The Go-Betweens - poets from down under, or so bad they make me chunder? Discuss.

you can listen to that and not be moved? then sir, you are a buffoon.

I dunno. I've always found it hard to articulate why they affect me so much. I think people do them a disservice when they go about how they should have been chart condenders. They really aren't to everyone's taste (believe me, I've tried them out on enough people). I think a lot of their lyrics can seem either gauche (the early stuff), overblown, self-consciously 'arty' or irritatingly arch if you're in the wrong mood. All I can add is that I bought the 1978-1990 compilation when I was 17 on the strength of 'Streets of your town' and it took a few listens before I really liked anything else on the album. So maybe it takes time. I still don't like most of 'Tallulah' very much, and they were prone to frequent lapses of taste (eg. River of Money). Several people I know have played the Deacon Blue card when they hear '16 Lovers Lane', their most accessible album. But one of them meant it as a compliment.

Err.. speaking of the Go-Betweens, if anyone can provide me with tapes or mp3s of any of the following tracks, I'd be dead pleased: 'Newton Told Me', 'A Little Romance' , 'Time In The Desert', 'Doo Wop In A'.

Don't forgot that anything Australian is really terribly awful at best.....

It's true, Nick, the G-Bs remind me of Deacon Blue too. Whoever said that to you knew what they were on about.

Ally C talked about the time factor - which I take it is also the repetition factor. Familiarity breeds contentment? It's possible. I mean, could it be that the G-Bs are not that great, but we all gradually convince ourselves that they are, just by listening to them over and over again until we reach a point where we can't remember not having heard them?

That had better not sound slighting of Go-Betweens fans. Most G-Bs fans I know are people with seriously good, interesting, informed or passionate taste in pop. They are not people to be slighted in a hurry, and nor is their enthusiasm for the G-Bs.

I can't decide about this band. I think their detractors are right - partly, perhaps, because I believe that first impressions can be telling, and my first several impressions of this band chimed with what the (few) detractors say. Plodding; musically uninspired; vocally inept; tuneless (that's surely one of the worst crimes); and lyrically incomprehensible or pretentious.

But I don't think that's the whole story. There must be a good reason why the fans feel how they do. Is it the passion? The 'literacy'? The sense, perhaps, of a world projected by this band (for great bands, like great writers, do, perhaps, project worlds)?

There are at least a few G-B moments that have won me over.

- I think 'Bachelor Kisses' is romantic and outstanding

- I always thought 'Cattle & Cane' a terrible title, but the track itself is fairly remarkable: an unfindable rhythm; a memorable riff they must have just hit on and kept; a lyric of reverie; distant swooning non-verbal vocals; watery guitar like the unmentionable Cure; a silly set of non-melodic pronouncements.

- 'Right Here' does its job well: a sort of stonkalong which nonetheless has 'grace', thanks to the strings.

- 'Love Is A Sign' has some swell moments too. And a harmonica, I think.

I am probably coming over to them slowly; but as I've said, it's a process I somewhat distrust.

I still don't really understand why the Go Betweens, in particular, have this effect on you. Because you don't like them and your friends or people whose taste you respect do like them? There surely must be hundreds of bands and artistes who fall into this category? Why worry at the Go Betweens so? It'll only get worse if you pick it.

Incidentally, when the Go Betweens hit the spot, I think the noise they make is their strongest point: "Cattle and Cane" is a beautifully jittery sound; "Part Company" sounds all wrong, off- balance and gloriously so; "Bow Down", too, just sounds fabulous to me, without (conscious) analysis of melody or lyric or technique.

Tim

>>> I still don't really understand why the Go Betweens, in particular, have this effect on you.

Oh, I blame you, Tim. You you you you you.

I remembered being intrigued by the Go-Betweens by a magazine article I read some time ago. The description of the music and the writing styles of Robert Forster and Grant McLennan appealed to me, so I checked them out and was pleasantly surprised. I even remembered a couple of songs from years before, mainly Bachelor Kisses and Streets Of Your Town (which I always credited to Prefab Spout!).

I like music that will move me, stir my thoughts and senses, and I like it when I can relate to a song. I like the feeling of being touched, moved, choked by a lyric or a note. I found all that and more in the Go-Betweens' music.

So Robert Forster can't sing nor write, huh? I'm listening to one of his albums right now and I think it's strange how people's conceptions of what is good singing and writing differ. I could say that RF's way of "talking through" lots of his songs is a bit unsettling, but I would like to mention that his lyrics, as well as GM's, are among the ones I enjoy the most.

Before I go: What do people think about the latest Go-Betweens album? And, will you think I'm mad if I say that my nickname for Robert Forster was "the Australian Bryan Ferry"? My sister thought it was hilarious.

I quite like the phrase "poets from down under". If I ever write a record review, can I borrow it? Bye bye.

ANYWAY welcome to ILM Cecilia. And Robert Forster is the Australian Bryan Ferry, as anyone who's seen him do "Danger In The Past" onstage will know.

The new album? It's nice. It's a tea-cosy of a record. That makes it sound bad but I mean the word "nice" in this case as a total compliment. It ended up being one of my favourite records last year. It took about 5 listens before it sounded like the Go-Betweens, though.

I'm afraid I cannot remember what that might sound like.

(sp?)

And I don't get the idea (expressed above) that you listen to them until you convince yourself that they're good. Well, I get the concept, but it didn't happen for me with the Go-Betweens: I called a friend of mine who had them cranked when she picked up the phone. I don't even know what song it was, or even what album, but in the 10 seconds between when she picked up the phone and when she turned down the volume, I fell in love with the Go-Betweens. I got Liberty Belle the next day, Tallulah (not as good overall, but some great stuff) the next week.

Liberty Belle seems a little colorless with some pretty bland progressions and some melodic rewrites. Spring Rain is pretty undeniable however.

Also, I got less interested the more records of theirs I purchased, Liberty Belle being the last one.

Excelent 80's bass playing on these records too.

i have plenty of love for Tallulah and Springhill Fair. Liberty Belle is my second least favourite after Lullabye. i also have much much love for the two reformation albums, the first substantially over the second though. in fact Rachel Worth is probably my second favourite after Before Hollywood.

I love that whole song, but for me those lines were really the key that popped open the whole box of treasure.

the old stuff can be way too poncey for my tastes

I've got 'Man O'Sand To Girl O'Sea' playing in my head and I have got no idea what the hell you're talking about.

he can write lyrics OK; he can sing OK, at least sometimes. He just falls down on melody.

really? i don't agree with this at all. i was listening to '78-'79: the lost album a few days ago, and i was struck by how strong the hooks (I HATE THAT WORD) were in comparison with the (relatively weak) lyrics and musicianship.

-- lauren (jaguarrid...) (webmail), May 18th, 2004 4:55 PM. (laurenp) (later) (link)

it's so weird how much that early stuff differs from the remainderof the go-betweens' recordings.

i really wish i liked them more, but there are only a few songs of theirs where the music really captures me. the rest of it feels pleasant and workmanlike. "cattle and cane" is great of course.

And while Grant has some great pop songs to his credit, I more often find that the Forster songs stay with me longer. (See "Warm Nights" for more examples of unexplained love for wretched pop songs.)

It's sunny outside, the sky's cyan. Perhaps that's inapt. No matter. 'When you play with crooks'. It will always be their best, whatever else they do, whatever else they will have done.

Hands like hooks?

Yet I like the sound of this track 2 that follows 'BK'. What's it called?

That line about the travelling clock in "River Of Money" still drives me crazy though.

Yes, trundling, aimless and clumsy are some of the attributes I like about their early records. I can't explain why. "Slow Slow Music", "Eight Pictures" and "Ride" being other prime examples..

I've always thought there was something I was missing about Cattle & Cane, Lauren - you're not alone in being bemused at the adulation. I kind of appreciate it in a bloodless emotional way, and the rhythm is kind of haunting.

Part Company is pretty much perfect, my favourite song of theirs, yes. To Reach Me is maybe next in line.

Tim is right way upthread about the irrationality and pointlessness of the pinefox's angst over this particular group.

And I liked what Bags said about the Australianness. I think that, indirectly, this a big part of their appeal to me. It springing from a different landscape to the overrepresented UK and USA.

the next reissue on my list is send me a lullabye. did you finally get it? i'd like to know what you think of it. i remember it as quite untypical for them. with a hint of guitar noise. slightly experimental in a way. it was their first album. where they where still searching for their sound.

you forgot to mention part company from shf which is a very lovely addictive pop tune. with great harmonies.

Oh that's right. Because that song was by the dBs.

Silly me.

How do folks like the new album #3 of the re-formed G-Bs?

oceans apart is pretty nice. sentimental, full of pop hooks, occasionally with the odd rhythm like born to a family. they do their own thing, that's what i like about them. and they are faithful to themselves, they never sell out. they just keep on making their unspectacular guitar songwriter music. one of the most loveable bands in the world.

The US label/version has not been replaced. It hasn't really bothered me yet though...

Not sure where to place this, but this is a superb recent interview/reminiscence, published last week.

Very good stuff. (Though there seems to be a strange editing goof at the start?)

Or maybe it's the reporter's attempt to get Didion-esque?

Poignant:

McLennan didn't drive, so, as always, Forster drove to Highgate Hill to work through new songs on their acoustic guitars on a deck at the back of the house. It was a fun, four-hour session with lots of breaks for gossip and frivolous chat. In the afternoon, Forster left to pick Louis up from school.

"Grant was on his verandah waving goodbye," says Forster. "His mailbox was at the end of this concrete driveway. I could see he had The New York Review of Books sent to him. I said, 'I didn't know you were getting this'. He said, 'Yeah, I've got tonnes of copies here. You can borrow them anytime you want. I said, 'Great, I'll do that. Thanks'."

The sky was blue, the sun was shining on the front stairs of the house. McLennan waved and Forster hopped in the Volvo and drove away smiling, wondering how many rock stars in the world subscribed to The New York Review of Books.

nice article, thanks for linking to it. anyone out there going to these retrospective shows? they sound like a good time -- wonder if there are plans to release it on CD or DVD?

I bought Tallulah in 1986, and finally "got" the Go-Betweens in 2006, so I think I can say something that might be helpful to those who don't get it but think they might like it if they got it. (If you don't get it and don't care, then why are you reading this thread?)

Several things make the Go-Betweens real rock and roll weirdos. They had the spirit of 40-year olds when they were 20, the reverse of what rock and roll attitude is supposed to be. Unlike most boho bands -- and they were bohos -- they never crack jokes. They aren't really in it for fun ("German Farmhouse," on "The Friends of Rachel Worth," is their idea of fun) and -- this is the real kicker for those of us who came up on punk -- they aren't angry, even though they sound like they could/should be.

Their real theme, expressed as much in the moderation and sustenance of the music as in the lyrics, is surviving alienation with calm and grace and without doing (too much) damage to the people around you. Ironically enough, given that children have nothing to do with it in the Go-Betweens' world, all this started to really make sense to me only after the birth of my daughter. As a graduate student and then a political organizer, I wanted something more intense, not just from my political music but from my soul music (the Go-Betweens are as far from Otis Redding as they are from the Clash). They just sounded too relaxed, like an Australian Steely Dan but without the cynicism. Now I'm delighted that they are so uncynical, that what once sounded like lack of follow-through now sounds like compassion.

My iTunes tells me I've listened to them more then any other band in the last 18 months (when I got the iPod) except Sleater-Kinney, who more directly represent my overall tastes, and who also split up during this period, leading me to mourn them. I never thought of myself as a particularly "youthful" person, but I guess I've finally gotten as old as McLellan and Forster were when they were 25.

Eric Weisbard once remarked that one's Go-Betweens love truly becomes obsessive when you hit a certain age, and he's right. "Uncynical" is a good adjective. And honesty! So many bands are revered for this, but in all their best songs the Go-Be's have that quality of having passed through the fire, transforming experience through thought and imagination. What makes them so endearing is that their instrumental chops and voices often didn't match their sophisticated songs (which, of course, takes them far, far away from Becker-Fagenland).

Erm, didn't Robert write that reminiscence about a year ago?

I too bought their records as a teenager, as they were released, but love them far more now, when approaching middle age. They are one of the very few bands for whom I thank my younger self for his taste and perception.

Go-betweens Bridge opening from last summer!
http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/247460_10150267952906138_684931137_9459662_2834590_n.jpg

Check out Vickers' swinging London 'do!

ha, he's still got the look. everyone looking pretty good actually. forster should get all these dudes to play on his next solo record.

this looks like its going to be pretty frothy for a Mike Leigh film - I'm excited

from wikipedia

A naming competition for the bridge was held through the website www.NameThatBridge.com, with eleven shortlisted suggestions put to a "popular vote", attracting less than 6000 votes. The winning name was announced on 29 September 2009. The Courier Mail newspaper held an online poll on the same day, asking the question "Is the Go Between Bridge a good name for Brisbane's newest river crossing?", to which 81% of the 3,400 voters answered "No"

Only a few thousand people saw the Go-Betweens, but all of them voted on NameThatBridge.com

oh goddamnit, a bridge-naming website was my big idea! i was going to make millions!

Well from a purely name POV 'Go-betweens Bridge' isn't that great of a name. But this is Brisbane and so I can assure you those 81% have voted no because they've read the article about "an australian 80's indie band" they've never heard of. After voting no each of those 81% then said "they shoulda named it the Acca Dacca bridge!"

Robert Forster brings the songs!

Rob is the man.

A plaint of Forster’s is your only man

Ask! <3

Bobby doesn't have 24 songs (#3 and #16 are doubled up) better than Part Company though

"Clouds" is one of the prettiest songs ever. I love when they do/did it as a duo.

and a lovely lyric

Nice to see that you ranked "I’m All Right" so highly, Alfred. I've always loved that one. "Clouds" as well.

knew I met the right person for me when early on I found out three of her favorite bands were the Blue Nile, Prefab Sprout, and the Go-Betweens.

I'm interested in opinions. I've had a Go-Betweens poll in the artist poll queue for some time and feel I should poll solo/side-projects as well when the time comes. Firstly, can I assume there's likely to be sufficient interest in such material to sustain a separate side-poll?

There are actually slightly more commercially-available solo/side-project tracks (at least 200) than Go-Betweens tracks. More than enough to warrant it, in theory. I'm inclined to poll "everything else" separately, as I fear that the main attraction would crowd out solo material on a consolidated ballot.

Combining all the LPs for the album ballot seems less problematic, perhaps even ideal, if one is allowed to select up to, say, 10 albums.

Any thoughts appreciated...

"everything else" side-poll and "whatever you like" albums poll seems entirely tidy and sensible.

Okay, cheers.

Now... seems like a good time to listen to Cleopatra Wong.