SA could've worked. Seizing an opportunity to get out from under the mantle of being a stereotyped "80's guitar band", Steve and Marty fattened up the guitars for the grunge era, took further steps to strengthen the Church rhythmically (the drumming of Tim Powles and Martin Roussell is consistantly excellent), and were able to unapologetically indulge in electronic keyboards and percussion. Although the frequent complaint about SA is that it "doesn't sound like the Church", this was clearly the intent.

The one thing they were not able to do was to organize their new ideas into coherent, finished songs. To quote the aptly-titled "Lost My Touch": "A weaker echo of my own voice, reproduced mechanically and electronically." Lyrically, this is their lowest point -- the stream-of-consciousness approach is a Church trademark, but here the lyrics often seem written on autopilot. Looking at the insert photos, Steve and Marty look very strung out and haggard. The demons from P=A, both personal and professional, seemed to have grown larger, and this time seriously affected the quality of the finished work.

The successful songs here are "Day of the Dead", "Loveblind", "My Little Problem", "Two Places at Once", and "The Time Being" from the "bonus" disc. Everything else is just frustrating...I mean, "The Myths You Made" is built around this breathtaking chord structure, but there's no song here! "The Maven" and "Leave Your Clothes On" are potentially great flat-out rockers...if only they were finished! "Business Woman" isn't even as bad as the band seems to think it is, with those nice Townshend-esque acoustic guitars driving it along, but it's obvious that they cranked it out at the last minute. And while the word "filler" is not one I like to use when describing tracks I don't care for, I don't know how else to describe "Lost My Touch", "Angelica", "Eastern", "Authority", "The Dead Man's Dream", or "Cut in Two" ( what's this "eggshell polonaise" crap about, anyway?). All of these songs sound like strong musical ideas left in demo form. And "Drought" belongs on "Quick Smoke", not here.

The overall impression I have of Sometime Anywhere is of the remnants of the Church trying to decide if continuing is worth the effort. Are they birthing a new sound for themselves, or are they just throwing dogmeat at the record company to get out of their contract? Steve and Marty never quite decided.

Michael aka Random Pan