| Author | Message | ||
     Padraig Collins |
I was listening to Spring Hill Fair on the way into work yesterday (inspired by all the recent chat on these pages about how great the album is) and Unkind And Unwise came on as the bus crossed the Harbour Bridge (Sydney). It was a beautiful, bright autumn day, I was on the majestic Harbour Bridge, looking across to the Opera House and listening to one of my favourite Go-Betweens songs. Who said public transport can't be a pleasure! (OK, I know that my fellow-Irishman Cathal Coughlan said that "only losers take the bus", but I'm sure he was being ironic). Going in to work today I listened to The Chills Heavenly Pop Hits compilation. The Chills, for me, are in the same poptastic ballpark as The Go-Betweens. I assume I am not the only Chills lover on this message board... | ||
| Gareth |
I love The Chills. 'Submarine Bells' is well worth a listen - the title track is stunning - and 'Kalideioscope World' is a great listen too. Not many better tracks around than 'Pink Frost'. Padraig, are you on the Chills email lists? They are really excellent. Written by Martin Philips and they go on and on and on for pages! He's been quite ill lately and hasn't really done anything with the band but he seems to be on the mend and up for a new record/line up. 'I Love my Leather Jacket' - another classic song... | ||
| Richard Barber |
The Chills, yeah they're right up there for me along side The Go-Betweens and The Triffids. Martin Phillipps is a true genius songwriter. Been listening to 'Sunburnt' and 'Sketch Book' a lot recently. 'Submarine Bells' has been called the antipodean 'Pet Sounds' and it's easy to see why as it's one of those rare albums that doesn't feature a single duff track. Musically they can sound quite slight but it's what he sings about the way he does it that provides the depth. There's a song on the demos album, 'Sketch Book', called 'Small Spark' which I'd almost forgotten about. Played it for the first time in a couple of years last week and it's been on repeat ever since. Hope he is back to full health and that it may be possible to one day catch them live. | ||
| Padraig Collins |
Yes, I'm on The Chills email list. There has not been a message from Martin in ages though. They are recording again. There's some pictures at softbomb.com. I saw them in Sydney in September 1992 and they were awesome live. I hope they tour again. A friend saw them in New Zealand recently and said it was a great show. | ||
| Mark Ilsley |
I do love some of the early Chills stuff. (but didn't we all). I have SB and think it's OK but probably haven't spent enough time with it. No 'duff tracks' but I still don't like the sound of it. To harsh for my ears. I recognise the quality of the songs, I just don't like the sound of the keyboards on many of them. | ||
| Mark Ilsley |
I revisited SB just today so that I could better express what it was that bugs me about it. Essentually, it's in the mixing. Way to much keyboard up front on Heavenly Pop Hit and The Oncoming Day. They sound so much better when they slow down the pace a little and turn down those friggin' keyboards so that the other instruments can be better heard. Tied Up In Chain and Part Past, Part Fiction are both good examples of how this entire album should have turned out, IMHO. | ||
| Padraig Collins |
I think that The Chills' other SB, Softbomb, is their absolute stonking classic. Martin himself was not happy with how some of the tracks ended up sounding but I think he is just too much of a perfectionist. It's probably my favourite ever album (is not having a Go-Bs album as your fave enough of a crime to be thrown off this MB?!). | ||
| Mark Ilsley |
Nah, not at all. All of the 6 original GB albums (except Tullulah) are amoungst my favorite albums. (those that stood the test of time and still get listened to regularly) It's more to do with the consistently enduring nature of their music rather than any stand out. No other band I know has a total of 5 albums amoungst my favorites. That's what makes them special to me. They take such a large slice of my likes. Quality and quantity is so rare. | ||
| paule |
I think the only GB's album that would get into my 'all time' Top 10 would be Before Hollywood. Although I consider the GB's to be the finest band of their era, each of the other albums have their below par moments - mostly Grant's it has to be said (I find his contributions to Rachel Worth nearly unlistenable). Its the same with the Velvet Underground and lots of other great bands. So my ever shifting Top 10 features works by bands whose overall work I may not care too much for but have produced wonderful albums - Forever Changes (for as long as I remember) Everything That Flies by The Laughing Clowns (but I won't give you tuppence for most of Kuepper's subsequent work.) to name but two. | ||
| Padraig Collins |
Tallulah really is the unloved pup with a squinty eye amongst GBs fans isn't it? Yet, for me anyway, Right Here, Bye Bye Pride and I Just Get Caught Out are amongst the best of their songs. Mark, there would be at least five REM albums - Murmur, Pageant, Fables, Time and Automatic - in my top 100 (never made such a list, but no doubt one day I will). Paule, I thought Rachel Worth was a great return and though Robert's songs were better, most of Grant's were very good also. BYBO was even better, particularly the awesome Too Much Of One Thing. What a song! | ||
| steve |
i'd just like to stand up for grant's songs on FORW. Orpheus beach is the best song on the album and going blind and the clock are both great power-pop songs. meanwhile, I always cringe a bit at german farmhouse or surfing magazines. plus grant contributed the greatest line on the album in 'with eyes so blue it's like falling through an evening in the west' | ||
| steve |
i'd just like to stand up for grant's songs on FORW. Orpheus beach is the best song on the album and going blind and the clock are both great power-pop songs. meanwhile, I always cringe a bit at german farmhouse or surfing magazines. plus grant contributed the greatest line on the album in 'with eyes so blue it's like falling through an evening in the west' | ||
| Mark Ilsley |
paule: I agree, Everything That Flies was EK's last good effort. I haven't revisited it for years but I do remember it was my favourite LC album at one time. I must get back to it. Paddy: If I may, 'Out of time' is my only REM album and I reguard it highly. I'd like a few of their earlyer ones but I'm not in a position to offer an opinion. I can accept that the quality is there throughout. It's still a rare thing though, I think you'll agree. Re: FORW. I think it's a bit of a sleeper. If the new lineup goes on to bigger things (and I hope they do, why not) I think people will look back at it fondly in the same way that we look back at SMAL. (i.e. it is essentially a hip album that draws on influences and styles that had some currency at the time it was made). | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker |
Mark, I more or less agree with you about FORW. And in relation to BYBO, I agree with Nichols' sentiments expressed in his book, that the latter is generally a better, more cosistent and fully realized album. But as far as FORW is concerned, I kinda think Grant's songs tend to be stronger. It's not an album I listen to very often. I always though He Lives My Life would've benefitted from a more upbeat tempo with drums and stuff. I remember when they played it on their '99 "comeback" tour, although it was just acoustic, it was faster and poppier, and seemed to do more justice to the nice chord changes. Still a pretty song, nonetheless. As for the Chills, I absolutely love "Submarine Bells." When I first heard Heavenly Pop Hit I couldn't get it out of my head. Sure, "Submarine Bells" might be a little slick, but shit, what pop albums released in 1989 weren't slick? | ||
| Padraig Collins |
Re: Ed Kuepper. The first Aints album and Honey Steel's Gold, both from 1991, are superb records. | ||
| david nichols |
By the first Aints album do you mean SLSQ (the live Saints-covers record) or Ascension (the studio record)? I'm not trying to be pedantic (I don't have to try obviously). If #2 I agree, Ascension is excellent. Even the worst EK record has SOMETHING going for it. | ||
| Padraig Collins |
Ascension. I just could not think of the name earlier. I'd forgotten that SLSQ came before it. I've been waiting for ages for your book to arrive from a friend in Ireland by the way. First of all my lazy bastard friend just did not send it, and then, when he swore blind for the 10th time that he was on his way to the post office, the postal workers went on strike! Still, it will give me a chance to finish off the Carl Haissen novel I'm reading before I start your book. Can't wait to see it. An Irish musician recommended it to me years ago when the first edition came out. | ||
| Pete Azzopardi |
'Everything I've Got Belongs to You' off "Today Wonder" has got to be one of my favourite songs. In a better world Elvis would have sang it to Priscilla as she swept up broken vodka bottles from the Graceland kitchen floor. | ||
| Cassiel |
Re Ed Kuepper: a great place to start -- for his solo stuff -- is The Butterfly Net, a compilation of singles, album tracks etc. 'Ghost of an ideal Wife', 'Also Sprach', nearly every track from 'Honey Steels Gold.' I love the opening line of 'Everything I've Got...' 'I've got designs on you that come from dirty books.' The Chills finest in my opinion is Brave Words. Though Sunburned is great too. Wet Blanket off BW is an 80s miserabilist classic, with a humorous twist only the Chills had. I love martin Phillips' lyrics. Can;t recall the name of the song but one had this line: 'I threw a party in my soul/ No one turned up.' While we, or at least me, on subject of obscure NZ pop, has anyone bought the Verlaines compilation? Now they were a great pop band. 'Joe'd Out.' What a song! | ||
| Mark Ilsley |
Re: Ed Kuepper. I never considered the the Aints. Don't have anything Aints so I can't say. |