| Author | Message | ||
     Victor Prose Unregistered guest |
Wanted to see if this would spark any intrigue. The following list is strictly & purely personal, and as such, probably worthless - but not uninformed! --- THE 20 GREATEST GRANT MCLENNAN SONGS 1. "Bachelor Kisses" The single most gorgeous concievable European pop song since "Waterloo Sunset", and a romantic reverie on par with Casablanca, neither of which I mean hyperbolically. 2. "Right Here" Artifice aside, among the most perfect, soaring pop tunes to be found in post-Beatles music. Sunshine for adults who don't believe in sunshine. 3. "Unkind & Unwise" The peak of McLennan's 'unpop' phase by way of typically generous melody. Also, if not his most literary set of lyrics, his most efectively literary. 4. "Streets Of Your Town" Started off dubious of it at first, 'til its sweetness burrowed and bred and burst. A wholly earnest, impossibly ethereal love & driving song (pop's two most crucial genres). 5. "Haven't I Been A Fool" The brilliant baby boy of numbers 2 & 4 - pop from God, and the rock-tumbled cornerstone of Watershed's astonishingly good first half. 6. "Thought That I Was Over You" Jack Frost's moment of transcendence, partially because it's not a production vehicle or half-cocked ramble. Plus a delightfully half-cocked video. 7. "Old Mexico" Compensating for his confused (albeit charming, gorgeous, etc.) phone-ins on Friends of Rachel, the Pop Go-Be contributed five sparkling MOR tunes to BYBO, and stole the band's worst album. But this choice cut towers over its company. 8. "Apology Accepted" Liberty Belle's broken final moment and finest melody/vocal performance. Staggeringly underrated - don't McLennan fans base their admiration on his melodic prowess? 9. "Girl In A Beret" Ranked higher than it ought to be on grounds of personal favoritism, this glistening, glitzy radio-rock masterpiece is still one of only two tracks that transcend Horsebreaker Star's strange self-destructive restraint. 10. "You Won't Find It Again" McLennan at his most arcane and confidently unadventurous, but somehow as ideal a 'last Go-Betweens song' as "Rock 'n' Roll Friend". The word is "elegiac" (isn't it?). 11. "Cattle And Cane" Needs no introduction & remains a dusty cinematic masterpiece, though I strongly believe all ten previous songs are better. "His father's watch/he left it in the showers." 12. "Hot Water" The only time the playful, cerebral, subtle and expertly crafty McLennan of GB's fame elected to show up for the Horsebreaker Star sessions. ('Girl In A Beret' was a different dynamo.) 13. "Lighting Fires" And evil twin that everybody finds suaver and more charming - or ought to. "I'm living underground/I'm paying for air" is a one-liner worthy of Blonde On Blonde, and it's not alone. 14. "Bye Bye Pride" A feasible (perhaps even scientifically verifiable) example of what pop songs sound like in Heaven. Veritable nectar - but is there ice? 15. "The Devil's Eye" The only time the sweetness and simplicity of Grant's 1st-side Lovers' Lane songs was codified into perfection. Productionwise: waltz-ballad as steam-bath. 16. "The Wrong Road" Dusty In Europe, ca. either 1837 or 2195. Not his easiest or catchiest, but a candidate for rock's best lyrics since "Maybelline", & draped in an utterly becoming violin-ballgown. 17. "That Way" Or "Two Steps Step Out". (The somewhat lugubrious "Dusty In Here" aside, it's rarely mentioned that the ghostly-beautiful Before Hollywood is easily McLennan's album.) 18. "The Dark Side Of Town" I posit that Fireboy was the uneven, sugar-sweet, whack-job 'Ram' Forster would've never condoned. But the lyrical hook of its climactic track is as undeniable as that of "Yesterday". 19. It Ain't Easy Doesn't count, I know, but why shouldn't it? Grant's ghost guides The Evangelist into sweeter territory than Forster's been before, but only on this note-perfect tribute does Forster turn said ghost on its ear and make it passionately clear just crippling McLennan's loss was. 20. No Reason To Cry If the band's best & last album is an intextricable oceanic tapestry, Grant's songs are the waves, and Forster's the ships. But this side-one climax is the part of Oceans you want to stay lost in. An argument for both overproduction & the tears of grown men. --- And, of equal importance... | ||
| JunkInTheTrunk Unregistered guest |
To me, they're all great, but I guess faves inevitably emerge...so, today's would probably be: 1) Quiet Heart. My single favorite song by Grant, evar. 2) Bye Bye Pride. To me, the quintessential GBs song - the perfect marriage of poetry and chamber pop. 3) Streets of Yer Town. 4) Love Goes On Anyway! Gotta get that exclamation point in there - it somehow conveys the flava of the song, the, er, passion and zeal and lust for life and all dat good stuff... 5) Horsebreaker Star. Great song to begin with, with truly memorable lines, but the coda, with the great, majestic riff truly kicks it into the stratosphere. 6) Bachelor Kisses. The most sensitive love song from a male's point of view since Lenin's "Jealous Guy". 7) The Statue. The direction the GBs woulda gone in had they continued? 8) Boundary Rider. Epic - probably the sequel to... 9) Cattle and Cane. 10) The Wrong Road. "What a kook, look at that passport". 11) Right Here. PSA about the addictive qualities of embalming chemicals, and thus, completely unique! 12) Apology Accepted. Second most sensitive male song since Lennon's, yadda yadda. 13) Haven't I Been a Fool. A page from the classic pop songbook, but given Grant's unique twist. 14) Easy Come Easy Go. More pop nirvana. No idea what it's about or if it's sad or happy, which I guess is pretty uniquely a Grant thang, as well. 15) In Your Bright Ray. 16) All Them Pretty Angels. 17) Lamp By Lamp. IYBR works for me. 18) Going Blind. Infinite melodic bliss and a great double meaning in the lyrics. Heavy, dude! 19) All Her Songs. Drinking absinthe with Syd Straw qualifies as a great rock n roll fantasy, methinks. 20) Mrs. Morgan. Best song from probably the least worthy of the second iteration's records. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1553 Registered: 10-2004 |
For me, there are far too many brilliant Grant moments to mention, but a few that come to mind which seem to be overlooked at times are these: One Thing Can Hold Us - Robert sang it, but Grant wrote it, and what an amazingly fine song this is. And on SMAL, it sounds phenomenal. Hammer the Hammer - a cool, understated song. There's a beautiful melodic guitar part played after the first chorus which always rocks my world. Two Steps Step Out - Simple, melodic, perfect. Unkind and Unwise - easily one of SPF's best songs. Stunningly gorgeous with delicate melodies and awesome Lindy drumming. Grant's singing and lyrics are perfection here, too. Five Words (Peel Sessions version) - One of the Go-Betweens' finest moments. So airy, melodic, shimmery, etc... Love this to death. The Ghost and the Black Hat - Everyone likes to talk about the Wrong Road, but I much prefer this one. Lindy's beat is infectious, while Grant's morbid lyrics fuse in a nicely ironic way with the upbeat, airy, accordion-driven melodies. There's also that kind of arpeggiated guitar-thing going on in the middle-eight which totally rules. Someone Else's Wife - Probably my favorite song on Tallulah. Lyrics are humorously melodramatic, but musically, this song took the band to a whole new level of melodic sophistication. I mean, it's got Philly-Soul styled chord progressions in the chorus and end section! How cool is that! Haunted House - One of the very best (and most Go-Betweens-sounding) songs of Grant's solo period, IMO. Unfinished Business - One of my favorite moments on BYBO. BUt it's so short! It's like a haiku. Finding You - This song always makes me swoon. For me, it's Grant's best song on OA, which I still think is a tremendous album. | ||
| Victor Prose Unregistered guest |
Absolutely love One Thing Can Hold Us, Five Words (not the lyrically/atmospherically inferior Peel Sessions version, sorry), The Ghost & The Black Hat & Haunted House. Fantastic calls, sir - there are indeed too many great moments to include in an edited list. Also, I should've put "Two Steps Step Out" at my #16 instead of including it as a subtitle to "That Way". | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1555 Registered: 10-2004 |
See, as much as I love the SHF version of 5 Words, it sounds unfinished and underdeveloped to me, whereas by the time of the Peel Session, it sounded as if they'd been able to spend some time with it and get everything worked out. I think it benefits enormously from the added 'pep' brought to it by Lindy's drumming. Also, I prefer the lyrics of the Peel version, too! I like that they're kind of silly. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 1389 Registered: 09-2006 |
No Peace in the Palace - lyrics sounded close to banal at first, Heartbreak 101, but placed within the structure they soon sounded more like just what you, I or Grant might be saying to himself in that situation. Music veers toward overly much too, and probably because of that, succeeds at its task...when that single horn comes in at the end of the chorus my throat clutches a little every time. Also not mentioned above, also a heartbreaker to me: Coming Up for Air | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 1390 Registered: 09-2006 |
Oh, and I'll Call You Wild, which is playing right now. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1389 Registered: 01-2005 |
"Apples In Bed" is rather decent. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 1391 Registered: 09-2006 |
The only thing I don't like about "No Reason To Cry": though I've expressed fondness for Robert's marvelously eccentric, sometimes downright goofy phrasing style on some songs ("German Farmhouse" being the most obvious example) but it completely escapes me why on the backup to this song he chooses to sing through his nose and pronounce 'reason' as 'rezone.' "There's no reeeezohhhhhnne." Maybe he was having some legal problems with his house at the time, I dunno... | ||
| Peter Collins Member Username: Tyroneshoelaces Post Number: 157 Registered: 05-2005 |
Just one to add.... Open Invitation, the best song from Horsebreaker, imho. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1561 Registered: 10-2004 |
Peter, Open Invitation is a lovely song. | ||
| Chet Suabo Unregistered guest |
No one added This Girl, Black Girl.....I haven't really dug too deep into the lyrics. It seems to be about the colonisation of Australia. I find the music haunting. Definitely in my top 5 of Grant's songs |