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Source: Otago Univ. Students Assoc. Mag. (Otago, NZ)
Issue: Date: Jul, 1994
Subject: Review - Sometime Anywhere
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SOMETIME ANYWHERE
THE CHURCH
WHITE RECORDS
BY Barry ?

The Church are back with a new album. And no, by this I do not mean the St John's Church choir has released another album of all your favourite hymns. The Church are an Australian rock (very loose use of the word) who have put out a number of jolly good albums. When some bands release albums you don't get a lot of music for your money (a lot of "dollar-a-minute" hardcore bands spring to mind). The Church give you two albums in this package: Sometime Anywhere (which goes for an hour and a quarter) as well as a seven track bonus album entitled Somewhere Else (another half an hour). Wow!

Somewhere Anytime is what I would describe as a relaxing, laid back album. There are a lot of atmospheric, sort of ambient instruments here. Great passive listening. If I had to compare these to another band I'd try Pink Floyd. The non-instrumental, lyrical songs are also very good. They are also very atmospheric, almost light industrial in places. Perhaps this would be what Ministry would sound like if Mr Jourgensen had a happier, more peaceful childhood. Seventy-five minutes of pure-relaxing bliss.

Next up Somewhere Else. This is a slightly different fish of kettle. This contains seven songs recorded in different places round the world at different times. These are a lot more rockier than those on Sometime. I still wouldn't describe The Church as a "kick arse rock 'n' roll band" (thankfully!) Some of these songs, vocally, remind me of Mr Bono Vox from U2. Another distinction between the two disks is that this contains no instrumentals. This is a big plus in my book as the listener can choose the style/type of music to suit their mood.

Overall: a very good album with a bonus disk that thankfully isn't "more of the same" but has some very good songs on it. Seven out of ten.

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