HOLOGRAM OF BAAL
The most typical, perhaps ordinary, of all Church albums in my opinion. After their commercial peak, the band was in various stages of personal, financial and artistic turmoil, which is reflected very well in the musical ouptput. P=A, SA and MATS are all experimental products of great instability, oscilating between the highest highs and the lowest lows, with drastic changes in the songwriting, musical arrangements and sound production compared to previous efforts.

To me, HOB seems to be about stability, both for the band (new record contract, new hope for the future), and probably for the personal lives of the members themselves. It's the first album since Starfish with a truly stable personnel lineup, and perhaps coincidentally, the first since Starfish that would fit comfortably on one vinyl record. The music reflects this stability as well, for better or for worse. After years of experimentation, I think the band has finally developed a consistent, cohesive sound to reflect their new status. (I guess we can thank Tim Powles for this.) Unfortunately, the songwriting on HOB is not as consistently inspirational as their best albums. Too many of the songs are too routine (perhaps Church by Numbers) to inspire true devotion. On the other hand, a few songs are good enough to keep the faith, and the album as a whole is a pleasant listen, without the major disappointments of some songs on previous releases. Perhaps an ordinary album is exactly what the band needed in 1998.

FANTASY BOX-SET TRACKS FROM HOLOGRAM OF BAAL:
Louisiana, Tranquility, Buffalo

p.s. BASTARD UNIVERSE is an interesting experiment in terms of releasing it to the public, but not in terms of the music itself. Hundreds of bands produce these kind of jams, but very few jams are released for hardcore fan consumption. So kudos for the idea, but the music itself is best suited for thought-provoking background noise, not for devoted study.