I have to admit, I have always had a thing for Australia's The Church. There are a handful of CDs, say 75, from 1988-1993 that exemplified what was then called Alternative Rock and Starfish was one of them. Most of you will recall the single "Under The Milky Way," but this record had some other great music on it as well. They say Starfish was recorded in Los Angeles and that this was the first time The Church had recorded outside Australia. They had a great single called "The Unguarded Moment" way back in 1981, but it was not smooth sailing for these guys. They struggled to get noticed and were dropped by their label over the ensuing seven years or so. They recorded a record called Heyday in 1986 that received some praise, but it was a relative commercial flop. Reading fan reviews these days many of their loyal following like it better than Starfish. High praise indeed as the saying goes.Pressed for my favorite Church song I could probably narrow the list to three. One would absolutely be Metropolis from Gold Afternoon Fix. I never ever seem to get tired of hearing that song. It just feels like ear candy to me. Two might be Ripple from Priest = Aura. And three has got to be North, South, East & West from Starfish. Every time this one pops onto my Sony iPod like device (about every 800 songs or once every three months in gym time) I get psyched. Nobody listens to The Church anymore; at least nobody I know, but getting down to this particular cut on Starfish? Anytime anywhere? Forget it. Not even at my favorite local watering holes. I wonder if they even play it in Australia somewhere once a year. So apparently it actually exists only in my steel trap mind forevermore. I don't care. So what if all of my long time concert going buddies have long given up that kind of life style? I still enjoy the heck out of seeing live music even if I have to go by myself.
Speaking of which, I saw The Church perform only one single time on September 9, 1988 at The Orpheum Theatre in Boston about eight months after Starfish was released. My memory is a bit hazy, but I could swear this was a great triple bill involving The Cult and possibly Lenny Kravitz. Don't quote me on the warm up acts, but the date is accurate as I'm staring at the ticket stub as I type. I used to work in a ticket broker's office and we had these great seats in the 14th row on the aisle for nearly every Orpheum event. I indulged in my share for certain. The 14th row might seem like nothing to some of you professional concert goers, but these seats were dead center and The Orpheum is tiny. You were about 20 yards from the stage inside what today is euphemistically referred to as the "Golden Circle." You know, the phrase that allows tiered pricing in concert halls these days? The face on The Church tickets was $18. $18! Today those seats would run you more like $118 in this overinflated economy. Has your income increased as much exponentially? Mine either...
Anyway, the homesick Church knocked this CD out inside of two months and then hightailed it out of glitzy schmaltzy L.A. It's been said that Steve Kilbey, lead vocalist for The Church, was forced to take voice lessons prior to recording this record with then famous producers Waddy Wachtel & Greg Ladanyi at the controls. There was a lot of misery and friction during the recording of Starfish, but the result was worth the hassle. Whatever the strife The Church went on to knock out three great records in a row and were college radio mainstays for a good long stretch. Their star faded pretty quickly after that, but I loved them. Today, unfortunately, their whole career is boiled down to one song about a hash bar in Amsterdam. I could get discouraged, but my fandom burns on and I still listen to them from time to time with admiration and a smile. I hope you feel the same way.
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