Customer Reviews

Forget Yourself

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

One of the spacier bands to have survived the 80's, the Church continues to grow and experiment twenty years into their career. For all their atmospheric affectations, they really dig deep into some primitive material on Forget Yourself. After the beautifully progressive After Everything Now This, the biggest surprise of Forget Yourself is how much power they find in simplicity. Standouts are many, particularly "Song in Space", which always keeps its rocking feet on the ground, and their best song in ages, "Telepath".

Any band stetching into the quarter century mark would be happy to rest on their laurels. Not The Church. While "Forget Yourself" doesn't rank with their finest albums, it's another formidable stab at creating something new and interesting. Most of the time the album succeeds. Kilbey's elusive lyrics and his warm, mellow voice gain additional depth as time goes on.

Wilson-Piper and Koppes' distinctive guitar interplay and their unique solos give even the weakest cuts on the album something memorable. The songwriting is, for the most part, top notch. The opening track of the album grows from the sound of an ominous chord (almost like the reverse of the final chord of "A Day in the Life")gradually growing and blooming into a full blown song.

The stand out cuts include the opener "Sealine", "Appaltia" and "Telepath". Each cut goes in its own, unique and interesting sonic direction. For the band's 17th album, "Forget Yourself" The Church continue to challenge both themselves and their audience. It may not be perfection but it's close enough.

In answer to my above question above, I hope not. The Church has much more to offer. "Forget Yourself" is a fine cohesive effort, although I find much of the album somewhat elusive, in that it's not exactly easy to carry the tunes in your head. Because of the album's sheer length (which includes a second disc of basically what amount to three long Church-like soundscapes), I initially compared "Forget Yourself," to "Sometime Anywhere" which, in my opinion, also merited four stars. However, that's where the similarity ends. "Sometime" had more identifiable songs, which radically changed styles from one to another in a random and unpredicable way. "Forget Yourself" is much more uniform, and, really, not one track takes the listener by surprise, which is to say that the evoked mood remains fairly consistent.

That being said, there are some tracks that I really stand out for me. The opener, "Sealine," pretty much tells you what you're going to hear and serves nicely as a prelude to the remainder of CD One. "Telepath" and "Appalatia" rock a little harder than the others, and stand out (check out the Beach Boys-like beginning on "Telepath." I don't know if anyone remembers the band "Adorable" - they had a minor progressive radio hit called "Sunshine Smile" - but parts of "Telepath" and other bits and pieces on this album sounds alot like that obscure, out-of-print band). I adore the song "Maya," but I could be biased here - that's my daughter's name.

On CD Two, the fourteen minute instrumental "Serpent Easy," and the ten minute long "Cantilever" (which is reminiscent of past Church songs), have a distinctive meditative transcendent quality.

Until they release another album, I've now completed my reviews of all the studio Church albums of original material. Since I like lists, here are the Church albums that I've reviewed, from my most, to my least, favorite:

1a. Heyday
1b. Starfish
3. Hologram of Baal
4. The Blurred Crusade
5. Seance
6. Sometime Anywhere
7. Of Skins and Hearts
8. Forget Yourself
9. Remote Luxury
10. After Everything Now This
11. Priest=Aura
12. Gold Afternoon Fix
13. Magician Among the Spirits

I would be surprised if any other Church fan even comes close to agreeing with this list, because, after all, music is very subjective. But if you're reading this in the first place, I'm sure we can agree that The Church is an incredible, underrated band.

If you're like me, you come to realize that the best albums in your collection don't necessarily gel at first, but grow and grow like a creeping vine until you are enveloped. This is the case with "Forget yourself".

Quite a different production sound, difficult and upfront at first. If 'After Everything' felt like you were mid-way back in a theatre listening in, this one sounds like you're upfront in a small club gradually picking out the individual flourishes from each player. It's not easy at first.

But with time the insidious melodies, intelligent song structures and variety of musical patterns makes this an outstanding addition to the Church's chamber of music.

You find yourself continually picking it out from the shelf and hideously infatuated with these terse little tunes that are like beautiful itches, like "Song in Space" and "Sealine" and "Telepath". Then you are released, let down and caressed by the beauty of "Maya" and "Summer".

It's a wonderful, complex, gorgeous album. It doesn't feel like a band plodding out another ( what? 17th??) album. The band still sound interested and challenged, but don't lose sight of their key strengths - melody and arrangement. Great stuff.

Believe the hype! I am a long-time Church fan (since Starfish anyway). After listening to Forget Yourself many times since it first came out, I can say that even the songs I didn't particularly notice at first like "The Theater and It's Double" and "Maya" have grown on me. And "Sealine", "SIS", "Telepath", "Lay Low", and "Appalatia" are already inching their way up to being among my favorite Church songs.

It's really amazing how they can sound so different, yet still be identifiable as the Church. Yet I know it's still the Church because it does take several spins for the full brilliance of the album to unfold.

Forget the Milky Way. I am convinced the Church recorded this album during an extended jam while travelling back to earth from the Andromeda Galaxy. And somehow, they've managed to condense that million-year journey into a brilliant 60 minute pop album. Bravo!! And a warm welcome back to earth!

i gave up on this band after i heard priest=aura. the church were one of my very very fav bands in the 80s, but i missed the poppy-jangly vibe of the early albums. i bought "after everything" used on a whim and was blown away. since then i got all the stuff they put out in the past 10 years (and even came to LOVE priest=aura). with the black watch (another literate, catchy guitar band), the church are now again my favorite band (and like the black watch WAY UNDERRATED). Forget Yourself is a triumph of melded melodies and haunting, if obscure, lyrics. it makes me all mushy just to think how the world is a better place because of this music. i dislike most bands these days (i try to like a lot of them) but the church is different. go for this record!!

Most bands that have been around as long as the church seem to encounter a noticeable drop in creativity as the members enter their 40's. This is just one of the reasons this album is so encouraging to folks like me who are getting up there in age. I just saw the band last night in Atlanta, the first show of their 21-date US tour. They played about a half dozen tracks off this album. The crowd was alive and seemed to inspire their performance. They looked good (young, lean, healthy) and they played even better. If you get a chance to see them live on this tour, DO NOT MISS IT. In the meantime, invest $15 in this CD and find out what all the fuss is about. This album is strong from start to finish, and that's a rarity for a band of any age or experience. BTW, if anyone was at the Atlanta show last night and knows the name of the song they played for the first encore, please post. I couldn't make out where Steve said it came from. The "burnished" CD??? Excellent song, excellent show, and this is an excellent CD. Support artistic integrity and genuine creativity and buy this today!

Wow, I am hugely impressed with this album. I have never heard another band making music like this. In a sea of bland, dumbed down bands, here is a shining beacon for people who appreciate creativity & a unique character in a band! This band has been around the block, but surprisingly they are NOT content to sit back and just rehash the golden oldies.

On FORGET YOURSELF, The Church have reinvented themselves and explored new territory while still keeping all of the qualities I like about them. The production is stripped down and anything but glossy, the atmosperics are amazing & Kilbey's vocals are great. The more you listen, the more you start catching, and the more you get drawn in. Highly recommended!

The Church has continued to create powerful material in their latest release, Forget Yourself. Following on the heels of the beautiful, After Everything Now This, the new one takes the band in a more up-tempo direction which tingles the senses. From the driving strength evidenced in Sealine and Lay Low to the unique guitar work in Telepath to the escapism of Summer, we see masterful musicians at work. These guys never cease to amaze and impress - evolving their musical vision and hooking you with their mesmerizing sound.

I got mine yesterday..a grey and rainy evening. Now, I had taken all of these tremedous reviews trickling in from Australia and since October about how incredible this album was with an extra large grain of salt. I mean, come on now, best album so far of the 21st century?? These church fans probably are like myself and would think steve kilbey burping into a microphone would sound great. So I set the bar low and tried to prepare myself for initial disappointment. There is no way it could live up to these reviews and also having to be the follow up album to After Everything, Now This (their previous masterpiece)

AND...and....holy crap this album is amazing. Unlike any other Church CD, this one had me at hello. No further listening was required for my assesment that it was amazing - just one listen. As I drove along with the music blaring, for the first time ever while listening to a new Church CD, I had an urge to press the replay button before hearing the next song. That's how much the songs grabbed a hold of me. I really can not fathom how they could have made an album so different, so good, yet still the Church at this point in their career. I am simply blown away. Highlights: Sealine, Theatre and Its Double, Telepath, and June