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Hotel Womb - For Fans of the Church
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After Everything / The Church Discography
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Hologram of Baal
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Re: Hologram of Baal
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Random Pan
Re: Hologram of Baal
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Snowfaller
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Jan 9 02 5:09 PM
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October 1, 1998 was a great day, during a period of my life when great days were extremely rare. That morning, Michael "Thetawave" Black and I flew up to Chicago to visit our friends, Jon and Nikole. That night, we were all going to House of Blues for our first Church concert. Nik picked us up at Midway, and took us back to their place. We had business to attend to: they had the new Church album, Hologram of Baal, and Theta and I hadn't heard it yet...
We sampled some green vegetables and Nikole slid the disc into the player...and out came "Anesthesia". Church albums are generally growers that take time for me to get into; but "Anesthesia" penetrated my gray matter instantly. My favorite Church song in years! What was it? I couldn't put my finger on it...and THAT'S what it was...
HOB amounts to a rebirth of the Church, period. Its not just that PK's back full-time; its not just that they've returned to something closer to the "classic" Church sound (because in many ways, they haven't); its not that this is the first Church album in which Tim Powles establishes his status as "secret weapon" in the band...I don't know, its just that the inexplicable "magick" is back.
However...regardless of my reservations and struggles to get a grip on SA or MATS, I firmly believe that HOB would not be the album it is without its two predecessors. Church albums by nature have a shadow at their center, even at their most pleasant, upbeat moments. But usually there is an acceptance of that darkness, a steadiness in a chaotic environment. In the 90s, it appeared as if the Church would eventually be swallowed by their shadow. HOB is the point in which darkness is transcended (not escaped, for this album still includes "This Is It" and "The Great Machine").
Great melodies abound in "Louisiana", "Buffalo", "Tranquility", and the Big Star-ish "Another World". The PK/MWP guitar team rejoices in newfound communion (and its harder than ever to tell who plays what). SK's got his sense of vocal phrasing back. Tim Powles provides the finest drumming ever on a Church album, and more importantly, demonstrates his incisive understanding of how to record this band. Where previous Church albums tend to be sonically dated, HOB could have been made anytime between 1968 and 2018.
A couple extremely minor issues: I do enjoy "Bastard Universe", but its not quite what I was hoping for in an extended Church jam; also, while "No Certainty Attached" is a fine song, I think "Anyway" from the "Louisiana" single would have fit that spot on the album better...but all this is fairly insignificant to the big picture.
...and hours later, I'm down in front at House of Blues for my first Church concert. Could it get any better?
At this writing, HOB is the most recent Church album to feature original material. Can the "magick" be maintained on AENT? Only the shadow knows...
Michael aka Random Pan
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