51. The Choir - Chase The Kangaroo (1988)
Nominated by Father2TheMan (#9)
Genre : Post-Punk, Alternative Rock Dream Pop, Jangle Pop, Shoegaze (# unranked in the RYM Post-Punk chart)
Descriptors : Christian
Length : 10 tracks - 46:49
AM ranking : #N/A
Artist Ranking : #N/A
RYM ranking : #276 for 1988 #unranked overall (74 ratings @ 3.64/ 5.0)
Metascore : N/A
1238 unique listeners and 17.7k scrobbles on last.fm
Choice cuts : Consider/Sad Face/Clouds
Biography from Allmusic
With their origins in Orange County, California, and their current incarnation based out of Nashville, Tennessee, atmospheric alt-rock outfit the Choir have undergone their fair share of changes throughout their long career. Formed in 1984 under the moniker Youth Choir, and built around the distinctive playing of guitarist and vocalist Derri Daugherty, the evocative lyrics of drummer Steve Hindalong, and the inventive, ambient post-rock flourishes of guitar player Marc Byrd, rounded out by saxophone and Lyricon player Dan Michael and bass player Tim Chandler, the band spent its early days infusing its signature blend of shoegaze, soaring alt-rock, and melodic psych-pop with a spiritual core. Prolific and critically lauded, but unable to bridge the gap (financially) between CCM and the mainstream -- successful faith-based alt-rockers such as Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, and Sixpence None the Richer cite the Choir as a significant influence -- the band considered closing up shop in 1996, shortly after relocating to Nashville and releasing its ninth studio album, Free Flying Soul. Wisely, they chose to stick it out and landed a Grammy Award nomination for 2000s independently released Flap Your Wings, which led to successful subsequent recordings like O How the Mighty Have Fallen (2005), Burning Like the Midnight Sun (2010), The Loudest Sound Ever Heard (2012), and Shadow Weaver (2014), the latter of which saw the group moving in a more secular direction.
A fan's review
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One of the Most Underrated Classics of the Late 80s
This is definitely the best album The Choir has ever recorded. Sadly, it was overlooked and under-appreciated at the time of it's release. Fortunately more and more are discovering it now a days, but it remains very sadly underrated. Even here at RYM. This is an album that should be in bold print here.
Remaining true to the Post-Punk of The Choir's early career, they add a strong measure of Alternative Rock which was in keeping with the times of course. U2 was riding high in the charts when this album came out and there is no doubt that U2, The Church and other contemporaries played a part with the influence here. However, the band seemed to hit a place where the stars were perfectly aligned for them. The chemistry is magical.
From the opening track, "Consider" (with it's all-encompassing drum rolls and jangly, dreamy substance) to the closing masterpiece that is "Kangaroo" (with it's jarring and out of control, the sky is the limit crescendo build up - that makes the listener want to soar into unlimited heavenly places), the album is just about a masterpiece of epic proportion. I say just about, because there are a couple songs that don't quite stand out like the majority of the songs do.
The music is basically a very original hybrid of Alternative Rock and Post-Punk (think The Cure meets U2 with The Church thrown in, only original and not a rip-off whatsoever), some of the songs are Jangle Pop and there is even some Dream Pop placed here and there - ensuring the extra goodness needed to sing with the angels. The vibe is spiritual, but not religious at all. Overall - there is an almost 'cleansing' feel to this that just washes over the listener and lets them know that everything will be okay. God is real and you can feel God in almost each of these songs. This album should have been up in the charts with U2's "The Joshua Tree", which came out about the same time. Both albums are very similar and spiritual.
Recommended for all fans of Alternative Rock and Post-Punk. You NEED this album!
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