Draining the POLL for you - ILM artist poll #98 - The Go-Betweens

ooh sexy

"now you know what it's like to be a man"

"Fingers" was possibly his only single that I was utterly oblivious to until very recently. Not sure how I managed this, but it is quite affecting despite being not at all what I think I want to hear at the outset.

http://i66.tinypic.com/11tl66a.jpg

#27
GW MCLENNAN - Surround Me
1992 single, eventually on Fireboy (1993)

Points: 64
Votes: 2 (0)

Original promo video

surrou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou-nd

ME

I love that song but have never seen that video. Now I wish I had never seen that video.

LOL

This felt like a hit at the time, but presumably only because JJJ (Australia's national yoof-oriented music station) was still firmly pro-McLennan. Can't imagine it crossed over to commercial radio. Pleasant enough, but I probably craved faintly unpleasant things, being a teenager.

A couple of cover version came in side by side at this point!

#26
ROBERT FORSTER - 2541 (Hart)
I Had a NY Girlfriend (1994)

Points: 64
Votes: 3 (0)

Youtube audio

#25
GW MCLENNAN - If I Should Fall Behind (Springsteen)
Surround Me single (1992)

Points: 69
Votes: 2 (0)

Youtube audio

A stretch of first-place votes begins here. I'll pause for now though.

http://i64.tinypic.com/34hc21l.jpg

#24 ROBERT FORSTER - The Evangelist
from The Evangelist (2008)

Points: 74
Votes: 4 (1)

Youtube audio

Pleasant enough, but I probably craved faintly unpleasant things, being a teenager.

You'd have loved the video for Surround Me then. It's 36 different shades of unpleasantness marinated in a sauce of irksomeness. Grant appears to be wearing shades throughout so as not to see his own promo video.

Ha ha. Now I've got to watch this.

Oh my god.

It's like someone doing a parody of the Shiny Happy People video who doesn't realise the Shiny Happy People video was a parody.

Wait, that sounds too much as though I like the Shiny Happy People video.

The performance parts of the video look like take 4 after they've been told a) "now look like you're having fun!" and b) "this will only take one try." What's extra weird are all the political/environmental slogans that pop up. And Grant and crew appear like they were plied with drugs.

The analysis of this vid has had quietly giggling for much of the day.

Less amusing is my image host's flakiness. This one shall also go without an image.

#23
GRANT MCLENNAN - Coming Up For Air
from Horsebreaker Star (1994)

Points: 78
Votes: 4 (1)

Youtube audio

love this one -- is that Syd Straw on harmonies?

Must be, right?

I keep meaning to ask about such things. eg. is it clear who the women are on "Put You Down" and "Dark Side of Town"?

catching up here... i never know about McLennan/Kilby side project, now I have to seek that one out.

Searching on "Jack Frost" landed me on this interesting interview where he says that McLennan got him into smack, but Kilby didn't have the restraint to only do it occasionally the way Grant did.

Funny you mention that at this instant...

http://i65.tinypic.com/33bk9hu.jpg

#22
JACK FROST - Providence
Jack Frost (1990)

Points: 80
Votes: 3 (1)

Youtube audio

Man, that Jack Frost album is another one with horrible cover art. These guys really were not visual.
https://img.discogs.com/qinRrXIej8zyPixoXy89dXZWK6Y=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-3136039-1327128839.jpeg.jpg

I didn't put a lot, but I probably put too many Grant tracks on my solo/spinoffs ballot compared with my actual affections, in an attempt to not be too unbalanced. Now I see how many have appeared on the rundown, I shouldn't have bothered.

I think I'm coming round to the view that it's not just the pedestrian pop-rock rhythm of much of his solo work: I specifically don't like his more direct songs about relationships, because I get this kind of bad feeling from them, like he's been kind of a prick and the lyrics have a self-serving whiny attitude. Even a song that's pretty, and which I voted for, The Dark Side of Town, has that coda "Hey, don't go way / I don't mean those things I say / Frustration takes hold of me and I say things …" that sets my imagination off about people who have a pattern of repeatedly behaving terribly then apologising. I realise they're just songs and it's none of my business what he was like as a boyfriend, but, I can't warm to them.

So I'm much more receptive to songs where he's not directly addressing a lover or at least not in a direct imploring way. But I love it when he does a wistful song like Hot Water, or One Plus One with its shades of Dusty In Here or Cattle and Cane.

http://i67.tinypic.com/2ihte06.jpg

#21
ROBERT FORSTER - A Poet Walks
Songs to Play (2015)

Points: 82
Votes: 4 (0)

Youtube audio

Good song!

Yes, it's much more the imploring, overly self-obsessed songs that put me off McLennan's material rather than the schmaltz of which he's often accused. Fingers is a real turn-off for me in that respect: the 'Hey you!' chorus crosses the line from pleading to being stalkerish, and the self-pity of 'Now you know what it’s like to be a man' could be bottled and sold in Wetherspoons on 'Fathers for Justice' themed evenings.

I do like the way the 'Poet' arrangement gradually builds to something... Morricone-esque, perhaps?

In case formatting issues obscured things a little, here's a half-time summary.

                                                                                Pts    Votes      #1s
21  A Poet Walks                   FORSTER - Songs to Play (2015)                82        4        0
22  Providence                     JACK FROST - Jack Frost (1990)                80        3        1
23  Coming Up For Air              MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           78        4        1
24  The Evangelist                 FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)               74        4        1
25  If I Should Fall Behind        MCLENNAN - Surround Me (1992)                 69        2        0
26  2541                           FORSTER - I Had a NY Girlfriend (1994)        64        3        0
27  Surround Me                    MCLENNAN - Surround Me (1992)                 64        2        0
28  Fingers                        MCLENNAN - Fireboy (1993)                     63        3        0
29  The Dark Side Of Town          MCLENNAN - Fireboy (1993)                     59        4        0
30  Lamp By Lamp                   MCLENNAN - In Your Bright Ray (1997)          58        4        0
31  Falling Star                   FORSTER - Calling From a (1993)               55        3        0
32= Simone And Perry               MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           54        4        0
32= One Plus One                   MCLENNAN - In Your Bright Ray (1997)          54        4        0
34  No Fame                        FORSTER - Inferno (2019)                      53        3        0
35  Thought That I Was Over You    JACk FROST - Jack Frost (1990)                52        3        0
36  121                            FORSTER - Calling From a (1993)               51        3        0
37  Don't Touch Anything           FORSTER - The Evangelist (2008)               51        2        0
38  Crazy Jane on the Day of Judg  FORSTER - Inferno (2019)                      50        3        0
39  Life Has Turned a Page         FORSTER - Inferno (2019)                      49        3        0
40  Put You Down                   MCLENNAN - Horsebreaker Star (1994)           47        2        0

the self-pity of 'Now you know what it’s like to be a man' could be bottled and sold in Wetherspoons on 'Fathers for Justice' themed evenings.

I've just found myself reading way too much of about this Wetherspoons!

Three-way tie, anyone?

#18 --TIE--

http://i63.tinypic.com/2607cia.jpg

#18 (i)
ROBERT FORSTER - Dear Black Dream
Danger In the Past (1990)

Points: 85
Votes: 4 (0)

Youtube audio

http://i65.tinypic.com/rgy1d4.jpg

#18 (ii)
GW MCLENNAN - Lighting Fires
Fireboy (1993)

Points: 85
Votes: 4 (0)

Original promo video

http://i67.tinypic.com/v48dxw.jpg

#18 (iii)
ROBERT FORSTER - From Ghost Town
The Evangelist (2008)

Points: 85
Votes: 4 (0)

Youtube audio

"Lighting Fires" is one hell of an ear worm.

http://i65.tinypic.com/358a2vq.jpg

#17
ROBERT FORSTER - Is This What You Call Change?
from Danger In the Past (1990)

Points: 86
Votes: 3 (0)

Youtube audio

Look at me
Not at the floor

What a song. I'm still not sure if it's about a polluting industrialist, a toxic lover, or both.

I'll try to go through to #11 now...

http://i68.tinypic.com/6rhpww.jpg

#16
from ROBERT FORSTER - Let Me Imagine You
from Songs to Play (2015)

Points: 86
Votes: 4 (0)

Official promo video

He gives good photo, the big fella.

The only song to successfully include Twitter in its lyrics?

I was the #1 for The Evangelist. I'm surprised it didn't finish higher, it's an obvious highlight of the album.

^ 'tis good. If I hadn't foolishly opted for an unranked ballot it'd be a bit higher.

http://i66.tinypic.com/2hwirrs.jpg

#15
GW MCLENNAN - Stones For You
for Watershed (1991)

Points: 88
Votes: 4 (0)

Acoustic performance on Aus TV

Er, "from" not "for"

What is Annette Shun Wah doing these days anyway?

Remind me how many ballots were submitted for the solo/spinoff poll please?

A modest 14. The distribution looks a bit less flat shortly. :)

http://i67.tinypic.com/t7zwba.jpg

#14
ROBERT FORSTER - Learn to Burn
from Songs to Play (2015)

Points: 95
Votes: 5 (0)

Youtube audio

Whoops, the above is actually tied for #13, with...

#13
ROBERT FORSTER - Did She Overtake You?
from The Evangelist (2008)

Points: 95
Votes: 5 (0)

Youtube audio

http://i65.tinypic.com/1iyedc.jpg

#12
GW MCLENNAN - Black Mule
from Watershed (1991)

Points: 107
Votes: 5 (0)

Youtube audio

Forster and McLennan killed "Black Mule" in '05.

http://i63.tinypic.com/344wq6s.jpg

#11
ROBERT FORSTER - If It Rains
from The Evangelist (2008)

Points: 129
Votes: 7 (0)

Youtube audio

Haunting (and haunted) intro.