THE CHILLS
STAND BY
IN MUSIC
Just when you thought they’d fallen off The face of this earth they return with their first cd in nine years.
The Chills have had numerous line up changes with Martin Phillipps being the only key member in the band so this ep could be more
along the lines of a Martin Phillipps solo project plus band.
The songs themselves were recorded in two sessions (2002 and 2004)first session at Arc life Studio and the second session at
The Temple Gallery in Dunedin and mixed by Bryan Spittle,
Dale Cotton and Ed McWilliams Jr, at studios in Dunedin and Auckland.
Overall it’s still a great ep that has some really catchy songs and future classics such as my favourite track Torturing me which reminds me of their early classic I love my leather jacket. But in the end their music is still great all these years later and I am Standing By for more of their Heavenly Pop Hits.
The Chills Sweet Bites
You thought it might have been hard to squeeze more unreleased/unheard gems from The Chills archive after the Treasure trove/bullion/molten gold they released on the 3 disc set entitled secret box but they have done it again for the 30th anniversary on this special release album of not 12 but 14 tracks ranging from live recordings and demos the real highlight would be the 2 live recordings from the first ever Chills gig 30 years ago as well as live recordings of 2 new songs in The Chills list of songs.
Those 2 tracks may be rough audience recordings but are still two great gems for any Chills collection that managed to survive the test of time lets hope this is an appetiser before the main course of a new full length album.
The Chills Somewhere Beautiful
This is one band that has been singing and floating and free for the past 30 years. whenever we get a release from these guys whether it is a single or an EP it is classed as an event and this release is no different. This album maybe called somewhere beautiful but to me it was truly something beautiful/Something Brilliant. This album could be classed as an entrée into the lead up to the main meal/event of a brand new studio album.
This is a live album that was recorded back in 2011 at a private party on New Year's Eve and is a great showcasing of previously unrecorded/unreleased tracks along with some of their more commonly known hits. It is soo hard to pick standout tracks as all of them are brilliant but my picks would go as far as Night of Chill blue with the hauntingly beautiful electric violin in the background, then we move onto the three great piano tracks Walk On The Beach, True Romance and great performance of Submarine Bells, another track that we hardly hear live is Male Monster From the Id there is a minor technical hiccup in the start of the performance but clears up about a minute in, another highlight of the album is what I mentioned earlier is the showcasing of a couple of new tracks entitled The Other and Go Canterbury.
Overall it is good to hear the chills still producing such heavenly pop hits 30 years on.
The Chills BBC Sessions (AKA The John Peel Sessions)
This is a proper release of The Chills Peel Sessions Chills fans have been waiting for (there have been bootlegs arise online for download but of a cassette quality recording) This release is the complete Chills session with beatuiful crisp recordings of gems and fan favourites. The recordings span over 3 years (12/11/1985 05/04/1987 18/12/1988)
The Chills Silver Bullets
It has been 20 years since the last full length album came out from the chills (although from time to time we have been treated with special releases from their archive), the album carries that signature Chills feel that harkens back to the days of Submarine Bells and Softbomb. This album has an energetic enthusiasm about it especially with the title track (and one of my personal favourites) Silver Bullets which is just sung beautifully, the very prophetic track Underwater Wasteland talking about how we as humanity take and take and not thinking about the consequences/ effects to nature around us, another two great tracks I must recommend are America Says Hello and Molten Gold one additionally track to note is Warm Wavefront which if you have Martins album of demos called Sketchbook will recognise the track as Warm from that album. Overall this album has a nice polished simply beautiful golden sound and I surely hope it is not another 20 years before another full length album comes from The Chills
