It is beyond my comprehension why it has taken thirty plus years to finally add The Church's Starfish to my archives despite having heard it's two hit singles ad nauseam. However, despite an open and shut case of criminal neglect on my behalf, in my defense I say: better late than never. (Pardon the cliche'...) The Church came into my radar in April of 1988 when "Under The Milky Way Tonight" broke as the album's first single. I would see the music video every single morning at just about 6am and change like clockwork while getting ready for school. Yet with every repetitive view these Aussie alt-rockers would suck me in further and further rather than saturate and bore me. Even now, three decades after the fact, I can still listen to "Milky Way" once daily and still never grow weary of it. In the 'Olde Thyme' world of the music biz, that's called a true hit!
Their other radio hit from Starfish is "Reptile" -a mellow fusion of psychedelia and alt guitar rock that much like it's predecessor hit has also withstood the test of time. Pandora can run "Reptile" about 5 times per day and it would not bother me one bit. In fact, I am almost certain that they do... Odds are that you have heard both of these hits on a Rock station at some point. Now, I challenge anyone who is aware of these two tracks to honestly say that they are tired of hearing either.
"Reptile" reminds me of my very first skate pal, Luis Marti, who was obsessed with the song. He'd lose his mind and begin skating passionately as soon as he'd hear the instantly recognizable opening riff. Luis was a neighborhood kid where I grew up that skated and was into the underground. Back in the early '80s, any body who would skate or was into the scene that lived within radius of one other would automatically, indiscriminately and imminently 'crew-up' with each other. Nowadays there's 10 skaters in a Skate Park and nobody could give a flying fuck about each other's existence. In my case, I know that personally if I catch somebody skating my private curb, there's going to be a major issue...
(Back to Lou). I got my first pro skateboard (Madrid) as a hand-me-down from Lou as a matter of fact. Another noteworthy attribute of Luis Marti besides having one hell of a family name, he was already tapping pussy in fifth grade. The guy was a mensch in every way -a raw lil' shorty. (Well, except for the fact that he also loved Britney Fox...)
Asides from the album's breakout hits, Starfish is revered across the board for its ethereal beauty. Allmusic lists it as being rated four and a half stars by both the site and its readers alike; and Sputnik called it possibly one of the last great records of the '80s. Now that is one hell of a bold statement but I can't say that I would have an argument against it. The ten track program runs at 46 minutes and change so when the last strums of "Hotel Womb" fade out you are left exclaiming 'encore' to yourself. More than likely you'll hit play again for a second listen. (I have lost count of how many times I have run this joint since purchasing it.) If you frequent my blog then I am sure I do not need to repeat (yet again) my issue with playlists that exceed one hour.
Personally I really love the tone of the record. It reminds me quite a bit (for some odd reason) of Television's self-titled comeback record from the early '90s which I reviewed a year ago. Starfish offers more melancholy per capita than the aforementioned and with an ultra-lush recording that you can almost sink into; a trait which may in part be attributable to album's producer -Rock bigshot Waddy Wachtel. This is nostalgia-fuel for Sunday afternoon mopery sessions, and since my life particularly has been one giant mope session, The Church's Starfish will definitely be filed with its jewel case protruding by an inch and a half or so, as to remain bookmarked for a quick and easy go-to.
There cannot be, or shouldn't be much more to say about this joint except 'Hook Up Now!' As for myself, I'm graduating on to The Church's 1992 masterpiece, the Opium and Heroin marinated Priest=Aura. I just found/copped a copy of it on Discogs for about $8 (plus a copy of Marduk's Nightwing CD.) I can barely afford to feed myself but I can always spare a twenty for tunes. It is likely at this point that I will never grow up...
Ol' bitch-ass Congress and Senate better bring their asses back to Capitol Hill and get me my other $12hundy...
Ciao!
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