― Jim M (jmcgaw), Saturday, 6 May 2006 20:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 6 May 2006 20:40 (seventeen years ago) link
Bye Bye PrideRight HereCattle & CaneBachelor KissesSomeone Else's WifeFinding YouThe Statue
Solo:
Just Get That StraightEasy Come, Easy GoPut You DownLighting FiresWhat Went WrongComing Up For Air
(Horsebreaker Star itself has so many I just have to stop)
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 6 May 2006 20:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mervin Heinz, Saturday, 6 May 2006 21:01 (seventeen years ago) link
Probably forgetting a dozen or so, too.
― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Saturday, 6 May 2006 21:19 (seventeen years ago) link
Damn. This is a sad sad day.
― Taylor, Saturday, 6 May 2006 21:26 (seventeen years ago) link
Yeah, what he said. Who knew in an era of bloated CDs he'd be one to actually make the whole length of it work.
"Cattle & Cane" first and foremost still for me. Some people try their whole life to write something that good and he did it in the early days with much more to come.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 6 May 2006 21:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jim M (jmcgaw), Saturday, 6 May 2006 21:48 (seventeen years ago) link
― Paul (scifisoul), Saturday, 6 May 2006 21:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 6 May 2006 21:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jim M (jmcgaw), Saturday, 6 May 2006 21:58 (seventeen years ago) link
I remember a company party four years ago at a huge, evil casino in Connecticut, where the DJ played some James Brown. "How come I'm the only one who gets James Brown?" inquired an idiot friend of my wife's.
I have no idea what that last graph has to do with anything, but I'm on my third martini now.
― Jim M (jmcgaw), Saturday, 6 May 2006 22:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― Taylor, Saturday, 6 May 2006 22:03 (seventeen years ago) link
"Cattle And Cane" and "Right Here" is definitely a good introduction and if you want to delve further...
"Bye Bye Pride""Quiet Heart""The Devil's Eye""Apology Accepted""This Girl, Black Girl""Love Goes On"
so many to choose from...
HS
― hector savage, Saturday, 6 May 2006 23:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 6 May 2006 23:32 (seventeen years ago) link
"Cattle & Cane" should be the Australian national anthem.
― Bring Me The Head of ESTEBAN BUTTEZ (ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!!), Sunday, 7 May 2006 01:51 (seventeen years ago) link
I've never heard of this since, but I'd love to hear it. He explained how all the songs fit together and provided some anecdotes and it was lovely to hear him explain it and tell stories of his upbringing.
He also described the "heroin" song cycle, about which I remember much less!
Few musicians are as charming, outgoing and kind. I'll really miss him.
― Dee Xtrovert (dee dee), Sunday, 7 May 2006 02:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 7 May 2006 02:06 (seventeen years ago) link
Favorite Grant McLennan songs... I imagine these will be pretty generic and focus on the hits that never were.
1. Bachelor Kisses2. Cattle and Cane3, Streets of Your Town4. Bye Bye Pride5. Someone else's wife6. Haven't I been a fool7. Simone and Perry8. Open Invitation
― Jacobo Rock (jacobo rock), Sunday, 7 May 2006 17:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mippy (Mippy), Sunday, 7 May 2006 18:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 7 May 2006 18:27 (seventeen years ago) link
Def "Dusty in Here" in the top 5.
Just a King in MirrorsCattle & CaneEmperor's Courtesan (maybe my favorite - if you don't know it, do yourself a favor ...)Second Hand Furniture (some of his best lyrics, specifically the inventory taking he does at the end: "There were four chairs," etc)That WayThis Girl Black GirlLove Goes On!Devil's EyeThe Ghost and the Black Hat (a thing of beauty)Right HereBye Bye Pride Bachelor Kisses (who could ever forget "Hands like hooks"?)Hammer the HammerStones for YouEasy Come Easy GoSuicide at HomeFive Words
All perfect. And I'm not even diving into the last three records (or most of his solo career), all of which have some excellent Grant tunes. This is such a huge loss. I'm still in a state of disbelief having seen two excellent shows less than a year ago. Grant seemed as healthy as ever. There are those whose passing isn't a surprise and then there's this kind.
― TRG (TRG), Sunday, 7 May 2006 18:45 (seventeen years ago) link
― TRG (TRG), Sunday, 7 May 2006 19:22 (seventeen years ago) link
is this Grant or Robert? someone has just scoved at me for sending a mail about dead Grant with "Cattle & Cane" as the subject line.
― DV (dirtyvicar), Monday, 8 May 2006 09:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Monday, 8 May 2006 09:14 (seventeen years ago) link
― Vitbe... *pause*... Is Good Bread (Dada), Monday, 8 May 2006 09:14 (seventeen years ago) link
And "Bachelor kisses" is as close to the Perfect Pop Song you can get.
― Hanna (Hanna), Monday, 8 May 2006 11:01 (seventeen years ago) link
― dave's good arm (facsimile) (dave225.3), Monday, 8 May 2006 12:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― TRG (TRG), Monday, 8 May 2006 13:29 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 8 May 2006 13:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― csbx, Monday, 8 May 2006 14:33 (seventeen years ago) link
Anyone own the 2-disc version of Horsebreaker Star? About 6 songs were trimmed for its U.S. release. Listening to it in the car last night I was struck by how every song - no question – works on its own terms. What a songwriter.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 8 May 2006 14:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― mr. jimmerson, Monday, 8 May 2006 19:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― PeopleFunnyBoy (PeopleFunnyBoy), Monday, 8 May 2006 19:21 (seventeen years ago) link
http://www.beggars.com/banquet/index.htm
― Guthrie's Caretaker, Monday, 8 May 2006 19:31 (seventeen years ago) link
But "Finding You" from Oceans Apart is the first one I picked when I heard the news.
― Alba (Alba), Monday, 8 May 2006 19:37 (seventeen years ago) link
A Lindy-confirmed story says that Grant actually started crying in the studio while recording the vocal take.
― PeopleFunnyBoy (PeopleFunnyBoy), Monday, 8 May 2006 19:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 8 May 2006 19:55 (seventeen years ago) link
1. cattle and cane2. right here3. bye bye pride4. unkind and unwise5. love goes on6. quiet heart7. going blind8. that way9. two step, step out10. easy come easy go
― sheep sheet (serious sheet), Monday, 8 May 2006 21:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Monday, 8 May 2006 22:26 (seventeen years ago) link
This is turning out to be like Phil Hartman for me. Getting weirder as the hours go by.
― dave's good arm (facsimile) (dave225.3), Monday, 8 May 2006 23:54 (seventeen years ago) link
i saw barbara manning cover this a trillion years ago and i had to find out who it was.
here's the original video:http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZCbyByY-A6w
― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 02:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tyler W (tylerw), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 14:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― Pessimist, Tuesday, 9 May 2006 21:17 (seventeen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 11 May 2006 22:26 (seventeen years ago) link
1. In the core of a flame ("If the devil had seen your dress ...")2. Was there anything I could do? ("If you spend your life looking behind you, you don't see what's upfront")3. Finding you
― Rod Brown, Friday, 12 May 2006 01:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― dave's good arm (facsimile) (dave225.3), Friday, 12 May 2006 13:13 (seventeen years ago) link
Lighting Fires, Riddle in the Rain, What Went Wrong (Both Versions), Keep My Word, Fingers, Haven't I Been a Fool, Ice in Heaven, Room for Skin, Things Will Change, One Plus One, Easy Come, Easy Go ...
... And Go-BetweensWas There Anything I Could Do?, Streets of Your Town, Bachelor Kisses, Streets of Your Town, The Wrong Road, Love Goes On, That Way, Catle and Cane, Quiet Heart ...
― Peter Bauckham, Friday, 12 May 2006 14:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 12 May 2006 14:10 (seventeen years ago) link
(Warning: this video contains Robert Forster's Tallulah-era mullet)
― The Notorious ESTEBAN BUTTEZ (ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!!), Friday, 12 May 2006 15:34 (seventeen years ago) link
The following goes into more detail:
Andrew Wilson - Amateurism 1980-87 - CD 1. playing around 2. theme from 'four gods'-the movie 3. belmondo 4. enchanted house 5. restless 6. when daddy blows his top 7. out of your shell 8. soul too sold 9. a fact unknown 10. under the wings of 11. you should be shot 12. like in salem 13. good things 14. belmondo (live) 15. leave the house 16. in the orchard 17. after the accident 18. then I lost
The following is the press release for the release of Andrew Wilson's "Amateurism 1980-87", released Feb. 1 1999.ANDREW WILSON. amateurism 1980-87 CD. Cat#: CH 28. 1981 (BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND): Andrew Wilson's first band, the four gods, released the final single (to date) on the Able Label, famous for releasing the first two Go-betweens singles "Lee Remick" and "People Say" (as well as the Apartments' classic debut single, "The Return Of The Hypnotist" and the Numbers/Riptides' "Sunset Strip"). The band as it appeared on record included Lindy Morrison on drums and Grant McLennan (masquerading as 'Candice') on bass. 1983 (SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES): The frontier scouts, Andrew's next band, released a single and a 12" EP, both on the Au-go-go label. David McComb of the Triffids contributed some feedback guitar. 1987 (MELBOURNE, VICTORIA): For Andrew's last recorded project so far, he gathered a group of friends to release an 12" EP under the name Andrew Wilson and associates, featuring Robert McComb of the Triffids, Steve Miller of the Moodists, Nigel Harford of White Cross and others. This was released on the Melbourne label Crash. These four Andrew Wilson artifacts are compiled on Chapter Music's new CD, amateurism 1980-87, along with a handful of live and rehearsal tapes by the four gods and the frontier scouts. Robert Forster of the Go-betweens has written charming and nostalgic liner notes. David Nichols, drummer for Chapter Music recording artists Driving Past, tracked Andrew down when doing research for his book The Go-betweens published by Allen & Unwin in 1997. It was then that he dreamt up the idea of this compilation, and convinced the modest Wilson to go along with the it. Andrew Wilson is a lost hero of Australian music, a truly gifted but unheralded songwriter. Amateurism is an invaluable document of Australia's long-neglected pop music history - intelligent, emotional and compelling. This is the first in Chapter Music's series of Australian Archival Reissues, focusing on independent, underground music of the last twenty years.
From: http://www.geocities.com/~jbulow/LIST_GOB.HTM
Worth seeking out if you like Send Me a Lullaby and Before Hollywood.
― TRG (TRG), Saturday, 13 May 2006 01:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 13 May 2006 01:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― TRG (TRG), Saturday, 13 May 2006 01:28 (seventeen years ago) link
Listening to Horsebreaker Star this morning (an ideal 10 am album, by the way), I was struck by how great "Simone & Perry" is. For years my suspicion that sounds as if if could have played over the "Party of Five" credits in 1995, and the "Hold on to what you got" hook struck me as too easy. But the song builds to that line; it's earned. The he-said-she-said dialogue structure works well too.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 10 August 2008 20:24 (fifteen years ago) link
*or, rather "For years my suspicion that it sounds as if if could have played over the "Party of Five" credits in 1995 prevented me from appreciating it..."
I really don't know anything about McLennan solo, never listen to his half of Intermission because it didn't grab me immediately, but I keep meaning to get back to it.
Of course there are so many excellent Go-Betweens songs by Grant. River of Money, though - surely the most underrated McLennan composition? The band at their rawest and most elemental, a really atypical song. It's probably better than the songs on SHF, Tallulah and 16LL that are considered among their best but suffer from the fake drum sound. Yet you hardly ever hear anyone talking about it. It surprises me that they stumbled on a sound that really suited them but never really went down that road again. Then again I suppose in the shadow of Cattle and Cane's brilliance a lot of beautiful Go-Betweens songs that would be considered the pinnacle of any other band's career become also-rans.
― verhexen, Sunday, 10 August 2008 20:57 (fifteen years ago) link
"In Your Bright Ray" could be a song about the effect his music has on his listeners. This song makes me feel like anything is possible, it's so incredibly uplifting without any vague insincerity that often accompanies these types of songs.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Saturday, 12 September 2009 19:37 (fourteen years ago) link
By far the best song on that record too.
― vulva eyes (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 12 September 2009 20:27 (fourteen years ago) link
I recall a schoolboy coming homeThrough fields of caneTo a house of tin and timberAnd in the skyA rain of falling cindersFrom time to time the wasteMemory wastes
I recall a boy in bigger pantsLike everyoneJust waiting for a chanceHis father's watchHe left it in the showersFrom time to time the wasteMemory wastes
I recall a bigger brighter worldA world of booksAnd silent times in thoughtAnd then the railroadThe railroad takes him homeThrough fields of cattleThrough fields of caneFrom time to time the wasteMemory wastesAnd the wasteMemory wastes
I recall the sameA reply A plan you once hadFrom time down to mineThat time was bad So I knew where I wasAlone and so at home
Further, longer, higherFurther, longer, it's getting higherFurther, longer...
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Saturday, 12 January 2013 07:05 (eleven years ago) link
What a melodist. His Go-Betweens best-of.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 18 January 2019 03:02 (five years ago) link
You should do his solo stuff, which is often just as good (and sometimes better).
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 18 January 2019 03:07 (five years ago) link
Love that you have Apology Accepted so high on the list.
― that's not my post, Friday, 18 January 2019 05:12 (five years ago) link
and "You Won't Find it Again"!
― resident hack (Simon H.), Friday, 18 January 2019 05:19 (five years ago) link
Those songs kill me
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 18 January 2019 12:11 (five years ago) link
<3 The Statue
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 18 January 2019 14:59 (five years ago) link
That riff running beneath and through it...
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 18 January 2019 15:06 (five years ago) link
good call on "a bad debt follows you." i always feel like that one gets overlooked because it's so short.
― harvey wall/barrier (voodoo chili), Friday, 18 January 2019 15:43 (five years ago) link
The "you told me skies could fall" section = A+
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 18 January 2019 15:46 (five years ago) link