After gradually picking up and then falling in love with almost all of The Church's earlier, more renowned 80s material (up until Priest=Aura) I ventured into the unknown - the "dodgy proggy critically slated 90s stuff". On one day I foolishly purchased both Sometime Anywhere and MATS - months later I'm still baffled by a lot of the content here - however overall I really dig the vibe. For the most part these albums have been late night listens - usually drifting off sometime after The Maven and Grandiose. So despite my fondness for Sometime Anywhere I'm still a bit unfamiliar with the later half of the album, as well as that bonus disc.

Sometime Anywhere strikes my as quite a sad, weary album that for some reason is teamed with polarizing, quite un-Church like dynamics - but y'know it works! That guitar tone they'd been working on for a decade has almost reached perfection (achieved on Welcome on MATS imo). My favourite tracks: Day of the Dead (the archetypal Church intro track, possibly one of my favourite Church track overall), The Maven (I'd read some bad things about this one, why? spooky stuff) and Eastern (absolutely magical, I love it when i stay awake long enough to hear this one).

I've a feeling I'll still be digesting this one for years to come. Personally it's a triumph, completely detached from the rest of the 90s but I can understand the cold reception it received from the press and fans.

And lastly, what's the story with the album artwork - garish being an understatement ... there's multi-coloured dogs, dancing pigs et cetera


[ps. i really love some of the insight on this forum, though i haven't had much of a chance to contribute yet]