This was my 5th Church album (in order, I bought P=A on 10/22/92, GAF on 3/9/93, Starfish on 6/11/93, and Heyday on 7/16/93). I bought OSAH and BC both on 9/9/93. My initial reaction to OSAH was one of shock and dismay, because I was so used to the later albums, and this album sounded completely different. At the time, I don't think I was prepared to hear The Church sounding like a rock band, I was preferable to their more atmospheric side. After a while, though, I got used to it and it grew on me. I found it to sound like a combination of The Cars and The cure, that is, the music reminded me of some of the Cars' late 70s material, but SK sounded a lot like Robert Smith on several of the tracks. (In fact, if you ever heard the song "A Forest" by The Cure, it almost sounds exactly like early 80s Church!) I still like to listen to this CD occasionally, when I'm in the mood for a good, guitar-driven rock album. IMO, at this point, the only songs that sounded remotely how The Church would later end up sounding were "Bel-Air" and "Tear it All Away". Incidentally, "Tear it All Away" is my favorite song ever about disillusionment.
"Somewhere in the wilderness, you wander like a river, crossing the wheatfields and crying to the sorry ocean. You're crying to the sorry ocean, wrapped in the arms of night."