Friday, April 22, 2011


The Church- Untitled #23 (2009) MP3 & FLAC


"On our way to crush the revolution, camp by a lake in the blackened lands, dealing out love and retribution, dealing out the deadman's hand."

While The Church's recent creative resurgence had certainly produced some good albums, most notably Uninvited Like Clouds and Forget Yourself, no one could have suspected that the band had an album like Untitled #23 in them, a psych-rock masterpiece as essential as anything else in their brilliant and expansive discography. Since reforming in the late-nineties, The Church had been slowly moving into more proggy territory and away from the pysch-laced Jangle-Pop of their best known work. While the results were always intriguing, there was a lingering sense of sameness about these albums. With Untitled #23, something of a balance has been struck by returning to the gauzy psychedelia of albums such as Priest=Aura, while integrating the sonic innovations of more recent albums. For example, on "Operetta," Steven Kilbey offers up one of his trademark nuanced vocal performances, treading, as always, the fine line between detached beauty and sublime narcosis, while the band paints a soundscape of restrained yet yearning psychedelic grandeur. This is a song an earlier incarnation of the band wouldn't have been able to pull off quite so evocatively. Conversely, "Dead Man's Hand" sounds like classic Church, catchy, dynamic, and cathartic, though it must be said that the famed guitar interplay between Peter Koppes and Marty Willson-Piper is far more subtle in nature here, going for texture over serpentine exploration. A wonderful surprise from a criminally under-appreciated band.

Untitled #23
 1. Cobalt Blue  (4:16)
 2. Deadman's Hand  (4:28)
 3. Pangaea  (4:05)
 4. Happenstance  (4:25)
 5. Space Saviour  (5:34)
 6. On Angel Street  (6:19)
 7. Sunken Sun  (5:48)
 8. Anchorage  (6:28)
 9. Lunar  (3:25)
10. Operetta  (5:45)



20 comments:

  1. Gotta say i was never a big fan of the Church, apart from the first album and Priest=Aura.

    But after Steve Kilbey almost stole the show at the David McComb tribute show a couple of years ago i have had to re-evaluate my stance!

    thanks for the upload!

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  2. bedlam, I've been a huge Church fan since the beginning, so I'm glad you came your senses ;)

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  3. Too bad this band is so underrated. There's much more than "Under the milky way"! My favorite album is "Seance", but I never got further from this one, so thanks for posting this!

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  4. Very nice. Church are really a great band.

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  5. Dave, my pleasure. I'm pretty fond of "Seance" too

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  6. Thanks much. "Blurred Crusade" is my fave--SK's laid back vocal style combined with the best jangle production ever.

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  7. Stefano, I agree; it's an amazing album. My favorite Church album is "Priest=Aura."

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  8. The Church has never been well-known band in my part of the world and all I have from The Church until now was their compilation. This is a good way to explore new music and thank you Prof for this fine lesson...

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  9. iggy1, after the Talk Talk series, I am planning on doing a 20 post Church series, so you'll have the opportunity to explore The Church a lot further in a month or so. I also posted their debut a while back: http://killingmoonmusic.blogspot.com/2011/02/church-of-skins-and-heart-1981-enhanced.html

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  10. This album would fit perfectly in one of these lazy, mediterranean sunsets in summertime.
    The more I listen to it, the more, I like it.

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  11. Many thanks great band for a long time. Pushing the envelope with some quality music.

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  12. jozz, one of the great bands and so incredibly underrated. I'll be doing a series on The Church after the Talk Talk series concludes

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  13. 'Priest = Aura' practically changed my life the first few times I heard it, and it still blows my mind to shreds today.

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  14. summer freeze, it's my favorite Church album. It's underrated even by many Church fans. Great cover too!

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  15. holy fucking crap i'm in love with this blog. looking forward to the Priest = Aura post - i've never been able to track down a safe looking link or indeed copy.

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  16. Anon. as soon as the Talk Talk series is completed (5 more posts), I will commence a 20 post Church series, which will include a lot of great, hard-to-find stuff, including multi-disc remasters

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  17. God, this is good ... any chance of Heyday?

    Thank you so much for this!

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  18. Links are dead, any chance of re-upload?

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