| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1915 Registered: 05-2005 |
Earlier on I was listening to a radio program I presented in late 1996 on Liberty Belle & The Black Diamond Express. It was part of a series on classic albums, but was the only one to feature an interview with one of those who made the record (I had interviewed Robert in Dublin the previous day). Though it was wonderful to hear the program again (I came across the tape while looking for something else), and listening to it made me proud of having done it, hindsight makes me wonder if we were just preaching to the converted. As well as me and the interview snippets from Robert, the other contributors were Nick Kelly (then of Hot Press, now of the Irish Independent) and Stan Erraught (formerly of brilliant Irish band The Stars Of Heaven - who were such Go-Betweens fans they called an EP Before Hollyhead!). We were just fanboys having a chat! We did give some background and tried to put the album into context for listeners who would not have been familiar with it, but I really doubt we convinced many people to buy a copy. Any thoughts on how you've convinced non-believers to worship at the church of The Go-Betweens? Oh, here's a link to The Stars Of Heaven http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fus eaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=225345 197 | ||
| Hamish Walke Member Username: Hamish Post Number: 14 Registered: 05-2005 |
To be honest Padraig, I have kind of given up trying to convert people to the brilliance of the Go-Betweens. I have tried with many friends over the years but too often found myself putting on LB & the BDE and sitting back expecting them to be overwhelmed, only to find the response that the band were 'enjoyable' or some similar phrase. I find it too depressing for a band that glorious to be described in such a mundane way. Being fair, I guess it took me a while to become obsessed by the G-Bs myself, so it is perhaps harsh for me to expect mates to manage it in the course of ten songs, even if one of them is Spring Rain. If anyone has some tips on how to acheive a higher conversion rate, I'm happy to try again! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1493 Registered: 03-2005 |
I was hooked by a combo of "1978 - 1990" and aging some years. When Grant died and I was so distraught, I put together a CD of his songs (GBs and solo) and mailed it off to a longtime friend with whom I'd already shared my own musical efforts as well as a lot of other music over the years. I provided an annotation explaining the role Grant (and Robert) had played in my life and why I didn't even want to get out bed again. She is a prose writer so she zeroed in on the lyrics, which I hadn't even printed out. I've just cranked up my old mothballed PC to recover the message. This is her reply: "It doesn't seem as if there can be a Grand Cosmic Plan when people like Keith Richards are allowed to cheat death time after time and people like Grant McLennan are made to die young in their sleep. From the sampling you shared with me, I can see (hear) the potential for profound connection. It would come as no surprise to you that my favorite is "The Streets of Your Town." If I didn't know better, I'd say it was the Housemartins. The song reminds me a lot of "The Man with the Black Moustache" by the Monochrome Set, another of your enlightening introductions. I also find "Cattle and Cane" evocative. I have probably told you that the first Christmas I spent away from home was in Sydney. It was 93 degrees on Christmas day and we listened to the Queen's Christmas address on television in a pub. It was sublime. I also may have told you that many years ago I won a trip to Australia for writing a winning slogan for Qantas Airlines. If a theme song were to be applied to these Australia experiences, "Cattle and Cane" would do the job quite nicely. But for sheer lyrical power, "The Wrong Road" looms over everything. I have no idea what is happening in this song, I only know it sounds wonderful. 'When the rain hits the roof with the sound of a finished kiss.' 'The wind acts like a magnet and pulls the leaves from the trees.' Did Robert Frost write anything better? McLennan says, 'Handsome is good. Pretty is better.' So he died young and stayed pretty. Maybe it is better. 'Stranded at low tide where the river bends. Wouldn't you know it? That's how life ends.'" I think it will be writers who respond to the Go Betweens most readily. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 916 Registered: 10-2004 |
Oddly, I've converted to the cause too many people to keep tack of. Sure, I've cast the pearls before my share of swine, but typically I'm not surprised by those who don't get it. One friend was so bored by them that he said they sounded like the aural equivalent of tan linoleum - meaning, of course, as dull and plain as can be. Yet I was always glad he said that, since he inadvertently supplied me with a great descriptor for bands that *I* find boring and characterless in the extreme. Maybe I choose my victims wisely, but I've honestly not had too difficult a time turning people onto the Go-Betweens. Not all of my victims became as obsessed with them as I am, but some certainly did. You want a band that NONE of your friends will like? Try Microdisney. In the ~12 years that I've been into Microdisney, I've only been able to turn about 3 people onto them. And yes, that includes Randy. | ||
| Wilson Davey Member Username: Wilson Post Number: 118 Registered: 05-2005 |
Interesting stuff..."That Tan Linoleum sound" deserves a thread of its own ! I always smooth the journey with a Grant mix peppered with a few of RF's more poppier songs. RF appears to be an acquired taste for some, which matures over time. I used to be a real Grant head but Rob now gives more pleasure but as we all know is the chemistry of them togther that works its magic. I've found that once they doscover the charms of Robert they really appreciate it at a more intesse level, ironically through slender songs like Spirit and Lavender. My daughter didn't used to like the Robert stuff at all but now proclaims German farmhouse as his masterpiece, her mates at Uni don't get it (yet)...the Pavarotti/musical school lyric not scanning to them but makes her smile every time. | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 129 Registered: 05-2005 |
I can't understand this 'conversion of others to go-betweens fans business'. It's a bit anal to assume that other people's tastes should coalesce with one's own. Wishing you all a very happy new year. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1926 Registered: 05-2005 |
That's a lovely email your friend sent Randy. Thanks for posting that. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 142 Registered: 10-2006 |
I just give people Oceans Apart... if they don't love it, god help them... | ||
| Duncan Hurwood Member Username: Duncan_h Post Number: 96 Registered: 05-2005 |
I converted my wife by making tapes full of Go-Betweens songs before we were married. That's enough people for me! | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 2041 Registered: 05-2005 |
fsh, if its anal to try to convert, why did we ever compile tapes for our friends, brother/sister!??? Funnily enough a mate who had nver got the GB's from the tapes I used to give him bit the bullet and bought Oceans, he loves it, but still can't get the old clasic GB's line up, shame. But hell he's converted to the latest instalment! | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 970 Registered: 01-2005 |
Randy's friend wrote: "It doesn't seem as if there can be a Grand Cosmic Plan when people like Keith Richards are allowed to cheat death time after time and people like Grant McLennan are made to die young in their sleep". After years of alcohol, coke and heroin abuse, Duane Allman checked into a detox center in Buffalo, NY at the end of September, 1971. He kicked all his habits except driving too fast and dangerously on his Harley, which was to claim his live a few weeks after getting out of the detox center. | ||
| Rick Hawkins Member Username: Hamlet Post Number: 3 Registered: 01-2008 |
A friend of mine says that both Grant and Robert were addicted to heroin. Is this true or merely apocryphal? | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 207 Registered: 02-2005 |
I’ve succeeded in turning friends onto the Go-Betweens through the years, but people seem to respond with an instant connection or a shrug. It’s always been hard for me to understand what they’re NOT hearing when they shrug, but something seems to get in the way. When Inrockuptibles saluted 16 Lovers Lane as one of the greatest albums of all time MOJO magazine published a snide Franco-phobic comment. It wasn’t until a few years later that MOJO started recognizing the band’s importance (to a degree). As it happens, they also ignored my nomination of 16LL as album #101 following the first critics poll the magazine conducted… they solicited reader-submitted reviews for “The album that we missed!" The Blue Nile was given the honors. When I told my brother that The Go-Betweens were one of my favorite bands he took my recommendation to heart and procured an import copy of the only album he could find; Send Me A Lullaby. He didn’t understand what the fuss was about, but he came around after I bought him Before Hollywood and Spring Hill Fair the following Christmas. I remember watching Robert performing at The Mercury Lounge on his Warm Nights tour. I was standing next to Ron Metz, drummer of The Human Switchboard and The Schramms. Robert and the band were really in the pocket and I told Ron how much I loved Robert’s and The Go-Betweens work. He said something to the effect that, “I can see where they’re coming from.” Meaning, he appreciated the strength of the lyrics and the musical settings that Robert employed, but it didn’t really connect with him. Of course, his band the Human Switchboard had a not dissimilar background; they came from the "provincial backwater" of Cleveland, Ohio and embraced many of the same musical influences as The Go-B’s (but with different sonic results). I still tell people about The Go-Betweens and I know a couple of people who fell in love with the band after the first series of Beggars Banquet reissues, so it’s never too late. | ||
| Bryce Member Username: Rockandrollfriend Post Number: 27 Registered: 07-2005 |
Being unable to convert others only makes me love them more. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 346 Registered: 05-2005 |
Grant was into H at some stage according to the book. I have it on a brothers authority that he also got a certain "King Preacher" into it too. As with David McComb, will we have suspicions confirmed later as to how he really died? | ||
| Richard Forster Member Username: Baby_stones Post Number: 2 Registered: 03-2008 |
I went out and bought Oceans Apart at a time when we had a couple of young indie kids staying with us. I thought that they would be likely candidates to fall for the Gob's, but they were underwhelmed. They at least at the sensitivity to be awkward about it. Finally, Susan made a comment that the vocals seemed to be more prominent than the lyrics warranted, or something to that effect. It gave me pause to consider whether I was guilty of blind devotion or if I simply engaged with a different register of references... I do wonder if I hadn't have introduced them to the Clarke Sisters, if their response might have been different. | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 274 Registered: 01-2007 |
In the DVD he didn't look in great shape, was he addicted to the stuff or just a dabbling at some stage.I've not read the book , Geoff what does King Preacher mean | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 358 Registered: 05-2005 |
Preist=Aura King Preacher=Steve Kilbey | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1126 Registered: 10-2004 |
Geoff, Rich... as much as one would like to believe Grant was long over his H faze by the time of his untimely death, at the end of the day, who knows? I started a rather infamous thread years ago on this board back when David Nichols used to post here, essentially asking Nichols what the deal was with Grant and H. Nichols hints around in the book, and the book does make a reference to a rumor that Grant introduced Kilbey to the smack. I think all anyone can glean from the tidbits of info we have is that at the very least, it was something Grant dabbled in. (For the record, Rich, nothing I've come across suggests Robert was ever into it). Frank, I agree, Grant didn't look so hot in the DVD. But who knows, maybe he was simply fighting a cold? Plus, he apparently loved to smoke those Gitanes, which could probably exacerbate any cold. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1581 Registered: 03-2005 |
Richard, your post is thought-provoking. I've written before that I personally don't find "This Night's for You" to be a great example of lyric-writing. My impression is that the longer a songwriter works at his or her craft, the more economical he or she becomes. At his best Robert exemplifies this to a T. For me personally, the simple lyrics and chord progression of "Mountains Near Delray" touch my soul as deeply as anything he has done. But if you print them out, what are they? But what about his delivery? Is that not cause for the prominent place for his vocals in the mix? On the other hand, your friends should have paid more attention to the lyrics to "Finding You." They are wonderfully crafted. There is a definite difference between middle age and youth in terms of the sort of art that you create. The sparkling wit of youth is pretty exciting. But sometimes it sparkles without meaning all that much. And, of course, sometimes in middle age you just degenerate; you just get lazy. Yep, next time you have young indie kids to introduce the GoBees to, pull out their records from way back when. There's a much better chance of them being in sync with the listeners. Could any proper young indie listener--a REAL indie listener--NOT recognize the unique timeless quality of something like "When People are Dead?" If so, I'd throw them out of my house! | ||
| Matthias Member Username: Matthias Post Number: 251 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hi Randy, What was the tracklist you sent your writer friend? I'd be interested to see the tracklisting and order. BTW, I've had little success converting folks. I find that it is easier to put a couple songs on mixed tapes (now CDs) and let them discover them on repeated listens. Let's face it: The Go-Betweens are a band whose music requires the listener to marinate in them except for some of their infectious pop singles (Streets, Right Here, etc.) | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 277 Registered: 01-2007 |
It is difficult you either really love them or they don't stir you, one of the reasins I got together with my now wife is a love for the Go-Bees though we have slightly diferent tastes they tend to converge on the Go-bees, also at Uni ther were a few of us, some who lurke around this board no doubt.I've not had much suddess in cvonveting people only on of my patients who is a philospopher who now really likes them | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1584 Registered: 03-2005 |
Wow, a philosopher. That's just perfect. AND it's why the overwhelming majority of people will never get the Go Betweens. They aren't meant to. Matthias, I had my old computer when I put together that sampler. I'll have to plug it in and boot it up to see if the track listing is in there. | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 280 Registered: 01-2007 |
Yes Randy in a prof as well. but you see what you are up against you must have a sophisticated ear for the GBs |