The Churchills' sole album is above average for a rare psychedelic late-'60s obscurity, and an important document as the only Israeli psychedelic record to achieve even a bit of an international cult, but not as interesting as some of the buzz generated on the collector's circuit may have you believe. Heavily influenced by both West Coast psychedelia and late-'60s British hard rock, there's often a Jack Bruce-type resonance to the vocals, and a garage-Doors vibe to the guitar-organ interplay and spacy-but-somber lyrics. Sometimes they let more of a Middle Eastern element into play, as on "Subsequent Final," a mandolin tune which sounds like a psychedelic hora dance. The CD reissue adds four bonus tracks from early-1970s singles, including covers of Led Zeppelin's "Living Loving" and the Beatles' "She's a Woman," that are more run-of-the-mill hard rock.
One of the top 10 psych albums of all time (fact). Only released in Israel in 1969, this is an incredible psych fest with superb tripped out songs in English, amazing multi-layered, phased freaked out acid guitar solos, weird effects and exotic arabian instruments. Genuine Middle Eastern psych. The band only made one album, but what an album and not only that this version has 8 bonus tracks!
Israel [Hed-Arzi BAN-14106]
AMG Review by Richie Unterberger
The Churchills' sole album is above average for a rare psychedelic late-'60s obscurity, and an important document as the only Israeli psychedelic record to achieve even a bit of an international cult, but not as interesting as some of the buzz generated on the collector's circuit may have you believe. Heavily influenced by both West Coast psychedelia and late-'60s British hard rock, there's often a Jack Bruce-type resonance to the vocals, and a garage-Doors vibe to the guitar-organ interplay and spacy-but-somber lyrics. Sometimes they let more of a Middle Eastern element into play, as on "Subsequent Final," a mandolin tune which sounds like a psychedelic hora dance. The CD reissue adds four bonus tracks from early-1970s singles, including covers of Led Zeppelin's "Living Loving" and the Beatles' "She's a Woman," that are more run-of-the-mill hard rock.
_______________________________________________________________
DMME.NET - Classic Rock And Beyond
The founding fathers of the Israeli rock receive their due laurels.
They might have been less unique had THE CHURCHILL’S stem from England, yet Israel is where Dome of Rock is situated and not where rock seems to thrive. Still the band, led by guitarists Hayim Romano and Michael Gabrielov, did rock and even boasted an ex-Tornado (of “Telstar” fame) Rob Huxley, in their ranks, who wrote or co-wrote most of their output presented on this compilation in its entirety. A live cover of “She’s A Woman” aside, the ensemble, granted the title of the Israeli Beatles, didn’t aspire to the beat glory though, having opted rather for a variety of styles from the “Sunshine Man” exquisite psychedelia and THE PLATTERS-like romanticism of “Talk To Me” to the Stax-shaped “Coming Home”.
Eclectic and confusing indeed, if one takes it too seriously, which would be a mistake, as “Straight People”, a stab at THE DOORS, suggests. Still, seriousness has to be involved here, with impressive rendition of Bach’s “Double Concerto” and “Chorale For The Young Lovers” recorded with The Israeli Philarmonic Orchestra at the same time when DEEP PURPLE did the similar thing. The two bands, incidentally, toured together – when THE CHURCHILL’S evolved into JERICHO JONES, whose highly sought-after album is included in this package as well. The progress towards heaviness started already on their 1969’s debut album, “The Churchill’s”, with sharp “Comics”, but there's also been a strong folk influence in Middle Eastern-colored "Debka" and "Subsequent Finale", to not accuse them of blindly following the trends, especially after entering the '70s with a not too inventive version of ZEPPELIN's "Living Loving". This - and said eclecticism - aside, the band were great, their songs easily on par with those that made it to the top, while THE CHURCHILL's didn't. Still massively revered, now they must be up there too.
_______________________________________________________________
Aquarius Records
Israeli psychedelic rock band from the late '60s/early '70s who started off playing covers of Beatles and Led Zeppelin songs and then slowly worked original after original into their set. They became famous. The Churchill's peak was with their absolutely stunning, mandolin-fueled song "Subsequent Final" which alone is worth the price of this disc, one of Windy's favorite songs ever. Their first self-titled LP is now one of the rarest and most collectible albums from that period, so aren't we lucky to have this cd, which also has 4 bonus tracks (including the aforementioned Beatles and Zep covers).
______________________________________________________________
“Psyche van het Folk”, Radio Centraal
-Good, important & world famous 60's / early 70's styled psych pop group. There are some middle eastern influences (and ethnic folk crossover interpretations) which were not heard often before so often in beat/pop music. Such arrangements make tracks like "Subsequent Finale" unique. Tracks like "Too much in love to hear" & "Debka" have nicely sounding "tunes"(/ musical themes). The complete album is pretty "international" in style, with many UK early psych influences mostly.
-Gil Keltch : “They were very important band, Pioneers of Psych-Rock in Israel and also were much in demand as session band, they used Greek and Arabic musical elements in their music and due to the involvement of Canadian and British members managed to sound very much like a British band. Their album is a milestone of Israeli Rock.”
PS. According to the “Ugly Things” interview The group was also influenced beside by Arab music, by the Bedouin (Mid-Eastern desert tribes) by two members with a more eastern background, while the three others were western orientated.
01 - Open Up your Eyes - 2.48
02 - Songs From The Sea - 2.17
03 - Pictures In My Mind - 1.51
04 - Comics - 3.47
05 - When You're Gone - 3.18
06 - Strangulation - 2.15
07 - Straight People - 3.51
08 - Subsequent Final - 6.16
09 - So Alone Today - 3.35
10 - Debka - 4.44
11 - Living Loving (Bonus) - 2.35
12 - Signs Of You (Bonus) - 5.04
13 - She's A Woman (Bonus) - 4.00
14 - Sunshine Man (Bonus) - 3.19
15 - Too Much In Love To Hear (Bonus) - 2.27
16 - Talk To Me (Bonus) - 4.20
17 - Coming Home (Bonus) - 2.06
18 - Double Concerto (Bonus) - 4.47
19 - Chorale For The Young Lovers (Bonus) - 4.35
|
