Search - Church :: Under the Milky Way: Best of the Church

Doesn't Hit All the High Points

Brian D. Rubendall | Oakton, VA | 03/22/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For any band with a long and varied career but only a smattering of hits, selecting a Best of is a difficult task. "Under the Milky Way" is a generous collection that unfortunately stuck with those songs that were released as singles (regardless of whether said singles became hits). As a result, the album does collect the band's best known songs such as the title track, "Metropolis" and "Feel." Unfortunately, the selections from the band's earlier albums miss many of their best songs. "The Unguarded Moment" was an excellnt choice from the band's debut album, as were "Almost With You" from their second and "Electric Lash" from their third. However, other choices are less solid. The middling "A Month of Sundays" and "Shadow Cabinet," for example, were chosen from the album "Remote Luxury," rather than the much more tuneful "Into My Hands" and "Violet Town."Overall, if you don't own any Church music, or perhaps just the album "Starfish" (their biggest U.S. hit) then this album is quite worthwhile to expand your Church horizons. Once you get to know them well, you'll find yourself wanting more."

A Good Collection from a Great Band

SandmanVI | Glen Allen, VA United States | 02/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Church always created amazing music, long before and long after the success of "Starfish" and its hit singles "Under the Milky Way" and "Reptile". If you don't have these songs or are unfamiliar with the Church then hurry and get this - for the sheer quality of the music I give it 5 stars. For Church veterans, I would give it a 4 at best. It isn't that I have a problem with any of the songs that are included, rather I bristle at some that are excluded.How can "Columbus" from Heyday or "North South East West" from Starfish not be here? What about "Constant in Opal" or "She Never Said" from earlier works? Obviously it is very difficult to release a single album of hits for a band with such a long history and who never really relied on radio hits to define themselves. Why then stick only with singles on a "Best of" CD? The Church would have been better to just hand pick their best songs than just release the singles. Better still, just put the early best-of on disc 1 and the later on disc 2. That's right - bite the bullet and go double disc; The band has too many good songs to trim it down to one and they aren't represented well by so-called hits. Leave the hits for Top 40 fluff... when has any great, creative band been best represented by their "hits"?All pickiness aside, the Church were strong songwriters who made beautiful yet world weary music that any soul can feel."

Fantastic band; song selections not the greatest

Brian D. Rubendall | 10/02/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Church are a fabulous band with an incredible depth in their catalog: a depth not as well-represented here as it could be. The Church won't play "Unguarded Moment" live anymore, yet it's a worthy lead-off track. The Blurred Crusade is an excellent record--there should be more tracks from it on this release. Seance was a rich record best represented by tracks other than "Electric Lash" . . . "One Day" or "Dropping Names" may have been more suitable here. It would have been cool if the Sing Songs EP was represented. Where are "Spark" and "Hotel Womb" from Starfish? As one of the few memorable tracks from the disappointing Gold Afternoon Fix, "Grind" is absent. Clever gems like "Witch Hunt" and "Film" might have more aptly represented the sublime Priest=Aura, while while the crucial "Fly Home" and "Day of the Dead" were missing from the Sometime/Anywhere period.If you're interested in the Church, and want a nice tour without buying the whole catalog, you're better off getting the Hindsight double CD, the B-sides compilation A Quick Smoke at Spot's; their amazing 1998 release on Thirsty Ear, Hologram of Baal; and the record of covers released just weeks ago, A Box of Birds."