GOLD AFTERNOON FIX

Doomed to be somewhat overlooked as the album that came between the much better-regarded Starfish and Priest = Aura, Gold Afternoon Fix finds the Church in a slightly more conventional mode than either of those two albums - not completely, but enough to give the sense that they are coasting just a little. At nearly 10 years into their career, they'd seen their jangle pop sound go from being cutting edge to a widely-imitated subgenre, and perhaps that's what makes this album feel a little slight - it doesn't quite have the edge of experimentation which allowed other efforts to stand apart from the sea of imitators.