something shimmering & white: a&r, the church & my destination
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A friend I worked at Arista with, a lifetime and a half ago, sent me an e-mail asking me if I'd heard that car commercial with some girl singing 'Under The Milky Way.' I had, from another room in my apartment, and I didn't recognize the singer (Sia, it turned out), but it was one of those 'what's that?' moments, when something you know so well, but haven't heard it ages, comes back in an altered form, and you're not quite sure what's going on.Another thing I didn't know: 'Under The Milky Way' is all over the place. Just go to YouTube if you don't believe me. There's a clip of The Killers doing it with an assist from Chairlift, and an acoustic version by Nicole Atkins, and Matchbox 20 give it a shot… I mean, the thing is more than two decades old, and this is The Moment of Rediscovery. How randomly the wheel of pop spins.'Under The Milky Way' played a pretty significant part in my own story, which I'll tell you as succinctly as possible. I was knocking out advertising and marketing copy at Arista Records, and getting really restless. How many ways can you hype Air Supply? What more was there to say about Barry Manilow? You see my dilemma: on the one hand, I was employed at a record company, on the other hand, Air Supply and Barry Manilow. A couple of A&R people left the label, and I lobbied for a shot at the gig.And got an unequivocal no. Which was understandable. It's a desirable job, and I had no experience at it, and didn't exactly know what it entailed (I knew that the A&R guys tended to show up for work later than the rest of us, and I liked that idea). But I kept being a noodge, and basically said, look, I have no idea if I can do this, and I'm not asking for a new title, or more money, or a bigger office. Just give me demo tapes, send me to showcases, have me call song publishers, and we'll give it a trial, and meanwhile I'll keep doing my real job even if it means more Manilow copy.So I found a couple of songs for Arista artists to cut (one was for the reunited half-Monkees). I learned how to write a polite pass letter. I discovered that no matter what time a band is supposed to go on stage, tack on a half-hour. If you add up all the time I've spent waiting in clubs for sets to start -- not actually watching music, mind you, just the in-between time -- I'd have a few years of my life back.And I got some artist demos, one of which was by The Church. They'd already been on Capitol and Warners, and hadn't broken, but they had a little following, and college airplay, and Arista could use a band with that kind of cred. OK. On a cassette I got from the manager was a song called 'Under The Milky Way,' and I breathed a little sigh of relief, because it was simply perfect, in its way, It was moody, and hooky, pop enough but not too pop, slightly Pink Floydish, and yet modern and not prog-ish (and still, neo-prog band Coheed & Cambria have lately been known to play it at Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, so maybe it's more proglike than I'd like to admit, given my progophobia).It became the lead single and centerpiece of the band's Arista debut 'Starfish.' And it crossed over from college radio to AOR to pop radio when it was difficult to make that transition, and the album went gold, and I was officially an A&R guy, because my first artist signing had worked.What I think now (late 2009), is that 'Under The Milky Way' is mysterious, but childlike. It's abstract, but has a melody that sticks with you. It's certainly a Rock Song (which is why The Killers can do it), but it's also, stripped down to its basics, folk-strummy (which is why Nicole Atkins can do it), and it's Pop (which is why Rob Thomas can do it). As Sia's Lincoln spot proves, it even works in a 30-second version. I have not heard the recordings by Rick Springfield and Echo & The Bunnymen, but the fact that it has been done by both Rick Springfield and Echo & The Bunnymen speaks much about its adaptability.What I thought then (1988) was that it was a hit. Still is, I guess.
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MOG it up!
Comments (16)
What a very, very cool post. Funny, too. The Church record (yes, children, it was vinyl then) that ensnared me was "Heyday" - which I still think is one of the more criminally underestimated albums of that decade, or maybe ever. Based on that, and the EP that contained the nigh-about-perfect "A Different Man," I became a Church acolyte (sorry). I bought "Starfish" and stuck it on my turntable with my headphones on my ears, laying on my bed like a patient about to happily undergo brain surgery. And..."Starfish" was pretty good by any reasonable standard, but I wanted it to be better, more magical than "Heyday." And it just wasn't - with the exception of "Under The Milky Way," which was the one song I kept replaying and replaying....
Yes, I heard the commercial and my first thought was "I home they are getting a decent chunk of change"
Nice post
The auteur himself has a pretty interesting take on his moment of fame - both raw and wry...
http://stevekilbey.blogspot.com/2009/10/utmw.html
Ivylander--in its own weird way, I think that's an awesome compliment to the Church.
Emcee--hate to say it, but we go WAY back, not only via the Church but I also believe that over the years I received one or two of your "polite" passes on projects, although more likely in person than on letterhead. Good to reacquaint via MOG.
Great post and great story. Obviously you have good ears and at that time A&R people were often allowed to use them properly. I'm assuming you got the tape from Mike Lembo. I didn't work with the Church until “Milky Way” came out, but I did their live FOH sound on that tour and had the time of my life. Their catalog has made them one of my favorite bands ever and I am still very close friends.....just spoke to Marty 2 days ago. I still mix them live every so often for fun, use Marty on guitar for recordings whenever he's in LA, and hooked Steve up with some Remy Zero guys for the "Isidore" project when I recorded and mixed the track "Transmigration".
Besides helping my cohort Gary Jules, the Donnie Darko movie used "Milky Way" nicely and reminded people of how great a song it is. The covers have shown respect (have you heard Grant Lee Phillips' version?) and I love the fact that another friend (Sia) is now heard singing it on my TV every day. Not bad for a track that finally grew on Kilbey. I remember him not wanting to do it live back in its day and even wanting to leave it off the "King Biscuit Flower Hour" show I was mixing for broadcast from a gig in Philly (where they did an AMAZING "Cortez the Killer" jam with Tom Verlaine that I still have on tape).
I loved reading what Ivylander had to say about "Heyday". Anyone who's reading this should check out that album. They’re still making great music and their most recent US tour covered the extensive catalog quite well. When I was mixing them live on the “Milky Way” tour, I actually had trouble keeping my hands on the console...I just HAD to play air guitar. The interaction between Marty and Peter on guitar was quite reminiscent of mixing Television, and you can’t get better than that. Of course, we had some fun off stage as well. Thanks for the flashback.
just read Steve's blog and it's a good one. i'm real glad he can actually enjoy it as well!!
I hadn't seen Kilbey's blog, and I'm glad that writing my MOG thing steered me to it. It was Mike Lembo who gave me the cassette, and he and I were instantly convinced of the song's potential. Thank goodness we were right
I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum from Ivy - I've never heard the Church before. I lived in Japan at the time and for the first minute I so I couldn't understand why this wasn't all over their airwaves because it has all the right nuances for the Japanese market. But then we got to the middle part and I understood; much too unusual for them.
But I have heard the song from a number of sources. It is a perfect song that is open to all-comers. It's my contention that any really worthy song is pretty indestructable and sounds just as good on an acoustic guitar as it does with a full band. As you eloquently analyse, this is one of those.
Really entertaining post and thanks for educating me.
emscee -- thanks for posting this.... prior to this, i had no idea you ever had a job OTHER THAN A&R at arista!
in 1986, i was on tour in the UK with the church when Warners dropped a ton of artists, including them. ironically, "heyday" was beginning to break into the top 200 when that happened. we were on the verge of breaking through when the record deal and by extension, tour support, fell through.
then came arista. don't know if you knew this emscee (robin certainly remembers) - but at the time, we all had mixed feelings about "milky way" and kilbey hated playing it live... especially after it was a hit. on a "comeback" sort of tour and recording project in 2000, they especially refused to play it live... still!
the church is how robin danar and i came to know each other (robin - remember the drive to philly from NYC in 1988? took as long to leave NYC as it did to get to philly. and the nilla wafers!) and believe it or not, lembo and i are still in touch. a few years ago, i booked a show for the saints, and marty was playing with them... all sorts of after-the-fact-small world stuff.
i don't know if anyone associated with the band knew this (apart from lembo - obviously because of the publishing) - BUT... "milky way" was almost the commercial soundtrack for the Volswagen spot that ended up using "pink moon." the director & producer were literally in the edit room going to lock the song when they found "pink moon." since i was an island A&R chick who tried fervently to get nick drake covers, there was no way i could begrudge him getting posthumous airplay extra large as a car commercial at the expense of the band i was working with.
if its still in print or somehow available (i guess that's what youtube is for), fans should try to find the longform video "goldfish" which has the music videos and a lot of interstitial video (some of it i shot), that we shot on tours, etc.... robin is in this! one of the band knocks on his hotel room door, video camera in hand. and you can hear my off camera voice all over the place. and its a great document of the donkeys! watch it and you'll understand what i mean. by "donkeys" that is
thanks everyone for your comments. robin and anna, you guys have filled in a lot of my narrative gaps. yeah, i knew that the band had ambivalent (to be kind) feelings about the song. isn't that always the way? from kilbey's blog that ivylander linked to, it seems that he has come to terms with it (and the $$ it generates).
awesome post!
thanks, david.
It's great to get posts from current and former music insiders. The perspective you can offer all us fans and wanna bees, is fascinating. Thanks for sharing- all of you.
hey anna--
REAL glad you chimed in here, although i'm not sure i want anyone seeing my haircut in that video. did you see Kilbey's blog? things have definitely come a long way regarding "Milky Way".
tell Lembo i say hi, and pass the wafers!
Love the Church, still listen to Starfish at leat twice a year give or take.. good stuff.
Check out "Heyday" Ghost. after that you'll move on to other stuff they've done as well.
Columbus is the only song I dug off that album. They style is there before and after starfish, just for my taste in music, they Peaked at Starfish.
Granted, I have not paid them any attention since 1990. so I will give their other stuff a listen.. looks like it could be an afternoon on Youtube.