| Author | Message | ||
     Matthias Treml Member Username: Matthias Post Number: 45 Registered: 05-2005 |
Don't know if anyone else has noticed or if anyone knows Robert and Grant's views on this one... I've noticed that the last several albums only feature Grant and Robert on the Album covers and inner sleeves: Ocean's Apart (don't own so don't know the inner sleeve), Live In London, BYBO to name a few, and I wondered why there has been no photos and Glenn and Adele as well or full band pictures. It seemed really odd on Live In London that only the two of them are on the cover. You would think they'd have chosen one with the whole band and the strings section too since it was a triumph to have the Liberty Belle strings playing at the show, etc. Just made me wonder what others thought. Is this a lingering effect of the 1999 tour where there was some questions as to whether Robert and Grant could use the Go-Betweens name to promote and bill the shows? | ||
| kuba a Member Username: Kuba Post Number: 25 Registered: 05-2005 |
There's a photo of the band in full inside the sleeve for "Oceans Apart". | ||
| david pestorius Member Username: David_pestorius Post Number: 22 Registered: 08-2005 |
Also not sure what the connection between the 1999 tour and the use of photographs is, or what is being alluded to here exactly. So far as I recall, the 1999 tour was undertaken by RF and Grant to promote the 'Lost Album' and the 'Bellavista Terrace' compilation, both of which had recently been released. Their solo careers were still on foot at that time and that tour was a sort of 'one-off' thing. While I'm sure they were weighing up their options and assessing the possibilities, I don't think at that stage there was a long term 'game plan' or that anyone could have predicted what would happen over the next 5 years or so. The idea of a more concrete reunion I think was something that was just 'in the air' at that point. I mean it took them until around 2002 to really 'bed-down' the current line-up, despite the fact that it suggested itself from as far back as 1995 during the time of the Warm Nights and the FOC. With respect to the use of photos, there are any number of explanations and strategies at play when it comes to album covers, CD booklets, etc. The branding and marketing issues may appear to have a tenuous link to and perhaps sometimes even obscure 'the art' (and how we may like to see it represented). I would say all these things are 'in the mix' and, like everything, there are differing views and considerations when it comes how the 'product' is packaged. Having said that, RF, to his very great credit, has from time to time — and against advice of the marketeers — put such matters into the hands of independent artists who he more or less gives complete artistic discretion and control to. This is something that goes back to Jenny Watson's cover for the first album. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 105 Registered: 08-2004 |
I don't think Matthias is suggesting any more than that, the G-B's of the noughties are more of a 2 horse band than a 4 piece. Since the whole line up appeared on the cover of each lp in the groups heyday. This is neither incendiary, or controversial, it could simply be that Glenn & Adele have requested not to be featured on the covers. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 81 Registered: 03-2005 |
Maybe RF and GM just don't relish looking old up against Glenn and Adele's peachy mugs. I'm reminded of the Gene Clark/Carla Olson photos. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 73 Registered: 04-2005 |
I recall reading an interview with Robert somewhere (David's book?) that Adele and Glenn weren't pictured on "BYBO" simply because they weren't available at the time the photo of R&G was taken. But based on the "Oceans Apart" cover, they seem to be showing that the GoBs' public face is just R&G. On the other hand, the poster for the tour (the same photo used on the home page of this Web site) features the full band...with Glenn in the foreground! | ||
| david pestorius Member Username: David_pestorius Post Number: 23 Registered: 08-2005 |
I'd be surprised if Glenn and Adele have requested they not be featured on the covers, but Jerry's 2 horse theory is probably not too far off the mark. I think one thing you can bet on is that these sort of marketing decisions are not made lightly, whatever RF might say to journalists from time to time. Don't forget his wonderfully contemptuous line from '8 Pictures': "You were seeing the actor ... same publicity shot for 6 years", which is very telling here. | ||
| M.J.L. Member Username: Mjl Post Number: 13 Registered: 09-2005 |
Glenn recently said the promo for BYBO was a tad duo-oriented... That there was a nice group shot at that time that was sometimes used, until someone shrunk the digital file to web resolution. Thereafter no press could use that band snap, and, slackly, it wasn't fixed by anyone involved in/with the band. And although the cover shot of OA features Robert and Grant, Glenn reckons this time things are a little different, with more shots of the band. He went on to say it feels like a four-piece when the band records and tours, despite it unequivocally being Robert and Grant's band: "They started it and they'll probably finish it. Again." | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 124 Registered: 10-2004 |
The full band is pictured on the inside of my Friends of Rachel Worth LP, or at least the band that played on the recording (with Adele and Janet Weiss, not Glenn, of course, as he didn't play on that one). In the photo they're standing on the steps to Jackpot Studios in Portland, where the album was recorded. The fact that only Robert and Grant have appeared on the front covers, if at all, would indicate to me that there is a feeling or some agreement, however vague, that Adele and Glenn aren't quite on equal footing, or not the same level in terms of status. Or something. | ||
| Roger Griffin Member Username: Roger Post Number: 25 Registered: 11-2004 |
I agree with you Jeff. Perhaps we should think in comparison to some other groups. REM lost Bill Berry and now use a drummer (don't know the name) both in the studio and on tour. But you won't see anyone other than the original 3 members on records. Similarly with The Rolling Stones. No one has picked up Bill Wyman's core member status. They are shown as a 4-piece. The other thing is this.. I work as a designer for a very big newspaper and our image library contains band shots up to 1990 but since 1999 only Robert and Grant. So that may reflect their attitude towards their image. But it's good that Adele and Glenn get in the video. (Although I can only comment on HCAC vid. Are there others?) |