Priest=Aura

• Artist: The Church
• Rating:
• Release Date: March 10, 1992
• Total Time: 64:52
• Type: Compilation (best of)
• Genre: Rock

Review

Probably the most obscure album title yet from the Church, and definitely one of the least likely to provide a catchy radio single, but with this defiant reclaiming of their own destiny after the mess of Gold Afternoon Fix, the Church came up with its best album to date. If not as gloriously catchy as Heyday, Priest = Aura shows the Church fully in charge of creating evocative, poetic, and gripping music with a distinctly unsettling edge. Part of the strength of Priest = Aura is its excellent sequencing, organized from start to finish. The opening song, "Aura," finds the band coming in after an atmospheric synth start, Kilbey's sly lyric equally applicable to the band's recent situation and standing as a cryptic invocation of strange experiences away from home. "Ripple," which immediately follows, was the lead single, its soothing chorus floating above a strong, shadowy undertow of music below. With that as a start, everything continues up until the album's wrenching conclusion, starting with the dramatic, unnerving music hall chant of "The Disillusionist." After a brief break with "Old Flame," "Chaos" kicks in, a nearly ten-minute invocation of the title subject. Willson-Piper and Koppes rarely have sounded so powerful, while the final song, "Film," doesn't provide much further comfort. In between these two extremes, many other great songs -- "Swan Lake," with its portrait of a hellish home, the gentle dance-groove of "Feel," "Kings" and its epic U2-done-right feel and more -- fill out this astonishing album. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Aura	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Jay Dee Daugherty, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(7:01)
Ripple	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Jay Dee Daugherty, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(6:03)
Paradox	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Jay Dee Daugherty, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(4:00)
Lustre	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Jay Dee Daugherty, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(5:45)
Swan Lake	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Jay Dee Daugherty, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(2:26)
Feel	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Jay Dee Daugherty, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(3:55)
Mistress	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(4:12)
Kings	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Jay Dee Daugherty, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(4:34)
Dome	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Jay Dee Daugherty, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(4:00)
Witch Hunt	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Jay Dee Daugherty, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(1:28)
The Disillusionist	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Jay Dee Daugherty, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(6:25)
Old Flame	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Jay Dee Daugherty, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(1:36)
Chaos	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Jay Dee Daugherty, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(9:35)
Film	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Jay Dee Daugherty, Marty Willson-Piper	The Church	(3:57)

Credits

The Church (Producer), Gavin MacKillop (Producer), Marty Willson-Piper (Producer), Jay Dee Daugherty (Producer), Peter Koppes (Guitar), Marty Willson-Piper (Vocals), David Katzenstein (Photography), Marty Willson-Piper (Guitar), Gavin MacKillop (Engineer), Maude Gilman (Art Direction), Peter Koppes (Producer), John Wujcik (Lettering), Steve Kilbey (Bass), Peter Koppes (Vocals (Background)), Steve Kilbey (Vocals), Jay Dee Daugherty (Drums)

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)