You Sure Know How To Make Things Hard

I thought I should put this up as it in quite hard to find (I've never seen it on CD, even at the absurd price at which I have seen Kaleidoscope World and Submarine Bells), but I somehow did. While it's not the CHiLLs' best, it is their debut and like all their records has its own sound that no fan of kiwi-pop should miss. Produced by Mayo Thomas, it has an atmospheric psychedelic sound in a way that is quite different from the follow-up album. The keys are mixed low in a very effective way and the most lovable things on this album are the same things to love about other CHiLLs releases. Plus, only a kiwi-pop album could have a record cover like this one (I hear the members are spelling out "COLD" (Flying Nun's code) in nautical language.)

I don't have the pride of my record collection (this LP) in hand right now so I won't distinguish original tracks from bonus tracks which are mixed in on the side, tastefully distinguishing the two original sides. The opening track "Push" is beautiful and really sets the tone for the rest of the album. "Rain," the next track keeps the energy up and is one of the catchiest songs and perhaps the best use of falsetto I have heard in rock music. The last three tracks are some of the best as well leaving you to want to jsut hear more and more CHiLLs and luckily their other stuff gets better from there. There are plenty of great tracks int he middle though, most notably "Party in My Heart," which you may think of when partying until you realize it is definitely not that much fun... lyrically.


The CHiLLs - Brave Words (1986)