The Church
Sometime Anywhere

THE REVIEW

(One of those collaborations that soothe your soul from all the stupid and sterile daily worries. This review was only brought to life thanks to the affectionate, valid, and sincere collaboration of De Marga!)

I am grateful and appreciative of The Church like very few other bands; I often return to drink from the sacred musical fountain of the Australian Church. A career that began in the early 1980s and still continues, with a series of always refined and unique albums; unfortunately, and I say this with a hint of sadness, almost entirely abandoned and left aside by the music industry. In other words, a cult band; but for me, fundamental and dearly loved.
Sometime Anywhere is a record released in the distant 1994; Peter Koppes has left the group, due to the poor sales of previous works. It's not a definitive goodbye but merely a farewell as he will return shortly. Only two remain: Steve Kilbey and Marty Willson-Piper who decide to give an even more experimental and expansive imprint to the record. With a cover that couldn't be more psychedelic and colorful.

A long, endless work that exceeds seventy-five minutes in duration; but there is not a single second that bores, not a single second too many. The sound conceived by singer-bassist Steve and guitarist Marty abounds in studio sounds, perhaps a bit too synthetic (the only real small flaw I found in the work). With that use, which becomes even more accentuated compared to the previous two records, of instrumental digressions; of long guitar escapades that make the tracks layered and wonderfully expanded in length.
Psychedelic Pop played with supreme mastery: a classy work, among the most experimental and fascinating. But not easy to assimilate and indeed will sell very little, enough to push their historic label "Arista" to terminate the contract (ungrateful).

The tribal and repeated bass intro marks the beginning of the record: "Day of the Dead" is the title of the track. A circular ballad that immediately benefits from the dynamic contribution of the guitar: now acidic, then relaxed, immediately after psychedelic and incessant in building and weaving enchanting plots. And what about "The Maven": for me, the absolute masterpiece of the album thanks precisely to that superb ending where once again the guitar gifts moments of timeless beauty: listening to the long and noisy final escape of the six strings gives me chills all over every time: EMOTIONAL!!!!

Bucolic traits imbued with mysticism can be grasped in the six minutes of "Loveblind", connected with the paradisiacal artwork. Moments full of pathos in "The Time Being", with the warm and enchanting voice that has always distinguished the sound of the combo. They also make a nice video with the melancholic "Two Places At Once", a great example of how to write love songs without descending into stomach-turning banality. "Lullaby" is the song to the Moon invoking the search for the nourishing wonders of the human spirit.

In short, it is not a work without an echo; on the contrary, it is one of those offerings often overshadowed by the chaos of business and the vulgar success hungry for a few extra bucks. Australia is not just the land of AC/DC, as they are not only those of "Under The Milky Way"..