TS: Cattle and Cane vs. Pink Frost

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I think I'll refrain from choosing though.

PF could lose a lot with different production, but I've actually wished it were produced a little better, so it goes both ways.

"Pink Frost" (1984) - Recorded 29/5/82 The Lab, Auckland. Additional tracks added and mixed 5/1/84 - Progressive Studios, Auckland. Mixed by Terry King, Doug Hood, Chris Knox, Terry Moore & Martin Phillipps.

not that i know anything about either of those studios

I love them both, but Pink Frost, oh man do I love Pink Frost. When I first got it on CD I'd literally play it on repeat for hours. My roomate heard it through the door and was like what the fuck are you doing playing the same song for hours. I lent her the CD. Later I heard her playing it, over and over again.

"Cattle And Cane" would have been a contender had the Go-Betweens remembered to write a chorus, or learned to sing.

That sounds awfully drama queen-y of me, I know, but those are easily two of my favorite songs and ... can't do it.

I'm sort of in agreement with Marcello about the Go-Betweens - hideous flaws prevent me from enjoying them very much. That said the Before Hollywood-era is probably their best, and C&C is OK.

Cattle and Cane bitchslaps just about everything, including Pink Frost.

The lack of a chorus is its best attribute!

Everyone knows my Go-Be's love, so it was with reluctance that I choose "Pink Frost."

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and it grew on me a lot, and i ended up sorta loving it, but ... pink frost really got me quite hard.

i don't think i've ever heard another chills song, actually. i should rectify that.

(bimble: hello! i'm very aware i owe you an e-mail. apologies.)

I dont think C & C is the G-B's best track by a long shot. Right Here (to pick one) is up there with Pink Frost. Except the production sucks a bit...

The production makes it.

Sorry, love the GB's ... but they weren't THAT much better than Phillips at his best. not gonna be all revisionist and shit, sorry ...

oh, please.

Not that "Pink Frost" is significantly less flat - I just listened to them both, and sonically they are pretty similar - but personally I just find it more interesting.

Australia vs New Zealand, nostalgia vs anxiety, cane vs frost...

Cattle and Cane for me

"Pink Frost", such a light-footed song on the most serious subject. The music is so uplifting. It sounds like a dream put to music. And apparently it is: I read somewhere that Martin Phillips had dreamt that he had killed his girl-friend and then wrote the song about it. Later on their drummer died of leukaemia and the song was released quite a long time after the recording. A miracle of indiepop.

"Cattle and Cane", I never understood its' appeal. Too repetitive and not leading anywhere interesting.

They are both all-time for different reasons.

Both great tracks, love 'em both. I didn't even know about "Pink Frost" until I discovered the Chills during lockdown and I don't think I knew "Cattle and Cane" until Grant had already passed - even then it was because I heard it on Rhino's Left of the Dial box set. I never hear those songs unless I play them which is a shame. For that reason alone I couldn't pick one over the other, they both deserve to be far more known.

They're both evocative, touching songs. It's impressive how the Go-Betweens manage to create a warm folk-rock track over a time signature that you'd expect from Rush or King Crimson; "Cattle and Cane" is also more lyrically developed, but the repetition of "Pink Frost" has the eerie feel of a nursery rhyme.

I remembered something about both these songs in the Spin Alternative Record Guide - Eric Weisbard said some interesting things:

Kaleidoscope World features the band's signature tune, "Pink Frost", a grief-stricken yet fetching song, with rumbling bass lines; imagine Paul McCartney attempting Joy Division.

Before Hollywood marks Grant McLennan's arrival as a singer; the moody sweetness of "Cattle and Cane", delivered in the voice of a steadfast friend, provides a perfect balance to Forster's arch bohemianisms.

"Cattle and Cane", I never understood its' appeal. Too repetitive and not leading anywhere interesting.

― walking towards the sun since 2007 (alex in mainhattan), Friday, October 14, 2022 11:33 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

lol

Pink Frost.
I love them both, but Pink Frost, oh man do I love Pink Frost. When I first got it on CD I'd literally play it on repeat for hours. My roomate heard it through the door and was like what the fuck are you doing playing the same song for hours. I lent her the CD. Later I heard her playing it, over and over again.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, June 7, 2006 9:09 PM (sixteen years ago)

i first heard it on a mixtape my best friend made for me almost 30 years ago, that was like, his favorite songs from his record collection, and the tape had Pink Frost followed by the next three songs on the reissue - Flame Thrower, Purple Girl, This Is the Way - and I was like, "these are all by the same band? Whoa!!!" ... he would actually listen to "This is the Way" on repeat for hours, and later I did the same, but I totally can respect giving Pink Frost that treatment.

Pink Frost is untouchably great. Such a haunting, melancholy mood. A lesser band could build their whole sound around that one song. The Chills were so versatile, though; it's hard to believe that Pink Frost came from the same mind that created I Love My Leather Jacket.

I remember being disappointed when I picked up Kaleidoscope World as a 16-year-old and discovered that none of the other songs were quite as great as Pink Frost. Incredible songwriting, true, but Pink Frost is next level.

he would actually listen to "This is the Way" on repeat for hours, and later I did the same, but I totally can respect giving Pink Frost that treatment.