| Author | Message | ||
     Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 117 Registered: 04-2005 |
A disappointing #64 for the Go-Betweens, despite Robert Christgau's love of the group (placed #6 on his list). The only time the GoBs placed well in Pazz & Jop was with "FORW," which made the top 20, inexplicably. Americans don't recognize good GoBs albums, evidently. http://www.villagevoice.com/pazzandjop05/ | ||
| Eke Member Username: Ekewebb Post Number: 31 Registered: 05-2005 |
It got a respectable number 23 at metacritic.com in their "30 Best-Reviewed Albums of the Year 2005" http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2005.shtml | ||
| abigail law Member Username: Abigail Post Number: 28 Registered: 06-2005 |
not wanting to sound rude or anything but i'm surprised it made it so high in the charts. to my sad old cloth-ears it is easlily the worst album the go-betweens have put out. i think i listened to it half a dozen times upon release and never again. but i do seem to be in a minority on this one so i'll say no more... | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 25 Registered: 04-2005 |
I'll join you in your minority Abilgail, if I may. I find it an album that is hard to really like. Part of the problem is the hard brash production (even with the new pressing), but I find the songs generally weak. Would have made a great EP! | ||
| abigail law Member Username: Abigail Post Number: 30 Registered: 06-2005 |
the more the merrier... here comes a city is the only half decent song i can recall from the whole album | ||
| Hugo Member Username: Hugo Post Number: 7 Registered: 06-2005 |
Grant is a little weak on "Oceans Apart". A couple of his songs veer too close to bland "adult-oriented rock", musically and lyrically: "This Night's For You" I could do without. But Robert is strong, and "Darlinghurst Nights" is undoubtedly a career highlight. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 157 Registered: 10-2004 |
just to be argumentative (though i am serious), i still think oceans apart is their best come-back album by far. trumps rachel worth and bybo with ease. nothing on those albums can even come close to 'darlinghurst nights,' 'lavender,' 'born to a family,' and 'mountains near delray.' but then i never liked rachel worth, which to me stands as their absolute creative nadir. i could live a perfectly good life without ever hearing it again. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 33 Registered: 01-2005 |
I won't complain if we get 3-5 great songs per new album. It's better than the solo years in my book. I doubt if we will ever get 10 great ones on a new album again. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 118 Registered: 04-2005 |
I'll agree that they haven't quite nailed it with any of the comeback albums--neither Robert or Grant have given us five really good songs on any of them, and they've had crap production on two of them, but for different reasons. But "Oceans Apart" stands out because they're starting to sound like an ambitious band again, not just two guys laying out their latest songs in the driest, least colorful fashion possible. Still, I look at that Village Voice critics poll and I take issue with a lot of the albums that ranked higher than "OA" (Coldplay? the Stones? Mars Volta? Mariah Carey?). Then again, they are American critics. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 158 Registered: 10-2004 |
Kurt, I completely agree with this, "But 'Oceans Apart' stands out because they're starting to sound like an ambitious band again, not just two guys laying out their latest songs in the driest, least colorful fashion possible." | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 148 Registered: 03-2005 |
I sign on with Kurt and Jeff. Who cares what music critics finger? I remember back in the 1980s when I bothered to read the reviews by the local paper's main critic here (Robert Hilburn), the fool would constantly quote resoundingly unremarkable lyrics and tout every record he liked as "uplifting." It became a game to me to see how many paragraphs before "uplifting" appeared. There is such a stupefying volume of new music coming out, thanks to the loss of the major labels' stranglehold on the scene, that I don't think many--or even any--critics get to hear very much of what is released in any one year. When you factor in the big selling rubbish they are assigned to review by their editors, the odds of their hearing very many of the genuinely worthwhile new records are pretty low. Then, finally, there's that problem of maintaining a readership. If all you write about are releases that the readers don't know anything about, you lose readers because--sadly--most people do NOT want to be introduced to something new. They want to have their own choices validated, however limited those choices may be. | ||
| Robert Vickers Member Username: Robert_vickers Post Number: 17 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, Robert Hillburn is about to retire from the LA Times so you may get some relief. The Village Voice poll includes over 800 writers. Indie labels cannot possibly afford to send out that many free copies to the press but majors can, so you immediately you have an unequal playing field. The GBs album may been sent to less than 300 of those voters while The Stones could have gone to all 800. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 122 Registered: 04-2005 |
Thanks, Robert--your explanation makes a lot of sense. But how, then, do we explain "FORW" placing #17 in the 2000 P&J poll? Was the number of writers polled much less back then? Was it incredible word of mouth? The Sleater-Kinney connection? Or just a lot of rock critics trying to look hip by touting the previously neglected cult band on its return? | ||
| Robert Vickers Member Username: Robert_vickers Post Number: 18 Registered: 05-2005 |
Well...I did press on the record...but that wouldn't explain BYBO's poor showing. No, I think it was, as you say, the reunion factor and to a lesser extent Sleater-Kinney. It was just a good story backed up with a good record. There had been a lot of cult band reunions prior to that which had not produced good new music so I think the press appreciated the GBs coming through for them. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 124 Registered: 04-2005 |
I figured you'd know the answer to that one, since "FORW" was on Jetset! Speaking of which, Robert, is Jetset Records returning, or is it gone for good? I remember you posting something about this last year, but don't quite remember what. I look through my CDs and see a lot of favorites on Jetset, like Luna, Black Box Recorder, etc. | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 72 Registered: 02-2005 |
Mr. Vickers explanation of the Pazz & Jop poll is important to note. It's an across the board sampling of 800 American critics of every age group and taste, not a cherry-picked group that supports the Voice's editorial take on things. There have been years when I used that poll as a checklist of worthy releases, filling-in most of the albums in the top 20 that I might have missed, but that hasn't happened in a very long time. I still trust Christgau's ear though and will be sure to seek out Amy Rigby's latest along with a couple of his other picks. | ||
| Robert Vickers Member Username: Robert_vickers Post Number: 19 Registered: 05-2005 |
Yes I saw Amy there right next to the GBs. One of my favourite songwriters and people in general. Jetset is officially on hiatus. Which, to answer your question, means I don't know for sure when, but probably. I left there at the end of 2004 to start my own indie PR company but I'm still doing things for them. | ||
| Keith Sharp Member Username: Keith_sharp Post Number: 2 Registered: 08-2005 |
Anyone see the Mojo readers' poll? Oceans Apart ended up at number 4, behind only Antony, Sufjan Stevens and, natch, Arcade Fire.. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 129 Registered: 04-2005 |
Was that the poll someone here posted a link to? That's a suspiciously high placing for the GoBs for a reader's poll. Unless there was a lot of "ballot stuffing" from people on this board. | ||
| Alfredo L Soto Member Username: Alfred_soto Post Number: 7 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hell, it was #2 on my list and it still didn't bump it up. |