Customer Reviews

Seance

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

 

 

I know, I know, everyone loves Starfish, presumably because of "Under the Milky Way." And those that want to go back farther always mention Heyday and The Blurred Crusade. But, for my money, this is the greatest Church album ever, and I include it on my personal list of the seven greatest rock albums, period. "Disappear?" is my favorite Church song ("Wake to find you gone, a note pinned to my sleeve/and it wasn't just the things you took, it was the things you had to leave"), "Electric" is the essence of their famous discordant, moody sound, "It's No Reason" is as simple and beautiful as anything they've done, and "Electric Lash" and "One Day" are just a blast; you turn 'em on and immediately just start feeling good. Nobody since Dylan has gotten as much out of a bad singing voice as Kilbey, and this is the record where he stopped being self-conscious about it. And the ethereal guitar sound is already fully developed here. If you don't have this album, you don't really know the Church. It is a must buy.

All that having been said, if you DO already have the original release (and judging from sales figures, most of you don't), I can't really recommend buying this in addition just to get the added material. The bonus songs, it turns out, were left off the original record for the simple reason that they aren't very good. But, if you're a serious fan, it's probably worth the money.

Of all The Church's albums, "Seance" is probably the most representational, in that the various styles of the band are present. For instance, "One Day" and "Dropping Names" contain one guitar (I think Koppes) repeating a phrase, and the other (I think Willson-Piper) creating the framework of the melody. Some of The Church's best songs (i.e. "Reptile" from the later album "Starfish") fit this pattern. "It's No Reason," "Disappear?" and "Now I Wonder Why" represent The Church in their dreamy melodic mode. "Fly," "Electric," "Travel by Thought," and "It Doesn't Change" show off the band's more psychedelic, experimental side. "Electric Lash," could have been a top forty hit, if only The Church had received their fair share of radio play.

All the songs include Kilbey's enigmatic lyrics, heavy in metaphor and allusion (i.e., from "Fly" -- "Baby smiled like a tiny child/ She talks her head off, and the land lies wild/ tossed and turned on a teardrop sea/ and all those dark clowns (clouds?) that are following me." From "Its No Reason" -- "Crocodile skin water, city shadows wait/ Put your head in your hands, the ending is so great"). I'm not sure what it all means, but it's certainly unique and thought provoking.

"Seance" is definitely one of the better Church albums. In my opinion, the transition from "Fly" to "One Day" is one of the band's best moments. I also think, however, that some songs go on a bit too long and become somewhat tedious. In the coming albums, The Church would occasionally have this problem, but this does not detract from the music of what I think is one of the most underrated rock bands of all time.

EMI recently re-released four Church cd's. Each one of them with b-sides and videos on the second cd. Unless you have a very well trained ear for such things you can't notice a difference in the "digitally remastered" recording as compared to the original cd. However, if you don't have this on cd now would be a good time to buy it. Even if you have it on cd already it is worth the purchase because the b-sides and videos cd is very cool. You need a plug-in for your computer in order to get the videos to work. Once they work though it is very cool to watch them again since they don't play them on T.V. anymore. The videos are not full-screen, but they are big enough on your monitor to enjoy them. Quality of the video is very good. A must purchase for The Church fan.

This is the third full length release from The Church. I'm a new convert to this band and have recently been digging into their catalog quite a bit. Unfortunately, this is one of their early albums that I find myself reaching for the least. In my opinion it's a mild digression from the brilliant album that came before it, The Blurred Crusade and is far surpassed by the album following it, Heyday. There are a couple of strong songs on this, but they are often marred by overly processed and ridiculously dated production techniques. For a better taste of what this band was capable of at this point in their career, check out the EP collection Remote Luxury.

Seance is a well balanced work, full of atmosphere (a bit dark), with great guitars, interesting synthesizers and Steve Kilbey's voice in top form. The only complaining is the mixing in which Nick Launay included some horrible processed drumming, but that doesn't ruin the whole project. Some of the best Church's songs are here: Fly, It's No Reason, Disappear? and Electric Lash. The rest is also worthwhile.

There are mainly three different CD releases:

- Original release. 10 songs from "Fly" till "It Doesn't Change".

- 2002 EMI remaster. Two CDs in a jewel case. The first one with the same 10 songs and the second one with two b-sides plus three videoclips.

- 2010 Second Motion remaster. The same 12 songs (remastered again) of the EMI remasters in one single CD (minus the videoclips, of course). No jewel case here (cardboar sleeve). The booklet includes extensive liner notes from Marty Willson Piper explaining the songs, the history of the band during that time and the problematic mixing process of the record.

If I had not this album I would buy the Second Motion release if you don't care about the clips. It's cheaper, you can hear to whole 12 songs in a row and Marty's essay is a must for every Church fan.

This, the "difficult third album" for the Church is one of their best. It was originally released in 1983 during a period when the music world around them was moving from post-punk/new wave into the new romantic era. Significantly, Seance is the final full-length album of the band's "autocratic" era, after which songwriting became a more co-operative effort involving the whole band rather than songs penned solely by Kilby.

It goes without saying that the Church never really followed mainstream trends, however this album does feature a much more production-driven sound than their earlier albums - this perhaps in response to the synthesized sounds of the era. The band were reportedly uncomfortable with Nick Launay's drum treatments at the time, and unhappy about the guitar processing which they felt obscured some of the fine playing, but today the album sounds gorgeously crisp, and is much more sympathetic to the band's songs than the later reverb-soaked efforts like "Heyday".

The songs themselves are mostly excellent, especially the ethereal opener "Fly" which segues beautifully into the rousing "One Day". The album includes the strangely forlorn "It's No Reason" and the follow up single "Electric Lash" (which charted in the the top 10 in Australia). The closer "It Doesn't Change" is another standout track.

The album contains some of Kilby's strongest lyrics, and contains a diversity of moods and ambiences missing from some of their later albums. This is an undiscovered gem in the Church's extensive discography. Highly recommended.

IT's nice to see that others' experience with The Church does not begin and end with "Starfish". "Seance" is a lovely album. It represents (as another reviewer quite properly pointed out) the myriad styles of Church music from "Of Skins and Heart" to "Heyday" and has few, if any, weak points.

A ploy to get you to buy what you bought before, this remastered edition of Seance isn't a bad thing; it's a common trend among the major labels. If you bought it once, why not buy it again now that we've spiffed it up a bit. Regardless of that fact, Seance is a bit more consistent than their second album but also sounds a bit more dated as well. Perhaps its the cheesy sythesizers. I don't listen to this as much as, say, Heyday but it's still worth picking if you haven't purchased it on CD before.

Why the videos weren't put on a DVD (with a separate layer for the b-sides), is beyond me. Oh, wait a minute, they'll probably bring that out next week.