Love Is A Sign - The Go Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane poll

love is a sign>can't say no forever>love goes on!=quiet heart=clouds=i'm all right>dive for your memory>devils eye>streets=was there anything..?

v v v hard. not going to vote SoYT tho

in the right mood, this record is like the most beautiful,special thing ever recorded.

SoYT

and it's better than The Smiths. and B&S. and Clientele.probably.
xpost to myself

funny,i always thought SoYT ruins the flow of the record's atmosphere

of course it's better than b&s and the clientele

xp

clouds!!

and it's better than The Smiths. and B&S. and Clientele.probably.

soooooooootm

Love Goes On. One of the best songs by anyone.

in the right mood, this record is like the most beautiful,special thing ever recorded.

Very true. I can't think of another record with this kind of pastel sound.

With the exception of "Quiet Heart" and "Streets of Your Town," McLennan isn't writing as well as Forster, so this will be easy. I could vote for "Love is a Sign," which means more to me as I age, but "I'm All Right" (that chamber-pop sound! that oboe!) nails the vibe Forster's aiming for.

Dive!

i gotta say i really love how strayan all the singing sounds on this album

like it doesnt make me cringe at all

that is a beautiful and rare thing

What's great for me is that I haven't heard this disc in a while but I can easily call to mind significant sections for most of the songs. Love Goes On! I think gets my vote though I'm tempted by "You Can't Say No Forever" and "Was There Anything I Could Do?"

xp the Go-Betweens > Clientele stuff up thread. I don't agree, love them both.

you don't have to dislike something to acknowledge something else is better

true, I like red and white wine but red more. However for the Go-Betweens & the Clientele, they are 2 of my favorites & I don't rate one above the other. On a Go-Betweens thread that is not going to be a universally shared view. So be it.

The arrangement of "Clouds" McLennan and Forster had been playing as a duo toward the end was especially lovely.

God, I miss this band.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

This documentary on the album is worth checking out:
http://www.madman.com.au/actions/catalogue.do?releaseId=11123&method=view

^highly recommended viewing

clouds

love is a sign vs. clouds...

It's "Love Goes On!".

haha, whoa, that Milky thing is wtf. Hope the Go-Betweens got paid handsomely.

"I'm Alright" for me — conjures up some old memories about an old flame in a sadly beautiful way.

come on people, it's got to be "streets of your town". simply one of the best pop songs of all-time. the reason that it seems to break the flow (though i suppose it was the first song on side 2 of the vinyl) is its shimmering upbeatness compared to the rest. but of course the whole album is terrific.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

awww every song

surprise surprise..

didnt expect ...Town to win this

I voted 4 quiet <3

kinda surprised it wasn't a landslide

x-post

ts shimmering upbeatness

Especially for a song with wife beating and all sorts of simmering evil!

I love Dive for Your Memory but it somehow reminds me of Throw Your Arms Around Me by the hunters and collectors which is a massive jock anthem in Ostralia

i love it too, and it reminds me of Mountain Goats somehow

"Was There Anything I Could Do?" – 3:06 1

I don't get this.

An oral history of Streets of Your Town.

I'm not sure I agree that Brown deserves songwriting credit for writing a hook unless McLennan wanted to be like R.E.M. and U2 and credit everybody.

i'm very strongly in favor of sharing songwriting credits widely within a band. that little vocal hook is a signature element of that song. as so many little hooks, both vocal and instrumental, are.

I guess that's my point. If you're going to award credit, give it to everybody. It's the Al Kooper argument -- did he deserve credit for doing his job, i.e. coming with an organ hook for "Like a Rolling Stone"? I don't know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZAAlqnJWbA

If you're going to award credit, give it to everybody.

yes

It's the Al Kooper argument -- did he deserve credit for doing his job, i.e. coming with an organ hook for "Like a Rolling Stone"? I don't know.

i don't know either, 'cause now we're talking about a hired hand, not a bandmate.

in general i'm more interested in the economics than the aesthetics. if you're in a band, putting in the work -- rehearsing, recording, gigging, everything else -- you should share in the economic spoils. and the songwriting, which, as in this case, can take as little as 10 minutes, is responsible for an unequal share of those spoils. and it would be worth significantly less without those hooks.

And we wonder why bands break up.

And I don’t collect any songwriting royalties for that song, because that was a condition of my joining the band.
wasn't she already in the band? maybe she means that contractually all go-betweens songs had to be credited to forster/mclennan ... or something?

I don't understand what you're not understanding there, tyler?

"You can join the band but, before you do, we write all the songs and that's the way it's going to stay."

might just be weird phrasing, but i read it as: "you can't get royalties on 'streets of your town' if you want to join the band" ... but I guess she's just referring to all go-betweens songs, not just that one.

not that it matters!
i'm not sure whether adding that vocal line should get her a co-write ... but maybe it should! i don't know. good hook for sure.

It obviously matters to her if she's still going on about it!

i guess it is weird if Forster gets royalties and she doesn't ... OK, i've decided — Amanda should get credit! It's settled.

For Streets of Your Town
She should earn some pound

AMANDA

I can never read enough accounts of the late unveiling of "SoYT". Kinda wish I could've observed Forster's reaction first-hand. (Alas I was but a child, getting Go-Betweens mixed up with The Go-Go's until said song hit radio.)