The Church's second disc, The Blurred Crusade, was released in March 1982 and the songwriting seems more focused than on Of Skins and Heart. This is the first disc where other band members outside of Steve Kilbey contributed to the songwriting and that may have played a role as the band's music moves further toward the neo-psychedelic sound of their later discs.

Even as the band embraces more of an atmospheric melancholia across different track on this disc, they haven't fully given up the ringing Byrds-ish guitars or the psychedelic-tinged post/power-punk sounds of their previous disc. The disc starts out strong with two power-punk tracks - "Almost With You" and "When You Were Mine" - before heading into the atmospheric "Field of Mars", where Willson-Piper takes lead vocals and sings with a world-weary Bowie-ish voice. "An Interlude" and "You Took" were co-written by the four members of the band and both songs provide clear indication of the sound that The Church were chasing as a collective unit.

Similar to Of Skins and Heart, there are two b-sides added to The Blurred Crusade as bonus tracks. “Life Speeds Up”, the b-side to “Almost With You”, is a strong 7+ minute power-punk single that is equally as good as "Almost With You". “The Golden Dawn”, the b-side to “When You Were Mine”, is a pleasant but unremarkable instrumental.



The Church are playing two local shows next week on their "Future Past Perfect" electric tour. This unprecedented touring event continues their 30th Anniversary celebrations by performing three classic albums in their entirety in one night: Untitled #23 (2009), Priest=Aura (1992), and Starfish (1988).

"Future Past Perfect" Tour Dates
Feb 16 - New York, NY. - Highline Ballroom
Feb 17 - New York, NY. - B.B. King's

Tickets for the show at Highline Ballroom are $39.50 in advance and $45 (DOS). Doors are at 6PM and the show starts at 8PM. Ticket prices and door/show times are the same for the show at B.B. King's the following night.

Links:
The Church