DVD, Video — August 7, 2013 at 7:00 am

The Church plays ‘Starfish,’ ‘Priest=Aura,’ ‘Untitled #23’ on new live triple DVD set

The Church

Fans of The Church who missed the Australian rockers’ recent “Future Past Perfect” tour — on which the band played 1988′s Starfish, 1992′s Priest=Aura and 2009’s Untitled #23 in their entireties — can now witness the group’s full performance of those record at Sydney’s Enmore Theater in December 2011 via a new three-disc DVD package.

The collection, aptly named “The Church: Future Past Perfect,” is now for sale via the band’s website. Below, you can check out a video trailer for the DVD box set (Full details: All Region, Stereo Sound, Linear PCM, Dolby Digital, DVD Video, PAL, 16:9).

The live DVD set follows the recent release of “Long Distance Century Buzzes and Fades,” a 23-years-in-the-making documentary of the Church’s 1990 world tour in support of Gold Afternoon Fix that frontman Steve Kilbey assembled from more than 13 hours of raw footage.

 

 

PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS

 

 

21 Comments

  1. Nah, not the original drummer, not going to fork over 47 bucks to see songs performed by the wrong drummer.

  2. Seriously. Don’t worry about the drummer. He’s great.

    I saw this show in NYC and they killed.

  3. ploog forever

    agreed – the church lost all their zest and appeal when they kicked out richard ploog (their most awesome drumma). kilbey has done some pretty stupid things – that move tops them all. and here we are with zzzz another cash cow trade in. living off ‘milky way’ for 25 yearzzzzz

  4. The “new” or “wrong” drummer is Tim Powles. He’s been in the band since the mid 90’s – twice as long as original drummer Richard Ploog.

    Ploog was amazing, no doubt, but only played on one of the original album recordings featured on this dvd, which was Starfish. Patti Smith drummer, Jay Dee Daugherty, played and toured on the Priest = Aura album.

    All 3 original Church members have acknowlged that Tim Powles saved the band from extiction. He has engineered and produced all their work from the excellent “After Everything Now this” album, and there is not a dud record amongst them, right up until 2009 “Untitled #23” which seemed to win outstanding reviews wordwide…

    So, you could say he’s a vital member in their machine :)

    Anyway, the dvd is fantastic and definitely worth the $$$. Audio on the dvd sounds fantastic by the way, much better than on the Moshcam you tube mix…

  5. Actually one of the coolest aspects of the DVD is seeing how amazing drummer Tim Powles is. It’s amazing watching him. Kilbey, Willson-Piper and Koopes are spot on and their touring member Craig Wilson is great too. This is filmed beautifully and comes with the tour program with excellent notes from MWP. A great document of a historic tour!

    Powles been in the band since 1994. Richard Ploog was good but Tim is the best drummer they’ve ever had.

  6. “The wrong drummer”?! Where do I start, stuart s?!!! Despite his alleged mental illness, being a suspected LSD casualty, and the band and producers resorting to drum machines to replace him on “Starfish” follow-up “Gold Afternoon FIx,” Richard Ploog has to be here for you to consider purchasing this?! Your loss, man, and the band’s and fans’ gain. Tim Powles is an AMAZING drummer and producer, and most Church fans would agree that if it weren’t for his arrival (18 years ago!) and contributions, this band would have likely tanked long ago. With Tim, this band is an even stronger beast, and I cannot think of another band/artist (Bowie included, and this coming from a HUGE fan of his) who has made an album as exceptionally great as “Untitled #23” thirty-plus years into their career. They’re truly at the top of their game now, which is just mind-blowing considering all the gems in their catalog.

    I saw this tour (and my DVDs should arrive here any day!), and it was the stuff of dreams. Absolutely UNREAL–and also unthinkable for so many other artists to pull off. And seeing/hearing Tim play his incredible setup, not to mention what he adds as a backing vocalist, was one of the endless highlights I have of this once-in-a-lifetime show.

    Whether you were one of the lucky few to see one of the shows or not, this purchase is essential. And, stuart s, I hope you’ll one day come around. I also wish want to wish Richard Ploog well. “Heyday” is Top 3 for me in the ’86 Poll. Cheers, Richard.

    • Looks awesome. Tim P was a rhythmic breath a adrenaline for the band. As a mega fan of P=A and Starfish, I loved Hologram of Baal, Untitled #23, and After Everything. And live, they are indeed a beast!

  7. I saw this tour (twice) and the Starfish tour way back when. This was by far the better show. Ploog was a great drummer, but after all these years The Church plays as though they have something to prove. Can’t wait for this DVD.

  8. I’ve seen The Church a few times over the past 25 years, and I have to say Peter Koppes is mesmerizing. He is the glue to an outstanding band.

  9. Priest = Aura is one of the best albums ever released by anyone. Period. I saw this show in Seattle and it was stellar. Starfish was the only letdown as it is the least interesting album of the three despite still being very good.

  10. What’s really annoying about these comments is, Ploog wasn’t eve the original drummer, Nick Ward was…

  11. I don’t understand what all of the fuss about Ploog is. The Church started making all of their best records after he left the band. Personally, I would take Priest = Aura, Hologram of Baal, After Everything Now This, etc. over any of the eighties albums. The band became much more adventurous and unique in the 1990s, whereas the earlier records are fairly generic at times.

    • It is presumably the same as with quite a few The Cure fans, who’ll always complain about Jason Cooper and cry that Boris Williams isn’t in the band any longer (he wasn’t the original drummer either, Lol Tolhourst was).

  12. @ Dennis – absolutely true call re: the Cure drummers. People bang on about how they wish Boris Williams was still on the band, and he left 20 years ago! It possibly ties in with the fact that a) the “Boris” period was the Cure’s most successful period commercially and b) Boris is undoubtably a great drummer. Lol Tolhurst’s drumming, technically speaking, could not hold a candle to Boris or Jason’s, but Lol’s minimalist style was well suited to the band’s output during their early period. At this point, Jason Cooper has been in the group way longer than either Boris or Lol….

  13. The DVDs arrived today!!! Thank you, Santa! And a huge shout-out to Rajani, too. :)

  14. AS A FAN OF THEIRS SINCE I WAS 14 (EARLY ’86) WHEN I FIRST HEARD ‘HEYDAY’, I CAN SAFELY SAY THAT THE 2 THINGS THAT FIRST DREW ME IN WERE THE GUITAR INTERPLAY AND THE DRUMS. AFTER MULTIPLE LISTENS OF THE LP (AND THEIR BACK CATALOGUE AFTER I HUNTED THEM DOWN AT MY LOCAL INDIE RECORD STORE), I REALIZED THAT THE DRUMS SOMEHOW KEPT EVERYTHING TOGETHER(EVEN THOUGH THEY SOUND LIKE SHIT ON ‘SEANCE’) AND RICHARD WAS SOON MY FAVORITE BAND MEMBER. AFTER HEARING ‘STARFISH’ THEY WERE SOLIDLY MY FAVORITE BAND. TWO YEARS LATER MY FAVORITE BAND BOOTED OUT MY FAVORITE MEMBER OF THE BAND, AND IT HURT. THEN CAME ‘P=E’…

    DESPITE THIS BEING THE FIRST ALBUM AFTER RICHARD BEING FIRED, I’M NOT AFRAID TO SAY THAT THIS IS MY FAVORITE CHURCH ALBUM AND HAS BEEN SINCE IT CAME OUT (FOLLOWED CLOSELY BY ‘THE BLURRED CRUSADE’ AND ‘HOLOGRAM OF BAAL’).
    DO I MISS RICHARD’S SMOOTHNESS AND FLUIDITY, YES. AM I GLAD TIM CAME ALONG, OHH FUCK YES. IF HE HADN’T BECOME CLOSE TO STEVE AND MARTY IN THE MID-90’S AROUND ‘MAGICIAN…’ AND THE REFO:MATION I DON’T KNOW IF WE’D EVER HAVE GOTTEN A ‘HOLOGRAM…’ OR ‘AFTER EVERYTHING…’ OR ‘UNTITLED…’.
    BE THANKFUL PEOPLE BECAUSE WE’VE BEEN ABLE TO HAVE THE CHURCH WITH US FOR 15+ YEARS MORE THAN WE MIGHT HAVE HAD IF HE HADN’T COME ALONG. BY THE WAY, IF YOU’RE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE MET HIM, LIKE I HAVE ON 2 OCCASIONS, YOU’D SEE THAT HE FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE REST OF THE BAND AND IS AS NICE A GUY AS YOU’D WANT TO MEET, NOT TO MENTION A GREAT MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST.

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