I love how this album hangs together, the edges between the two songwriters blurred like they hadn't been since Before Hollywood. Love Goes On rushes all over you at the start (I should have put it on my ballot) and it never lets up from there. I get that some people (Tom D!) can find a song like Quiet Heart soppy but can't resist "Doesn't matter how far you've come / you've always got further to go" on a final, for then, album. One thing: I've always wondered if You Won't Find It Again was left off because it sounded too much like The Devil's Eye. I'd have swapped them if it'd been up to me.
― Alba, Saturday, 6 July 2019 12:57 (four years ago) link
16LL is the only of their albums i've ever really gotten into, certainly their most consistent and i love the breezy feel
― ufo, Saturday, 6 July 2019 12:59 (four years ago) link
Wow! Can’t believe four people left this off their TOP TEN?!
Other stray thoughts - for a long time I did not like Tulallah because of Someone Else’s Wife and Cut It Out being horrible. I thought it had two towering achievements in Right Here and Bye Bye Pride but not much else going for it, and the two worst Go-B’s songs. Now I kind of like Cut It Out and I definitely like every other song on there. Someone Else’s Wife still stinks.
― SA, Saturday, 6 July 2019 13:00 (four years ago) link
To me it's unthinkable that You Won't Find It Again could have been left off any album
― PaulTMA, Saturday, 6 July 2019 13:22 (four years ago) link
Haha. Really wondering about the repellent elements of "Someone Else’s Wife" that I'm apparently immune to. This is amazing. I guess some of the rhyming is less than brilliant, but otherwise...
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, 6 July 2019 13:23 (four years ago) link
http://i68.tinypic.com/6hu9ls.jpg
#2 THE GO-BETWEENS - BEFORE HOLLYWOOD May 1983
Points: 161 Votes: 20 First-place votes: 5
A Bad Debt Follows You / Two Steps Step Out / Before Hollywood / Dusty in Here / Ask // Cattle and Cane / By Chance / As Long As That / On My Block / That Way
"We had to make a classic. Our first album was not a classic album, and you don’t know how many chances you’re going to get. We’d never really worked with a producer, and we talked with Geoff Travis about our fantasy candidates, people like Lindsey Buckingham and Robbie Robertson. But John Brand walked into our rehearsal room, taped us, then walked back the next day with the songs written out and with arrangement ideas; no one had ever done that with our music." - RF
Youtube audio track: Full vinyl rip
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, 6 July 2019 13:42 (four years ago) link
http://i64.tinypic.com/2d8l0qp.jpg
#1 THE GO-BETWEENS - LIBERTY BELLE & THE BLACK DIAMOND EXPRESSMarch 1986 Points: 202 Votes: 24 First-place votes: 10
Spring Rain / The Ghost and the Black Hat / The Wrong Road / To Reach Me / Twin Layers of Lightning // In the Core of the Flame / Head Full of Steam / Bow Down / Palm Sunday (On Board the SS Within) / Apology Accepted
"I rediscovered melody, linked to the way I wrote in the late ‘70s. On those first singles, I used to be the singles writer, and it was almost as if I’d forgotten that. But then, in the summer of 85, I wanted a pop sensibility again in what I did, And because the songs were a little bit slower, I had more room for lyrics. I could say things instead of that post-punk thing where it’s a yelp and a scream and a few words here and there. I could blurt out whole lines and get verses going. Lyrically, it was a lot richer." - RF
"There was quite a fundamental musical change in the band towards simplification. Something we've been accused of in the past, of being almost a pop band, almost an art band, you know, now we're simplifying. Thinking more of 4/4." - GM
Youtube audio track: Complete tracklist
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, 6 July 2019 13:46 (four years ago) link
Excellent! Thanks for the roll-out. The six original albums ended up almost in the same order I had them, just Talullah and Spring Hill Fair swapping places.
― Alba, Saturday, 6 July 2019 13:52 (four years ago) link
Damn liberty belle was my number five, pretty shocked it beat out BH
― mott the hoopleheads (voodoo chili), Saturday, 6 July 2019 13:52 (four years ago) link
Before Hollywood was my no. 1, it's the most sympathetic production they ever got, songs great, singing great, playing great, arrangements great. Liberty Belle has great songs but, I don't know, has a sort of dull sound.
― Orpheus Knutt (Tom D.), Saturday, 6 July 2019 13:54 (four years ago) link
Nothing to do with the lyrics, it's just a feeble, dreary song, that chorus is a total clunker.
Liberty Belle was the only album to make it on to every ballot.
― Alba, Saturday, 6 July 2019 13:54 (four years ago) link
Yes, won comfortably!
― Orpheus Knutt (Tom D.), Saturday, 6 July 2019 13:55 (four years ago) link
I'd love to hear more from the four people who didn't vote for Before Hollywood in their top 10.
― Alba, Saturday, 6 July 2019 13:57 (four years ago) link
Liberty Belle was well in the lead all along too. From my very first peek at the totals, with 5 ballots or whatever.
Before Hollywood was always going to be my #1. I didn't even re-listen until right now. Tom D OTM, up there! ^
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, 6 July 2019 14:03 (four years ago) link
BH is the only album where GM outperforms RF imo. I really like how his songs seem to have been written on bass guitar.
― Orpheus Knutt (Tom D.), Saturday, 6 July 2019 14:08 (four years ago) link
Yeah, that's probably true. Meanwhile Forster's are sort of SMAL done better, or at least tighter and sweeter.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, 6 July 2019 14:24 (four years ago) link
Okay, let's turn to the solo/side-projects tracks next. But not until late Sunday/Monday.
I'll try to maintain a brisk pace and a leaner rollout, so as not to get bogged down too much.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, 6 July 2019 14:31 (four years ago) link
Still prefer Tallulah ("Someone Else's Wife" is a melodic and lyrical highpoint for McLennan), but Liberty Belle works for me.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 6 July 2019 14:35 (four years ago) link
btw do I have to derail this thread with my objections to "dated" as a pejorative? All albums are dated the moment they're recorded. I don't get why Liberty Belle is less "dated" than Tallulah.
Doesn't bother me. Some things have more noticeable artefacts of their age than others (from the standpoint of the listener). If you like those artefacts, you can call something 'a classic 80s sound' or whatever. If you don't, you can call them dated.
― Alba, Saturday, 6 July 2019 14:42 (four years ago) link
totally baffled about the outcome. i would have bet a lot on 16LL as a winner. just relistening to LBATBD and it definitely has its moments - like "twin layers of lightning" - but i don't feel it like 16LL which gives me a kick from the beginning on. it does what i love about pop music, it marries melancholy with melody. LBATBD on the other hand drags along in places. especially the succession of "head full of steam", "bow down" and "palm sunday" totally passes me by. my life is too short to listen to them again.
― je est un autre, l'enfer c'est les autres (alex in mainhattan), Saturday, 6 July 2019 14:45 (four years ago) link
I don't like the production on Send Me A Lullaby much, but 'dated' isn't a word that comes to mind when thinking about it in the way it does with Tallulah. Something must account for that difference.
xpost
― Alba, Saturday, 6 July 2019 14:46 (four years ago) link
Liberty Belle is rarely the first album of theirs I pull off the shelf, but I'm never not satiated by it.
― gardening@night, Saturday, 6 July 2019 14:49 (four years ago) link
Yeah, you're right, Alfred. I've had similar thoughts about "dated" myself. When I used it before, in my head it would have been shorthand for "marked by certain quite specific trends in music production associated, in my mind at least, with 1987, like thin metronomic rhythm tracks, mainly where Craig Leon was involved."
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, 6 July 2019 14:51 (four years ago) link
I can't imagine being a fan but not wanting to hear Bow Down or Head Full of Steam again. They are totally swoonsome, totally marrying melancholy with melody, and top 10 tracks for me. It's a strange world, Sandy.
― Alba, Saturday, 6 July 2019 14:54 (four years ago) link
but nobody uses "dated" about Rickenbackers recorded in 1966 -- it's always synths and gated drums
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 6 July 2019 15:03 (four years ago) link
I'll bet you they did the 70s.
― Orpheus Knutt (Tom D.), Saturday, 6 July 2019 15:05 (four years ago) link
Sure, but I guess the sound of Rickenbackers recorded in 1966 has passed into what's widely classed as agreeable and classic (though I bet if you asked younger people not into the rock canon they might well use the word or just say it sounds 'old'). People do talk about dated lyrics from that era though.
xpost - ha, yes
― Alba, Saturday, 6 July 2019 15:07 (four years ago) link
I remember writing a review along these lines on rateyourmusic in response to the countless existing reviews of Steve McQueen containing "dated". I've become everything I used to hate! :)
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, 6 July 2019 15:15 (four years ago) link
Full results, for stats fans, before I move on and forget...
Pts Votes #1s 1 Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express 202 24 10 2 Before Hollywood 161 20 5 3 16 Lovers Lane 157 20 4 4 Tallulah 148 22 2 5 Spring Hill Fair 146 23 0 6 Oceans Apart 103 18 2 7 The Friends of Rachel Worth 90 16 0 8 The Evangelist 68 14 0 9 Danger In the Past 34 9 010 Send Me a Lullaby 24 6 011 Horsebreaker Star 22 7 012 78 'TIl 79: The Lost Album 12 4 013 Metal and Shells 10 1 114 Bright Yellow Bright Orange 7 3 015 Songs To Play 6 3 016 In Your Bright Ray 6 2 017 Watershed 5 2 018 Calling From a Country Phone 4 1 019 I Had a New York Girlfriend 3 2 020 Inferno 2 2 021 Fireboy 1 1 0
1 Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express 202 24 10 2 Before Hollywood 161 20 5 3 16 Lovers Lane 157 20 4 4 Tallulah 148 22 2 5 Spring Hill Fair 146 23 0 6 Oceans Apart 103 18 2 7 The Friends of Rachel Worth 90 16 0 8 The Evangelist 68 14 0 9 Danger In the Past 34 9 010 Send Me a Lullaby 24 6 011 Horsebreaker Star 22 7 012 78 'TIl 79: The Lost Album 12 4 013 Metal and Shells 10 1 114 Bright Yellow Bright Orange 7 3 015 Songs To Play 6 3 016 In Your Bright Ray 6 2 017 Watershed 5 2 018 Calling From a Country Phone 4 1 019 I Had a New York Girlfriend 3 2 020 Inferno 2 2 021 Fireboy 1 1 0
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, 6 July 2019 16:21 (four years ago) link
Warm Nights = nul points!
― Portsmouth Bubblejet, Saturday, 6 July 2019 16:25 (four years ago) link
And I was all alone with ...Country Phone. *weeps*
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, 6 July 2019 16:30 (four years ago) link
Big shout out to the other person who voted for I Had A New York Girlfriend. Forster described the collection of cover versions as "the one mistake of my recording career", but it's a great album to relax to with a glass of wine in your hand. He interprets other people's songs with the same degree of empathy with which he writes about them as a journalist, and the band (including Mick Harvey, Warren Ellis, Clare Moore, Conway Savage & 'Evil' Graham Lee) are strong too.
― Portsmouth Bubblejet, Saturday, 6 July 2019 16:45 (four years ago) link
Quite happy with the results of the album poll - thought 16LL would walk it.
My favourite is Before Hollywood, but Liberty Belle sounds to me a bit like BH recorded on a rainy day. It's the best balance between the classic era's idiosyncratic and pop halves, so it makes sense as a winner.
― verhexen, Saturday, 6 July 2019 17:52 (four years ago) link
Based on the trend of earlier posted opinions, I expected Before Hollywood to win over 16LL. I'm surprised that Liberty Belle took it, although it got my #1 spot. It was the first GB album I ever heard, and it instantly made me a fan of the band. If I had heard BH first, it might have become my all-time fave, but it took me another 10 years to get to it. I love how BH combines their idiosyncratic group personality with post-punk nervouosness and intensity. And the flow of BH's sequencing is just breathtaking.
― punning display, Saturday, 6 July 2019 21:09 (four years ago) link
Iirc those beggars reissues sleaves could be turned inside out to display the proper album cover.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 6 July 2019 21:49 (four years ago) link
I voted Before Hollywood high as an album but I picked relatively few songs from it (well, my #1). It flows marvelously.
― L'assie (Euler), Saturday, 6 July 2019 21:50 (four years ago) link
All this Before HoIlywood talk is making me feel like a Go-Betweens tourist. I got started with the 78-90 comp, filled in 16LL, Liberty Belle and Tallulah but never went back to BH. So, hand up, I’m one of the 4 voters who didn’t rank BH.
― that's not my post, Saturday, 6 July 2019 21:59 (four years ago) link
Speaking of bad album cover art, that 78-90 comp really takes the cake. Every time I pull that one off the shelf, I wonder how they could have collectively decided: "Yep, that image is perfect for our career retrospective".
― enochroot, Sunday, 7 July 2019 01:12 (four years ago) link
Also, looks like I was the only "Metal & Shell" voter, which is fair enough, since it's both US-only and a compilation album. But, it was my first exposure to the band, and I like better than either of the albums it combines (BH and SHF), so I couldn't resist.
― enochroot, Sunday, 7 July 2019 01:19 (four years ago) link
One might almost use the d-word in relation to the 78-90 graphics. Feels distinctly turn-of-the-nineties.
I'll make a tiny start of the next section. Just a wee off-peak taster, to help ensure we get finished before Xmas...
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 7 July 2019 02:16 (four years ago) link
http://i65.tinypic.com/315fln4.jpg
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 7 July 2019 02:17 (four years ago) link
http://i63.tinypic.com/2h8a26d.jpg
#40GRANT MCLENNAN - Put You Downfrom Horsebreaker Star (1994) Points: 47Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube audio
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 7 July 2019 02:20 (four years ago) link
http://i67.tinypic.com/vsiblk.jpg
#38ROBERT FORSTER - Crazy Jane on the Day of Judgementfrom Inferno (2019)
Points: 50Votes: 3 (0)
______
#39ROBERT FORSTER - Life Has Turned a Pagefrom Inferno (2019)
Points: 49Votes: 3 (0)
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 7 July 2019 02:38 (four years ago) link
#37 ROBERT FORSTER - Don't Touch Anythingfrom The Evangelist (2008)
Points: 51Votes: 2 (0)
http://i65.tinypic.com/24gisg3.jpg
#36ROBERT FORSTER - 121 from Calling From a Country Phone (1993)
Points: 51Votes: 3 (0)
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 7 July 2019 02:50 (four years ago) link
That's enough for now. :)
The parenthetical bit is the number of first-place votes from now on.
I've also used total votes, then total first-place votes, as tiebreakers.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 7 July 2019 02:51 (four years ago) link
Nice to see a couple of Inferno tracks make it. I voted for both of them.
― kitchen person, Sunday, 7 July 2019 03:00 (four years ago) link
I don't think I'll ever understand the enduring popularity of Christgau's reviews.
That review is concise, snappy and enjoyably pretentious. It gives a good impression of what the record might sound like, without any indication of the writer's taste, and has a letter grade that reassures you of its quality despite said taste. it does a lot of work in a handful of words.
...if you can make it past the first line, which is nonsensical and has no relation whatever to the band or their music.
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Sunday, 7 July 2019 03:43 (four years ago) link
I think the ranking of the two Inferno tracks is the wrong way around, unless the points totals are in error.
― Alba, Sunday, 7 July 2019 05:24 (four years ago) link