Sometime Anywhere
by The Church
REVIEWS and COMMENTS
This album is like listening to the Church through a fractal diamond, with facets of what they sound like in alternity, layers of styles intersecting. What if they'd been a pop band, a dance band, a grunge band, a ballad band, a prog band, a goth band, etc. Does it always fully work? No, but it is always at the very least interesting, and at its very best wonderful.
8 (out of 10)
The Church have the reputation of making high quality albums all along their career. One could argue about which one is best, every fan has its own favorites. If I loosely interpret George Orwell the saying: 'All albums are equal, but some are more equal than others' could be applicable in this case. "Sometime Anywhere" is one of those 'more equal' albums, although the debate continues among The Church affectionados [sic] up to this very moment. Lemon Recordings, a division of Cherry Red, has decided to re-issue this album with it's arty cover, slightly reminiscent of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Which is not that strange, because The Church owes a great debt to '60s psychedelia.
The opener "Day of the Dead" relies on the dynamic percussion and the foggy guitars. It has an engaging rhythm and the overall feeling is one of lovely decay. Steve Kilbey's poignant tenor adds that extra sense of acuteness. His lyrics are even more austere on "Lost My Touch". He delivers them in a declamatory style during the verses, the sense of alienation is all around. But the chorus is mellow, especially due to the background vocals. Combining contrasts has always been a strong asset of The Church. "Loveblind" on the other hand is straightforward kind and soothing, a real "late summer evening" song. Subtle strings and narrative lyrics do the trick. On "My Little Problem" Steve Kilbey renders you a look into his own personal thoughts. In a cryptic way, of course, because he is the master of mystifying messages. "The Maven" has a special place reserved for Marty Willson-Piper's excellent guitar play, pouring out a nearly two minutes solo. Steve sings his throat sore on "Angelica", the electronic percussion gives the song a swinging nature. The violin intermezzo adds a mediative element to the track. On "Eastern" this sound is elaborated on with fine results. "Lullaby" is a bona fide ballad, but it lacks the immediate attraction of "Business Woman". This song was an attempt to measure up to the success of their 1988 hit "Under the Milky Way". On "Two Places at Once" Marty Willson-Piper and Steve Kilbey duet vocally for the first time, having each written separate lyrics to the music. The result was two different personalities combining their strengths to create something quite unique. The Marty Willson-Piper sung "Fly Home" veers between etherealness and firmer interludes; he stretches it to almost nine minutes. It flows over in "The Dead Man's Dream", a dreamy, trance-inducing arrangement due to the repetitive guitar riff, textured keyboards, and overlapping vocal lines.
As an introduction to The Church, "Sometime Anywhere" is a questionable one. Not because of the musical quality, but because Peter Koppes (founding member and lead guitar-player) is lacking on this album, which does affect their sound from time to time. On the other hand, if you like this one you'll probably want to delve deeper into their discography. "Sometime Anywhere" is for everyone who is not afraid of listening to more intelligent rock.
The news early last year that The Church were now reduced to two members, Steve Kilbey and Marty Wilson-Piper [sic], and that they would henceforth restrict their activities to the studio, came, it must be admitted, as something of a relief — their live shows becoming increasingly phatic gestures, their songwriting ambitions far outstripping the standard two-guitar line-up with which they were saddled.
Yet the resulting album is in one sense a disappointment, being for the most part nothing more surprising or less engaging than another Church album. Indeed, it seems puzzling, given their stated desire to be liberated from the conventions and constraints of a rock band, that tracks like Day of the Dead and Loveblind are so typically Church-like, so classical in form; each could have been taken from 1990's Gold Afternoon Fix, or for that matter from Starfish.
This is, however, not to deny that most of Sometime Anywhere is excellent. While one wishes more risks had been taken, more styles and sources chewed up and assimilated (only a few tracks here — Angelica, Lost My Touch, Eastern — expand upon their guitar-pop origins, or take full advantage of their studio settings) their command of that style for which they're renowned remains formidable. Ironically, had they kept their ambitions quiet, this album would have seemed a coup; as it is, it smacks of compromise.
★★★ (3 stars)
STEVE Kilbey is a reluctant member of the rock is dead school but fortunately it hasn't depressed him enough to stop production of another intriguing, mesmerising Church album. The band — well, due would be a better description with Marty Wilson-Piper [sic] now the only other active member — convened a year ago to write and record this gem at Kilbey's home studio in Sydney. Not surprisingly, the delay in release was caused by The Church's American record company who asked in their inimitable style: "Yes, Steve, but where's the hit single?" when they first heard these tracks. Working together and without an outside producer overseeing things, Kilbey and Wilson-Piper have been able to indulge themselves thoroughly and it's to the listeners advantage. On this album, The Church explore a range of styles from the dream-like Day Of The Dead to the Spanish flavoured The Maven, ambient techno beats of Angelica and the lush pop of Two Places At Once. Only the dull My Little Problem fails to reach the high standards set.
Everyone were just too busy following the antics of a straggly, strung out "movement" in Seattle to bother noticing the splendid craftsmanship which thanks to Arista was in just about every record store around. Even now, I see this gem sitting in the used bin far far too often and I know precisely how it got there: the owner had no patience. All good works of art demand a bit of give and take from their audience, no one was ready for this kind of request though. You literally got what you gave when you put it on and if you didn't go all the way, the only feeling you'd get would be one of exasperation. But if you trusted them with your time and believed in what they were doing, your faith would be rewarded ten fold.
Now reduced to core players Steve Kilbey and Marty Willson-Piper, The Church has made the album that should finally earn the band its long promised crack at mainstream exposure. An atmospheric, 77-minute collection of sweeping mood pieces featuring some of the duo's most accomplished songwriting. Sometime Anywhere is both dazzling and subtle, the dynamics of life and love captured with regal skill. Don't miss "Two Places At Once," the first-ever vocal duet between the two.
Since most of the Church's creativity came from Marty Willson-Piper and Steve Kilbey all this time anyway, it's merely a formality that they're continuing on as a duo. In fact, Sometime Anywhere takes on that more intimate, Tears For Fears style of collaboration, whereas the last two recordings displayed more of a rock band-style compromise. Mid-nineties psychedelia adorns songs like the hypnotic "Angelica" and the sideways careening hum of "Day Of The Dead." For past stylistic comparisons, try segueing Sometime Anywhere into the sonic hallucinogenics of the Church's 1980s opus Seance. From Alternative to Album to A3 [Album Adult Alternative], the Church grow texturally along with their core audience.
The backbone is a wash of chiming guitar and studio texturing, but this takes in anything from Arabic touches to a closing song that comes close to pastoral dub. Though marred by awkward, overblown lyrics, this has some fine tunes and comes close to realising its ambition. 3 out of 5.
★★★½ (3.5 stars out of five)
WHEN SINGER AND BASSIST Steve Kilbey quips, "Here is the maven, signing the check/He bought us dinner, so what the fucking heck" on Sometime Anywhere, he might be pondering the issue of commercial viability that dogged the release of Priest=Aura, from 1992, a vague record that fizzled quickly and was followed by the departure of guitarist Peter Koppes, a founding member of the Church.
But if "The Maven" is the Church's catharsis, Sometime Anywhere is the band's redemption. To make this record, Kilbey and guitarist Marty Willson-Piper stretch the boundaries of their vision during improvisational jam sessions, recording much of the material as they went along. The process was fruitful and the two opted to release some overflow as an additional seven-song disc, Somewhere Else.
The Church's spontaneity lends a vibrant honing to the dark beauty of the melodies on Sometime Anywhere, but getting ultimate gratification and catching the record's nuances will require a few listens. As classic Church components, the gorgeousness of Willson-Piper's chords and the seductive drone of Kilbey's voice are easy to grasp, but the songs on Sometime Anywhere are epics, many lasting more than five minutes. There are few pop elements here—nothing is as instantly palatable as the hooks in such Church favorites as "Metropolis" or "Reptile," nothing as direct as "Under the Milky Way."
Sometime Anywhere instead ventures down a dimly lit path, offering few clues to its destination and many surprises along the way. "Loveblind" features Eastern rhythms bobbing gently behind wind-swept guitars and envelops a self-examining parable played out as a detective story: "I pieced together clue by clue just what a faceless man would do.... In the mirror in my space was a man without a face." "Angelica" jets to the stars with shuddering rims, fiery violins and defiant sing speak from Kilbey: "The civilized gentleman isn't gonna be nice to you tonight."
Sometime Anywhere is ambitious in scope, but that ambition is not always realized. "Business Woman," a stiff satire, is a ridiculous take on extramarital affairs ("We should never have let [the label] hear it," Kilbey said in a recent interview) with the canned chorus, "Look at that businesswoman/She's not that much older than you." On "Lullaby," staid vocals mutter what amounts to a trite Christmas sermon: "We share and bear the message of your newborn son/We follow paths of fallen stars, in and out of mangers, other bars."
Yet when the record's expansiveness unfolds as lush panoramas like "Two Places at Once," the first single and the first-ever vocal duet between Kilbey and Willson-Piper, it gently bares the souls of its songwriters. When they echo each other with "I've been waiting, seems like eternity/They were so blind," you know they've reached their epiphany.
The transformation of the church into a studio-based group, after shrinking from a conventional four-piece to comprising only singer and bass player Steve Kilbey and guitarist Marty Willson-Piper, has yielded a dense score of giddy acid rhythms, dreamy lyrics and synthesised washes. Sometime Anywhere is psychedelia updated to incorporate all of the Brian Eno-pioneered electronic ambience with 1990s technology.
There is barely a noise on the album that hasn't been remoulded and smoothed into a wistful soundscape, flowing gently underneath Kilbey's half-serious Guru lyrics. They have almost completely discarded the traditional rock drums and guitar riffery of previous albums, preferring to trance out on the dance floor. Rhythmically they employ drum loops and added layers of percussion that U2 also thought were necessary to stay relevant in the age of dance music on Zooropa.
There is no song as irresistible as "Under The Milky Way" on Sometime Anywhere, but Steve Kilbey has produced one of his most charming melodies on "Loveblind," the current single. Several other songs strike you as worthy studio experimentations that in no case could be reproduced live.
Studio albums by bands that can no longer continue touring have a tendency towards lopsided self-indulgence, but the quality of the music on this album and its ability to exude a haunting, cloudy ambience make this album worthwhile.
Sometime Anywhere also includes a seven-track bonus disc, including "Drought" recorded live in Amsterdam (which strikes me as something like the Church's spiritual home city) and a collection of other noodlings by this imaginative duo.
★★★☆ (3 stars out of four)
Shimmering guitar lines and druggy vocals swirl through "SA," the latest record by Church remnants, singer-bassist SK and guitarist MWP. PK recently left the Australian band that has been lurching about the cusp of commercial success since the mid-80s with stellar discs like "Heyday" and "Starfish." "SA" does wallow a bit with SK's tormented vocals—and oblique lyrics—swimming amid MWP's neo-psychedelic licks. "Eastern" sparkles with a Middle Eastern flair, with violins swirling in counterpoint to MWP's deft strumming. Snatch the two-disc version, which adds another half-hour of music for $1.
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.
Wading through the Church's new "Sometime Anywhere" is, to put it mildly, a daunting task. The album's 13 songs occupy a sprawling 77-minute package, and that's not taking into consideration the 30-minute bonus disc.
Yes, it's a massively lengthy collection - and Steven Kilbey still sings like a low-key Bono - but "Sometime Anywhere" is a warm, compelling record. The Church hasn't scored a big hit since 1988's stunning single "Under The Milky Way," but the album meanders amiably, as if the band didn't have anything to prove. And considering the Church's immense and often excellent body of work, maybe it doesn't.
"Sometime Anywhere"'s lush, eight-minute single "Two Places At Once" (viva radio edits!) is simultaneously pretty and radio-unfriendly, insuring the album's place as a "for fans only" release. And that's too bad. The record strikes a likable balance between lazy pacing and ambitious arrangements, and it's a terrific mood-setter. (If you're looking for dancier Church material, the bonus disc features several catchy, hook-intensive cuts, and none of the seven tracks exceeds five minutes.)
Many music reviewers detest long records: After all, who wants to endure an 80-minute epic when you get the same pay for listening to a concise 20-minute EP? But as long as the quality is consistent, and it is here, there's nothing wrong with giving fans enormous quantities of music for their money. "Sometime Anywhere" is a languid, sleepy record, but there's plenty of it to go around.
Australian band the Church - once a quartet prone to ace hooks and stunning dual-guitar flights, now whittled down to multi-instrumental duo Steve Kilbey and Marty Willson-Piper - dives headlong into denser, darker territory on Sometime Anywhere (Arista). The reconfigured twosome makes the most of its new freedom, favoring a spacious, exotic sonic palette that's an effective vehicle for the subtle air of menace that suffuses the new songs. When the duo's pop sensibility does emerge, it's usually in conjunction with the album's more disturbing lyrics (for example, Kilbey's creepy confessional "My Little Problem"). As on it's previous effort, the also-adventurous Priest=Aura, the Church may be courting career suicide by downplaying its more accessible instincts in favor of mystery and insinuation. But Sometime Anywhere is dense and impressive, it resonates with repeat plays.
The Church has been pared down to only Steve Kilbey and Marty Willson-Piper, but the staff reductions have had little effect on the band's music. The Church's most notable traits have always been Kilbey's vocals and Willson-Piper's guitar, and the reduction in personnel seems to have brought on a broadening of their musical scope, stylistically and literally (most of the songs are well over six minutes).
Kilbey's sensibilities flirt with the quasi-visionary, and while his vaguely mystical poetics usually amount to a bunch of nonsense, they can at least be somewhat evocative. And regardless of how self-indulgent things get, the mystical twists are usually redeemed by steady musicianship and fluid guitar. "The Maven" is typical: it's too long, it's touched with Kilbey's vague mysticism, and emphasizing lines with a breathy "Yeah" is a little lame, but it can also be catchy. The music unfolds comfortably in such spacious surroundings, and Kilbey's vocals are rarely anything lass than pleasant.
There are a couple of typical old-style Church songs, like "Authority" and "Business Woman", which is catchy, dreamy, and radio friendly. Their forays into heretofore uncharted musical waters generally fail: "Lost My Touch", a rappish spin on U2's "Bullet The Blue Sky", is bad and features some pretty awful rhyming. "Eastern" is an instrumental marked by stereotypically eastern-sounding guitars that's not terrible, but, you know, and "Angelica" proves (in case anyone was wondering) that the Church and techno dancebeats don't mix.
"My Little Problem" is a pleasant and dreamy sprawl (over seven minutes) and "Two Places at Once" welds what are ostensibly two different songs. After writing the music, Kilbey and Willson-Piper went off separately and wrote lyrics; they alternate while using the same music: Kilbey sings his verses and chorus of "I've been waiting/seems like eternity/I've been waiting/waiting for you", then Willson-Piper does his part, singing his verse and chorus ("They were so blind"). They do this for a while (the song is almost eight minutes long) until the end, where the two parts blend seamlessly. It's songs like "Two Places At Once" that fans will most appreciate - it borders on the overwrought, but when they get it just so, it can be almost sublime.
Sometime Anywhere is the peerless masterpiece of the 1990's, not Radiohead's OK Computer. This album is so dreamy, creative and innovative it will perpetually expand your mind. The keyboards are great and they augment the stellar guitars and bass. Just imagine Pink Floyd, Radiohead and Steve Kilbey being in the same band. That's what "Sometime Anywhere" sounds like. The last song will blow your mind but it intoxicates like fine wine. All the songs are elaborate and musically fabulous. A long but perfectly crafted CD marvel!
The Church still inhabit that limboland of dream pop, where the Australian trio remain lost in clouds of both metaphorical and smokable substance. Two albums have passed since 1988's Starfish, the album that finally broke them, during which time they've taken stock of musical trends, especially at the slow, sultrier end of dance. But Sometime Anywhere is still a further refinement of the psychedelic louchness that has seen them grow into the space between The Only Ones and Talk Talk. The melodies are too soporific to penetrate deeply but you can still get heavenly-lost in several chorus lifts (the best being the sublime AOR leanings of 2 Places At Once, where songwriters Steve Kilbey and Marty Willson-Piper sing different sets of lyrics) and textures that would shame a Persian carpetweaver. ★★★ (3 Stars out of 5)
Ok, so only HALF the band are actually here...3/4 if you want to get technical, but Tim WAS still new here...
An album that is ALL OVER the place but it works and it works quite well after many listenings. I loved it right away though, but I can see where some might find problems with it as a staring point.
Day of the Dead continues their somber yet atmospheric opening track standard. Great great song with a creepy chorus that hooks you in.
Lost My Touch and Loveblind are experimental, but then so are Marty and Steve! This is the album where they get quite trippy and these songs are pure examples.
The Maven and Angelica are also flavored textures and are intriguing to listen to once the other tracks have grown on you (and they indeed do).
The standouts here are the epics...both My Little Problem and Two Places at Once are pure Church magic. Soft and gentle where they need to be, then bombastic and glorious in just the right measure. at 7+ minutes each, they are the rare exception the "long song" that never wear out their welcome.
Lullaby is a pretty little song that gets bashed by many fans as being wrong to put on an album. It's actually quite beautiful to listen to, even if it is kind of a Christmas tune. Steve's singing here is so lovely that is transcends any criticism that is unfairly leveled against it.
Likewise, Business Woman is pure pop and also quite catchy. True, it is not really a signature Church tune, but damn, at LEAST they were trying out different things here! It works because of their song-crafting capabilities more than it's moxie and is quite Beatlesque and fun.
Fly Home finds them once again in trippy Pink Floyd territory to astonishing effect. Marty's vocals are some of his best work here, along with the sharing of duties with Steve on Two Places at Once. I wish they would do that more often, since I think their vocals contrast so wonderfully on that song!
All in all, a wonderfully worthwhile offering from a band that still continues to astonish and amaze and will do so for a long time.
I quite honestly had to wait ten years to fully appreciate this album. I heard and liked some songs but didn't fully "get it" until I pulled the CD out of the closet one night and listened from beginning to end...WOW!
The Church have always been ahead of their time. I just some growing up to do.
Excellent, Excellent...
Melodic, flowing, introspective melody lines combined with textured and advancing rhythm layers. The lyrics for each track are in fact stories with, at times, very "cool-like" situations. In all the album is mesmerizingly engaging and likewise adventurous with historical perspective-A metaphor of hope for mankind.
Every time I see this album in the used section of a CD store, I feel the urge to buy it again. I don't understand why so many people don't appreciate this album for what it is. Don't compare it with the other ones; this one has a light of its own. Personally I think Dare Mason has a lot to do with the sound of the record. It starts where P=A left with the dark and haunting "Day of the Dead", followed by one of the most cruelly over looked and ignored Church songs, "Lost My Touch". This one is a gem, kind of electronic with a melancholic and dark melody that it's hard to get out of your head. "Loveblind" goes in the same direction as "Lost My Touch" but with more acoustic guitars and dreamlike female choruses, nice story by the way. My Little Problem is a nice melancholic song that grows on you after a few listens. The Maven is the hard rocking song of the album, followed by an almost dance song, Angelica, with a very interesting blend of guitar feedback and electronic beats, it has little oriental feel. 'Two Places At Once" is a mellow kind of romantic song (in a Church point of view), but not with a common story, do you believe in reincarnation? "Business Woman" and "Authority" are two songs that weren't suppose to be in the album, but I find them exquisite. If only pop would always sound like this. "Fly Home" and "The Dead Man's Dream" are two hypnotizing psychedelic peaces that will make you want to laid back and relax. If you're new to The Church and want to get a classic, may be this one isn't the right start, but never the less this is a hell of a good Church album. If you like SA, you may also like The Refo:mation.
A pared-down Church (reduced to Kilbey and Willson-Piper) produced this strange, psychedelia-meets-electronica-meets-god knows what as they struggled to retain the original vision of the band. At first listen overindulgent, the album reveals its treasures only after the listener peers past the over-bright gleam of the stylistic touches. In fact there are a multitude of soaring works here that take you to places no guitar duo has ever before. Pour yourself a drink, relax, turn the lights low (Kilbey would suggest a joint) and worship at the altar; no other response would do the band justice.