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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
College radio stalwarts' "one-hit wonder" mainstream success, December 31, 2004
The Church had been mainstays of college radio (i.e., "alternative rock", without the marketing/P.R.) for years leading up to this thoroughly accessible (but no less brilliant) neuvo-psychedelic classic that scores from opening track to closing echo in a whirwind of dreamy, breathy vocals and effects-laden guitars chiming away like some ethereal clock ticking away to enlightenment.
ANYONE over the age of 35 should be familiar with the band's signature track "Under The Milky Way", one of the tracks from 1988 which pretty much set the table for the rise of college radio as mainstream "alternative rock" in the early '90's ("Head Like A Hole" from Nine Inch Nails and "Mountain Song" by Jane's Addiction being two others); it is a simple song given a lush arrangement and production values that fly under the radar...until you try to play the song yourself and realize that your effort, note-perfect thought it may be, sounds nothing like the Church's album version. Any band would be thankful to be associated by default with such a beautiful song.
And though it may be the most recognizable track and the one most likely to be remembered by casual fans, the strength of this album is that there are no throwaway tracks to be found (with the possible exception of "Spark", perhaps not incoincidentally one of the tracks bassist/main lyricist/vocalist Steve Kilbey does NOT sing lead vocal). "Destination", The opening track sets the mood perfectly, a single guitar followed by bass and drums, each seeming to attempt more restrain than the other follow, leading to a crescendo that takes you instead back to the beginning as Kilbey begins the first verse. "Under The Milky Way" is a perfect successor track. "Blood Money" is a bit of a let-down in the three spot; it seems to be two (at least) partial songs combined to form one with decidely mixed results.
"Lost", however, is an absolute joy to listen to. It's a total stoner vibe (I still remember the Rolling Stone write-up where Kilbey said "It might help to take a lot of acid to better understand my lyrics") that you just can't help laying back and closing your eyes to as you drift off to...somewhere. "North, South, East and West" brings you back, splash-of-cool-water-in-the-face style with a fantastic guitar riff that announces the most up-tempo and aggressive song on the album. Fantastic guitar work by both Marty Willson-Piper and Peter Koppes.
Track 6, the afore-mentioned "Spark" would lead off Side 2 of this album on LP or cassette, weakly in my opinion. Its attitude is out-of-place on this album, and I almost never listen to it. "Antenna" is a different story, though. A finer waltz beat in pop music hasn't been heard since the days of the Doors. "Reptile", the second single/video, is another up-tempo song with an almost schizophrenic distinction between verse and chorus. Steve Kilbey's bass slithers between the guitars of Koppes and Willson-Piper as the defining instrument of the song.
Peter Koppes turns the lead vocal on the longing "New Season", jingle-jangly Byrds-like guitars a-plenty and "Hotel Womb" closes the album on an upbeat note, praising the endless succession of sanctuaries found on the road, the hotel rooms where it IS possible for travelling musicians to avoid more trouble than they can get into.
It could be said that the Church never released an album as cohesive as "Starfish" again, though the musicianship from this album remains a constant. This is the most accessible effort the Church would ever produce, and anyone who appreciates good songwriting, artful arrangement, and general psychedelia will find a regular rotation slot for this CD. It is absolutely one of the finest albums of the 1980's and produced so sufficiently free of the gimmicks of that era that it still sounds relevant today. Not an easy trick for most of that decade's better releases.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Test of Time, May 25, 2000
By A Customer
I have owned this album (first on cassette, then CD) since 1988. I was recently asked to choose my top 5 can't-live-without recordings and this one was a no-brainer. I've played this album thousands of times and have never tired of it. In addition, I have given this CD as a gift to at least a half-dozen friends and family members that got "hooked" on it when riding in my car. The Church are consumate musicians and Starfish is brilliant, far deeper than the two songs (Under the Milky Way and Reptile) that received radio play in the 80's. You will never regret purchasing this album, but will probably someday regret it if you don't.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
DREAM DEEP, DREAM OF NOW, NOW AND FOREVER GOOD, May 26, 2004
For The Church the stars and planets must have been especially aligned for this album to be made. Never before or since have The Church enjoyed some widespread appeal. Starfish was the first record The Church had recorded outside of their native Australia. This was the first time they had recorded in a studio different from the one they had made their first five albums. Reading band accounts of making of Starfish makes one wonder why they didn't call the record "L.A. Sucks". The Church hated Los Angeles and barely endured their two-month stay. During that time the city experienced two major earthquakes and numerous tremors. The band members suffered serious bouts of homesickness and dislocation in a lonely town at once both ugly and magnetic. They had lost their recording contract with EMI and had just completed negotiating and signing with Arista. Waddy Wachtel and Greg Ladanyi were assigned to produce the band-two individual mostly known for their association with the Southern California sound of the Eagles, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and Stevie Nicks. An antithesis to what the Church stood for and a recipe for friction for all sides. Wachtel had the band rehearse these ten songs over and over-picking them apart and building them back together again ad finitum. Ladanvi on the other hand was apt to be off at the golf course after barely getting the songs on tape in one take. The first thing that hits you about this record is how much of a "guitar album" it is. Starfish is awash in several different guitar styles and carefully thought out patterns and lines. The result is a lean, cutting and harder edged sound that paradoxically produces a gentle feel. On "Hotel Womb", the song begins with a set of dark wandering notes which suddenly switch to a series of childlike chords and strumming as an organ plays a short set of descending notes. The drums kick in as the vocalist begins to sing to a growling guitar march that evolves into a dueling solo match which ends like a clap in a thunderstorm. The song rides out on a fast and grand soaring wailfest fading into eternity. This all combines to the effect of strength, beauty, and sublimity in a short five minutes forty seconds. All this for one song. Such detailed musicianship is evident throughout the whole record. Lyrically The Church are as obscure as ever. It is difficult to say exactly what most of the songs are about. But the listener is caught by seemingly random conjured images that come at you in an incomprehensible emotional crossfire. "Under The Milky Way" may seem like a romantic, dreamy song; but Steve Kilbey says its really about a hash bar in Amsterdam. Some listeners, however, thought it was a conversation between an ancient Egyptian priest and a supplicant as they stood on the roof of a temple in the dead of night. Others thought with the mention of "Memphis" the song was actually a monologue spoken by Elvis as he drove the streets by night. All this combines into a heady brew of psychedelic mysticism and drama. The songs form a journey of danger and disturbing revelations with glimpses of other worlds. Hints of buried bodies in strange cities, revenge, blackmail and homesickness abound. Wedding rings for strange women, dancing with the primitives in dark watery forests and seeing building "swaying like trees" express a love for life that is heartfelt but is in no way sentimental. Just when you think you understand comes an image or a lyrics which sets you back and makes you wonder if you understand at all. This is a wonderful CD. The Church would go on to recede into obscurity while making more superb records; but they never found an equal to Starfish. While made in the 1980's it is not an "eighties" record with an "eighties" sound. I can scarcely think of another record like it at all. It is among the best of the best. Sometimes the best gifts come from far away. Sometimes the sweetest sounds are those you can barely hear.
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