Customer Reviews

Under the Milky Way: Best of the Church

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For any band with a long and varied career but only a smattering of hits, selecting a Best of is a difficult task. "Under the Milky Way" is a generous collection that unfortunately stuck with those songs that were released as singles (regardless of whether said singles became hits). As a result, the album does collect the band's best known songs such as the title track, "Metropolis" and "Feel." Unfortunately, the selections from the band's earlier albums miss many of their best songs. "The Unguarded Moment" was an excellnt choice from the band's debut album, as were "Almost With You" from their second and "Electric Lash" from their third. However, other choices are less solid. The middling "A Month of Sundays" and "Shadow Cabinet," for example, were chosen from the album "Remote Luxury," rather than the much more tuneful "Into My Hands" and "Violet Town."

Overall, if you don't own any Church music, or perhaps just the album "Starfish" (their biggest U.S. hit) then this album is quite worthwhile to expand your Church horizons. Once you get to know them well, you'll find yourself wanting more.

The Church are a fabulous band with an incredible depth in their catalog: a depth not as well-represented here as it could be. The Church won't play "Unguarded Moment" live anymore, yet it's a worthy lead-off track. The Blurred Crusade is an excellent record--there should be more tracks from it on this release. Seance was a rich record best represented by tracks other than "Electric Lash" . . . "One Day" or "Dropping Names" may have been more suitable here. It would have been cool if the Sing Songs EP was represented. Where are "Spark" and "Hotel Womb" from Starfish?

As one of the few memorable tracks from the disappointing Gold Afternoon Fix, "Grind" is absent. Clever gems like "Witch Hunt" and "Film" might have more aptly represented the sublime Priest=Aura, while while the crucial "Fly Home" and "Day of the Dead" were missing from the Sometime/Anywhere period.

If you're interested in the Church, and want a nice tour without buying the whole catalog, you're better off getting the Hindsight double CD, the B-sides compilation A Quick Smoke at Spot's; their amazing 1998 release on Thirsty Ear, Hologram of Baal; and the record of covers released just weeks ago, A Box of Birds.

I have to (respectfully) strongly disagree with some of the earlier reviewers.

This album contains many great songs but I truly believe if you are to hear "the best of _The Church_" then look beyond the singles. To say "this is the only album by _The Church_ that you need to own" is like saying "just get a cadillac hubcap - you don't need the rest of it". The singles are rarely my favourites on any album by _The Church_ - the only exception is "The Blurred Crusade" and still I would have missed out on some fantastic music by assuming this compilation was "the best of".

As for "Of Skins and Hearts" being the best album...well I personally disagree. In fact, I prefer "The Blurred Crusade" over "Of Skins and Hearts" and would be (barely) bold enough to say that, as an album, "Priest=Aura" is probably the best, cohesive pieces of music that _The Church_ have released. (I do reserve the right to change my mind though).

Overall, this is a nice compilation if you are NOT a big fan of_The Church_ but do like some of their works.

The Church always created amazing music, long before and long after the success of "Starfish" and its hit singles "Under the Milky Way" and "Reptile". If you don't have these songs or are unfamiliar with the Church then hurry and get this - for the sheer quality of the music I give it 5 stars. For Church veterans, I would give it a 4 at best. It isn't that I have a problem with any of the songs that are included, rather I bristle at some that are excluded.

How can "Columbus" from Heyday or "North South East West" from Starfish not be here? What about "Constant in Opal" or "She Never Said" from earlier works? Obviously it is very difficult to release a single album of hits for a band with such a long history and who never really relied on radio hits to define themselves. Why then stick only with singles on a "Best of" CD? The Church would have been better to just hand pick their best songs than just release the singles. Better still, just put the early best-of on disc 1 and the later on disc 2. That's right - bite the bullet and go double disc; The band has too many good songs to trim it down to one and they aren't represented well by so-called hits. Leave the hits for Top 40 fluff... when has any great, creative band been best represented by their "hits"?

All pickiness aside, the Church were strong songwriters who made beautiful yet world weary music that any soul can feel.

This is a decent overview but is missing some great tracks like "Just For You" from Blurred Crusade. I think the hits were not necessarily the greatest stuff the Church had to offer. Even the flip-side of Metropolis, "Monday Morning," was to me a lot more enjoyable than several of their hits.

Some of the tracks here are edited down to shorter versions, which is actually a benefit in most cases, because one of the Church's faults is to drag their songs on much too long. When 2:30-3:00 minutes would suffice, the Church stretch a lot of songs out to 4:00-6:00.

The Church's best album by far is their debut "Of Skins And Heart," and sadly that one isn't even available at Amazon. That album had none of the overindulgence and sometimes plodding, overlong songs of the later years. All crisp, relatively short, unadorned '60s-influenced pop, more direct and tight than anything else they ever recorded.

This collection is about as good as you could expect given a single CD. Most of the obvious choices covering The Church's Arista years ('81-'94) are here ("Unguarded Moment", "Almost With You", "Under the Milky Way", "Tantalized", "Metropolis") -- no complaints, with possible exception of "Too Fast for You" (odd that Buddha chose to emphasize the first album so much, with 3 tracks). I'm glad "Myrrh" was also included, since it is -- and most fans will agree -- *the* quintessential Church song. The previously promo-only edit versions of "Ripple", "Feel" and "Two Places at Once" are also included, but these songs should really be heard in their full-length form -- particularly "Two Places at Once", which suffers pretty badly with several verses missing.

Under the Milky Way: The Best of the Church" is primarily a good compilation of mostly 1980 to 1990 Church CDs that were very good to great. Starfish was their only masterpiece in this era. The songs "Under The Milky Way" and "Metropolis" gave them warranted fame and acclaim. Suddenly in 1992 the Church began to make superlative CD's on a par with Pink Floyd, Radiohead and vintage U2. Tragically, the music industry ignored or forgot about the Church. They have five CDs that are better than Radioheads or U2s five best CDs. They are called "Priest=Aura","Sometime Anywhere", "Hologram Of Baal", "After Everything Now This" and "Uninvited Like The Clouds". The latter four CDs are so deep and complex a few listens are needed. The Church's lead vocalist, Steve Kilbey, is the key but the three other band members are equally vital. The Church are totally innovative and unique but their dreamy, elaborate and mesmerizing sound is a hybrid of quality Pink Floyd, U2 and Radiohead. Everything this band has recorded since 1992 is musically gold but not nearly enough of these superlative recordings have been sold. This is the biggest musical travesty since the grievous implosion and demise of the Beatles's inspired band called Badfinger in 1975. I am so glad that the brillant Church have somehow endured and continue to do their best without the Universal Acclaim that they indisputably deserve !

Since this is The Church, this Best Of deserves 5 stars, but you should know that there is a brand-new and much better 2 cd compilation called "Deep In The Shallows: The Classic Singles Collection" out now, with liner notes by Rolling Stone's David Fricke.

A friend gave me a tape once. It had a lot of different stuff on it and I mainly listened to it in the background. I was working on something and then the intro to "Under the Milky Way" came on. It immediately caught my attention and i ran over to the case to figure out who it was. "The Church, I'll have to remember them." I looked them up on the net and discovered they'd been around for ages. I was immediately interested in getting something by them, and when this was the only CD I could find (why don't record stores stock Church CDs?) i settled on it.

"Under the Milky Way: The Best of The Church" was my introduction to one of the greatest bands I've ever heard. It did its job marvellously, as it made me want to own every Church record i could get my hands on, and I've done just that.

I agree wholeheartedly with the tracklist, though I don't think they should have called it "The Best of the Church," as a lot of their amazing songs aren't on here ("Already Yesterday," "Spark" and "Kings" come to mind). It should be viewed as more of a singles collection. They were an amazing singles band, and "Under the Milky Way" is one of the best singles to ever make the Top 40.

The best song on here is "Mrryh" although it's not my favorite Church song. I do agree that it is the one song that sums up everything the Church have ever done. It's a masterpiece, and the rest of the Heyday album is right on par with it.

If you've never heard of the Church definitely take a chance on this CD. It's well worth it and they may fill that void in your collection of music. Everyone should love this band, and it's a shame they don't have the means to tour anymore. I would love to see them live someday.

To me, The Church have always been the same caliber of band as The Smiths, New Order, or The Ocean Blue. So putting together a collection probably wasn't as easy as it may seem. This is your typical "Best of", meaning some of it is the best, while other choices are questionable. However, knowing that a perfect "hits" disc for everyone is impossible, this does a decent job. Even the lesser tracks I still enjoy. This is a good purchase for those who only know a few songs and want to get deeper into The Church, as of course is the point of this. If you're looking for one of their albums, I really would recommend "Starfish". It's my personal favorite.