| Author | Message | ||
     Martin Schori Member Username: Martin_s Post Number: 47 Registered: 05-2006 |
After the show in St.Gallen (Switzerland), which was a brilliant show as you can imagine, and after the signing part (someone came with all his Go-Betweens albums and singles), I was talking with Robert about this and that. As always he was a very gentle man. Then he told me that he is currently working on a book about Grant. It should come out next year, hopefully already in Spring. Now I thought I just let you know. | ||
| Chris67 Member Username: Chris67 Post Number: 2 Registered: 03-2006 |
very exciting news | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3585 Registered: 03-2005 |
He's said that he was working on a book about his and Grant's history, right? I'm guessing this is the same book. Maybe he decided to turn the focus more sharply on his late friend. I look forward to it. | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 312 Registered: 05-2005 |
I posted this back in September - it's a cut and paste from somewhere ... Penguin Books Sep 17 Coming 2016: Robert Forster’s Grant & I the true story of the lifelong friendship & collaboration that gave us one of our most loved bands. | ||
| Fred Tadrowski Member Username: Ftadrowski Post Number: 11 Registered: 03-2015 |
Penguin Australia's website has August 29, 2016 as the publication date for "Grant & I". Good news indeed. "You're home late and you smell Of the music that you make" | ||
| Fred Tadrowski Member Username: Ftadrowski Post Number: 20 Registered: 03-2015 |
The cover has been posted for Robert's memoir (It is shot of Grant and Robert from the 80's with the subtitle of "Inside and Outside the Go-Betweens). The book will be 352 pages in length, according to the publisher, and will be available in paperback & e-book. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7890 Registered: 05-2005 |
The book arrived today. There's a quote from Nick Cave on the front: "The truest and strangest poet of our generation." Grant & I is embossed (Grant in blue, & I in pink). Robert's name is also embossed, in white. There's a quote from Paul Kelly on the back: "An odyssey of friendship, ambition and the struggle of art. Clear-eyed and compelling." Right, I'm off to start reading it. | ||
| Matsrep Member Username: Matsrep Post Number: 146 Registered: 10-2005 |
Where did you buy it, Padraig? The sellers listed by Penguin Australia do not seem to sell outside Australia(?). | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7891 Registered: 05-2005 |
It's a review copy. It's released in a couple of weeks. | ||
| Matsrep Member Username: Matsrep Post Number: 147 Registered: 10-2005 |
Thanks. Lucky you. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3673 Registered: 03-2005 |
Don't spoil anything for us Padraig! Keep any surprises under your hat. I'm really looking forward to this release. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7892 Registered: 05-2005 |
Very good interview, and two old video interviews here http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainm ent/celebrity/culture-club-queensland-ar ts-theatre-and-music-news/news-story/aba 8c83dfd4a4735b2f50715ca9c2c35 It does give away something from the book that I hadn't got to yet, though. | ||
| Burgers Member Username: Burgers Post Number: 62 Registered: 05-2005 |
A few of those sellers do ship overseas. The cheapest to the UK I've found is 30 AUSD. I'll keep looking for cheaper. | ||
| Fred Tadrowski Member Username: Ftadrowski Post Number: 27 Registered: 03-2015 |
I have a copy on order from Readings Bookstore in Melbourne. They have it on sale for pre-order at $29.99 AUSD. But shipping to the States will cost you an additional $22 AUSD. | ||
| Burgers Member Username: Burgers Post Number: 63 Registered: 05-2005 |
Readings is the cheapest to the UK although their website doesn't make shipping costs clear until you checkout. With sales tax deducted, it's around Ł29 for one copy to the UK and Ł16 per additional copy. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7895 Registered: 05-2005 |
The book is so great. It's like Robert is talking to you, telling you a story. It has so much stuff I had no idea about. Don't worry, Randy, I'll keep quiet about what it contains. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7910 Registered: 05-2005 |
Really nice interview with Robert here http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-24/ro bert-forster-grant-mclennan-30-years-fri endship-go-betweens/7780508 I just watched the interview (with bits from the above link cut out for time reasons) on TV. That will be online later here http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/ I hope you can see it outside Australia. | ||
| Austin Member Username: Bruegelpie Post Number: 149 Registered: 09-2004 |
Padraig, Thanks for this link. Good news - the clip can be seen outside of AU! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7911 Registered: 05-2005 |
Read an excerpt from the book here http://rollingstoneaus.com/music/post/ro bert-forsters-grant-and-i-exclusive-extr act/4646-page-1 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7912 Registered: 05-2005 |
Read an excerpt from the book here http://rollingstoneaus.com/music/post/ro bert-forsters-grant-and-i-exclusive-extr act/4646-page-1 | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3676 Registered: 03-2005 |
It's impressively difficult to find the listing for the book, at least on my U.S. computer. While I typically get newsletters from Readings I couldn't find a link to their search function in those newsletters. Both eBay and Amazon recognize the search for "Grant & I Robert Forster" but no results! Penguin Books Australia is the route I used, to get to Readings. I thought it was being released on August 29 but I guess that's wrong. Order completed. Yes, shipping is expensive. I'll live. | ||
| Austin Member Username: Bruegelpie Post Number: 150 Registered: 09-2004 |
Hi Randy, I'm in the same boat as you trying to get a copy in the USA. The Book Depository ships free worldwide, but the book is currently out of stock (http://www.bookdepository.com/book/97806 70078226/Grant-and-I/message/fDMzMTAwXjQ w) I ended up ordering at Readings in AU also. | ||
| Guy Ewald Unregistered guest |
I ordered from Readings... looks reasonable with current exchange rates. I'm looking forward to this. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1299 Registered: 10-2006 |
Yeah, me too. Heck, it's almost my birthday. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1092 Registered: 04-2005 |
Yeah, me too. Heck, it's no where near my birthday. It's the cat-for-cruel-medical-experiments-time. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1093 Registered: 04-2005 |
Oh and that extract is brilliant. It's like the Dylan book in the sense that you have the author's voice in your head as you read. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1301 Registered: 10-2006 |
Readings should be chuffed, anyway. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7914 Registered: 05-2005 |
Review of the book here. Don't read it if you don't want any spoilers. https://www.theguardian.com/music/austra lia-books-blog/2016/aug/29/grant-i-revie w-the-go-betweens-robert-forster-grant-m clennan-moving-definitive-portrait | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1094 Registered: 04-2005 |
Hey Pádraig, Lindy posted on the comments below the review in the Guardian. And some heated moments about heroin addiction... About a third of the comments are people saying what a crap band they were...how can they be bothered to post such comments ? People with too much time on the hands. Bring back National Service I say. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7917 Registered: 05-2005 |
Wow, thanks for letting me know, Andrew. I like your comment to Lindy. I'm surprised Andrew Stafford is engaging with people below the line (other than Lindy, I mean - it's good and proper he's addressing her). I don't read below the line because of anonymous dickheads. I don't care what trolls say. (Never mind the quality, feel the quantity.) And yes, it's weird that people who say they don't like the band not only take time to read the article but then spend further time complaining about it. Couldn't they spend their time updating their mother's Facebook or something? | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1095 Registered: 04-2005 |
In one his responses to a troll Stafford put a link to an article he had written about Grant. Nice little tale about humility. http://www.andrewstaffordblog.com/the-da y-i-got-owned-by-grant-mclennan/ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7919 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've got the Steve Kilbey book Andrew Stafford mentioned, so I just read the chapters he said dealt with heroin, as you do at 4am. It's harrowing stuff. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7920 Registered: 05-2005 |
Just read that piece on his blog. I loved Stories From The City... immediately too, as I mentioned elsewhere here just the other day, and have always thought it was only dismissed by pretentious types who love to say they preferred an artist's earlier, more difficult works. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7922 Registered: 05-2005 |
I just got to the part in the book where Robert say Cut It Out Is the worst song in The Go-Betweens' catalogue. I feel vindicated. I've thought that since the first time I ever heard it. | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 321 Registered: 05-2005 |
For me 'Heaven Says' is bottom of the pile. Horrendous stuff. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7925 Registered: 05-2005 |
I just finished the book. The final chapters are harrowing. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7932 Registered: 05-2005 |
Another interview. It also mentions Robert is doing a public interview in Sydney next week. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/mus ic/robert-forster-inside-outside-in-betw een/news-story/f84a2ccfdcd6222df92e664a0 0d605e3 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7933 Registered: 05-2005 |
Details of the talk are here. It's $40. http://www.theschooloflife.com/sydney/sh op/classroom/special-events/robert-forst er-and-zan-rowe-on-friendship.html | ||
| Fred Tadrowski Member Username: Ftadrowski Post Number: 29 Registered: 03-2015 |
I received my copy in the mail today. Excited to start the memoir, which will keep me busy for the next couple of days. I am sure it will be a book that I pick up to read a passage from time to time. | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 322 Registered: 05-2005 |
Ordered my yesterday from Australia,free postage for snail mail. Should get here before it's published in the Northern hemisphere. | ||
| peter ward Member Username: Peter_ward Post Number: 309 Registered: 06-2005 |
Hi fsh, which site did you place your order with? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3677 Registered: 03-2005 |
Mine arrived by registered mail yesterday. I picked it up from the Post Office this morning. I have all sorts of irons in the fire. I'll be doing none of them. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1098 Registered: 04-2005 |
From Peter Milton Walsh's Facebook page : Caught up with this little fellow, Robert Forster, last night. His Sydney book launch. At the end of his chat with Zan Rowe, they had a Q&A session. Finally, my chance to get at what's been bugging me about this book, 'Grant and I'. I asked him directly, “Robert, as you know, I knew Grant in many different situations but I have to say, having read 'Grant and I', there seems to be a glaring omission in what you’ve written. Whatever city we were in—whether it was Sydney, New York, Lausanne, London, Paris—by the time nighttime hit, Grant and I would always end up doing the same thing. I think you know exactly what I mean. Tenpin bowling. In the book, though, it's never mentioned, it's as if it never happened. So there’s still a very big question that remains unanswered—for a guy who was supposedly quite the sportsman, why was Grant such a shite bowler?” | ||
| Burgers Member Username: Burgers Post Number: 64 Registered: 05-2005 |
I'm about a third of the way through it. It's more interesting and better-paced than I expected. I've only spotted three grammatical errors so far. Could have done with an index. I'll gladly buy a UK version if one is published. Ever the completist. | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 323 Registered: 05-2005 |
Re: Peter Ward - hello, try 252523652590 on 'the' auction site. Re: Peter Milton Walsh. he had two Go-betweens songs written about him (according to an advance copy of a soon to be published book that I am important enough to have a copy of). He must have made some impression. | ||
| peter ward Member Username: Peter_ward Post Number: 312 Registered: 06-2005 |
Thanks fsh, placed an order. Don't let him come back is about Walsh, dunno what the other one is... The House That Peter Milton Walsh Built maybe?! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7956 Registered: 05-2005 |
Robert on five towns that left an impression. http://www.hillsnews.com.au/story/415321 0/five-places-that-made-me-the-go-betwee ns-robert-forster/?cs=34 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7957 Registered: 05-2005 |
Another review of the book https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2016 /09/30/grant-i/14734296003709 | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 279 Registered: 02-2005 |
My wife and I retired overseas this year and I didn't expect the book to arrive from Australia so soon. But I got it on Thursday and finished it Friday noon. It is a fine work and although I'd read David Nichols' bio and every magazine article I could ever find about The Go-Betweens, there were many details that were new to me. I admire the book as much for what was left out as for what was explored. Forster is writing from his own perspective and captured the nature of their friendship and communications very well. In doing so, McLennan's character comes to life. But he doesn't cross the line into "imagining" scenarios that he did not witness. Forster discusses his own drug use and its personal affects, but he never mentions Grant's. And from what I've gleaned, he and Steve Kilbey were serious drug buddies for a time. Forster ticks-off the checkmarks of a G.W. McLennan psychoanalysis in one passage, but respects his best friend enough to delve no further. Most rock bios hit a dramatic peak early-on and then drag in the final chapters. Forster frames the book around their shared time, which makes for some harrowing reading. It's a sadder tale than I was expecting. It offers many lessons learned about life, but again, Forster respects his co-subject and his readers enough not to preach. | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 280 Registered: 02-2005 |
Andrew Kerr wrote: "Hey Pádraig, Lindy posted on the comments below the review in the Guardian." Thank you for pointing me to that comment from Lindy. I assumed from the review that it was a post-breakup lawsuit. She doesn't claim that they actually contributed to the songwriting and I doubt that they did, but a band dynamic is always collaborative. The character of the songs bears the mark of both women and the record business has always been about publishing income. Robert doesn't share a lot of kiss 'n' tell in "Grant and I" and his strongest negative passage about Lindy is her whispered words at the awards ceremony where The Drones took the prize. But she may not have been as vindictive as it reads... who knows? | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 284 Registered: 02-2005 |
Regarding publishing income: I'll also add that I've read that the members of The G-B's received stipend "salaries" during the life of the band and that those monies came from Robert and Grant's publishing income. So, the publishing money was being shared through the life of the band, before Lindy and Amanda got a small percentage (although apparently not "in perpetuity"). It's a messy business and that's another thing that Forster didn't delve-into in too much detail. His comments about "tour support" were probably the most focused passage about financial machinations. | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 324 Registered: 05-2005 |
Re: Peter: I think it's a pretty good deal for the book with postage included. The other song about Peter Milton Walsh is 'That way'. | ||
| Simon Proudman Member Username: Sproudman Post Number: 3 Registered: 12-2011 |
For those not lucky enough to be close to a city where Robert was talking about the book, you can listen to the Sydney talk via downloading the mp3 at the link below: http://www.megafileupload.com/k6lu/Rober t_Forster_Sydney_7_Sept_16.mp3 Only partial as I paused the recording at the beginning, a classic bootlegging mistake, and only realised half way through. Still captures all the music and some great insights. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7969 Registered: 05-2005 |
Very good interview with Robert http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/m usic/the-go-betweens-robert-forstermemoi r-grant--i-a-small-town-boy-with-big-cit y-dreams-20160909-grcfw7.html Review of the book that gives a bit too much away, so don't read it if you haven't yet read the book http://www.theweeklyreview.com.au/meet/a ustralian-rock-legend-robert-forster/ Another ABC interview http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2016/0 9/15/4539764.htm | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7971 Registered: 05-2005 |
Short piece on the book here http://themusic.com.au/news/all/2016/09/ 21/did-michael-gudinski-try-to-break-up- the-go-betweens/ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7984 Registered: 05-2005 |
Another review. An odd one, I think. https://dailyreview.com.au/grant-robert- forster-book-review/50084/ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7985 Registered: 05-2005 |
And another review http://www.watoday.com.au/entertainment/ books/grant--i-review-robert-forsters-re cord-of-life-with-the-gobetweens-2016100 4-grul1m.html | ||
| Duncan Hurwood Member Username: Duncan_h Post Number: 114 Registered: 05-2005 |
I got the book all the way from Australia and it was an interesting read. Much more a memoir than a true autobiography and a long way from a biography of Grant. Would I want to a read a book that was more thorough and probably a more harrowing read? Probably not. But the (understandable) holding back was occasionally frustrating and I missed stories like that of Grant's car, early in the book, in later pages. At times it felt a little like the reader was being told that something of note had happened, but that we wouldn't be getting any details. The illness discussion, later on, was particularly pointed on that theme as it referred back to a time that we'd been given no suggestion (minus the hash cake incident) of occurring. While I wasn't expecting Marc Almond levels of confession (that autobiography really should have been called "Drugs and I") this did feel rather bowdlerised at times. However, the last few chapters must have been very hard to write and made up for most of the omissions before. But I'm not convinced the definitive story of the band has been written. Still, I was happy to see a namecheck for Richard Holmes' great biographies. And I might stay in the Columbia Hotel when I'm next working in London, just to see what it's like. | ||
| richard langston Member Username: Rlangston Post Number: 2 Registered: 05-2005 |
Robert spoke to Kim Hill on Radio New Zealand about Grant and the book - she's a very incisive interviewer and they got on rather well - two fine minds searching about for the story...http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/progra mmes/saturday/audio/201819218/robert-for ster-grant-mclennan-and-the-go-betweens | ||
| Burgers Member Username: Burgers Post Number: 67 Registered: 05-2005 |
Richard Ellmann, wasn't it, Duncan? | ||
| Pat Boland Member Username: Pat_boland Post Number: 81 Registered: 05-2005 |
My copy arrived on Friday and I finished it over the weekend. Firstly, Robert is an excellent story-teller. Anyone familiar with David Nicholls’ book or various sleeve-notes and interviews over the years will already know the broad history. 'Grant & I' offers plenty of new revelations about internal and external politics/relationships, record company mishaps as well as details about the recording sessions for each of their albums. David Nicholls suggested in his book that Robert wasn't happy with the quality of some of Grant's songs for TFORW (and I agree with him, for what it's worth) and this is pretty much confirmed by Robert here. Lindy, as portrayed here, comes across as manipulative and controlling. I suspect the true extent of her and Grant’s mutual-animosity is understated by Robert. The phone call to Amanda telling her to “Leave him” wasn’t exactly surprising but I wonder how much such a command could have influenced Amanda’s decision. Oddly, Robert Vickers’ input during his 5 years in the band is poorly documented - the story about Michael Stipe running to Peter Buck’s aid after a fall at a party and Robert wondering how many of his own band-mates would attend to him in a similar situation may not be unrelated to this. Grant’s decline, as depicted in the second half of the book is not an easy read. In fairness to Robert, he stops short of a warts and all account of Grant’s later years but still gives us a pretty good idea of what was going on. Despite the title, Grant remains a distant and aloof presence throughout. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8005 Registered: 05-2005 |
Robert interviewed by someone who thinks he has eight solo albums. http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/book s/lunch-with-robert-forster-i-wouldnt-wr ite-about-anyones-drug-use-but-my-own-20 161108-gskq72.html | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8007 Registered: 05-2005 |
A New Zealand interview http://thespinoff.co.nz/music/09-11-2016 /i-wouldnt-have-written-this-book-if-he- hadnt-died-robert-forster-on-life-with-a nd-without-grant-mclennan/ | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 327 Registered: 05-2005 |
Some very interesting stuff imho turns up on YouTube from time to time. Here's an acoustic session with Grant and Amanda from 1988. Grant is in top form and you can gauge just what brilliant company he was (seriously intelligent and informed). It's also obvious that Grant and Amanda are (to borrow a song title) head over heels in love. The whole thing just drips with positivity. It's also sad because it's evident from the clip what Grant lost when the GB's broke up and I don't think he ever recovered. Here goes: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eMwrxpX1Ij U | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 328 Registered: 05-2005 |
Did I say 'seriously intelligent and informed'? That's tiredness, read 'witty' instead. | ||
| Duncan Hurwood Member Username: Duncan_h Post Number: 115 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks fsh - great find there. It's a pity things didn't work out as well as it seemed they might from that video. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1136 Registered: 04-2005 |
What I have never understood (and the book doesn't help) is how McLennan thought he could treat Brown like that (in terms of the band) and yet expect her to want to remain in a relationship with him ? | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 329 Registered: 05-2005 |
Andrew, I'd say you might have stolen Lindy's line there and maybe that tilted things in the direction they went. But that's purely speculative and I wouldn't venture beyond that. | ||
| Pat Garrett Member Username: Pat_garrett Post Number: 13 Registered: 04-2005 |
Wonderful clip. Thanks for posting that. | ||
| Austin Member Username: Bruegelpie Post Number: 157 Registered: 09-2004 |
A richly detailed and thought-provoking review of Robert's book can be found at the link below. While I don't agree with all of what is written in the review, it certainly had me thinking.... https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/part -company-the-ballad-of-the-go-betweens/ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8162 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks, Austin, that's very interesting. | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 330 Registered: 05-2005 |
Oh, look who's just dropped by ... hurrah ... maybe you could write a newspaper article about 'us'. Some paper on the verge of bankruptcy might print it. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1345 Registered: 10-2006 |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I71cY9Ys y5U | ||
| Andreas Severins Member Username: Andreas_severins Post Number: 341 Registered: 11-2007 |
 nice, Stuart... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8164 Registered: 05-2005 |
His name is Fionnbarra Seamus Hallissey, by the way. For some reason he doesn't want people to know that. | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 331 Registered: 05-2005 |
Go sabotage someone else's thread alpha bully. Oh, there is no one else's thread. There all yours. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3722 Registered: 03-2005 |
Chillen, cut it out! I enjoyed reading the LA Review of Books article. I didn't even know there IS a Los Angeles Review of Books! The article has a nice observant quality. I wolfed down the book so voraciously I'm ashamed to have to admit that I missed the reviewer's examples of Robert's excellent descriptive writing. | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 332 Registered: 05-2005 |
I haven't read the book yet. I bought a copy. I thought it was from some independent type online retailer but it turned out to be from amazon masquerading as ... I'm saving it. Like opening a vintage wine, there's a time to savour these things and when that time comes around I'll know. I'm surprised at how little coverage the book has received on these boards. Every nuance in David Nichols book was dissected on these boards for a couple of years. Goes to show ... | ||
| Thomas Keitsch Member Username: Thokei Post Number: 47 Registered: 06-2005 |
There will be a german version of the book, end of the year. Robert will also do several readings,i Heard about Regensburg and Berlin ( more to follow, i´m sure) | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 334 Registered: 05-2005 |
Only got Cleopatra Wrong's Egg last week as I wasn't mad about what I saw of them on YouTube. Worth Checking out "words and lies" by Cleopatra Wrong for AB's riposte to GW. Lyrically makes the SexPistols sound like Kajagoogoo. "don't go crying in your coffee now ...", ouch. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3735 Registered: 03-2005 |
Speaking of crying in your coffee, I have a full 60gig iPod that I still use. I need to periodically purge old music to make way for new (to me) music. The Go Betweens don't suffer much deletion, though I'm thinking of removing "Slow, Slow Music" which I've never been all that keen on. I'd also been thinking of maybe removing "Riddle in the Rain" until it popped up in the car on the drive to work yesterday morning. After reading "Grant & I" the vivid autobiographical quality of this song is particularly sharp. He even tells you that he's writing from Germany. I will NOT be removing "Riddle in the Rain." | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 335 Registered: 05-2005 |
I'd be inclined to leave 'Slow, slow music' on too, it doesn't sound much like anything else the GB's recorded and there's nice sounding bass on it. It also made it onto Metal & Shells Canadian compilation (first purchase) which was the pick of Before Hollywood and Spring Hill Fair. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3736 Registered: 03-2005 |
fsh, I think of "Slow Slow Music" as part of their momentary flirtation with the popular 80s universe, maybe even Gang of Four sort of sound. I lump it in with "Rare Breed" and "The Power That I Now Have" and I suppose even "Attraction". I'm not removing it at this time but I do like "Rare Breed" and "Power" a lot better. (But not so hot for "Attraction" either.) It's an interesting period for them, when they were toying with adapting other people's sounds. | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 336 Registered: 05-2005 |
Imho, 'Slow, slow music's only musical relation (a first cousin) is 'Five words' and I can't explain exactly why, maybe a bit of a crude nod towards funk or something. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3737 Registered: 03-2005 |
Whereas every time I hear the opening chords of "Five Words" I get a flash of Seals & Crofts' "Diamond Girl," another thing altogether. But, yes,the Go Betweens were definitely tinkering with a bit of the 80s white-boy funk for a moment there. | ||
| Fred Tadrowski Member Username: Ftadrowski Post Number: 59 Registered: 03-2015 |
I already have my copy of "Grant & I", but Rocking Horse Records in Brisbane has signed copies for sale listed on its website. Most rock memoirs usually leave me disappointed but not this book. I have read the Steve Kilbey's book (I am not a big fan of "The Church") and after I finished it, I had a such a profound dislike for Steve Kilbey as a person. Robert's book is honest and he sometimes does not put himself in the best light, but it is not a bitter tell-all. That is not his style. | ||
| Martin Schori Member Username: Martin_s Post Number: 53 Registered: 05-2006 |
There's a short review in Uncut issue October 2017. | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 338 Registered: 05-2005 |
Podcast of Review of Grant & I on RTE radio show ystrday at following link http://www.rte.ie/radio1/arena/podcasts/ | ||
| Martin Schori Member Username: Martin_s Post Number: 54 Registered: 05-2006 |
"Grace is the word that immediately springs to mind reading Grant & I. It is a book full of grace, leading on to being graceful and gracious." Read the full review by Kevin Pearce here: http://www.caughtbytheriver.net/2017/08/ 25/music-grant-i-inside-and-outside-the- go-betweens-by-robert-forster/ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8314 Registered: 05-2005 |
Another interview with Robert here. It's a good piece apart from the howler at the end when it says The Go-Betweens have played shows since Grant died. A one second google would have shown that not to be true. http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/ music/top-tunes-from-a-land-down-under-3 6156667.html | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 457 Registered: 08-2005 |
Saw Robert last night in conversation with Pete Paphides at the Shaw Theatre, London. It was a lovely couple of hours, and included 8 or 10 songs - from Rock and Roll Friend (not my favourite GBs song but an incredibly moving rendition) to Love is a Sign, taking in a superb performance of Karen. Robert was as camp and arch and as superb a performer as ever, complete with some pretty nifty guitar work. And thanks to my experience of book signings (books are one of my things) I managed to be second in the cue after the gig. Which was handy as we had a 45-minute tube journey and a 2-hour plus drive home in science-fiction fog to negotiate. A lovely evening, and Robert Forster is a living legend! I'd have probably preferred a little less Pete Paphides and a couple more GB/RF songs, but RF comes over as hearty and hale and in a very positive frame of mind. And work on the next Go-Betweens box set has just started with Domino, with Lindy among those providing pics etc... I'm guessing a few of the people who post here were also there...? Now I have to finish The Man Who Came in From the Cold and a (signed, sort of sequel)) Legacy of Spies by the great John Le Carre and I can start on Grant and I. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8318 Registered: 05-2005 |
Sounds like a great night, Simon, apart from the scary drive home. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8319 Registered: 05-2005 |
When you got home did you think of yourself as The Man Who Came In From The Fog? | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 458 Registered: 08-2005 |
I must have been tired when I posted - hence the wrong spelling of queue/cue. Shocking! |