The Blurred Crusade [IMPORT]

The Church

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 21, 1999)
• Original Release Date: 1982
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Emd Int'l
• ASIN: B000006XLF
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #60,770 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

1. Almost With You

2. When You Were Mine

3. Fields of Mars

4. Interlude

5. Secret Corners

6. Just for You

7. Fire Burns

8. To Be in Your Eyes

9. You Took

10. Don't Look Back

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Import edition of the Aussie alternative rock act's 1982 album that's out-of-print domestically.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars (four and a half stars) No sophomore slump here, July 19, 2005

By	trainreader (Montclair, N.J.) - See all my reviews

I'm a huge Church fan, and have all their studio albums of original material (13 at latest count). "The Blurred Crusade," has always been one of my favorites. The songs are consistently high quality, and begin to define the signature sound of the band, which one reviewer astutely describes as "space-jangle-psychedelia style." This phrase is as good as any to describe the unique swirling sound of this guitar driven, extremely underrated band.

One of my favorite songs on the album is "Almost With You," with its fine acoustic guitar solo. I can't figure out why this listener-friendly song never received radio play. Another favorite is "Interlude" with its curious lyrics, and several changes of pace. The two short songs, "Secret Corners" and "Don't Look Back" are poignant, as is the album's love song "To Be In Your Eyes." The eight minute "You Took," reminds me of "Is This Where You Live" from the band's previous (debut) album "Of Skins and Heart."

What prevents me from giving this excellent album five stars is, what I believe to be, the absence of a truly knock-out song. Later, the band would cut such masterpieces as "Shadow Cabinet," "Myrrh," "Reptile," "Anesthesia," and several others that I would put in this category. However, all-in-all, "The Blurred Crusade" is one of the best of The Church's body of work, and displays Kilbey, Koppes and Wilson-Piper in top form.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How'd this one fly under the radar in the U.S.?, January 1, 2004

By A Customer

"The Blurred Crusade" is so full of should-have-been radio hits that I wonder how it took the U.S. so long to find this band. A success in Australia, it wasn't until "Under the Milky Way" on their Starfish album did the Church get any mainstream radio airplay in the States. It's a shame, because as wonderful as Starfish is (my favorite album of all time), "The Blurred Crusade" had many more radio-friendly songs, most noteably "Almost With You," and "When You Were Mine." I love the lyrics of "To Be In Your Eyes," and the driving beat and guitar riffs in "You Took" are fabulous.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the one I would need on the desert island., February 16, 2002

By	"shards370" (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

My favourite song of all time "Almost With You" starts off this album. The mystical lyrics combined with those swirling and jangling guitars mixed with the driving beat and solid low end. This IMO is the definitive song of "how to make music". Even down to the tones of the instruments used and the mixing. All superb.
Perhaps I would only rate the album overall a 4.5. But since I have to use integers (and contains my all-time favourite composition)I will round up.
"When you were mine" is a superb droning rock song that beautifully counters the timid "Secret Corners", a gentle and wistful tune saturated with imagery of loneliness.
"You Took" is fundamentally an instrumental that shows how a simple piece can be transformed into a masterpiece with the appropriate use of dynamics and "Fields of Mars" draws the listener into a barren landscape that threatens to engulf the senses forever.
This album is both a classic and a foreshadow of great things to come. A definite "must have" for any fan of _The Church_.