Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the classics, February 10, 2001
Heyday, the fifth full length CD by the Church is a timeless classic. From beginning to end it is one of the Church's best efforts. Probably most similiar in sound to their early Blurred Crusade release. If you liked their early music or Starfish you will find your money well spent on this 12 song release. I have owned this CD for over 10 years and have never grown tired of it. A truly classic release!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"... throbs along quite nicely, I reckon." - S. Kilbey, May 23, 2000
I was seventeen years old when I purchased this record, in late 1995. I remember vividly the first occasion on which I played it - it was late at night, in the company of my then partner (who hated it then and probably still does), in a house the name of whose owner I cannot recall and which I have never revisited. I recall my unfettered delight at hearing Myrrh announced by its shimmering opening guitar riff and I remember drifting around this cavernous house in a sort of trance as the record unfolded. I remember hearing As You Will for the first time and being highly amused at its discotheque-style kitsch.Personal recollections aside, Heyday is a record to which I have returned again and again over the years and which, though my musical tastes are, to borrow from Carmina Burana, velut luna statu variabilis, I have never since failed to enjoy. After Myrrh - which remains one of my favourite songs by The Church - the album doesn't falter (traversing a brace of splendid pop tunes) until Night of Light, at which point the record tapers into four songs that for me are The-Church-by-the-numbers, though songs that any lesser band would doubtless kill to have on one of its records. This album is not only a true musical archaeologist's treasure but is obscenely cheap (at least in Australia). Any young up-and-comer wishing to acquaint him- or herself with The Church's back catalogue would do well to purchase a copy of Heyday (a word to the wise: don't be put off by the band members' hilariously awful hairdos on the cover).
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Already Yesterday but never Disenchanted, and still Tantalized by traces of Myrrh in the Night Of Light, July 25, 2007
Anyway...
A definite keeper that I've often returned to over the years, The Church's HEYDAY is one of those rare albums that are pleasurable listening, from start to finish. The Church are an Australian group who were grossly underrated here in the United States. While the band did get some notice for 1988's STARFISH -and even made the Top 40 with "Under the Milky Way," it should have been 1986's HEYDAY which gave The Church the recognition and success they deserved. Produced by Peter Walsh (a major 80s producer who worked with everyone from Donovan and Stevie Wonder to The Simple Minds and Heaven 17), HEYDAY is a brilliant collection of songs, mixing the group's signature jangle-pop sound with horns, string arrangements, and Eastern themes.
"Myrrh" starts the CD off with guitarists Marty Wilson-Piper and Peter Koppes' steady build-up of an intro leading to a low-key chorus and surreal percussion. "Tristesse" is a dreamy effort of symbolist lyrics and crafty guitar lines, reminiscent of the early Byrds. Steve Kilby's accompanied-by-choir vocals of mythological and Byzantine imagery on "All Ready Yesterday" make it truly one of the most beautiful songs in pop music. Following the track "Columbus" is the Middle Eastern-tinged instrumentals "Happy Hunting Ground" and "As You Will." Then the instrumental-induced dreamy spell is suddenly broken by the aggressive bells and horns of "Tantalized."
After the sarcastic melancholy of "Disenchanted," the remaining songs ("Night of Light," "Youth Worshipper," "Roman," and "The View"), with their soaring horn and string arrangements in addition with The Church's trademark guitars and vocals, make HEYDAY an excellent album. One best listened to late at night, or while driving along lonely roads.
The Church, by the way, are still around. After 27 years and over 21 albums (their latest, EL MOMENTO SIGUIENTE, was released this year on Australia's Liberation label), the current lineup of Steve Kilby, Marty Wilson-Piper, Peter Koppes, and Tim Powles carry on.
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by The Church 
