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

Bow Down TOO LOW

In fact isn't that a lyric from the song?

Five Words is a lot of fun for a song about death.

And Bow Down is lovely - there's so much gold here.

bury them, don't keep them

those are the five words.

i voted for every song on spring hill fair side one, i think

Lovely Robert-Grant interplay and an irresistible clockwork feel to its rhythm

McLennan has quite a few songs where he passes on fairly obscure wisdom, no?

And I just say... five words: bury them don't keep them.
Two things I know, these things I'll tell: don't walk the wire, don't work (?) the well
There's only one thing I can say, and I will share it with you now: there is a place you cannot go.

etc. I'm sure there are more.

'Five Words' is so great, love all the vocal interplay.

i love the way the acoustic answers the electric with the titular melody

“Born to a Family” has my favorite intro of any of Robert’s songs.

In terms of Grant's weird wisdom, am currently working my head round "if you believe in orphans, there's still a chance for love". What a line.

^^ yes

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#45
The Ghost and the Black Hat
from Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express (1986)

Points: 130
Votes: 8 (0)

Youtube audio

Lovey arpeggiated melody, terrific McLennan lyric. He said he was thinking of Dusty Springfield.

Another of the 'Don't Let Him Come Back' 5 here - too low! - there is just something I love about that poppy scrappy very early sound - the funny wordy kids formed a band 5 minutes ago and it's good and everyone is having a blast!

5 words got high for me as well. Gets stuck in my head sometimes, just turns up unannounced. That spiky rhythm, and the bits of the song that seem to dangle a bit, and then that refrain.

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#44
Boundary Rider
from Oceans Apart (2005)

Points: 133
Votes: 9 (0)

Youtube audio

another tune replete with McLennanisms:

And to know yourself
is to be yourself
keeps you walking through these tears

the best cricket song

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#43
Caroline and I
from Bright Yellow Bright Orange (2003)

Points: 134
Votes: 7 (0)

Original promo video

XP: LOL

"It is neither fair nor reasonable to expect sadness to confine itself to its causes."

"Don't believe what you've heard: faithful's not a bad word"

Spring Hill Fair is packed with Grant adages.

I mangled the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0Ekys_OzFc

That's not on Spotify either, so that feels like vaguely crucial video link! :)

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#42
Here Comes a City
from Oceans Apart (2005)

Points: 139
Votes: 10 (0)

Original promo video

'The Ghost & the Black Hat' was slightly too folky for my tastes when I first heard Liberty Belle but over time it's become one of my favourite songs on the album.

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#41
A Bad Debt Follows You
from Before Hollywood (1983)

Points: 140
Votes: 9 (0)

Youtube audio

You told me stars would fall
You told me ice would melt

Three LP openers in a row!

That'll have to be the last one for me. Brain is hardly functioning. Good night/day!

tooooooo looooooow

Wow, I thought this would be much higher. After a disappointing debut album, this was the perfect song to start Before Hollywood. In just two and a half minutes you can hear how much they've grown.

i definitely weighted the creepy, nervy tracks pretty highly on my ballot, though i probably voted for more of the soaring pop tracks overall. this is one of the creepiest and nerviest and it was my number 7

Boundary Rider and Ghost Black Hat both should be top 20 IMHO

i can't believe that the super boring "bow down" is in front of the catchy and subtle "too much of one thing" which tickles my ear and is definitely top ten for me.

"a bad debt follows you" sounds quite post-punk, i love it.

Full-throated, lusty TOOO LOOOOOWWWW to "Hammer the Hammer" and all the Before Hollywood tracks

love the organ all over Before Hollywood.

otm

"on my block" was great too, i guess i have to check "before hollywood" more thoroughly. they sound not unlike the talking heads on that one, or is it just the two songs?

All of Before Hollywood is great! It's their most consistent album in my opinion - every song is high quality. There are two dirges but the rest are pretty rocking and fast. Guitars and basslines and drums sound similar on every song but not redundant. The songwriting meshes together well, and they even trade off lead vocals within the same song on several on them.

^yes, this! Early Talking Heads is a good reference point, there's a lot of space in the sound. The organ adds lovely little washes of colour without cluttering anything. It's a really well-sequenced, pacy record. I only usually go off and do something else when As Long As That is on. (SA, you had better not be calling Dusty In Here a dirge, apart from in the most literal sense.)

Recent results have been fairly exciting and unpredictable. Been disappointed by some low placements but looking forward to the top 40.

I'll drop a few of the top 40 at a more leisurely pace in the next few hours...

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#40
Surfing Magazines
from The Friends of Rachel Worth (2000)

Points: 148
Votes: 9 (0)

Original promo video

I don't think I knew most of these 21st-century promo videos existed.

Also: god bless Rage and people who record TV in the middle of the night.

I think I've only had three tracks on my ballot show up in the #40-#66 range so far. I'm assuming most of my ballot will turn up in the top 40. 'Ghost and the Black Hat' is my favourite song so far. The McLennan childhood memories trilogy of 'Cattle and Cane', 'Unkind and Unwise', and 'The Ghost and the Black Hat' are all among my favourite Go-Beteweens songs. Those three songs are on consecutive albums.

There's been nothing from 'Send Me A Lullaby' of '16 Lovers Lane' yet - I'm assuming a bunch of stuff from the latter will place, but maybe nothing from the former?

I suspect there might be at least one from Send Me A Lullaby.

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#39
Two Steps Step Out
from Before Hollywood (1983)

Points: 148
Votes: 10 (0)

Youtube audio

I'm distracted by bbcode in peak times, so this is where I say what I've voted for since #66:

'Five Words', 'Bow Down', 'Hammer the Hammer', 'Before Hollywood', 'This Girl, Black Girl', 'By Chance', 'The Sound of Rain', 'Hope Then Strife', 'Secondhand Furniture'. All TOO LOW, etc, etc

Would have, with another ten slots:

'Don't Let Him Come Back', 'Spirit of a Vampyre', 'On My Block', 'Two Steps Step Out'

Quite a number of my selections were out on the far side of #66, such that my ballot is already more than halfway accounted for.

Can anyone break down what's going on with the time signature in this song? (the non-4/4 part)

Morrison's drumming on "Two Steps, Step Out"!

Another one I voted for highly and another one with awesome interplay between grant and Robert, vocally and musically

They were secretly prog for a couple of years there, innit.

Last one for a wee while...

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#38
Going Blind
from The Friends of Rachel Worth (2000)

Points: 149
Votes: 8 (0)

Youtube audio
Youtube, Later with Jools Holland

That pic pre-dates the actual official reunion by several years, but I like Forster here.