have to because their music is eternal. If that means from time to time they're not considered 'hip', that doesn't seem to worry them and neither should it worry you. As long as groups like The Church stick around, guitar based pop will continue to breathe life.

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