Draining the POLL for you - ILM artist poll #98 - The Go-Betweens

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31 respondents selected their favourite Go-Betweens tracks, up to a maximum of thirty.

24 also conveyed opinions on the best albums by said band and associated side-projects.

14 turned their mind to the best individual tracks released by Go-Betweens members in a solo capacity and with such side-projects.

So...three rollouts, effectively. Too much? Possibly!

We'll start with the album votes shortly.

Here's a link for a Spotify list we'll use later. Feel free to help populate it when the time comes:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2a5XW6w5pDfnsl1TuigTYy?si=7LSmmcURSgO5eHD_MsVfqw.

I'll make a verrrry slow start. Don't fret too much if it's bedtime in your timezone.

Cool. Is that playlist public?

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24 people voted for up to 10 albums. Pretty much any album released by enduring Go-Betweens members, together or alone, was eligible.

This will be a rollout of the top 17. Further titles appeared on ballots, but these are the ones that received at least two votes and/or a first-place vote.

Playlist is marked as collaborative, so as far as I can tell it's public...

I added a randomly-selected track to it, in case its emptiness is a factor.

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#17
GW McLENNAN - WATERSHED
September 1991

Points: 5
Votes: 2
First-place votes: 0

When Word Gets Around / Haven't I Been A Fool / Haunted House / Stones For You / Easy Come Easy Go / Black Mule // Putting The Wheels Back On / You Can't Have Everything / Sally's Revolution / Broadway Bride / Just Get That Straight / Dream About Tomorrow

"Stylistically, McLennan wears many hats, without committing to any one. Though this approach might spell disaster for lesser artists, the veteran singer/songwriter dabbles effortlessly. The key is his knack for splicing clever hooks with perfectly turned phrases, many of which are spoken rather than sung. Nothing on Watershed forsakes the song for style -- though a few tracks would be better with less excess ("Putting the Wheels Back On"). Most also suffer from dated and increasingly stale production. With tiny highs and muffled lows, the album lacks a certain brightness present in his later recordings." - Norm Elrod

Youtube audio track: Haunted House

Might have been. Now I can see, thanks

The sad thing is that it's harder to find McLennan's reflections on his post-80s work than Forster's. For obvious reasons, I guess. Quotes from other parties will dominate his long-player entries.

I'll leave it at one entry for a little while...

Always been worried that it's an Oakland Raiders fan wielding the razor on the 'Watershed' album cover. (x-post)

I only realised this week how often he was photographed in that hat.

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#16
GRANT McLENNAN - IN YOUR BRIGHT RAY
July 1997

Points: 6
Votes: 2
First-place votes: 0

In Your Bright Ray / Cave In / One Plus One / Sea Breeze / Malibu 69 / Who Said Love Was Dead / Room For Skin / All Them Pretty Angels / Comet Scar / Down Here / Lamp By Lamp / Do You See the Lights? / The Parade of Shadows

"By far the best of McLennan's solo works, the album is consistent, upbeat, and extremely strong musically and lyrically. It was produced by Wayne Connolly, who had been recommended to McLennan by Brett Myers of Died Pretty. McLennan was interested because he had enjoyed Connolly's production work for the Underground Lovers." - David Nichols

Youtube audio track: Cave In

Nichols might be of one of IYBR's biggest fans. He praises it at several points in his GBs book.

Couldn’t get it together to vote in this poll but will certainly be kibitzing if nobody minds too much.

Never paid attention to those two Grant albums, maybe because Alfred didn’t blog about them.

But now that I am listening some of the tunes are familiar from other contexts, such as “Black Mule.”

Kibitzing is good! Last one for a while...

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#15
ROBERT FORSTER - SONGS TO PLAY
September 2015

Points: 6
Votes: 3
First-place votes: 0

Learn to Burn / Let Me Imagine You / Songwriters On The Run / And I Knew / A Poet Walks // I'm So Happy For You / Love Is Where It Is / Turn On The Rain / I Love Myself (And I Always Have) / Disaster In Motion

"it’s such a different record… when I was doing Warm Nights and I was in Edwyn Collins’ studio, and I’m in London, I sort of knew it was going to sound a certain way. But this was in Brisbane, in a studio on a mountain, analog, the gear had just arrived… so I had no idea! So it really was, after we’d made the album, we were sitting at home and going 'what are people going to make of this?'" - RF

Youtube audio track: I'm So Happy For You

I seemed to like this one way more than many in these parts, but it still slipped off the end of my ballot.

those first two tracks you posted i was unfamiliar with - they're so dreamy and at the same time are reminders dreams are part of reality

Songs To Play might've made my ballot had we done this poll before Inferno came out.

In Your Bright Ray is by far my favourite of Grant's albums. I've never been able to get into any of the others in the same way.

I've gone back to Songs To Play a lot. Robert's been on such great form recently.

He has. I love his new one as well. And obviously The Evangelist will be quite high in this.

Just looking the final tracks results for the first time. I think there might have been enough votes to support a solo/side project rollout of the TOP FORTY. Does that seem too much in addition to the actual Go-Betweens rollout proper, which is likely to be bigger still? LOL.

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#14
THE GO-BETWEENS - BRIGHT YELLOW BRIGHT ORANGE
February 2003

Points: 7
Votes: 3
First-place votes: 0

Caroline and I / Poison in the Walls / Mrs Morgan / In Her Diary / Too Much of One Thing // Crooked Lines / Old Mexico / Make Her Day / Something for Myself / Unfinished Business

"We had a PA and monitors in the studio, which they had hardly ever seen, and we basically played a lot of it very, very live. There's overdubs, of course, but it's mainly bass, drums, guitars, vocals. Just people strumming in a room. It's very much the way people recorded from the late '60s to the mid-'70s, the way we've done this album. And very counter to the way we recorded in the '80s." - RF

Youtube audio track: Old Mexico

Firmly the weakest of the three reunion albums, despite a couple of classic Robert tracks. I'm up for a top 40 solo btw.

I frequently like the sound of it when it's playing but, even after this period of immersion, I can't bring to mind several of those tracks from their titles.

This is an interesting one. Not so much a 'best-of' as Xgau suggests, more a condensate of BH + SHF for the USA. I see no reason to exclude it and can easily imagine giving it a first-place vote myself if I'd grown up with it. :) It seems the cassette had additional tracks -- denoted by *.

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#13
THE GO-BETWEENS - METAL AND SHELLS
1985 (compilation)

Points: 10
Votes: 1
First-place votes: 1

Part Company / Bachelor Kisses / By Chance / That Way / Draining The Pool For You / Man O'Sand To Girl O'Sea / Ask* // Cattle And Cane / Unkind & Unwise / As Long As That / A Bad Debt Follows You / You've Never Lived / Slow Slow Music / This Girl, Black Girl*

"When what the Brits call pop isn't popular, it's usually rock and roll chamber music if it's any good at all. This U.S. debut, a best-of that highlights the soulful ache in the vocals and the quirky opacities in the lyrics and does what it can for a modest tune sense, honors that suspect notion. It's not stylized, and not static either, but it's pretty subtle, and its half-finished edges and kinetic lyricism are best appreciated in tranquility if not repose. Where it can be expected to unfold for quite a while. A-" - Robert Christgau

Youtube audio track: Ask

(Pssst! It's possible I posted 'Ask' there because I voted for it and am sad that it's unlikely to appear later. But that's a minor spoiler, so don't tell anyone.)

The title of that, Metal & Shells, is from the lyrics - and title too, I think- of an early version of the song “Before Hollywood,” iirc.

"When what the Brits call pop isn't popular, it's usually rock and roll chamber music if it's any good at all. This U.S. debut, a best-of that highlights the soulful ache in the vocals and the quirky opacities in the lyrics and does what it can for a modest tune sense, honors that suspect notion. It's not stylized, and not static either, but it's pretty subtle, and its half-finished edges and kinetic lyricism are best appreciated in tranquility if not repose. Where it can be expected to unfold for quite a while. A-" - Robert Christgau

I don't think I'll ever understand the enduring popularity of Christgau's reviews.

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#12
THE GO-BETWEENS - 78 'TIL 79: THE LOST ALBUM
1999 (compilation)

Points: 12
Votes: 4
First-place votes: 0

Lee Remick / Karen / Help Or Something / Just Hang On / Long Lonely Day / Day For Night / Love Wasn't Made For You And Me / Summer's Melting My Mind / Obsession With You / Rare Victory / The Sound Of Rain / People Say / Don't Let Him Come Back

"The album is a composite of what we were at the time. Remember we were only at second single stage, and had existed for little over a year. But there's an album there, you can hear it. Grant and I, shortly after this period was over, believed it and still do, which is why this is coming out." - RF

Youtube audio track: Karen

For 35 years I've thought Metal and Shells was a live album, for some reason. Were they doing the double L thing deliberately by then, or was it still a coincidence?

I've never heard of Metal and Shells before, can't really argue with that tracklist!

^ I know right!

Didn't think of the double-L thing. Maybe that could explain the recycling of the title despite jettisoning "Before Hollywood"/"M&S", the song!

What proportion of ballots included compilations? I left them off mine but I guess you could make a case that the branding of 78-79 could make it an exception.

We've seen the full extent of the compilations now. So 5 selections out of about 200. I vaguely mumbled that the more conventional best-of sets were probably not a great thing to include, and I saw none of those on ballots.

It occurs to me that The Lost Album was the first GBs new release I purchased as an established enthusiast, after collecting secondhand copies of the '80s records in the '90s. I can't say I've returned to those demo tracks terribly often! It's fairly impressive really that Forster was given another opportunity to release even more of that stuff in G is for Go-Betweens.

Um, wait, when did Spring Hill Fair go missing from streaming?

i am surprised that bybo does not get more love. i think there are some of their best songs on it. "caroline & i", "mrs morgan" , "too much of one thing", "make her day" and "something for myself" are five classic gems. with my #1 vote - which unfortunately came in too late for the album poll - bybo would have probably finished in the top ten, wouldn'it?

I noticed your number #1 vote just as I was starting this thread and almost went back to redo the number-crunching I'd done the night before. Almost. :) (Rest assured that your tracks were added to the tally, as promised.)

That would have shifted BYBO up to where we are now, but no higher, IIRC. There's a bit of an uptick beyond here.

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#11
GRANT McLENNAN - HORSEBREAKER STAR
December 1994

Points: 22
Votes: 7
First-place votes: 0

Simone & Perry / Lighting Fires / Ice In Heaven / What Went Wrong / Race Day Rag / Don't You Cry For Me No More / Put You Down / Coming Up For Air / Open Invitation / Open My Eyes / From My Lips // Dropping You / Hot Water / Keep My Word / Girl In A Beret / All Her Songs / No Peace In The Palace / I'll Call You Wild / Horsebreaker Star

"One thing I actually like about Horsebreaker Star is how dense it is. I understand the one-note critique but I love that one-note enough that I love throwing it on at random places and letting the distinctions and specific tracks appear to me gradually." - Anthony Miccio

Youtube audio track: Horsebreaker Star

otm

I was looking for words from you on this one, Alfred! Because I know I've read some at various points, but my search skills apparently evaporated.

That title track sounds great at this instant.

one of the few times on the album he plays electric lead

Alfred’s been waiting to comment throughout this thread the same way Grant waited out that whole album before he busted out the lead at the end.

hi!

👋

(XP) I can see a 10-track Sire version of SHF on Spotify from here. But I was almost certainly streaming that expanded one with beloved outtakes quite recently!

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#10
THE GO-BETWEENS - SEND ME LULLABY
November 1981 / February 1982 [expanded (*) Rough Trade issue]

Points: 24
Votes: 6
First-place votes: 0

Your Turn, My Turn* / One Thing Can Hold Us / People Know / The Girls Have Moved* / Midnight to Neon / Eight Pictures* // Careless / All About Strength / Ride / Hold Your Horses / Arrow in a Bow* / It Could Be Anyone

"Send Me A Lullaby is to me an inauspicious debut. It's a record that I think if I'd heard - well, it's hard for me to say that, but if I'd heard that and I wasn't in the band, I think my comment would have been 'What the fuck is going on here.' There's great melodies but then there's changes which to this day I can't work out. There's lyrics to this day which I don't understand and when I actually summon up enough courage to get to the microphone, I sound like a choirboy with a mouthful of fruitcake." - GM

Youtube audio track: Complete SMAL tracklist

Eeek! "Send me *A* Lullaby", obviously.

SEND MORE LULLABY

again i do not understand why "send me a lullaby" is so unpopular. i do not especially like the classic period from "before hollywood" to "tallulah" but i love the quirky SMAL and the tunefulness of everything from 16LL onwards.

You don't find the so-called classic period tuneful?

not really, i find those tunes pretty hard to decipher if they are there at all. they do not grab me but i must admit i have not listened to them many, many times. in the 80s i did listen to other music, not the go-betweens.

I gave SMAL some points. I sometimes wonder how it'd be perceived if it was the only LP they managed to release. I can still imagine it having a sizeable cult following in Australia, at least. Gawky Queenslanders prone to stumbling into weird rhythms who came down and hung with the Birthday Party and left us this strangely compelling LP. Or something. (Though apparently Rough Trade only became interested in them at about this point, having deemed their first two singles 'too pop'. Maybe such a cult following would still endure further afield.)

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#9
ROBERT FORSTER - DANGER IN THE PAST
November 1990

Points: 34
Votes: 9
First-place votes: 0
Youtube audio track:

Baby Stones / The River People / Leave Here Satisfied / Heart Out To Tender / Is This What You Call Change // Dear Black Dream / Danger In The Past / I've Been Looking For Somebody / Justice

"I wanted Mick Harvey to produce my album, and we recorded it in a way that I’d wanted the Go-Betweens to record but had been, to an extent, thwarted – in a big studio, live, trusting the songs and the glorious sound. In Hansa you don’t have to double track an electric guitar, everything’s so big. It’s a sound that goes back to Buddy Holly’s records or to Highway 61 – there are no overdubs on those records. We did it in 12 days, recorded and mixed, with Hugo Race, Thomas Wydler and Mick – a very tight crew – and it was a beautiful experience." - RF

The River People

Whoops, mangled it again.

I love this record, Forster otm about its sound.

Still the highest rated solo outing on my ballot. Even after a year of remedial McLennan listening. :)

lovely 9 & 10, Danger in the Past is the only solo one I listen to much.

Also love the picture at the top of the thread. The four-piece lineup looks so timeless and great in pretty much every photo I've seen.

Oh wait, just looked at the cover of Metal & Shells, let me immediately retract that statement.

why is John Willsteed on the cover of M&S?

I believe he contributed some peroxide to the recordings

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#8
ROBERT FORSTER - THE EVANGELIST
April 2008

Points: 68
Votes: 14
First-place votes: 0

If It Rains / Demon Days / Pandanus / Did She Overtake You / The Evangelist // Let Your Light In, Babe / A Place To Hide Away / Don't Touch Anything / It Ain't Easy / From Ghost Town

"I might make an album in three or four years, or five years. There won’t be one in two years, I know that. But I’m very happy to have The Evangelist as my last album for as long as possible. People will think well of me." - RF

Youtube audio track: Don't Touch Anything

That'll have to be the last one for now. Brain is insisting on sleep. I'll return soonish for the thrilling conclusion!

Big jump in points for The Evangelist, and a great quote from Robert.

Fucking good album.

otm

Big Star’s 3rded

the album is good but the cover is awful and looks very cheap and amateurish. i love the cover of SMAL, those drawings of the band members have got something very human to it.

Send Me A Lullaby and Before Hollywood have the only good album covers.

I've never had a strong association between the first three album covers and the music, because my first exposure to many of those songs was with the 1978-1990 compilation. Then for the actual albums, the late 90s Beggars reissues with redone "consistent identity program" cover art.

I would take issue with calling the Evangelist cover any more amateurish than many of their others, except that it does look like it was selected from a menu and assembled by a bot. Select popular background pattern A and trendy typography effect B. Insert photo X. Voila!

Kind of surprising, because I think of Forster as having a more sophisticated sense for things visual.

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#7
THE GO-BETWEENS - THE FRIENDS OF RACHEL WORTH
September 2000

Points: 90
Votes: 16
First-place votes: 0

Magic in Here / Spirit / The Clock / German Farmhouse / He Lives My Life // Heart and Home / Surfing Magazines / Orpheus Beach / Going Blind / When She Sang About Angels

"Rachel felt really natural – it wasn't like Robert and I had separate managers or any of that industry bullshit. We'd always wanted to record in America, too, so that was a real dream. I think it has a really mysterious, otherworldly, "lost" feel to it." - GM

Youtube audio track:German Farmhouse

I am in love with this album. In a way it reminds me of the Clientele?

xpost

This means that barring some heinous miscarriage, the remaining regular GB albums must fill the top seven spots. That's how I voted, but I also included BYBO in a Top 8. Wished I could have seen a way to make it less predictable. I thought Warm Nights might make a sentimental showing until I listened for the first time in probably 15 years. Eh, so much for that idea.

Then for the actual albums, the late 90s Beggars reissues with redone "consistent identity program" cover art.

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Third time lucky?

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Yeah, those generic sleeves were atrocious.

Not a fan of the ‘Inferno’ artwork either, tbh.

I think that might be the only Go-Betweens release I didn't buy secondhand. I've added distressingly little to Forster and McLennan's royalties for someone with multiple copies of many of the LPs.

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#6
THE GO-BETWEENS - OCEANS APART
May 2005

Points: 103
Votes: 18
First-place votes: 2

Here Comes A City / Finding You / Born To A Family / No Reason To Cry / Boundary Rider // Darlinghurst Nights / Lavender / The Statue / This Night’s For You / The Mountains Near Dellray

"On this record, most of the songs -- the ones that I sing anyway -- are about isolation and trying to get out of that. Trying to feel again, trying not to be so cold, maybe, not to be a statue" - GM

Youtube audio track: The Mountains Near Dellray

Why highlight "The Mountains Near Dellray", of all tracks? Because I like it and [spoiler redacted]

I'd like to finish this section right now, but am mindful that it's quite late on the east side of the Atlantic. Any views on this?

I am in love with this album. In a way it reminds me of the Clientele?

― L'assie (Euler), Friday, July 5, 2019 3:00 PM (forty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

That's a strong reference in my book. I don't really think of the Clientele & the Go-Betweens as being that similar. But I'm embarrassed to say I've never listened to Friends of Rachel Worth so maybe that's the one that ties them together.

I think Oceans Apart is my favorite of the later Go-Betweens albums

Last one now...

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#5
THE GO-BETWEENS - SPRING HILL FAIR
September 1984

Points: 146
Votes: 23
First-place votes: 0

Bachelor Kisses / Five Words / The Old Way Out / You've Never Lived / Part Company // Slow Slow Music / Draining the Pool for You / River of Money / Unkind and Unwise / Man O'Sand to Girl O'Sea

"It's an album where we talked right from the start of Loaded or a White Album, where there would be different songs on the record, and I stand by that. I deny the allegations of scrappiness." - GM

Youtube audio track: The Old Way Out

This album has 4 of my favourite songs on it... but is sabotaged by two godawful Grant McLennan tracks.

Spring Hill Fair was the Go-Betweens album I started with. I love it but can count at least 3 other albums of theirs that I love more

XP: "Last one FOR now" rather.

I was kinda impressed by the performance of SHF (and its constituent songs) given that it seems a tad divisive. Only one other LP appeared one more ballots. (It was on 23 of 24.) It was no one's #1 though, not unexpectedly.

Admittedly, fifth place doesn't seem enormously impressive at first glance. :) I should clarify that it was also a couple of places higher for much of the voting period. This cluster remains fairly tightly bunched.

I broadly agree with Tom D, though possibly not on the specific "godawful" tracks. Regardless of the finished product, some of their best songs arrived in 1984 (including my #1) and I get an awful, awful lot of mileage out of the associated obscurities and alt. takes on the expanded issue and G is for Go-Betweens.

I totally love Spring Hill Fair, side one has some of Forster’s catchiest work, and basically the whole thing made my tracks ballot

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#4
THE GO-BETWEENS - TALLULAH
June 1987

Points: 148
Votes: 22
First-place votes: 2

Right Here / You Tell Me / Someone Else's Wife / I Just Get Caught Out / Cut It Out // The House That Jack Kerouac Built / Bye Bye Pride / Spirit of a Vampyre / The Clarke Sisters / Hope Then Strife

"We were sort of cursed. We had the engineer that we were using on Liberty Belle, Dicky Preston, and working with Dicky was good. We then went on to the next one and we were put into this horrible studio it was over a practice room or something. And so Dicky didn't do a good job I think on Tallulah, so it had to be rescued and remixed a little but which always sounds horrible but it actually worked out okay with Mark Wallis." - RF

Youtube audio track: Someone Else's Wife

I'll deal with the top three when it's less middle-of-the-night for a lot of you.

Well I agree with the top 3

Tallulah gets off to a bad start for me. In another, simpler arrangement I'd like Right Here, but while Spring Rain or the whole of 16 Lovers Lane have a effortless pop sensibility to them, here it sounds contrived and trite. Then You Tell Me soars before the album loses its way again.

OTM re 'Right Here'. I thought I was virtually alone in not really feeling it. It was only relatively recently that I realised I was letting that (and the almost unbearable 'Cut it Out') distract me from the fact that almost everything else is excellent. (Did I already say something similar on the other thread? Probably.)

“Cut it Out” is pretty bad. Did find myself listening it to the other night and trying to imagine how it might have sounded when written, without the production. The issue is, though, that it’s a pretty weak song to begin with.

Yeah! Not sure McLennan had as many spare songs that time around but even the eminently b-side-ish "Don't Call Me Gone" seems to offer more durable building blocks to work with.

oceans apart was my number one - been totally enamoured with it for a couple of months now

Crazy talk re "Right Here". Again, I think Robert more than holds up his side of the bargain on this album, he has to as Grant saddles it with a couple more duds. Glossy 80s production doesn't help.

There's no album where the divide is starker to me: Robert's songs are good to great and I don't care for much for any of Grant's (last two are OK, I guess)

Been listening to the extra tracks on the 2004 bonus disc for the first time. Love the lighter yet no less unsettling 'If I Was a Rich Man' version of The House Jack Kerouac Built, a song I think I've been underappreciating

Tallulah my #1 narrowly over Rachel Worth. The only song I don't like on Tallulah is "Cut It Out" and I may have voted for every other song on it.

Definitely my fave despite not being too wild about Cut It Out and Someone Else's Wife

They were fantastic live during the 'Tallulah' tour, with Amanda Brown really filling out the sound well. So my votes for the 'Tallulah' tracks are more for the way they sounded on that tour, especially 'Right Here'. 'Tallulah' was, however, the album that surprised me most (in a positive way) when I re-listened to it for the poll.

I think I had the most negative reaction to Tallulah when I first picked up all the '80s albums in the early-to-mid-'90s. It somehow sounded more dated 5 years after release than it does now. "Bye Bye Pride" was the obvious exception but I was already well acquainted with that bit of greatness. These days I'm way more likely to reach for it than 16LL. The track I rated most highly for this exercise was "The Clarke Sisters", apparently.

I didn't anticipate that "Someone Else's Wife" would keep coming up as a low-point. It's firmly in the McLennan Contributions That Don't Suck column by my reckoning, alongside "Hope and Strife".

Of course, since commenting on "Cut It Out" earlier it's been lodged in my head and I'm almost beginning to like it.

Hehe.

Probably time to post more results, innit...

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#3
THE GO-BETWEENS - 16 LOVERS LANE
August 1988

Points: 157
Votes: 20
First-place votes: 4

Love Goes On / Quiet Heart / Love Is a Sign / You Can't Say No Forever / The Devil's Eye // Streets of Your Town / Clouds / Was There Anything I Could Do? / I'm All Right / Dive for Your Memory

"I had trouble with 16 Lovers Lane for a long time. It wasn't until the late nineties that I recognised it for what it was - a pop record." - RF

Youtube audio track: The Devil's Eye

Oh, that's a surprise, I thought Top 2 for sure.

Yeah expected that to win. Really pleased it didn't.

This album is an odd one because I always think I don't like it very much until I listen to it and realize I do like it, I do. I think, next to "Before Hollywood", it's the best, more perfect, sounding 'classic era' album. However, Grant goes way over the top in places with the schmaltz, in a way I find bordering on the unlistenable. Robert is reliably world weary and great.

'16LL' contains "Was There Anything I Could Do?" and "Dive For Your Memory", two of my favourite Go-Betweens songs.

Too lush for my tastes

I love how this album hangs together, the edges between the two songwriters blurred like they hadn't been since Before Hollywood. Love Goes On rushes all over you at the start (I should have put it on my ballot) and it never lets up from there. I get that some people (Tom D!) can find a song like Quiet Heart soppy but can't resist "Doesn't matter how far you've come / you've always got further to go" on a final, for then, album. One thing: I've always wondered if You Won't Find It Again was left off because it sounded too much like The Devil's Eye. I'd have swapped them if it'd been up to me.

16LL is the only of their albums i've ever really gotten into, certainly their most consistent and i love the breezy feel

Wow! Can’t believe four people left this off their TOP TEN?!

Other stray thoughts - for a long time I did not like Tulallah because of Someone Else’s Wife and Cut It Out being horrible. I thought it had two towering achievements in Right Here and Bye Bye Pride but not much else going for it, and the two worst Go-B’s songs. Now I kind of like Cut It Out and I definitely like every other song on there. Someone Else’s Wife still stinks.

To me it's unthinkable that You Won't Find It Again could have been left off any album

Haha. Really wondering about the repellent elements of "Someone Else’s Wife" that I'm apparently immune to. This is amazing. I guess some of the rhyming is less than brilliant, but otherwise...

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#2
THE GO-BETWEENS - BEFORE HOLLYWOOD
May 1983

Points: 161
Votes: 20
First-place votes: 5

A Bad Debt Follows You / Two Steps Step Out / Before Hollywood / Dusty in Here / Ask // Cattle and Cane / By Chance / As Long As That / On My Block / That Way

"We had to make a classic. Our first album was not a classic album, and you don’t know how many chances you’re going to get. We’d never really worked with a producer, and we talked with Geoff Travis about our fantasy candidates, people like Lindsey Buckingham and Robbie Robertson. But John Brand walked into our rehearsal room, taped us, then walked back the next day with the songs written out and with arrangement ideas; no one had ever done that with our music." - RF

Youtube audio track: Full vinyl rip

http://i64.tinypic.com/2d8l0qp.jpg

#1
THE GO-BETWEENS - LIBERTY BELLE & THE BLACK DIAMOND EXPRESS
March 1986

Points: 202
Votes: 24
First-place votes: 10

Spring Rain / The Ghost and the Black Hat / The Wrong Road / To Reach Me / Twin Layers of Lightning // In the Core of the Flame / Head Full of Steam / Bow Down / Palm Sunday (On Board the SS Within) / Apology Accepted

"I rediscovered melody, linked to the way I wrote in the late ‘70s. On those first singles, I used to be the singles writer, and it was almost as if I’d forgotten that. But then, in the summer of 85, I wanted a pop sensibility again in what I did, And because the songs were a little bit slower, I had more room for lyrics. I could say things instead of that post-punk thing where it’s a yelp and a scream and a few words here and there. I could blurt out whole lines and get verses going. Lyrically, it was a lot richer." - RF

"There was quite a fundamental musical change in the band towards simplification. Something we've been accused of in the past, of being almost a pop band, almost an art band, you know, now we're simplifying. Thinking more of 4/4." - GM

Youtube audio track: Complete tracklist

Excellent! Thanks for the roll-out. The six original albums ended up almost in the same order I had them, just Talullah and Spring Hill Fair swapping places.

Damn liberty belle was my number five, pretty shocked it beat out BH

Before Hollywood was my no. 1, it's the most sympathetic production they ever got, songs great, singing great, playing great, arrangements great. Liberty Belle has great songs but, I don't know, has a sort of dull sound.

Haha. Really wondering about the repellent elements of "Someone Else’s Wife" that I'm apparently immune to. This is amazing. I guess some of the rhyming is less than brilliant, but otherwise...

Nothing to do with the lyrics, it's just a feeble, dreary song, that chorus is a total clunker.

Liberty Belle was the only album to make it on to every ballot.

Yes, won comfortably!

I'd love to hear more from the four people who didn't vote for Before Hollywood in their top 10.

Liberty Belle was well in the lead all along too. From my very first peek at the totals, with 5 ballots or whatever.

Before Hollywood was always going to be my #1. I didn't even re-listen until right now. Tom D OTM, up there! ^

BH is the only album where GM outperforms RF imo. I really like how his songs seem to have been written on bass guitar.

Yeah, that's probably true. Meanwhile Forster's are sort of SMAL done better, or at least tighter and sweeter.

Okay, let's turn to the solo/side-projects tracks next. But not until late Sunday/Monday.

I'll try to maintain a brisk pace and a leaner rollout, so as not to get bogged down too much.

Still prefer Tallulah ("Someone Else's Wife" is a melodic and lyrical highpoint for McLennan), but Liberty Belle works for me.

btw do I have to derail this thread with my objections to "dated" as a pejorative? All albums are dated the moment they're recorded. I don't get why Liberty Belle is less "dated" than Tallulah.

Doesn't bother me. Some things have more noticeable artefacts of their age than others (from the standpoint of the listener). If you like those artefacts, you can call something 'a classic 80s sound' or whatever. If you don't, you can call them dated.

totally baffled about the outcome. i would have bet a lot on 16LL as a winner. just relistening to LBATBD and it definitely has its moments - like "twin layers of lightning" - but i don't feel it like 16LL which gives me a kick from the beginning on. it does what i love about pop music, it marries melancholy with melody. LBATBD on the other hand drags along in places. especially the succession of "head full of steam", "bow down" and "palm sunday" totally passes me by. my life is too short to listen to them again.

I don't like the production on Send Me A Lullaby much, but 'dated' isn't a word that comes to mind when thinking about it in the way it does with Tallulah. Something must account for that difference.

xpost

Liberty Belle is rarely the first album of theirs I pull off the shelf, but I'm never not satiated by it.

Yeah, you're right, Alfred. I've had similar thoughts about "dated" myself. When I used it before, in my head it would have been shorthand for "marked by certain quite specific trends in music production associated, in my mind at least, with 1987, like thin metronomic rhythm tracks, mainly where Craig Leon was involved."

I can't imagine being a fan but not wanting to hear Bow Down or Head Full of Steam again. They are totally swoonsome, totally marrying melancholy with melody, and top 10 tracks for me. It's a strange world, Sandy.

but nobody uses "dated" about Rickenbackers recorded in 1966 -- it's always synths and gated drums

I'll bet you they did the 70s.

Sure, but I guess the sound of Rickenbackers recorded in 1966 has passed into what's widely classed as agreeable and classic (though I bet if you asked younger people not into the rock canon they might well use the word or just say it sounds 'old'). People do talk about dated lyrics from that era though.

xpost - ha, yes

I remember writing a review along these lines on rateyourmusic in response to the countless existing reviews of Steve McQueen containing "dated". I've become everything I used to hate! :)

Full results, for stats fans, before I move on and forget...

                                                            Pts  Votes    #1s
 1  Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express               202     24     10
 2  Before Hollywood                                        161     20      5
 3  16 Lovers Lane                                          157     20      4
 4  Tallulah                                                148     22      2
 5  Spring Hill Fair                                        146     23      0
 6  Oceans Apart                                            103     18      2
 7  The Friends of Rachel Worth                              90     16      0
 8  The Evangelist                                           68     14      0
 9  Danger In the Past                                       34      9      0
10  Send Me a Lullaby                                        24      6      0
11  Horsebreaker Star                                        22      7      0
12  78 'TIl 79: The Lost Album                               12      4      0
13  Metal and Shells                                         10      1      1
14  Bright Yellow Bright Orange                               7      3      0
15  Songs To Play                                             6      3      0
16  In Your Bright Ray                                        6      2      0
17  Watershed                                                 5      2      0
18  Calling From a Country Phone                              4      1      0
19  I Had a New York Girlfriend                               3      2      0
20  Inferno                                                   2      2      0
21  Fireboy                                                   1      1      0

Warm Nights = nul points!

And I was all alone with ...Country Phone. *weeps*

Big shout out to the other person who voted for I Had A New York Girlfriend. Forster described the collection of cover versions as "the one mistake of my recording career", but it's a great album to relax to with a glass of wine in your hand. He interprets other people's songs with the same degree of empathy with which he writes about them as a journalist, and the band (including Mick Harvey, Warren Ellis, Clare Moore, Conway Savage & 'Evil' Graham Lee) are strong too.

Quite happy with the results of the album poll - thought 16LL would walk it.

My favourite is Before Hollywood, but Liberty Belle sounds to me a bit like BH recorded on a rainy day. It's the best balance between the classic era's idiosyncratic and pop halves, so it makes sense as a winner.

Based on the trend of earlier posted opinions, I expected Before Hollywood to win over 16LL. I'm surprised that Liberty Belle took it, although it got my #1 spot. It was the first GB album I ever heard, and it instantly made me a fan of the band. If I had heard BH first, it might have become my all-time fave, but it took me another 10 years to get to it. I love how BH combines their idiosyncratic group personality with post-punk nervouosness and intensity. And the flow of BH's sequencing is just breathtaking.

Iirc those beggars reissues sleaves could be turned inside out to display the proper album cover.

I voted Before Hollywood high as an album but I picked relatively few songs from it (well, my #1). It flows marvelously.

All this Before HoIlywood talk is making me feel like a Go-Betweens tourist. I got started with the 78-90 comp, filled in 16LL, Liberty Belle and Tallulah but never went back to BH. So, hand up, I’m one of the 4 voters who didn’t rank BH.

Speaking of bad album cover art, that 78-90 comp really takes the cake. Every time I pull that one off the shelf, I wonder how they could have collectively decided: "Yep, that image is perfect for our career retrospective".

Also, looks like I was the only "Metal & Shell" voter, which is fair enough, since it's both US-only and a compilation album.
But, it was my first exposure to the band, and I like better than either of the albums it combines (BH and SHF), so I couldn't resist.

One might almost use the d-word in relation to the 78-90 graphics. Feels distinctly turn-of-the-nineties.

I'll make a tiny start of the next section. Just a wee off-peak taster, to help ensure we get finished before Xmas...

http://i65.tinypic.com/315fln4.jpg

http://i63.tinypic.com/2h8a26d.jpg

#40
GRANT MCLENNAN - Put You Down
from Horsebreaker Star (1994)
Points: 47
Votes: 2 (0)

Youtube audio

http://i67.tinypic.com/vsiblk.jpg

#38
ROBERT FORSTER - Crazy Jane on the Day of Judgement
from Inferno (2019)

Points: 50
Votes: 3 (0)

Youtube audio

______

#39
ROBERT FORSTER - Life Has Turned a Page
from Inferno (2019)

Points: 49
Votes: 3 (0)

Youtube audio

#37
ROBERT FORSTER - Don't Touch Anything
from The Evangelist (2008)

Points: 51
Votes: 2 (0)

Youtube audio

http://i65.tinypic.com/24gisg3.jpg

#36
ROBERT FORSTER - 121
from Calling From a Country Phone (1993)

Points: 51
Votes: 3 (0)

Youtube audio

That's enough for now. :)

The parenthetical bit is the number of first-place votes from now on.

I've also used total votes, then total first-place votes, as tiebreakers.

Nice to see a couple of Inferno tracks make it. I voted for both of them.

I don't think I'll ever understand the enduring popularity of Christgau's reviews.

That review is concise, snappy and enjoyably pretentious. It gives a good impression of what the record might sound like, without any indication of the writer's taste, and has a letter grade that reassures you of its quality despite said taste. it does a lot of work in a handful of words.

...if you can make it past the first line, which is nonsensical and has no relation whatever to the band or their music.

I think the ranking of the two Inferno tracks is the wrong way around, unless the points totals are in error.

Life Has Turned a Page one of those great late Robert as narrator songs. I prefer it to Darlinghurst Nights.

Don't Touch Anything near the top of my ballot. A song of so much pent-up power.

XP: The numbers are correct, I just confused myself when inserting two consecutive entries into one post for the first time.

Oh yeah I see now!

This poll was probably always going to be unfair to Inferno. I for one take several thousand years to properly absorb twenty-first century Forster material.

The guitars on Put You Down sound very dated.

Take the sour
If you take me
I can scoff and lour
And scold for an hour

an honest self-description if there ever was one or is he flirting with the image he gives? probably both.

http://i67.tinypic.com/a8ryt.jpg

#35 JACK FROST - Thought That I Was Over You
from Jack Frost (1990)

Points: 52
Votes: 3 (0)

Original promo video

http://i64.tinypic.com/5fkqk3.jpg

#34
ROBERT FORSTER - No Fame
from Inferno (2019)

Points: 53
Votes: 3 (0)

Youtube audio

That's a great Forster image for No Fame.

I'm not sure if anymore Inferno tracks will make it. I'll Look After You was my other highlight that ended up doing well on my list last minute.

This will have to be last for (my) Sunday evening. I'll pick up the pace during the week.

#32 --TIE--

http://i67.tinypic.com/23t5csl.jpg

#32 (i)
GRANT MCLENNAN - Simone And Perry
from Horsebreaker Star (1994)

Points: 54
Votes: 4 (0)

Original promo video

#32 (ii)
GRANT MCLENNAN - One Plus One
from In Your Bright Ray (1997)

Points: 54
Votes: 4 (0)

Youtube audio

http://i65.tinypic.com/2h38orc.jpg

#31
ROBERT FORSTER - Falling Star
from Calling From a Country Phone (1993)

Points: 55
Votes: 3 (0)

Youtube audio, original version
Youtube audio, album version

"Simone and Perry," likable enough, gives an impression that Horsebreaker Star will be the glossy followup to Fireboy; it sounds like Party of Five bumper music.

I like 'Simone and Perry', but yes, it does sound like the contractually obliged single material on the album. Not many singles have titles that remind you of Israeli politician Shimon Peres, however.

lol

http://i63.tinypic.com/23t2ruf.jpg

#30
GRANT MCLENNAN - Lamp By Lamp
from In Your Bright Ray (1997)

Points: 58
4 (0)

Youtube audio

pretty

Lovely song. This and One Plus One were on my list. Going through the solo albums before voting made me really appreciate how solid In Your Bright Ray is.

#29
GW MCLENNAN - The Dark Side Of Town
from Fireboy (1993)

Points: 59
Votes: 4 (0)

Youtube audio (+ spooky fan video)

http://i65.tinypic.com/xlyqlc.jpg

#28
GW MCLENNAN - Fingers
from Fireboy (1993)

Points: 63
Votes: 3 (0)

Original promo video

ooh sexy

"now you know what it's like to be a man"

"Fingers" was possibly his only single that I was utterly oblivious to until very recently. Not sure how I managed this, but it is quite affecting despite being not at all what I think I want to hear at the outset.

http://i66.tinypic.com/11tl66a.jpg

#27
GW MCLENNAN - Surround Me
1992 single, eventually on Fireboy (1993)

Points: 64
Votes: 2 (0)

Original promo video

surrou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou-nd

ME

I love that song but have never seen that video. Now I wish I had never seen that video.

LOL

This felt like a hit at the time, but presumably only because JJJ (Australia's national yoof-oriented music station) was still firmly pro-McLennan. Can't imagine it crossed over to commercial radio. Pleasant enough, but I probably craved faintly unpleasant things, being a teenager.

A couple of cover version came in side by side at this point!

#26
ROBERT FORSTER - 2541 (Hart)
I Had a NY Girlfriend (1994)

Points: 64
Votes: 3 (0)

Youtube audio

#25
GW MCLENNAN - If I Should Fall Behind (Springsteen)
Surround Me single (1992)

Points: 69
Votes: 2 (0)

Youtube audio

A stretch of first-place votes begins here. I'll pause for now though.

http://i64.tinypic.com/34hc21l.jpg

#24 ROBERT FORSTER - The Evangelist
from The Evangelist (2008)

Points: 74
Votes: 4 (1)

Youtube audio

Pleasant enough, but I probably craved faintly unpleasant things, being a teenager.

You'd have loved the video for Surround Me then. It's 36 different shades of unpleasantness marinated in a sauce of irksomeness. Grant appears to be wearing shades throughout so as not to see his own promo video.

Ha ha. Now I've got to watch this.

Oh my god.

It's like someone doing a parody of the Shiny Happy People video who doesn't realise the Shiny Happy People video was a parody.

Wait, that sounds too much as though I like the Shiny Happy People video.

The performance parts of the video look like take 4 after they've been told a) "now look like you're having fun!" and b) "this will only take one try." What's extra weird are all the political/environmental slogans that pop up. And Grant and crew appear like they were plied with drugs.

The analysis of this vid has had quietly giggling for much of the day.

Less amusing is my image host's flakiness. This one shall also go without an image.

#23
GRANT MCLENNAN - Coming Up For Air
from Horsebreaker Star (1994)

Points: 78
Votes: 4 (1)

Youtube audio

love this one -- is that Syd Straw on harmonies?

Must be, right?

I keep meaning to ask about such things. eg. is it clear who the women are on "Put You Down" and "Dark Side of Town"?

catching up here... i never know about McLennan/Kilby side project, now I have to seek that one out.

Searching on "Jack Frost" landed me on this interesting interview where he says that McLennan got him into smack, but Kilby didn't have the restraint to only do it occasionally the way Grant did.

Funny you mention that at this instant...

http://i65.tinypic.com/33bk9hu.jpg

#22
JACK FROST - Providence
Jack Frost (1990)

Points: 80
Votes: 3 (1)

Youtube audio

Man, that Jack Frost album is another one with horrible cover art. These guys really were not visual.
https://img.discogs.com/qinRrXIej8zyPixoXy89dXZWK6Y=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-3136039-1327128839.jpeg.jpg

I didn't put a lot, but I probably put too many Grant tracks on my solo/spinoffs ballot compared with my actual affections, in an attempt to not be too unbalanced. Now I see how many have appeared on the rundown, I shouldn't have bothered.

I think I'm coming round to the view that it's not just the pedestrian pop-rock rhythm of much of his solo work: I specifically don't like his more direct songs about relationships, because I get this kind of bad feeling from them, like he's been kind of a prick and the lyrics have a self-serving whiny attitude. Even a song that's pretty, and which I voted for, The Dark Side of Town, has that coda "Hey, don't go way / I don't mean those things I say / Frustration takes hold of me and I say things …" that sets my imagination off about people who have a pattern of repeatedly behaving terribly then apologising. I realise they're just songs and it's none of my business what he was like as a boyfriend, but, I can't warm to them.

So I'm much more receptive to songs where he's not directly addressing a lover or at least not in a direct imploring way. But I love it when he does a wistful song like Hot Water, or One Plus One with its shades of Dusty In Here or Cattle and Cane.

http://i67.tinypic.com/2ihte06.jpg

#21
ROBERT FORSTER - A Poet Walks
Songs to Play (2015)

Points: 82
Votes: 4 (0)

Youtube audio

Good song!

Yes, it's much more the imploring, overly self-obsessed songs that put me off McLennan's material rather than the schmaltz of which he's often accused. Fingers is a real turn-off for me in that respect: the 'Hey you!' chorus crosses the line from pleading to being stalkerish, and the self-pity of 'Now you know what it’s like to be a man' could be bottled and sold in Wetherspoons on 'Fathers for Justice' themed evenings.

I do like the way the 'Poet' arrangement gradually builds to something... Morricone-esque, perhaps?

In case formatting issues obscured things a little, here's a half-time summary.

                                                                                Pts    Votes      #1s
21  A Poet Walks                   FORSTER - Songs to Play (2015)                82        4        0
22  Providence                     JACK FROST - Jack Frost (1990)                80        3        1
23  Coming Up For Air              MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           78        4        1
24  The Evangelist                 FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)               74        4        1
25  If I Should Fall Behind        MCLENNAN - Surround Me (1992)                 69        2        0
26  2541                           FORSTER - I Had a NY Girlfriend (1994)        64        3        0
27  Surround Me                    MCLENNAN - Surround Me (1992)                 64        2        0
28  Fingers                        MCLENNAN - Fireboy (1993)                     63        3        0
29  The Dark Side Of Town          MCLENNAN - Fireboy (1993)                     59        4        0
30  Lamp By Lamp                   MCLENNAN - In Your Bright Ray (1997)          58        4        0
31  Falling Star                   FORSTER - Calling From a (1993)               55        3        0
32= Simone And Perry               MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           54        4        0
32= One Plus One                   MCLENNAN - In Your Bright Ray (1997)          54        4        0
34  No Fame                        FORSTER - Inferno (2019)                      53        3        0
35  Thought That I Was Over You    JACk FROST - Jack Frost (1990)                52        3        0
36  121                            FORSTER - Calling From a (1993)               51        3        0
37  Don't Touch Anything           FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)               51        2        0
38  Crazy Jane on the Day of Judg  FORSTER - Inferno (2019)                      50        3        0
39  Life Has Turned a Page         FORSTER - Inferno (2019)                      49        3        0
40  Put You Down                   MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           47        2        0

the self-pity of 'Now you know what it’s like to be a man' could be bottled and sold in Wetherspoons on 'Fathers for Justice' themed evenings.

I've just found myself reading way too much of about this Wetherspoons!

Three-way tie, anyone?

#18 --TIE--

http://i63.tinypic.com/2607cia.jpg

#18 (i)
ROBERT FORSTER - Dear Black Dream
Danger In the Past (1990)

Points: 85
Votes: 4 (0)

Youtube audio

http://i65.tinypic.com/rgy1d4.jpg

#18 (ii)
GW MCLENNAN - Lighting Fires
Fireboy (1993)

Points: 85
Votes: 4 (0)

Original promo video

http://i67.tinypic.com/v48dxw.jpg

#18 (iii)
ROBERT FORSTER - From Ghost Town
The Evangelist (2008)

Points: 85
Votes: 4 (0)

Youtube audio

"Lighting Fires" is one hell of an ear worm.

http://i65.tinypic.com/358a2vq.jpg

#17
ROBERT FORSTER - Is This What You Call Change?
from Danger In the Past (1990)

Points: 86
Votes: 3 (0)

Youtube audio

Look at me
Not at the floor

What a song. I'm still not sure if it's about a polluting industrialist, a toxic lover, or both.

I'll try to go through to #11 now...

http://i68.tinypic.com/6rhpww.jpg

#16
from ROBERT FORSTER - Let Me Imagine You
from Songs to Play (2015)

Points: 86
Votes: 4 (0)

Official promo video

He gives good photo, the big fella.

The only song to successfully include Twitter in its lyrics?

I was the #1 for The Evangelist. I'm surprised it didn't finish higher, it's an obvious highlight of the album.

^ 'tis good. If I hadn't foolishly opted for an unranked ballot it'd be a bit higher.

http://i66.tinypic.com/2hwirrs.jpg

#15
GW MCLENNAN - Stones For You
for Watershed (1991)

Points: 88
Votes: 4 (0)

Acoustic performance on Aus TV

Er, "from" not "for"

What is Annette Shun Wah doing these days anyway?

Remind me how many ballots were submitted for the solo/spinoff poll please?

A modest 14. The distribution looks a bit less flat shortly. :)

http://i67.tinypic.com/t7zwba.jpg

#14
ROBERT FORSTER - Learn to Burn
from Songs to Play (2015)

Points: 95
Votes: 5 (0)

Youtube audio

Whoops, the above is actually tied for #13, with...

#13
ROBERT FORSTER - Did She Overtake You?
from The Evangelist (2008)

Points: 95
Votes: 5 (0)

Youtube audio

http://i65.tinypic.com/1iyedc.jpg

#12
GW MCLENNAN - Black Mule
from Watershed (1991)

Points: 107
Votes: 5 (0)

Youtube audio

Forster and McLennan killed "Black Mule" in '05.

http://i63.tinypic.com/344wq6s.jpg

#11
ROBERT FORSTER - If It Rains
from The Evangelist (2008)

Points: 129
Votes: 7 (0)

Youtube audio

Haunting (and haunted) intro.

I'll have to suspend proceedings there. I should have gone to bed hours ago!

Discover tomorrow whether there are any further 49ers hat appearances in the top 10.

I got hired
but I got tired
of staying up late for you

Man, that Jack Frost album is another one with horrible cover art. These guys really were not visual.

Don't worry, Kilbey fixed it for the 2006 reissue on his own label.

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2419217267_16.jpg

What is Annette Shun Wah doing these days anyway?

https://www.caap.org.au/

Hehehehe

The "not visual" thing is especially interesting given McLennan was initially destined for filmmaking.

Re ASW, I actually thought "sic probably knows" immediately after typing the query! Though I no know doubt could have Googled it.

http://i63.tinypic.com/35apzwy.jpg

#10 ROBERT FORSTER - It Ain't Easy
from The Evangelist (2008)
Points: 133
Votes: 6 (0)

Youtube audio

#9 ROBERT FORSTER - Pandanus
from The Evangelist (2008)
Points: 157
Votes: 6 (0)

Youtube audio

both among Forster's best -- the "Pandanus" lope is all-time.

So ILM was very much 'down', it wasn't just me! I remember trying to say, 9 hours ago, that I feel like I ranked "Pandanus" very highly indeed but... oh yeah, unranked ballot.

I'll drop another entry now and hopefully complete this part of rollout a little later...

http://i66.tinypic.com/4didz.jpg

#8
GRANT MCLENNAN - In Your Bright Ray
from In Your Bright Ray (1997)

Points: 161
Votes: 8 (1)

Youtube audio (over fan video)

Glad that this one placed so highly - it's one of his best.

It got my vote in the end. David Nichols suggested he was interested in the vibe of then-recent Underground Lovers records when choosing personnel. Can easily believe it on this one. (eg. this sort of thing.)

as for Learn To Burn - hate to be the person who films bits of gigs on his phone, but just had to for this (and very glad I did):
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxlUljLF3En/

So close! Groovy.

I've given myself 2-3 hours to get this bit finished, so...

http://i65.tinypic.com/qz29vn.jpg

#7
ROBERT FORSTER - I've Been Looking For Somebody
from Danger In the Past (1990)

Points: 164
Votes: 7 (0)

Youtube audio

Pretty sure I was one of the seven votes here. It was a question of which DOTP tracks not to vote for, tbh.

so plaintive, this

http://i63.tinypic.com/1zxawwi.jpg

#6
GW MCLENNAN - Haven't I Been A Fool
from Watershed (1991)

Points: 167
Votes: 8 (0)

Youtube audio

His catchiest song ever.

Not knowing any of the solo material before this rollout, "In Your Bright Ray" and "Thought That I Was Over You" have been my favorite discoveries so far.

http://i63.tinypic.com/1z5outd.jpg

#5
GW MCLENNAN - Easy Come Easy Go
from Watershed (1991)

Points: 170
Votes: 7 (0)

Original promo video

This is a good looking top 20 so far. I thought In Your Bright Ray might be a number one contender. It was my highest Grant track.

I'm so delighted to see all these Evangelist songs make it. I wonder if any will actually miss out? Did She Overtake You is one of my favourites. It's all about those backing vocals.

Great to see Let Me Imagine You and Learn To Burn so high as well. Songs To Play wasn't as instant as The Evangelist for me, but I've really come round to it and now rate it as one of his best albums. The bit when he sings in that high register just before the solo in Learn To Burn is a great Forster moment.

http://i68.tinypic.com/29ekaic.jpg

#4
ROBERT FORSTER - Let Your Light In, Babe
from The Evangelist (2008)

Points: 209
Votes: 8 (2)

Youtube audio

Incidentally, thanks to the writer whose blog led me to this pic! :)

This is weird. There's now not room for at least two of the dead certs I'd have picked before this countdown started.

Still no sign of my favourite Grant track, my two favourite tracks from Danger in the Past or my two favourite tracks from Warm Nights.

Curiously, this is the first track with 2 first-place votes. Two us went unweighted so there were 12 such votes, and we've only seen six of them so far!

Love this one. It's just so joyful.

http://i67.tinypic.com/16awklx.jpg

#3
ROBERT FORSTER - Danger In The Past
from Danger In the Past (1990)

Points: 236
Votes: 10 (2)

Youtube audio

danger in the pahhhhst

So I went back to my own city / To find I'd made enemies while I'd been away

My #1

http://cdn8.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Joyce-and-guitar.jpg

I remember seeing that picture of James Joyce playing guitar shortly after Danger in the Past came out and noting the resemblance to the album cover, but it wasn't until recently that I read that Forster had been consciously imitating the photo.

Yes, one of the many things from my youth where I experienced the pastiche and the pastiched in the wrong order.

So, what are the dead certs?

I should probably have made this a mock #1 or something, seeing as they haven't come up at all here.

http://i65.tinypic.com/292a0de.jpg

#2
ROBERT FORSTER - Baby Stones
from Danger In the Past (1990)

Points: 273
Votes: 9 (3)

Original promo video

http://i67.tinypic.com/103c1m8.jpg

#1
ROBERT FORSTER - Demon Days
from The Evangelist (2008)

Points: 307
Votes: 12 (1)

Youtube audio

His talk-singing in "Baby Stones" is a marvel.

Fascinating poll - thank you.

So, biggest surprise for me was Loneliness not being on there. I guess the other track from Warm Nights, Rock N Roll Friend, people just think is a cheat to include.

And maybe Hot Water is the solo Grant track for people who don't really like solo Grant.

Just cobbled together everything down to the lowest-ranking entry that received 2+ votes. There were a further 30-ish that received just the one.

SOLO / SIDE-PROJECTS
                                                                                Pts    Votes      #1s
 1  Demon Days                     FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)              307       12        1
 2  Baby Stones                    FORSTER - Danger In the Past (1990)          273        9        3
 3  Danger In The Past             FORSTER - Danger In the Past (1990)          236       10        2
 4  Let Your Light In, Babe        FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)              209        8        2
 5  Easy Come Easy Go              MCLENNAN - Watershed (1991)                  170        7        0
 6  Haven't I Been A Fool          MCLENNAN - Watershed (1991)                  167        8        0
 7  I've Been Looking For Somebody FORSTER - Danger In the Past (1990)          164        7        0
 8  In Your Bright Ray             MCLENNAN - In Your Bright Ray (1997)         161        8        1
 9  Pandanus                       FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)              157        6        0
10  It Ain't Easy                  FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)              133        6        0
11  If It Rains                    FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)              129        7        0
12  Black Mule                     MCLENNAN - Watershed (1991)                  107        5        0
13= Did She Overtake You?          FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)               95        5        0
13= Learn to Burn                  FORSTER - Songs to Play (2015)                95        5        0
15  Stones For You                 MCLENNAN - Watershed (1991)                   88        4        0
16  Let Me Imagine You             FORSTER - Songs to Play (2015)                86        4        0
17  Is This What You Call Change   FORSTER - Danger In the Past (1990)           86        3        0
18= Dear Black Dream               FORSTER - Danger In the Past (1990)           85        4        0
18= Lighting Fires                 MCLENNAN - Fireboy (1993)                     85        4        0
18= From Ghost Town                FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)               85        4        0
21  A Poet Walks                   FORSTER - Songs to Play (2015)                82        4        0
22  Providence                     JACK FROST - Jack Frost (1990)                80        3        1
23  Coming Up For Air              MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           78        4        1
24  The Evangelist                 FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)               74        4        1
25  If I Should Fall Behind        MCLENNAN - Surround Me (1992)                 69        2        0
26  2541                           FORSTER - I Had a NY Girlfriend (1994)        64        3        0
26  Surround Me                    MCLENNAN - Surround Me (1992)                 64        2        0
28  Fingers                        MCLENNAN - Fireboy (1993)                     63        3        0
29  The Dark Side Of Town          MCLENNAN - Fireboy (1993)                     59        4        0
30  Lamp By Lamp                   MCLENNAN - In Your Bright Ray (1997)          58        4        0
31  Falling Star                   FORSTER - Calling From a (1993)               55        3        0
32= Simone And Perry               MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           54        4        0
32= One Plus One                   MCLENNAN - In Your Bright Ray (1997)          54        4        0
34  No Fame                        FORSTER - Inferno (2019)                      53        3        0
35  Thought That I Was Over You    JACk FROST - Jack Frost (1990)                52        3        0
36  121                            FORSTER - Calling From a (1993)               51        3        0
37  Don't Touch Anything           FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)               51        2        0
38  Crazy Jane on the Day of Judg  FORSTER - Inferno (2019)                      50        3        0
39  Life Has Turned a Page         FORSTER - Inferno (2019)                      49        3        0
40  Put You Down                   MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           47        2        0
41  Songwriters On The Run         FORSTER - Songs to Play (2015)                46        3        0
42  The River People               FORSTER - Danger In the Past (1990)           45        2        0
43= Haunted House                  MCLENNAN - Watershed (1991)                   44        3        0
43= Beyond Their Law               FORSTER - Calling From a (1993)               44        3        0
45  Cave In                        MCLENNAN - In Your Bright Ray (1997)          43        4        0
46  Love Myself (And I Always H    FORSTER - Songs to Play (2015)                42        3        0
46  Riddle In The Rain             MCLENNAN - Fireboy (1993)                     42        2        0
48  I'll Jump                      FORSTER - Warm Nights (1996)                  41        3        0
49  Inferno (Brisbane in Summer)   FORSTER - Inferno (2019)                      40        2        0
50  Hot Water                      MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           39        2        0
51= Can You See The Lights?        MCLENNAN - In Your Bright Ray (1997)          39        2        0
51= Leave Here Satisfied           FORSTER - Danger In the Past (1990)           38        2        0
53  Echo Beach [Martha And         FORSTER - I Had a NY Girlfriend (1994)        36        2        0
54  Turn On The Rain               FORSTER - Songs to Play (2015)                35        2        0
55  Drop                           FORSTER - Calling From a (1993)               34        3        0
56  Parachute                      FAR OUT CORPORATION (1998)                    33        1        0
57  The Morning                    FORSTER - Inferno (2019)                      33        2        0
58= When Word Gets Around          MCLENNAN - Watershed (1991)                   31        2        0
58= Open My Eyes                   MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           31        2        0
58= Comet Scar                     MCLENNAN - In Your Bright Ray (1997)          31        2        0
61  I Can Do                       FORSTER - Warm Nights (1996)                  30        2        0
62  Loneliness                     FORSTER - Warm Nights (1996)                  30        1        0
63  Dropping You                   MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           27        2        0
64= Locked Away (Richards)         FORSTER - I Had a NY Girlfriend (1994)	 26        1        0
64= And I Knew                     FORSTER - Songs to Play (2015)                26        1        0
66= Cryin' Love                    FORSTER - Warm Nights (1996)                  25        1        0
66= One Bird in the Sky            FORSTER - Inferno (2019)                      25        1        0
68  Don't You Cry For Me No More   MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           23        2        0
69= Rock 'n' Roll Friend           FORSTER - Warm Nights (1996)                  23        1        0
69= Disaster In Motion             FORSTER - Songs to Play (2015)                23        1        0
71  Horsebreaker Star              MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           22        1        0
72= Just Get That Straight         MCLENNAN - Watershed (1991)                   21        2        0
72= Ice In Heaven                  MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           21        2        0
74= All Her Songs                  MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           21        1        0
74= I'll Look After You            FORSTER - Inferno (2019)                      21        1        0
76  Ballad Of Easy Rider           MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           20        1        0
77  A Place To Hide Away           FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)               20        2        0
78  No Peace In The Palace         MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           19        2        0

Many thanks for compiling this. It's always interesting when you have no idea which tracks people will have chosen. Only 6 songs received votes from over 50% of the 14 people who voted, so opinions were pretty divided.

http://i67.tinypic.com/15ps3z7.jpg

31 people voted for up to 30 Go-Betweens tracks each.

Let's countdown the most popular sections from #60. After I sleep anyway. :)

no sleep 'til brisbane

http://i63.tinypic.com/hrnd61.jpg

Okay, here's a bonus while I do sleep. 1980 Lindy presents an extra 10% more tracks as an entree.

Points awarded for 'TOO LOW!' posts.

#66
Secondhand Furniture
from Peel Session, October 1984

Points: 60
Votes: 5 (0)

Youtube audio

#65
Hope Then Strife
from Tallulah (1987)

Points: 65
Votes: 5 (0)

Youtube audio

#64
Palm Sunday (On Board the SS Within)
from Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express(1986)

Points: 69
Votes: 4 (0)

Youtube audio

#63
Don't Let Him Come Back
from the 'People Say' 7" (1979)

Points: 69
Votes: 5 (0)

Youtube audio

#62
You Won't Find It Again
from demos, circa 1988.

Points: 72
Votes: 4 (0)

Youtube audio

#61
Spirit
from The Friends of Rachel Worth (2000)

Points: 80
Votes: 6 (0)

Youtube audio

ABOUT RIGHT

Hooray for Demon Days winning the solo part of the poll. I'll still never forget the first time I heard that song (and album). It was the first ever gift I got from my girlfriend (now my wife) who I'd met traveling in New Zealand not long before. We were living in Sydney and she surprised me with the album one evening. We put it on and I remember struggling to keep it together with how devastating Demon Days was. Possibly my favourite vocal of Forster's career, especially the way his voice almost breaks as he sings, "the dreams that we smoked puffed up and ran". Then there's incredible poignancy to the lines, "but something's not right, something's gone wrong". Throw in that beautifully sad solo and string arrangement and it really is one of the most heartbreaking songs I've ever heard.

Yes, some not very good songs there. (xp)

guess i should listen to the evangelist, huh

I'm not familiar enough with the solo records to have voted in that part of the poll but I'll definitely be using these results as a guide, so thanks everyone!

The only "too low" I have from that first batch is for "You Won't Find It Again"... inexplicable that it didn't make it onto 16LL.

Atlanta Lie Low and Girl to a World both surprising omissions from the solo list. By far my favourites on Calling From a Country Phone.

Got a big soft spot for Don't Let Him Come Back and ranked it highly, with the 80s version in mind.

Solo poll results are pretty much bang on, and the Surround Me video is now seared onto my retinas, so we're off to a great start.

TWO TOO LOWS>>>>>

You people are insane, and wrong (aside from verhexen). Don't Let Him Come Back is a classic. Also Spirit is the best Robert song on Friends of Rachel Worth. "Do you have any whiskey? Don't like to drink but I like to know it's along there with me." LOVE IT.

Surround Me video is likewise seared into my retinas. I couldn't watch any other Grant videos after seeing that.

Palm Sunday and Spirit are my favourites from that opening stretch. One thing that I really love about Rachel Worth is the sequencing. The transition of Spirit from Magic In Here is just perfect.

Re: Don't Let Him Come Back travesty -- I mean, I guess only four of you like the Clean or something? WHAT GIVES?

I'm not a massive fan of the first two singles, but Don't Let Him Come Back is my favourite of those tracks and was just a few places off making my ballot.

Hopefully the Clean contingent are keeping their powder dry for a shock People Say #1.

jesus, would've thought hope then strife was a lock

“Spirit” is a tune. I can’t stop listening to that album...

http://i68.tinypic.com/2z56cl2.jpg

#60
The Statue
from Oceans Apart (2005)

Points: 83
Votes: 5 (0)

Youtube audio

guess i should listen to the evangelist, huh
Yes yes yes!

I am very surprised the song The Evangelist only finished at 24. That to me seems like an obvious standout. It was my #1 but it's hard to argue with Demon Days winning.

The lyric from that album that gets me every time is from It Ain't Easy, "I write these words to his tune that he wrote on a full moon"

I really think GM should have sought better advice re headwear post-'80s.

http://i63.tinypic.com/16aw5n7.jpg

#59
The Sound of Rain
Would-be b-side for aborted Beserkley single, ca. 1979

Points: 86
Votes: 5 (0)

Youtube audio

Last one for now.

http://i64.tinypic.com/dx1emh.jpg

#58
By Chance
from 'Hammer the Hammer' 7" (1982), re-recorded for Before Hollywood (1983)

Points: 92
Votes: 5 (0)

Youtube audio, single version
Youtube audio, album version

Oh that's disgustingly low. One of my favourites - the album version, at least. His vocal is so good.

Agreed. Before Hollywood was the first LP I heard, a decade late. "By Chance" had me all "why didn't anyone tell me they sometimes sounded like THIS?" etc. It was high on my ballot.

The trebly guitar sound on BH attracted me from the start; they never approximated it again.

I kind of wish Grant stayed on bass, nobody could replicate the frustrated-lead lines. I never think of him and Lindy together as a Great Rhythm Section (for many reasons, not least the interpersonal tension) but they're monstrous on Before Hollywood.

by chance was #30 on my ballot. it's too fucking short!

By Chance is way too low. Verhexen otming like crazy.

My instinct is to restrict this to a trickle during the European night. But here's another...

http://i67.tinypic.com/2ib2e85.jpg

#57
In the Core of the Flame
from Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express (1986)

Points: 96
Votes: 6 (0)

Youtube audio

Well-written, sharp use of marimba, too slow.

this is too low. a dry run for "was there anything i could do?", but the strings and that hook..

the middle 8 (or whatever it is) soars too

And a tied pair, before I wander off again...

#55 --TIE--

http://i66.tinypic.com/2hpqdlx.jpg

#55 (i)
This Girl, Black Girl
from 'Man O Sand...' single (1983)

Points: 96
Votes: 7 (0)

Youtube audio

http://i64.tinypic.com/21o1t2d.jpg

#55 (ii)
You've Never Lived
from Spring Hill Fair (1984)

Points: 96
Votes: 7 (0)

Youtube audio

"You've Never Lived" is the closest the came to Talking Heads.

The howl that Robert lets out just before that electrifying solo is one of my all time favourite Go-Betweens moments. Such an urgent and thrilling performance.

These approximations of Conventional Rock Guitar Solos circa SHF still startle a little. Bless. [Haha. xpost]

The howl that Robert lets out just before that electrifying solo is one of my all time favourite Go-Betweens moments. Such an urgent and thrilling performance.

― kitchen person, Tuesday, July 9, 2019

I'll assume McLennan played it?

"You've Never Lived" is the closest the came to Talking Heads.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, July 9, 2019 7:08 PM (two hours ago)

Here Comes A City = Life During Wartime

Here Comes A City = Life During Wartime

― SA

I always thought Here Comes The City was very similar to I've Been Here Before by Lush. I might be on my own on that one.

you've never lived was high on my ballot, probably the song that's been stuck in my head the most through all my go-b's listening.

right here's for me. RIGHT HERE AND NO WHERE ELSE!

Big chunks of SMAL have been known to bring More Songs About Buildings & Food to my mind.

Time for another track, I think. Can't say I like this one much...

http://i66.tinypic.com/2wgbswl.jpg

#54
Magic in Here
from The Friends of Rachel Worth (2000)

Points: 100
Votes: 8 (0)

Youtube audio (+ seemingly unrelated footage)

Always thought Magic in Here was a perfect sentiment for the opening track of their reunion.

wow I had no idea that Janet Weiss and Sam Coomes played on this record!

Incidentally, I finally got the Spotify playlist in order. Turns out about 1/4 of the solo tracks were missing for me, which is nowhere near as bad as I'd been anticipating. So I'll keep that stuff there. Obviously feel free to add things available locally to you, if you're into that sort of thing.

http://i64.tinypic.com/289hpol.jpg

#53
Spirit of a Vampyre
from Tallulah (1987)

Points: 101
Votes: 5 (0)

Youtube audio

Poster used to be on my wall, don't know where it is now. I was going to say this my first 'too low' but I don't think it was on my ballot, so it's not too loow after all!

LOL. I was wondering myself. Neither of us voted for it, apparently.

I'm rather fond of it though. Thankyou to those who did vote for it.

http://i68.tinypic.com/oq8tps.jpg

#52
Before Hollywood
from Before Hollywood (1983)

Points: 103
Votes: 9 (0)

Youtube audio

Good song for those people who can't tell the difference between Forster and McLennan's voices.

Interesting on Before Hollywood how often they share vocals; I only assume that the songwriter with the most lines in the song wrote it (Cattle and Cane is obvious; thinking more about As Long as That and On My Block re. Forster)

#53
Spirit of a Vampyre
from Tallulah (1987)

^^^ marvelous song, awkward rockabilly, wonderful opening line ("I was slowly dying in a clinic outside L.A.").

Spirit of a Vampyre is a precursor to Forster's solo work I think

XP

It's kinda sad how songwriting partnerships inevitably creep in that direction. It starts out with doubled vocals, trading off lines, "you can sing this song I wrote", etc. and inexorably moves towards a Speakerboxx/Love Below situation.

http://i67.tinypic.com/2z9d5io.jpg

#51
Too Much of One Thing
from Bright Yellow Bright Orange (2003)

Points: 104
Votes: 6 (0)

Youtube audio

One of my favourite of his 70s-Dylanesque songs. Glad a few people made up for me failing to vote for it.

I never once sensed tension between Forster and McLennan on the songwriting front -- quite the contrary, with each praising the other's songwriting till the end.

http://i64.tinypic.com/15mky80.jpg

#50
On My Block
from Before Hollywood (1983)

Points: 109
Votes: 7 (0)

Youtube audio

Now, if I can get home relatively swiftly, I think I'll try to get to about #40 over the next 3 or so hours!

Funny that Too Much of One Thing came up now, on the topic of trading lines. I miss that aspect of the early stuff. It's likely less a sign of tension than growing creative confidence/independence. You do get the sense in Grant & I that Robert and Grant were missing each other in the thick of the 80s.

These low Before Hollywood showings are turning my hair white.

Love "On My Block".

I don't think verhexen is going to like this much either...

http://i67.tinypic.com/28lqg3n.jpg

#49
Hammer the Hammer
from 'Hammer the Hammer' 7" (1982)

Points: 121
Votes: 8 (0)

Youtube audio

Yeah On My Block is great. Robert really discovering his flamboyant vocal persona and a fabulous baseline from Grant.

http://i64.tinypic.com/dxzcpk.jpg

#48
Born to a Family
from Oceans Apart (2005)

Points: 122
Votes: 9 (0)

Youtube audio

Really not a big fan of Too Much Of One Thing. It has an apt title as it goes on way too long.

The Statue and Born To A Family are two of my favourite Oceans Apart songs. Wish they'd been a bit higher. Hopefully Finding You does well later on.

http://tinypic.com/m/kcb7g1/1

#47
Bow Down
from Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express (1986)

Points: 123
Votes: 8 (0)

Youtube audio

It doesn't want to embed that image, but probably not worth reposting - select 'view image' or equivalent if you want to see Robert Vickers in a fetching outfit. :)

TOO LOW

You opened my mail apart at the seams / Now you know I live beyond my means

Is one of my favourite ever opening lyrics

And Alba OTM. Though I now see I didn't give it as many as points as I could have...

http://i66.tinypic.com/egetqs.jpg

#46
Five Words
from Spring Hill Fair (1984)

Points: 123
Votes: 9 (0)

Youtube audio, album version
Youtube audio, Peel session, with different verses

When I interiewed Forster in 2006, he admitted that "Born to a Family" was his attempt at writing a McLennan-esque narrative about childhood.

Bow Down TOO LOW

In fact isn't that a lyric from the song?

Five Words is a lot of fun for a song about death.

And Bow Down is lovely - there's so much gold here.

bury them, don't keep them

those are the five words.

i voted for every song on spring hill fair side one, i think

Lovely Robert-Grant interplay and an irresistible clockwork feel to its rhythm

McLennan has quite a few songs where he passes on fairly obscure wisdom, no?

And I just say... five words: bury them don't keep them.
Two things I know, these things I'll tell: don't walk the wire, don't work (?) the well
There's only one thing I can say, and I will share it with you now: there is a place you cannot go.

etc. I'm sure there are more.

'Five Words' is so great, love all the vocal interplay.

i love the way the acoustic answers the electric with the titular melody

“Born to a Family” has my favorite intro of any of Robert’s songs.

In terms of Grant's weird wisdom, am currently working my head round "if you believe in orphans, there's still a chance for love". What a line.

^^ yes

http://i67.tinypic.com/2r22b9k.jpg

#45
The Ghost and the Black Hat
from Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express (1986)

Points: 130
Votes: 8 (0)

Youtube audio

Lovey arpeggiated melody, terrific McLennan lyric. He said he was thinking of Dusty Springfield.

Another of the 'Don't Let Him Come Back' 5 here - too low! - there is just something I love about that poppy scrappy very early sound - the funny wordy kids formed a band 5 minutes ago and it's good and everyone is having a blast!

5 words got high for me as well. Gets stuck in my head sometimes, just turns up unannounced. That spiky rhythm, and the bits of the song that seem to dangle a bit, and then that refrain.

http://i67.tinypic.com/4g1z5e.jpg

#44
Boundary Rider
from Oceans Apart (2005)

Points: 133
Votes: 9 (0)

Youtube audio

another tune replete with McLennanisms:

And to know yourself
is to be yourself
keeps you walking through these tears

the best cricket song

http://i63.tinypic.com/2valeld.jpg

#43
Caroline and I
from Bright Yellow Bright Orange (2003)

Points: 134
Votes: 7 (0)

Original promo video

XP: LOL

"It is neither fair nor reasonable to expect sadness to confine itself to its causes."

"Don't believe what you've heard: faithful's not a bad word"

Spring Hill Fair is packed with Grant adages.

I mangled the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0Ekys_OzFc

That's not on Spotify either, so that feels like vaguely crucial video link! :)

http://i65.tinypic.com/2448rc6.jpg

#42
Here Comes a City
from Oceans Apart (2005)

Points: 139
Votes: 10 (0)

Original promo video

'The Ghost & the Black Hat' was slightly too folky for my tastes when I first heard Liberty Belle but over time it's become one of my favourite songs on the album.

http://i68.tinypic.com/21may49.jpg

#41
A Bad Debt Follows You
from Before Hollywood (1983)

Points: 140
Votes: 9 (0)

Youtube audio

You told me stars would fall
You told me ice would melt

Three LP openers in a row!

That'll have to be the last one for me. Brain is hardly functioning. Good night/day!

tooooooo looooooow

Wow, I thought this would be much higher. After a disappointing debut album, this was the perfect song to start Before Hollywood. In just two and a half minutes you can hear how much they've grown.

i definitely weighted the creepy, nervy tracks pretty highly on my ballot, though i probably voted for more of the soaring pop tracks overall. this is one of the creepiest and nerviest and it was my number 7

Boundary Rider and Ghost Black Hat both should be top 20 IMHO

i can't believe that the super boring "bow down" is in front of the catchy and subtle "too much of one thing" which tickles my ear and is definitely top ten for me.

"a bad debt follows you" sounds quite post-punk, i love it.

Full-throated, lusty TOOO LOOOOOWWWW to "Hammer the Hammer" and all the Before Hollywood tracks

love the organ all over Before Hollywood.

otm

"on my block" was great too, i guess i have to check "before hollywood" more thoroughly. they sound not unlike the talking heads on that one, or is it just the two songs?

All of Before Hollywood is great! It's their most consistent album in my opinion - every song is high quality. There are two dirges but the rest are pretty rocking and fast. Guitars and basslines and drums sound similar on every song but not redundant. The songwriting meshes together well, and they even trade off lead vocals within the same song on several on them.

^yes, this! Early Talking Heads is a good reference point, there's a lot of space in the sound. The organ adds lovely little washes of colour without cluttering anything. It's a really well-sequenced, pacy record. I only usually go off and do something else when As Long As That is on. (SA, you had better not be calling Dusty In Here a dirge, apart from in the most literal sense.)

Recent results have been fairly exciting and unpredictable. Been disappointed by some low placements but looking forward to the top 40.

I'll drop a few of the top 40 at a more leisurely pace in the next few hours...

http://i67.tinypic.com/jal36a.jpg

#40
Surfing Magazines
from The Friends of Rachel Worth (2000)

Points: 148
Votes: 9 (0)

Original promo video

I don't think I knew most of these 21st-century promo videos existed.

Also: god bless Rage and people who record TV in the middle of the night.

I think I've only had three tracks on my ballot show up in the #40-#66 range so far. I'm assuming most of my ballot will turn up in the top 40. 'Ghost and the Black Hat' is my favourite song so far. The McLennan childhood memories trilogy of 'Cattle and Cane', 'Unkind and Unwise', and 'The Ghost and the Black Hat' are all among my favourite Go-Beteweens songs. Those three songs are on consecutive albums.

There's been nothing from 'Send Me A Lullaby' of '16 Lovers Lane' yet - I'm assuming a bunch of stuff from the latter will place, but maybe nothing from the former?

I suspect there might be at least one from Send Me A Lullaby.

http://i68.tinypic.com/20jmulz.jpg

#39
Two Steps Step Out
from Before Hollywood (1983)

Points: 148
Votes: 10 (0)

Youtube audio

I'm distracted by bbcode in peak times, so this is where I say what I've voted for since #66:

'Five Words', 'Bow Down', 'Hammer the Hammer', 'Before Hollywood', 'This Girl, Black Girl', 'By Chance', 'The Sound of Rain', 'Hope Then Strife', 'Secondhand Furniture'. All TOO LOW, etc, etc

Would have, with another ten slots:

'Don't Let Him Come Back', 'Spirit of a Vampyre', 'On My Block', 'Two Steps Step Out'

Quite a number of my selections were out on the far side of #66, such that my ballot is already more than halfway accounted for.

Can anyone break down what's going on with the time signature in this song? (the non-4/4 part)

Morrison's drumming on "Two Steps, Step Out"!

Another one I voted for highly and another one with awesome interplay between grant and Robert, vocally and musically

They were secretly prog for a couple of years there, innit.

Last one for a wee while...

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#38
Going Blind
from The Friends of Rachel Worth (2000)

Points: 149
Votes: 8 (0)

Youtube audio
Youtube, Later with Jools Holland

That pic pre-dates the actual official reunion by several years, but I like Forster here.

Sleater-Kinney in the housssssse

I love that bit of guitar at the 15 second mark that sounds like every Sleater-Kinney song ever.

This was my number seven. Way too low here!

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#37
You Can't Say No Forever
from 16 Lovers Lane (1988)

Points: 152
Votes: 10 (0)

Youtube audio

One more for now. I'll return in a few hours and hopefully reach #21 perhaps 10 hours from now.

http://i63.tinypic.com/29ghra0.jpg

#36
He Lives My Life
from The Friends of Rachel Worth (2000)

Points: 155
Votes: 9 (0)

Youtube audio
Youtube, Later with Jools Holland

That song chills me.

http://i65.tinypic.com/2dhv39i.jpg

#35
Lee Remick
from Lee Remick 7" (1978)

Points: 168
Votes: 11 (0)

Youtube audio

http://i67.tinypic.com/2e22sut.jpg

#34
Was There Anything I Could Do?
from 16 Lovers Lane (1988)

Points: 170
Votes: 10 (1)

Original promo video

Ah, their only charting hit of any kind in America.

TOO LOW for “Was There Anything I Could Do?”!

I think I may have been who placed it as their no 1.

My records confirm that that is indeed the case. :)

My introduction to the Go-Betweens was the Bellavista Terrace comp, so Was There Anything...? was the first song I heard, and I'm still fond of it. Another eye-watering video though.

Lee Remick was also a hidden track on that CD, and not knowing the title, for a long time I thought the chorus was "aye-aye-aye aye-aye, lovely rimming". Being 15 and only hazily aware this was something sexual, I didn't realise the gravity of the mistake until, perhaps, right now.

‘Bellavista Terrace’ was also my way in, so maybe that has something to do with it. I’ve tended to feel “more is more” when it comes to compilations, I only make two exceptions; ‘Bellavista Terrace’ and ‘Donkeys’ by Tindersticks. Both are great encapsulations of the respective bands.

It actually took me years to get around to buying the six pre-reformation albums, so happy was I with ‘BT’. Did have the post-reformation albums, though.

Seconding the too low for “ Was...”, a clear highlight of 16LL, mixes the sweeping grandiosity of their late 80s work with the jumpy paranoia of their early stuff

Lee Remick would probably have made my ballot had I known about the rimming version in time.

Lee Remick was also a hidden track on that CD

wat

I bought Bellavista Terrace at a Borders in Plantation the summer of '00 after picking up SHF at the long gone Tower Records on Times Square.

On my version it played about a minute after Dive For Your Memory ended, although on the first couple of listens I thought of it as a coda to that - with something of a different flavour.

Speaking of incomplete knowledge and Bellavista Terrace, that comp resulted in a resurgence of airplay of "Was There Anything" here. My brother remarked that he quite like this new song he'd been hearing, whatever it was. I informed him it was the Go-Betweens and a decade old! None of this would have been surprising if he didn't own and love multiple McLennan and Forster solo CDs. Surely a rare consumer category there. :)

Yeah, 'Lee Remick' was unlisted track on the copy I heard too. (Borrowed from local library for sake of possible interesting liner notes.)

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#33
Unkind and Unwise
from Sprill Hill Fair (1984)

Points: 179
Votes: 9 (0)

Youtube audio

Lee Remick was also a hidden track on that CD, and not knowing the title, for a long time I thought the chorus was "aye-aye-aye aye-aye, lovely rimming". Being 15 and only hazily aware this was something sexual, I didn't realise the gravity of the mistake until, perhaps, right now.

Post of the day.

'Unkind and Unwise' took a few years to settle. Now it's a more than worthy sequel to "Cattle and Cane."

"U&U" was always going to be high on my ballot. Slightly confusing time signature, kinda sorta sequel to "Cattle & Cane", etc, etc. What's not to like?

it's moreorless Cattle & Cane with different lyrics, isn't it? great song.

Incidentally, I forgot where I found that photo, but the source seemed to suggest it captured a ceremonial handing-over of bass guitar duties. Nice.

Better pick up the pace methinks...

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#32
As Long As That
from Before Hollywood (1983)

Points: 185
Votes: 11 (0)

Youtube audio

I love 'Unkind and Unwise', it's all about the pre-chorus.

Another top tenner for me, guess I just want different things from my Go-B’s than y’all

This is the only dud on Before Hollywood for me, I just don't get what it's trying to do.

I've got a feeling, sounds like a fact
It's been around as long as that

I'll rush this one through. The next interval will be a bit longer!

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#31
I'm All Right
from 16 Lovers Lane (1988)

Points: 191
Votes: 10 (0)

Youtube audio

"As Long As That" is one of those songs where the traded-off lead vocals really work. Hard to tell if it was a Robert song or a Grant song.

Just re-read 'Grant & I' along with the poll, where I think Robert claims it as his, and a Lindy love song. Feels weird tbh.

Also more songs should have oboe in them

The oboe in "I'm Allright" takes one of my favorite solos.

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#30
The Clarke Sisters
from Tallulah (1987)

Points: 198
Votes: 13 (0)

Youtube audio

I'm confused by the length of your intervals lol

The third (?) and possibly most compelling bit of evidence that the second side of Tallulah is the best thing ever. Maybe.

XP: LOL. I had to drive home and switch computers, etc. I was trying to make it short but feared it would not be.

As Long As That also starts with the incredible line “Were you born or just conceived?”

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#29
Rock and Roll Friend
from 'Was There Anything...' single (1988)

Points: 203
Votes: 13 (0)

Youtube audio

I like “Rock and Roll Friend” but a little surprised it’s beaten its a-side!

Secretly, I've never quite understood the esteem in which it is held. (Even though I know it's important to Forster himself.) Don't tell anyone!

Nah, I much prefer this, TOO LOW! (xp)

I like the chord sequence, love Forster's androgynous delivery and lyrics, love the solo

and I prefer it too

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#28
Apology Accepted
from Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express (1986)

Points: 205
Votes: 11 (2)

Youtube audio

the one i feel silliest for leaving off my ballot

Didn't vote for Apology Accepted but I'm happy to see it place. One of Grant's best vocal performances.

http://i66.tinypic.com/6qwnrt.jpg

#27
To Reach Me
from Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express (1986)

Points: 206
Votes: 11 (0)

Youtube audio

Ah brilliant. To Reach Me kept climbing up my list just before I voted. The backing vocals in the chorus are so great.

I wonder if everything from Liberty Belle will feature (did I post that already?)

To Reach Me was my overall #2

How could anyone disapprove of me??

I didn't really consider voting for it but listening again right now it's certainly nicely fleshed out with little details. The clang-clang-clang guitar in the bridge is also cool.

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#26
Darlinghurst Nights
from Oceans Apart (2005)

Points: 209
Votes: 13 (0)

Youtube audio

I wonder if everything from Liberty Belle will feature (did I post that already?)

― Alba

I'd be very shocked if any of the remaining Liberty Belle tracks missed out. I am surprised that Palm Sunday and In The Corn Of A Flame were the lowest two.

yeah this is the best song on oceans apart

It's so nice to see their reunion albums being so well represented. I'm hoping that Finding You will at least make the top 20.

apparently i voted for here comes the city higher than this, whatever, old me notm

That image is Darlinghurst Road, 1990. Though it may strictly be King's Cross at that exact point. I don't know Sydney well. #FullDisclosure

http://i64.tinypic.com/2i07ipj.jpg

#25
Dusty in Here
from Before Hollywood (1983)

Points: 211
Votes: 11 (0)

Youtube audio

The use of space is riveting.

"I'd like to bring the room down a bit with this next one... the one's about my dead father"

What Alfred said. I imagine I gave this a whole heap of points. If I didn't I erred terribly.

my number two. devastating each time.

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#24
Love Is a Sign
from 16 Lovers Lane (1988)

Points: 211
Votes: 14 (0)

Youtube audio

Dusty In Here - too low. I cry every time I hear it, so I can't listen to it too often.

The space is so important, and the transition into Ask afterwards is incredibly necessary, frankly, even just to give you the will to live.

I rather like "I wish you had a big house and that your work would start to sell."

"LIAS" comes the closest so far to making an appearance on a majority of ballots. Looks like a fair while before that actually happens though.

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#23
The Clock
from The Friends of Rachel Worth (2000)

Points: 214
Votes: 12 (0)

Youtube audio

I like The Clock and was surprised to find dismissed as 'generic' on this thread of worst Grant McLennan songs that I stumbled across the other day:

http://go-betweens.org.uk/chatroom/messages/353/7447.html?1235918488

I've always loved Rock and Roll Friend despite my aversion to lyrics that reference R&R. Of course, Forster says it in a totally non-R&R-cliched way with that repeated "Do something about me" plea/demand that is so haunting and poignant. I didn't know it was anything's B-side until recently.

More catching up:

I can't fathom the appeal of Apology Accepted. Didn't realize it had appeal until now. Such a lame chorus lyric and passive-aggressive McLennan relationship lament with a plodding 70s classic rock pulse. Sorry, that's how I feel about it.

Penultimate track for this evening. I'll rush through one more shortly...

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#22
Clouds
from 16 Lovers Lane (1988)

Points: 226
Votes: 11 (0)

Youtube audio

Love "The Clock", but listening to the various live versions highlights how Grant's voice did not age very well.
I do find the chorus somewhat generic, but in the best possible sense of the word.

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#21
People Say
from 'People Say' 7" (1979)

Points: 228
Votes: 12 (0)

Youtube audio

"Clouds" is yet another example of how crystalline and precise Forster's writing had gotten by 1988.

I'll roll out the remainder on Friday!

I don't quite know what he's saying about the subject of People Say, except that he agrees with the people that he's mad to want/need/love said babe. What a great nugget of garagey fun.

I can't really mount a defence of Apology Accepted's sentiment (at least its chorus) but somehow I couldn't stop ranking it highly, maybe in deference to the younger me.

I used to fantasise about having someone to sing People Say about but even then it felt like an over-romantic stretch.

"Clouds" at 22? You people are disgusting savages.

You've cut my heart like you cut a tree.

"People Say" at 21? You people are disgusting savages.

tbh I didn't vote in this poll, so I shouldn't really complain, but I will

This is going to be some top 20

Yeah Clouds was my 11 and People Say was my 6. I had Rock & Roll Friend at 5, Unkind and Unwise at 7, and To Reach Me at 8. The dream is over.

people say I'm mad to love you
baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabe

Has Bobby got any bigger bangers than this? I think not

My phone clearly agrees with me, I'm on a train listening to songs on shuffle, and People Say just came on

I didn't vote because I'm mostly a GBs dilettante but I'm excited to think there's potentially 20 better songs than 'People Say' by anyone, let alone one band.

I'm having a hell of a time trying to figure out which remaining tracks must be in the Top 20. It's easy to pick 20 but hard to say that none of the others even made the top freakin 66!

Here's my best guess, unranked but chronological (and not necessarily my faves):

Ask
That Way
Bachelor Kisses
The Old Way Out
Part Company
Slow Slow Music
Draining the Pool for You
Spring Rain
The Wrong Road
Twin Layers of Lightning
Head Full of Steam
Right Here
You Tell Me
Bye Bye Pride
Love Goes On
Quiet Heart
The Devil's Eye
Streets of Your Town
Dive for Your Memory
When She Sang About Angels
Finding You

But that's 21. I give up deciding which one to bump. Maybe there's a "Right Here" or "Streets" backlash afoot? That would alright with me. This is kind of a fun game.

Anyway, that still leaves all of these out of the top 66:

Karen
Your Turn My Turn
Hold Your Horses
Man O Sand to Girl O Sea (hate this)
Casanova's Last Words
I Just Get Caught Out
The House That Jack Kerouac Built (Really?)
German Farmhouse (Really??)
Heart and Home
Orpheus Beach
Poison in the Walls
Mrs. Morgan
In Her Diary
Old Mexico
Make Her Day
No Reason to Cry
Lavender
This Night's for You

But that's 21. I give up deciding which one to bump.

bump two, cause you forgot Cattle And Cane

Slow Slow Music? Are you sure? (xp)

I don't think Ask, Slow Slow Music or The Devil's Eye will be in there.

Xp

I hope and assume "Man O' Sand" will make it over "Old Way Out" and "Slow Slow Music"

Not looking great for "German Farmhouse" though

bump two, cause you forgot Cattle And Cane

Urp. That's why it's a good thing Nag's doing the poll and not fuckups like me.

Going for a 1-2-3 of Cattle and Cane, Streets of Your Town and Part Company.

Cattle and Cane in at #67

Clear out the top ten for the expanded Send Me a Lullaby tracklist

#26
Darlinghurst Nights

mid-scrolling down I thought "why is the cover for Babylon Mixed Business itt?"

That image is Darlinghurst Road, 1990. Though it may strictly be King's Cross at that exact point. I don't know Sydney well. #FullDisclosure

should have scrolled even further! yeah, that's the Cross, but the photographer is probably on the Darlo side of William St

People Say was my number 2. I am listening to it right now and almost certainly having a better time than all the people who did not vote for it QED

I mean maybe it's too short but honestly you can just listen to it again straight afterwards. I'm living proof of that.

and damn I want to throw a 'too low' at Surfing Magazines which I find a beautiful mystery of a song - lots of restrained almost-too-poised Forster phrasing slipping into a bright pop chorus that makes me feel sad about I don't know what exactly.

Aaah, thanks sic.

I can barely remember which, from a glance at the above lists, is going to miss out. I certainly remember all of those getting points (very few non-outtakes missed out) so they're all winners! Or something.

Okay, now I remember!

I'll once again post a mere handful during the GMT+10 day, and commence the top dozen-or-so in about 12 hours time.

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#20
You Tell Me
from Tallulah (1987)

Points: 231
Votes: 14 (0)

Youtube audio

Great start to the top 20. One of their most beautiful choruses.

"You Tell Me" was the first Go-Be's album track to grab me by the lapels. Forster must hate the sampled backup vocals and harpsichord solo; I love his increasingly lovelorn "C'mon, c'mon!"s in the outro.

love this track

The hard thunk of the rhythm guitar

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#19
I Just Get Caught Out
from Tallulah (1987)

Points: 239
Votes: 15 (0)

Youtube audio

Out again tonight
I'm tired
We need a room
But there is
no roooooomm

xp another great track

Tallulahphiles might enjoy this 1987 Aus TV appearance. Doesn't include these two songs but 'Cut It Out' is there (!) and, more crucially, 4/5 of the second side of the long-player. Hehe.

Last one until it's Friday in a few more places...

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#18
Man O'Sand to Girl O'Sea
from 'Man O'Sand...' single (1983), re-recorded for Spring Hill Fair (1984)

Points: 247
Votes: 15 (0)

Youtube audio, single version
Youtube audio, album version

"Feel so sure of our love, I'll write a song about us breaking up" is one of my favourite opening lines ever.

Loving this top 20 so far.

I think I read somewhere that the song he's referring to is Part Company.

Ha! That's cool. Recorded *just* after this single was released.

But then I also read that Part Company is actually about leaving Australia.

I just read something similar! Then I pondered what Australia's hand-writing would look like.

Time for another, I think. Spread the timezone love around a bit...

http://i64.tinypic.com/mblftg.jpg

#17
The House That Jack Kerouac Built
from Tallulah (1987)

Points: 255
Votes: 13 (0)

Youtube audio

This is one fan favourite I don't really like so much. Though I used to. Man O Sand too low!

I love 'You Tell Me' and 'I Just Get Caught Out' - glad they placed high - they're fast-paced and hooky, without losing Forster's lyrical bite.

Can't see any of the reunion era cuts making it from here on in, which means a couple from my ballot won't make it ('No Reason To Cry', 'Orpheus Beach').

I have a list of 15 1982-1988 tracks, plus 'Karen', which I assume will squeak in - kind of the quintessential early track.

Tallulahphiles might enjoy this 1987 Aus TV appearance.

you're welcome!

I googled for photos of typical Darlinghurst terraces to better represent what their early-80s nights might have been spent in, but this 'news' story probably can't be beaten

Too low for "Man O' Sand"! #5 on my ballot and their most ferocious band recording

Great little run - I didn't vote for all the Forster songs off Tallulah but I love them and delighted/surprised they're so popular.

Love Man O'Sand, but only the single version, which is tighter and better and sounds like the soundtrack to a great lost TV cop show. The backing vocals are great and RF is perfectly on his line between ridiculous and sexy.

My god sic! Did you make the original recording at broadcast, even? Funnily enough, I almost quipped "sic, any idea what became of that female host of Rock Arena?" purely for LOLs. Thanks for the terrace housing link. Luvly!

Something a little less Forster-y?

http://i64.tinypic.com/35dc288.jpg

#16
The Wrong Road
from Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express (1986)

Points: 268
Votes: 14 (0)

Youtube audio

I was thinking I'd probably replayed it on TV whenever that uploader taped it, but that does actually look dodgy enough that it might be an original 1987 VHS off-air!

I see! Gosh!

Is it wrong to prefer the album version of "Man O' Sand"? I love the long careening guitar solo.

Nah, same. Wasn't mad on it till I heard the album version. It fucking bangs.

I think I'm in the same boat. Though I'm not to be trusted at all on this matter as I'd prefer to just stick to the nice wimpy B-side. :)

Better pick up the pace...

http://i65.tinypic.com/213n62w.jpg

#15
Quiet Heart
from 16 Lovers Lane (1988)

Points: 275
Votes: 16 (0)

Youtube audio

Oh yeah, stats fans, look! First track on a (slim) majority of ballots!

"Quiet Heart" is the "With or Without You" I prefer. A gem of a first stanza, generating real erotic heat. As usual with these guys, they do unexpected things with instruments. You expect a big rawk solo; instead, Forster plays harmonica, then Willsteed follows it with a flamenco solo.

Talk about a Marmite track... sorry, Vegemite.

The Wrong Road is stunning. Did bitter disappointment ever sound so beautiful?