| Author | Message | ||
     SuzieQ Unregistered guest |
As someone very new to the band I was unacquainted with the past grievances or glories that seem to mean a lot to people here. I am however interested in Australia's post-punk musical past so what's taken me so long tp get to the Go Betweens? For starters, for over two years at this very uni I endured a law lecturer who worshipped the Go Betweens & spoke to us about the Eighties, when most of the class were in preschool, just as his parents must have spoken about the Sixties. He included the Triffids, the Smiths, the Go Betweens, REM etc in this "golden age". Needless to say though I learned to love other acts from that generation (Smiths, REM, Triffids, Nick Cave) I allowed this bore and other reliably unattractive guys (present company excepted Im sure) who identified so much with the band put me off the Go betweens even more. To make matters worse, I only got my first listening to the group, or the New Go Betweens anyway, yes, yes, I know - not the same as the old Go betweens, via a tedious ordeal of ordinariness - the first 2 "reformation" albums. I've also since heard at least three solo albums which didn't work for me anyway, so I don't have a problem with them being the Go Betweens because I hadn't ever really known any difference. Be fair. Put it this way - if your solo career had tanked, wouldn't it simply make sense to reclaim the name that means more to more people, and just get on with it? Let's face it, there's not likely to be much of a fight over who gets to call themselves Grant McLennon or Robert Forster is there? On the name front, time to move on. Now, what I think about the new album. It may have taken 16 years from the apparent "good old days" to get an album with five great songs each but the wait's worth it, and at their age it's not like they're competing in the pop world anyway, if they ever were. The leap in quality between this album and the last two is huge, it puts the post-reformation pair into perspective. The OA production too is vintage 80s as I expected. These people are clearly a product of their time and would have to be deluded to think otherwise. But any doubters would have to admit in fairness that The New Go Betweens really seem to be becoming a band this time round. Of course there is the point that the photos of those other members are rarely used. Plus 1. There's a serenity and contentment to this album that makes me actually look forward to middle age. The songwirters seem very happy in their own skins, where they're at in their lives, comfortably nostalgic. They are untouched by deep, real grief or loss one tends to associate with or hear about those later years. No reason to cry indeed, and all luck to them. 2. I am grateful for that satisfaction. That they don't resent this still modest level of success they have strived so hard for so late in their long careers. That they dont ask - thirty years for this? Plenty of others with more acclaim and talent but less sheer perseverance have left the scene altogether. But this is an important principle to me, that they are happy to play to a couple of hundred people here and there around the world. It's a better more intimate experience for the audience. Try getting a small gig with Nick Cave!! I look forward to shows in Perth. 3. "Here Comes the City" may reveal itself to me in time but at the moment it actually seems a bit desperate and embarrassing. They really don't need to go all Franz Ferdinandy. However "Darlinghurst Nights" - the great Australian poet Kenneth Slessor wrote a book called this, thanks Google - more than makes up for it. Without doubt, the song of the album. Maybe of the year. Evidently many of you have been eager for an album that might live up to your memories of their best years two decades back. Here you have it and it atones for the two previous disappointments. Go for it, and happy listening. SuzyQ | ||
| david nichols Member Username: David Post Number: 42 Registered: 09-2004 |
Possibly the smartest comment I have read, in this forum of often extremely smart comments, in many years | ||
| jo Unregistered guest |
I second that | ||
| gareth Unregistered guest |
Sort of following on from this, I’ve always thought there is a tendency (particularly prevalent in over 30’s music journos) to over-romanticize certain line-ups of certain bands and to over-dismiss recordings made by differing line-ups. It’s as though people can’t see beyond an iconic image of a band and hear what is actually on the record. I think REM made their best album without Bill Berry, House of Love made their best album without Terry Bickers, my favorite Velvet Underground album doesn’t feature John Cale, Elvis Costello’s best album doesn’t feature the Attractions (well, one song does…) and Morrissey’s ‘Vauxhall and I’ right now sounds stronger than anything the Smiths did. Anyone else agree? As much as I love the ex-gb’s I really wouldn’t want to hear Lindy, Robert and Amanda hooking up again in a pointless nostalgia retread. The new blood is welcome in my opinion and allows the music to be heard fresh and not in the context of an embarrassing attention grabbing reunion tour. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Unregistered guest |
Gareth, I have to vehemently disagree with you regarding REM. They have not made anything approaching a really good record since Bill Berry left. Which one do you think is their best? Their last good album was Monster, their last great album was Automatic... The album that came out six or seven months ago is the worst piece of crap they have ever released. Some of the 'songs' are just plain embarrassing. I'm embarrassed that I paid good money for it! I'm astonished at your comment! I won't agree or disagree with you on the others, though I'm sure others will. | ||
| Graham Twyford Unregistered guest |
I'll second Pádraig on that. 'Around the Sun' is not an atrocious album but it is an atrocious REM album. Although I do think 'Up' is superior to 'Monster' (and I'm not a 'Monster'-hater!). | ||
| Pat Boland Unregistered guest |
Well Gareth, if you are referring to 'Babe Rainbow' I wholeheartedly agree. Ditto, if it's the third VU album. As for REM, I definitely prefer their pre-1998 output. By the way, Oceans Apart is magnificent in my opinion. I actually quite like 'Here comes a city'. However, 'Finding You', 'Boundary Rider', 'Darlinghurst Nights' and 'The Statue' are as good as anything they've ever done. Only 'This night's for you' leaves me cold. As for the sound-quality; surely this can't have been deliberate. | ||
| TROU Unregistered guest |
As Graham, I think 'Up' is not a bad REM album at all. It's even one of my faves. I've listen Oceans Apart 4-5 times. Very immediate. I think it's a good one. Have to wait a little bit to have a better vision. The live ep is fine. | ||
| shaq Unregistered guest |
Padraig, I am astonished you think Monster is a good album. Sometimes my friends would put it on at parties as a joke. But we lived in Athens, GA so maybe that's why. Does anyone else seem to always like a band's few few albums the most? It's like that for almost every band for me-- | ||
| gareth Unregistered guest |
Hi Padraig, 'Up' (for my money) is the best thing REM have done. They're one of my favourite bands but this is the album for me that saw them stretch a lot more in terms of songwriting and arrangements. I like the stuff they did before that but I rarely go back and play the records whereas 'Up' offers up something new each time. 'Sad Professor', 'Falls to Climb' and 'Why Not Smile' are amogst their best tracks. It reminds me of the first Roxy Music album without Eno - it's as though new ideas are coming to the surface now they don't have to conform to type. I love 'Automatic...' but there are a few duffers on there. I think 'Out of Time' is their weakest. 3 or 4 great tracks and some half baked demos. Pat - you are correct. 'Babe Rainbow' is just brilliant. A great lost album if ever there was one. Songs, production, playing...the album has it all. Velvets third is the one too. Any other idols I can kill whilst i'm here ???  ps - my favourite James Bond is Roger Moore but Lazenby came close to making the best film. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Unregistered guest |
Shaq, are you by any chance the guy from the band Daisy who is now a semi-pro basketball player? Or is your pseudonym just a coincidence? I was in Athens in 1989. Loved it apart from not being able to get a beer when I arrived on a Sunday night. Is it still the same there in the Georgia bible belt? Yes! Babe Rainbow is a brilliant lost album! Someone taped it for me when it first came out and I think I played it twice, but a couple of years ago I got in on CD for a few bucks and could not believe how great it is. |