Submarine Bells

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The Chills' signing with Slash/Warner Bros. led them to producer Gary Smith, who helped make the New Zealand indie-popsters' most polished record yet. As it turns out, Submarine Bells is also their masterpiece, a genuinely gorgeous meld of nearly orchestral keyboard washes and melodies that refuse to leave your head (or, for long stretches, your CD player). "Sitting alone at night in my dark bedroom, trying to explain myself in a song to you," Martin Phillipps is more obsessive--about pop music, unhappy love affairs, death--than ever. On Submarine Bells, he passes a version of salvation on to you. --Rickey Wright --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Average customer rating:

If only the US could appreciate such visionary music!

strong english pop

Very Kiwi

Quality tunes delivered with assurance

my favorite album of 2003, regardless of when it came out

Submarine Bells
The Chills
Manufacturer: Slash / Ada
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
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Kaleidoscope World

Soft Bomb

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The Law of Things

ASIN: B000005JAZ
Release Date: 1990-02-22

Tracks:

Heavenly Pop Hit
Tied Up In Chain
The Oncoming Day
Part Past Part Fiction
Singing In My Sleep
I Soar
Dead Web
Familiarity Breeds Contempt
Don't Be - Memory
Effloresce And Deliquesce
Sweet Times
Submarine Bells

Amazon.com

The Chills' signing with Slash/Warner Bros. led them to producer Gary Smith, who helped make the New Zealand indie-popsters' most polished record yet. As it turns out, Submarine Bells is also their masterpiece, a genuinely gorgeous meld of nearly orchestral keyboard washes and melodies that refuse to leave your head (or, for long stretches, your CD player). "Sitting alone at night in my dark bedroom, trying to explain myself in a song to you," Martin Phillipps is more obsessive--about pop music, unhappy love affairs, death--than ever. On Submarine Bells, he passes a version of salvation on to you. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews:

If only the US could appreciate such visionary music!.......2007-05-13

Effloresce And Deliquesce--quite simply the most original, quirky song every recorded.

strong english pop.......2007-02-13

the chills open this strong effort like an english version of the beach boys with the heavenly "heavenly pop hit," a truly classic pop song. track 3, "the oncoming day," is a power pop classic, and the album ends with the beautifully lush and gently "submarine bells." mixed in is a lot of other very nicely done pop. a recording all lovers of power pop should have.

Very Kiwi.......2006-05-21

I've always been a fan of the chills, from my uni days in Christchurch many years ago, there was always a special passion about Martin Phillipps, he sung such happy songs about such bad things in such a way you didn't quite know what to think about it, but you loved it just the same.
More than anything else it reminds me of New Zealand, and the natural raw beauty of the place. Martin was the most brilliant musician, all the guys I went through uni with thought that, we were forever pinching the latest Chills CD's off each other, I think I had to buy soft bomb about 4 times. But I did, and I know who has the other copies!!! Give them back ya buggers!!

I still listen to them often, they carry a quality rarely found in most modern music, and its still good fun to listen to.

Quality tunes delivered with assurance.......2005-10-25

Arguably the best introduction to the zenith of the Flying Nun-label New Zealand sound of "alt rock/college radio"'s prime circa 1990. It shows what a homegrown prodigy, Martin Phillipps, and his band could do with US distribution, a presumably bigger budget, and under the helm of Gary Smith, a respected American producer, directing them. It's neither my favorite NZ act nor album, by the way, but the most accessible that I'd recommend for anyone curious about what lies to the left of Crowded House, and far right of The Dead C, I suppose!

While the album needed more amplification in its grooves, in my opinion, it does what it aims at well. Songs in Phillipps' winningly thick accent may hit a bit nasally at times, but his phrasing and lyrics effectively conjure up music suited for a grey day turning into sun. Like so many NZ albums, songs about water, and under it, appear, and this drizzly, misted songcraft makes this album shimmer. The keyboards amble along and the guitars chug, and the whole process seems seamlessly stitched into a professional, but not slick, cycle of meditative but not sedative tunes.

my favorite album of 2003, regardless of when it came out.......2004-08-04

the first of five chills albums i bought last summer, and easily the best. this is their masterpiece, and i've never in my life heard a better, more solid, more surprising synth-pop record. in fact, in light of this album, the rest of the chills' stuff is good, but not nearly good enough, if this is what they were capable of. every song crawls inside your head and camps out there, so by the time you're done listening, you've got 40 minutes of new-age kiwi pop bouncing around your skull. sadly, i don't listen to it much nowadays, but it speaks to the immediate and engaging accessibility of this record that it's the first one in maybe 6 years i've listened to frequently, repeatedly, to the point of complete saturation.

Average customer rating:

Nikolsky: Choral Works

Manufacturer: Russian Season
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000003HYB
Release Date: 1996-02-09

Average customer rating:

Heavenly pop hits
Heavenly, indeed
Why was this supposed to be a masterpiece??

Submarine Bells
The Chills
Manufacturer: Flying Nun
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Australia & New Zealand | International | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000078JFD
Release Date: 2007-05-28

Tracks:

Heavenly Pop Hit
Tied Up in Chain
Oncoming Day
Part Past Part Fiction
Singing in My Sleep
I Soar
Dead Web
Familiarity Breeds Contempt
Don't Be - Memory
Effloresce and Deliquesce
Sweet Times
Submarine Bells

Album Description

The New Zealand alternative act's 1990 masterpiece on Flying Nun. 12 tracks including, 'Heavenly Pop Hit' & 'Singing In My Sleep'.

Album Details

2007 Album that Includes the No. One New Zealand Single "Heavenly Pop Hit" that Went on to Become Critically Applauded Worldwide. "Submarine Bells" Topped New Zealand's Album Charts During the Band's Triumphant Homecoming Tour, and also Hit the No.1 Spot on the Us College Radio Charts.

Customer Reviews:

Heavenly pop hits.......2004-03-03

The first track of "Submarine Bells" is definitely well named, and not just for the first song either -- the whole album is made of "heavenly pop hits." This New Zealand band produced some pretty darn charming pop-rock that melds near-orchestral music with catchy pop melodies and melancholy writing.

A majestive sweep of organ-like keyboard opens "Heavenly Pop Hit" and the harder, contemplative "Tied Up In Chain." Dali-esque love songs ("Oncoming Day") blossom into the strange and surreal ("I Soar") the slowly catchy ("Dead Web" and "Don't Be -- Memory") the searing whirlwind rock ("Familiarity Breeds Contempt") and ends by coming full circle to where it started -- catchy, chiming pop (the charming "Effloresce And Deliquesce" and delicate sea ode "Submarine Bells").

The Chills don't possess the musical brilliance of true geniuses, but their catchy, enticing alternative-pop songs are unforgettable. They swirl, they snap, they shimmer, they sparkle with irresistable melodies. The first two songs suck you in with their hooks and chiming keyboard pop, before shifting into the darker, stranger realms of songs like the eerie "I Soar" and the louder, rockier "Oncoming Day." By that time, you're already caught up in the music and won't want to turn it off.

Martin Phillips, without being whiny, uses these simple-seeming songs to bemoan death, love, and any combination of the above. (The love of death? The death of love? Both work...) Despite the cheery tone of the music, the songs themselves are hauntingly written: "I have to talk to someone/describe it all to someone/emotions are imploding/but there's nothing to say... they've all gone away..."

New Zealand has proved in the past few years that it can serve up top-notch stuff that the public devours with a passion. But the Chills' "Submarine Bells" shows that this is hardly a new development. Beautiful, haunting and quite enjoyable.

Heavenly, indeed.......2003-04-15

This album is a masterpiece because it contains beautifully written, played, and produced pop music. The lyrics are heartfelt and yet knowing, and the music is a swirl of shining beauty. Comparing this band to Coldplay is frankly insulting; Coldplay only wishes they could write a song as absolutely wonderful as "Heavenly Pop Hit."

If the Chills were a "second tier act," that was no fault of theirs; when this record was originally released, their United States record company had no idea what to do with them and gave them no promotion. I was lucky enough to see them live on a brief tour of the U.S., and Martin Phillips and co. were every bit as good live as they were on this record. The Chills should have been one of New Zealand's most famous imports; album after album of great stuff, and this one is possibly their best.

The reviewer from Switzerland has snow in his ears. This is one of the great lost rock albums. Miss it, and it's your loss.

Why was this supposed to be a masterpiece??.......2003-01-03