Brisbane Australia

GREETINGS BANANA BENDER, FROM ADELAIDE

PERHAPS THE QUESTION SHOULD BE " IS THERE ANY PROG ACTION IN AUSTRALIA AT ALL!!!??"

THE ANSWER IS...........NOT REALLY

AH QUEENSLAND!!!, BEUTIFUL ONE DAY!! RAVAGED BY CYCLONES THE NEXT!!!

IF ITS NOT RECORD SNOWFALLS IN THE ALPS ITS DROUGHTS AND TALK OF DESALINATION PLANTS IN SYDNEY ONLY 300 MILES TO THE NORTH!! WHAT NEXT FOR OUR WONDERFUL COUNTRY ,ONLY MOTHER NATURE KNOWS

welcome brother!!

HEY ROBBO!!

ACTUALLY I KNOW VERY LITTLE OF THE CHURCH BEYOND THE ALBUM "THE BLURRED CRUSADE" AND THEIR VERY EARLY SINGLES SUCH AS "ALMOST WITH YOU" AND "UNDER THE MILKY WAY" BUT APPARENTLY THEY HAVE TAKEN A GREAT SWING IN THE PROG DIRECTION,THERE ARE A NUMBER OF ENTRIES IN VARIOUS THRAEDS CONTAINING CONSIDERABLE INFO ON THE CHURCH BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO DO SOME HUNTING(THIS FORUM IS GETTING REALLY BIG)MAYBE OTHERS READING THIS CAN SUPPLY FURTHER INFORMATION

RECENTLY, I DID A DISC OF EARLY 70'S AUSTRALIAN ROCK FOR A FORUM MEMBER AND I REALLY WANTED TO GET SOME EARLY PROG/PSYCHADELIA FROM BANDS SUCH AS KARVAS JUTE,TAMMAM SHUD,AND KING HARVEST UNFORTUNATELY I FOUND THAT THERE HAVE BEEN NO NEW PRESSINGS OF THE WORKS OF THESE BANDS IN THIRTY YEARS!!!.....VERY FRUSTRATING!!!!

by the way if you have not already done so try ALPHAOMEGA...AN AUSTRALIAN BAND VERY MUCH IN THE STYLE OF HAWKWIND(good to!!!)

AS A MATTER OF FACT THEY SHOULD BE IN THE ARCHIVES(MAYBE I SHOULD TELL MAX OR MAANI ABOUT THEM...)

THANKS FOR JOGGING MY MEMORY ,MOOSEMAN!!

I REMEMBER READING A QUITE DETAILED ENTRY ON THE CHURCH I WAS TRYING TO REMEMBER WHO WROTE IT!!!

I MUST BE GETTING OLD IN MY OLD AGE!!!!!(UGH!! 37 LAST JULY!!)

robbo:

As Master Rideout generously notes, I have done a complete series of reviews on the entire Chruch oeuvre, and was responsible for getting them added to the site.

IMHO (as expressed in my review series), The Church did not start out as a prog band, though they had some "latent" prog sensibilities as early as their second album.  And, indeed, they spent almost a decade as a very good rock band, with occasional interesting twists.  It was not until they issued "Heyday" that anything resembling true prog sensibilities was evident, and even then they were minimal.  "Gold Afternoon Fix" also had some budding prog sensibilities.

It was with the release of "Priest=Aura" that The Church "found their voice" as a prog band.  Heavily influenced by Moody Blues, Floyd, U2 and others (but with those influences "well-filtered"), you need only listen to the opening 60 seconds to realize that something marvelous had happened to The Church.  And, with the exception of "Magician Among the Spirits" (which was largely "weak" compared to everything else), every album The Church released since "Priest=Aura" has been unquestionably classifiable as "prog."  Indeed, "Sometime Anywhere," "Hologram of Baal," "After Everything Now This" and especially their most recent release, "Forget Yourself," are exceptional albums.

At the risk of sounding unhumble, I might suggest that you read through my reviews chronologically to get a sense of The Church, including their history and development.  And if you are planning to "get into" them, you might want to start by listening to "Seance" - an aberration during their early years, as it borders prog quite nicely, and is a fabulous album for its time - and then moving on to Heyday and Gold Afternoon Fix to get a sense of how they were changing.  Once you have done that, get Priest=Aura, unplug the telephone, turn out the lights, put on headphones, and prepare yourself for a wonderful experience.

Peace.

tuxon:

Glad I had some effect...  Hope you will investigate.

Peace.