| Author | Message | ||
     Austin McLean Member Username: Bruegelpie Post Number: 28 Registered: 09-2004 |
Judging by the article below it seems that Robert is thinking about how to make a new record. --------------- Rolling the dice on songwriting; Noel Mengel. The Courier - Mail. Brisbane, Qld.: Nov 2, 2006 IT SHOULD be no surprise really that someone who writes songs with such force and insight and love of language should turn out to be such a fine writer on the printed page. Robert Forster's columns as a music critic for The Monthly resonate just as strongly as his songs have done for The Go- Betweens. Last year his band won their first ARIA Award -- after 27 years - - and now he has won the prestigious Pascall Prize for criticism, worth $15,000. Forster studied arts at UQ with Grant McLennan, his co-founder in The Go-Betweens who died in May, aged 48. One of Forster's major pieces this year was a wonderful tribute to McLennan. "It was very satisfying to win the prize and I do want to do more writing," Forster says. "But it also feels like the story is not finished with Grant's passing, that there is another chapter there." Forster and McLennan were writing new material in the weeks before Grant's death, including a rare co-write between the two of them. "It's so poignant for me but I play those new songs of Grant's to keep them in the memory," Forster says. "I do want to turn to them next year when I'm thinking about how to make a new record." | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 730 Registered: 03-2005 |
Good news. He's looking ahead. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 935 Registered: 05-2005 |
Yeah very good news. Great news in fact. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 311 Registered: 01-2005 |
I'm glad that Robert is looking ahead as well. I would like to see him work with Amanda, Adele and Glenn. | ||
| Matthias Treml Member Username: Matthias Post Number: 163 Registered: 05-2005 |
I would love to see Robert and Amanda write a song or album with Grant on the mind. Much like, Jack Frost (and many other songs) seem to be about her from him. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1152 Registered: 03-2006 |
You know, as good as his essays and reviews have been, I don't think they put out a fraction of the joy his songs put out into the world...glad he's contemplating recording again. I feel sorry for him, too, because he has to realize that what he puts out is going to face intense scrutiny... | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 873 Registered: 04-2005 |
Intense scrutiny, yes, but people will also give him the benefit of the doubt given the loss of his longtime friend/working partner, plus I bet a lot of people who wouldn't have had any interest in a Forster solo album before (or had written off his solo career) will be curious to hear what he comes up with. I think Robert will rise to the challenge. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1153 Registered: 03-2006 |
Yep, that benefit of the doubt is the silver lining behind the scrutiny...Though he won't necessarily "get a pass", what he comes out with will be greeted with much goodwill and love. Hope he realizes that... | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 961 Registered: 05-2005 |
I wouldn't be surprised thinking about it if RF does not release anything for sometime. Music and songwriting seems to be such a real craft to this guy, when things were different look at the length of time between his 4 solo albums. One of those was a covers album. Mind you if he has stocked up then they could be imminent. At the end of the day, its speculation, who cares as long as the day arrives, like LK says the man is loved. | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 185 Registered: 02-2005 |
I have to admit, whatever private torment Robert has wrestled with he's really impressed me with his dignity in the wake of Grant's death. His public face, the statements he's given and the wonderful tribute he wrote in The Monthly have all been 5-star class acts. I didn't imagine my respect for Robert Forster could grow, but it has. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 874 Registered: 04-2005 |
Same here, Guy. If Robert's not the classiest guy in popular music, I don't know who is. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 965 Registered: 05-2005 |
Guy / Kurt, 2000% fellas, well put. Now there's a genius! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 750 Registered: 03-2005 |
I agree. I don't remember who posted the link, whether Donat or David Pestorius or who, but it was of an interview with Robert back in the later 90s and the interviewer told Robert that some other musician was carping that Robert just played the same little guitar riffs over and over and wasn't much of a player. Robert's response: "So?" I loved it. It was the most sane and authentic comment possible. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 22 Registered: 10-2006 |
Who was that twit, I wonder? I've no idea technically speaking how "good" a geetarist RF (or GM)is - I love the acoustic stuff they do on the dvd anyway, and the way Robert smiles to himself as they're playing a particularly nice bit - but it's often the case that the best songwriters are not always necessarily virtuouso musicians - I mean, Reed, Dylan, Zevon, Marley...most of the time, virtuousos often vanish up their own technique and never hit home with a really great song, I think. Which brings me back sort of to Warm Nights, which got a really Lukewarm reception from the Board, I see from the Archives, but to me sounds like a wonderful piece of work - great songs, sweetly simple arrangements - and the way he sings the first verse of Rock n Roll Friend is, as my young niece would say, just awesome. Looking forward to hearing more of that "same little guitar riff"! | ||
| Per Stam Member Username: Matsrep Post Number: 20 Registered: 10-2005 |
"So?" Brilliant. The Robert Forster trio of 1994 had Mason Ruffner, rough blues man as support act on a Stockholm date. Robert commented amused on the guitar skills of Ruffner, then started one of those simple riffs. The RF trio was great by the way. | ||
| Matthias Treml Member Username: Matthias Post Number: 170 Registered: 05-2005 |
It is that comment "So?" that makes him a "hero" to me. How many musicians act like rock stars? That everything they do is brilliant? Like Oasis and before them the Stone Roses. I love the fact that Robert is humble and has a good sense of his limitations but also has pride at his own abilities and strengths. That to me is a true hero or person to admire. Gotta love him. He is not a great musician but he also implies that isn't important to him. I mean how many artists have 10+ records and 2 (or is it 3) re-issues and no chart hits? Brilliant. And memorable. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 762 Registered: 03-2005 |
I found the link! It was from David Pestorius. It's on his page listing publications he was involved with. It's an entry for the year 1999. http://www.davidpestorius.com/publications.html | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 907 Registered: 04-2005 |
I'd rather be a great songwriter than a great musician. Robert and Grant (and for that matter, Lou Reed, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, etc.) had their priorities straight. And even if they lacked chops, Robert and Grant's guitar arrangements were always exquisite. | ||
| Elizabeth Robinson Member Username: Liz_the_new_listener Post Number: 32 Registered: 10-2006 |
My dear Kurt - Ditto on all you said. Gotta love RF (and GMcL) for just being themselves. I just love the Go-Betweens' guitar style for its subtle simplicity, and it is great fun just to play the chords on the guitar tabs available here. Great songs, great hooks, great lyrics. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 922 Registered: 04-2005 |
They are fun to play, aren't they, Liz? And while I may outrage some Smiths fan here by saying so, on a recent long car trip, I played a Smiths CD immediately after a Go-Betweens one, and though Johnny Marr obviously can play rings around RF and GM, the GoBs' music to my ears has way more memorable guitar hooks. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 766 Registered: 03-2005 |
That's certainly one of the features of the Gobees that appeals to me. Flashy playing seldom gets you a good hook. It reminds me of a story told by The Hollies' lead guitarist Tony Hicks (yes, I hear you sniffing "the Hollies!?!?!?"). Hicks was a very fast, but rather aimless, player. Very early in their recording career, the producer took him aside and told him that if he played fewer notes he could create much more memorable guitar breaks. This was a total revelation to him. And, sure enough, Hicks turned into one of the 60s' greatest understated pop guitarists; just listen to the break in "I Can't Let Go." Both Robert and Grant could cook up wonderfully memorable and, most important, MUSICAL guitar hooks and did so routinely. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 924 Registered: 04-2005 |
Good example and well-said, Randy. The Go-Betweens' guitar hooks sometimes were stronger than the song's vocal melody. For example, I could more easily sing the guitar line from "Part Company" than I could the melody. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1184 Registered: 03-2006 |
Well put, both of youse (it's a Luvfest! We'll be singin' Kum f-in bay ya next)...that's one of the things about the GBs aesthetic that really blows my skirt up: they were all about making great records that could be played over and over and never tired of, and not about egotistical noodling, or really, showing off in any way. It's a jiu-jitsu trick of sorts - through their grace and lack of arrogance, they achieved mega greatness, immortality, etc... |