
Well, I haven't seen many recent posts to the threads dealing
with their previous releases so, let's get on with it.
I remember well how I 'stumbled' accross 'Starfish'...
My girlfriend at the time (we're still together) and I had gone
downtown just to get a change of scenery and check out the
music stores where you could find 'imports' and generally
find a much larger range of releases.
I even remember the store's name - "Phantasmagoria"!
As I walked in and glanced over to the wall where they propped
up the latest releases, there, in its splendor was 'Starfish'.
And, on the floor, in a box, was a whole bunch of other 'Starfishes'.
So, I guess they'd just received it.
The other thing I remember was grabbing it, paying for it, grabbing
Joanne by the arm, running to my car and heading home.
I also remember her not being to pleased about that since
that just happened to be the first store we'd gone into.
Kind of remember arriving home, ripping the plastic off and
throwing it onto the turntable, and heading to the fridge for a beer.
Remember door slamming with someone saying something like
"You're such an asshole".
Aaahhhhhh... but I had 'Starfish'......
I distinctly remember being a liitle bewildered about the album
overall- 'Heyday' was still blowing my mind and this was more
than just 'slightly' different.
I remember wondering off and around, onto the balcony to see
whether Joanne was anywhere to be seen, and then...
'Reptile' started playing...
I was hooked on that song instantly and the rest of the album
started to truly grow on me. 'Blood Money', 'Reptile' and
'Hotel Womb' remain my favourites on that album. 'UTMW' was getting airplay in my
area and some of my co-workers really liked it, although, I failed
completely to convince any of them that they had 'some' other
good songs too.
I did though, convince one of my co-workers at the time (now my best firend)
to come along with me and Joanne to see them live in the
summer of '89'. Great show. Unfortunately, they haven't been
back since!
'Starfish' was quite a departure musically for the band but within
a couple of months I was convinced that this was the style
they were born for, and I was born for too. ('GAF' turned my
world upside-down- thought it sucked royally and I still do!)
Over the years, my memories and love for this album haven't
changed all that much BUT, have also come to think of 'Starfish' as an album
that is missing a certain ingredient.
There's something 'mechanical' about its sound. It lacks the 'dynanicism'
that albums such as 'Heyday' had. Also, where I've always
considered 'Heyday' 'bright' and 'alive' sounding, 'Starfish' over
the years has come to sound almost 'brooding' in its nature.
If asked, I'd usually rate this album as one of the bands top three
releases although I sometimes wonder why. As some of you may
remember, I've never been a big fan of the PK/MWP songs which IMO
have tended to be filler on Church albums over the years.
While there are captivating songs such as 'Destination', 'Reptile', 'UTMW', 'Blood Money', 'Hotel Womb', I've never warmed to 'Antenna', 'Spark' or 'New Season' (which truly sucks). Thus, I don't listen to this album in its entirety. Still, not bad considering I don't listen to "GAF" at all!!
Overall, I'd rate 'Starfish' as 7/10.
Replace 'New Season' and 'Antenna' with 'Frozen and Distant' and
'Take it Back' and you'd have a Church album verging on perfection.
But alas, true to form, an otherwise solid piece of work is somewhat compromised by absolute garbage such as 'New Season'.
Sorry for the rant ladies and gents!
But, IMO, despite 'Starfish's success and unique existence in
the band's catalogue, it suffers somewhat from the same character flaw that lurks in each of their releases- an almost
brilliant effort marred by a momentary lapse into lasyness in
the final song selection.
That being said, I'll still rate it as one of there three finest.
BTW, Joanne came back, and within a couple of months had
a acquired a cassettte version for her 'ghetto blaster'...
but she still 'rags' on me for listening to The Church so often.
Merry Christmas all, Fraulein.
