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     Austin Member Username: Bruegelpie Post Number: 91 Registered: 09-2004 |
Here's a good article about Quiet Heart: Band can live with label ROSS PURDIE. The Gold Coast Bulletin. Southport, Qld.:Aug 20, 2012. p. 37 DESPITE being remembered as one of the great Australian bands, The Go-Betweens boast not a single hit to their name. While songs such as Cattle and Cane and Spring Rain are considered classics, the band's highest chart position was a lowly No.70 with Streets Of Your Town. Formed by Robert Forster and Grant McLennan in 1978, The Go-Betweens released six albums through the 1980s but lacked a killer hit to push their career to the next level. After splitting up and then re-forming, the Brisbane five-piece was forced into final retirement after the shock death of McLennan in 2006. It has taken until now for the surviving members to compile a retrospective album, Quiet Heart: The Best Of The Go-Betweens, and looking back there are no regrets. "Financially a hit single would have been great but it could have taken us into dangerous territory," says Forster, the group's singer and co-songwriter. "Some bands live off one hit single but that didn't happen to us, which means our back catalogue has a greater freedom and wide borders. The lack of a hit single doesn't bother me much and there's definitely no bitterness there." Working out why The Go-Betweens never charted is hard to pin down. Their songs followed the hit single form, drenched in melody and featuring accessible lyrics. Forster believes the band's restless attitude towards business affairs, hopping between record labels, hampered their chances. "I think a main reason is that we weren't signed to a major record label, which was essential in the 1980s," he says. "We were on different labels for the first four albums because we could never find a home or settle into a process. "If you look at our contemporaries like The Smiths, U2 and R.E.M., they all stuck to the same label and built momentum." The Go-Betweens always considered themselves an underground art rock band and refused to compromise their ideals to further commercial success. The band - also comprising Lindy Morrison, Amanda Brown and Robert Vickers - believed overseas touring or the next album would spark a mainstream breakthrough. It came late, with Cattle and Cane named by APRA as one of the Top 30 Australian songs of all time and McLennan being immortalised at the Splendour In The Grass festival with a stage named in his honour. "Grant always felt a certain injustice in terms of the band's popularity and felt that sting more than I did," Forster says. "He was more of a chart watcher, so knowing attention has been brought back to the band would probably make him very happy." Quiet Heart: The Best Of The Go-Betweens is released on August 31. Credit: ROSS PURDIE | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4809 Registered: 05-2005 |
The author seems to think The Go-Betweens comprised Forster/McLennan/Morrison/Brown/Vickers from 1978 to 2006. He could have googled it... |