Priest = Aura is 20 !
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Michel
Mar 5, 2012, 6:15:32 PM3/5/12
to Seance List - The Church
Hi everybody, my name is Michel, pretending to be the greatest french
fan of the band (only pretending). I am new to Seance but quite old to
The Church...
As Priest = Aura will be 20 years old in a few days, I have chosen to
introduce myself by my own memories of that time. Here it is :
Excerpt from the book « The Church and Mi » that may never see the
light of day (like my letter to Robert Lurie titled « There is not
enough Marty Willson-Piper in your book Steve Kilbey & The Church »):
The scene takes place in Toulouse, France. Chapter name : Priest =
Aural
March 19th, 1992. Today I have three important things to do. The main
thing is break up with my girlfriend, definitely not a serious girl,
though I am in love with her. I come to her appartment to pick a few
clothes I have let there. She already knows and just tells me : « you
will forget me ». My answer is : « certainly not ».
I am sad, driving to the next important thing to do, buy a good new
record to try to forget my ex-girlfriend as she recommended. It is a
rainy march evening. In my car I am listening to Lou Reed's « Magic
and Loss » tape. Oh God this is very sad. I enter the big record shop
FNAC in search of the holy CD grail (no more vinyl there in 1992). Of
course, I always begin by letter « C », though I think a new Church
record won't come until summer.
A nice grey and black cover of a wolf putting his nose in a pyramid
is suddenly before my eyes. Promises of happiness for the future, like
a sign from heaven, Priest = Aura is already my favorite record by its
cover only. Unfortunately, I can't listen to it. No CD player in my
car (hey, this is the middle-age, 1992, remember !). I am not ready to
come back to my ex-girlfriend-since-an-hour and tell her : « can you
play it for me, this record certainly beats everything I know ! ». I
have to wait until next day when I come back to my parents' house, 50
miles from this city. Grrrrrrrh.
Third important thing to do (oh, by the way, now that I have my new
Church record, it is becoming very very less important, but I have
already bought the ticket so...) : attend a Teenage Fanclub gig in a
tiny indie club. I dig noisy pop, especially TF's Bandwagonesque
album, but the problem soon becomes : noisy pop = noise. And young
people, I talk of a time when earplugs were not invented yet, or if
they were, everybody would laugh at you if you had some at a show. The
guest is a horrible Toulouse band that creeps in the darkness and
appears as guest every time I come to an indie gig between 1990 and
1994, called Lucie Vacarme (translation : Lucy Incredibly -Oh More
Than That- Noisy/Loud). They can't sing, can't play, can't lift their
heads up but they try hard to have their guitars making love to 11 or
12-level-buttons big amplifiers. Oh God. I survive this but I feel
slightly deaf.
Teenage Fanclub is a band of hairy, no face at all except a nose,
young men, I suppose. They love to do ends of songs (as loud as
possible, jumping a lot) between their songs. I can't tell you the
exact setlist but I think they play about 15 times the same song,
called « There's a Boeing 747 landing in my garden (and I feel
fine) ». God knows it's true !
After the gig, I leave the airport scene. This time, I am totally
deaf. If you don't believe me, check this link :
http://www.audition-prevention.org/site/temoignages/temoignage_sandrine_1992.php
It tells in french the true story of a poor girl suffering from
hyperacousia after this gig and an overdose of « destroy guitar » as
she says.
I drive home. Lou Reed's tape in my car is not sad anymore because I
can't hear it. After a night of sweet dreams about buzzing fridges
getting out of the chapel under bells sky on their wedding day, I wake
up still deaf.
Priest = Aura is at last in my CD player. I am sure this record is
the best The Church have done, but I can't hear a thing. Definitely
too deaf. For two long days, I am only able to watch the cover in
sadness. Nobody can speak to me. I sulk in a corner. I curse noisy
pop.
Fortunately on the third day, I recover enough to flood my brain with
P=A and the worship begins :
Oh Priest = Aura, I wasn't expecting this
Oh Priest = Aura, a thing of love and beauty is in my head
Oh Priest = Aura, so fifty light years ahead of your time
Oh Priest = Aura, that halo you wear on your head, I haven't seen one
of those for years
Oh Priest = Aura, the more that I see you, the more that I miss you
Oh Priest = Aura, endless like the sky
Oh Priest = Aura, you started feeling dizzy
Oh Priest = Aura, you'll sprout wild wings, and fly
Oh Priest = Aura, whispering everywhere
Oh Priest = Aura, I must have dreamt of the end
Oh Priest = Aura, open your eyes
Oh Priest = Aura, I didn't mean to make you cry
Oh Priest = Aura, see you in your sleep
Oh Priest = Aura, you're so deluxe, you're so divine... Happy
birthday, for twenty years I have kept you in my mind and you will be
with me forever. It's just too bad I have LOST my first two days with
you, will you ever forgive me ?
Epilogue :
November 25th, 2010, Teenage Fanclub play in Toulouse again. I can
clearly see their faces (they have lost much of their hair, they look
pretty much like Roger McGuinn's grandfather now). They don't jump
anymore, only do ends of songs when their songs actually end, play
mainly nice pop songs from Grand Prix era. They have earplugs, I have
too, but this time they are really useless.
Now it is time for you Seancers to tell your story, or simply sing :
Happy Birthday, Priest = Aura !
fan of the band (only pretending). I am new to Seance but quite old to
The Church...
As Priest = Aura will be 20 years old in a few days, I have chosen to
introduce myself by my own memories of that time. Here it is :
Excerpt from the book « The Church and Mi » that may never see the
light of day (like my letter to Robert Lurie titled « There is not
enough Marty Willson-Piper in your book Steve Kilbey & The Church »):
The scene takes place in Toulouse, France. Chapter name : Priest =
Aural
March 19th, 1992. Today I have three important things to do. The main
thing is break up with my girlfriend, definitely not a serious girl,
though I am in love with her. I come to her appartment to pick a few
clothes I have let there. She already knows and just tells me : « you
will forget me ». My answer is : « certainly not ».
I am sad, driving to the next important thing to do, buy a good new
record to try to forget my ex-girlfriend as she recommended. It is a
rainy march evening. In my car I am listening to Lou Reed's « Magic
and Loss » tape. Oh God this is very sad. I enter the big record shop
FNAC in search of the holy CD grail (no more vinyl there in 1992). Of
course, I always begin by letter « C », though I think a new Church
record won't come until summer.
A nice grey and black cover of a wolf putting his nose in a pyramid
is suddenly before my eyes. Promises of happiness for the future, like
a sign from heaven, Priest = Aura is already my favorite record by its
cover only. Unfortunately, I can't listen to it. No CD player in my
car (hey, this is the middle-age, 1992, remember !). I am not ready to
come back to my ex-girlfriend-since-an-hour and tell her : « can you
play it for me, this record certainly beats everything I know ! ». I
have to wait until next day when I come back to my parents' house, 50
miles from this city. Grrrrrrrh.
Third important thing to do (oh, by the way, now that I have my new
Church record, it is becoming very very less important, but I have
already bought the ticket so...) : attend a Teenage Fanclub gig in a
tiny indie club. I dig noisy pop, especially TF's Bandwagonesque
album, but the problem soon becomes : noisy pop = noise. And young
people, I talk of a time when earplugs were not invented yet, or if
they were, everybody would laugh at you if you had some at a show. The
guest is a horrible Toulouse band that creeps in the darkness and
appears as guest every time I come to an indie gig between 1990 and
1994, called Lucie Vacarme (translation : Lucy Incredibly -Oh More
Than That- Noisy/Loud). They can't sing, can't play, can't lift their
heads up but they try hard to have their guitars making love to 11 or
12-level-buttons big amplifiers. Oh God. I survive this but I feel
slightly deaf.
Teenage Fanclub is a band of hairy, no face at all except a nose,
young men, I suppose. They love to do ends of songs (as loud as
possible, jumping a lot) between their songs. I can't tell you the
exact setlist but I think they play about 15 times the same song,
called « There's a Boeing 747 landing in my garden (and I feel
fine) ». God knows it's true !
After the gig, I leave the airport scene. This time, I am totally
deaf. If you don't believe me, check this link :
http://www.audition-prevention.org/site/temoignages/temoignage_sandrine_1992.php
It tells in french the true story of a poor girl suffering from
hyperacousia after this gig and an overdose of « destroy guitar » as
she says.
I drive home. Lou Reed's tape in my car is not sad anymore because I
can't hear it. After a night of sweet dreams about buzzing fridges
getting out of the chapel under bells sky on their wedding day, I wake
up still deaf.
Priest = Aura is at last in my CD player. I am sure this record is
the best The Church have done, but I can't hear a thing. Definitely
too deaf. For two long days, I am only able to watch the cover in
sadness. Nobody can speak to me. I sulk in a corner. I curse noisy
pop.
Fortunately on the third day, I recover enough to flood my brain with
P=A and the worship begins :
Oh Priest = Aura, I wasn't expecting this
Oh Priest = Aura, a thing of love and beauty is in my head
Oh Priest = Aura, so fifty light years ahead of your time
Oh Priest = Aura, that halo you wear on your head, I haven't seen one
of those for years
Oh Priest = Aura, the more that I see you, the more that I miss you
Oh Priest = Aura, endless like the sky
Oh Priest = Aura, you started feeling dizzy
Oh Priest = Aura, you'll sprout wild wings, and fly
Oh Priest = Aura, whispering everywhere
Oh Priest = Aura, I must have dreamt of the end
Oh Priest = Aura, open your eyes
Oh Priest = Aura, I didn't mean to make you cry
Oh Priest = Aura, see you in your sleep
Oh Priest = Aura, you're so deluxe, you're so divine... Happy
birthday, for twenty years I have kept you in my mind and you will be
with me forever. It's just too bad I have LOST my first two days with
you, will you ever forgive me ?
Epilogue :
November 25th, 2010, Teenage Fanclub play in Toulouse again. I can
clearly see their faces (they have lost much of their hair, they look
pretty much like Roger McGuinn's grandfather now). They don't jump
anymore, only do ends of songs when their songs actually end, play
mainly nice pop songs from Grand Prix era. They have earplugs, I have
too, but this time they are really useless.
Now it is time for you Seancers to tell your story, or simply sing :
Happy Birthday, Priest = Aura !
Andre McMillan
Mar 5, 2012, 7:00:04 PM3/5/12
to Michel....@wanadoo.fr, Seance List - The Church
nice Michel. good stuff.
i had a portable cd player and took it down to Odyssey Records. picked it up and off i drove. i was instantly smitten! during Ripple however, my batteries died and i didn't quite have the funds to replace. i drove fast back home and spun nothing else for the next 2 weeks. i had a plug-in power source to use at work and made a cassette for the car.
that album has been with me through everything. that's why i had to max the credit card and fly to Seattle to see the Past Future Perfect tour. amazing and i'd do it again.
Andre (in Anchorage, courtesy of Untitled #23)
i had a portable cd player and took it down to Odyssey Records. picked it up and off i drove. i was instantly smitten! during Ripple however, my batteries died and i didn't quite have the funds to replace. i drove fast back home and spun nothing else for the next 2 weeks. i had a plug-in power source to use at work and made a cassette for the car.
that album has been with me through everything. that's why i had to max the credit card and fly to Seattle to see the Past Future Perfect tour. amazing and i'd do it again.
Andre (in Anchorage, courtesy of Untitled #23)
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Daniel Watkins
Mar 6, 2012, 12:12:11 PM3/6/12
to Seance List - The Church, Michel....@wanadoo.fr
| Michel, welcome to the list - great to hear your experience. I remember seeing that CD for the first time back when it was released, and immediately loving the cover art before I ever even heard it. I have a very specific memory of my first listens, on headphones - just broken up with a girlfriend, just been laid off from work, was about to lose my place to live. I really dropped down into that sonic swirl of an album and loved it. It's hard to believe it's been 20 years! What a great album though, I wish The Church had played somewhere close enough to catch a show when they played the album live last year. Daniel |
Jesse Taylor
Mar 6, 2012, 8:02:30 PM3/6/12
to centur...@yahoo.com, seanc...@googlegroups.com, michel....@wanadoo.fr
Interesting. I have the opposite experience - I had just moved to a new state when Priest came out, and was just getting close to a serious girlfriend. We would shut ourselves in my room and leave the P=A CD on repeat all night long, and wake up to Kings or Feel, with that thrill of a new love in your arms, you know how it is. Not to get super sappy. But when she eventually left, almost 9 years later, even she mentioned the good times of listening to P=A all night long. It's too bad you just can't keep that young love forever.
Fast-forward to today: my wife will recount a very similar story, but with Earthed instead of Priest. And she too will probably say that it's too bad you can't keep that young love forever.
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2012 09:12:11 -0800
From: centur...@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [Seance] Priest = Aura is 20 !
To: seanc...@googlegroups.com; Michel....@wanadoo.fr
Fast-forward to today: my wife will recount a very similar story, but with Earthed instead of Priest. And she too will probably say that it's too bad you can't keep that young love forever.
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2012 09:12:11 -0800
From: centur...@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [Seance] Priest = Aura is 20 !
To: seanc...@googlegroups.com; Michel....@wanadoo.fr
Eyvind Dahl
Mar 7, 2012, 2:56:40 PM3/7/12
to Michel....@wanadoo.fr, Seance List - The Church
Nice story Michel - Priest = Aura has been with me ever since the release -
a masterpiece !
a masterpiece !
Eyvind
from Oslo
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Sendt: 6. mars 2012 00:16
Til: Seance List - The Church
Emne: [Seance] Priest = Aura is 20 !
Epilogue :
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