Fav Grant McLennan Songs

And "Bachelor kisses" is as close to the Perfect Pop Song you can get.

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.

http://www.beggars.com/banquet/index.htm

But "Finding You" from Oceans Apart is the first one I picked when I heard the news.

A Lindy-confirmed story says that Grant actually started crying in the studio while recording the vocal take.

1. cattle and cane
2. right here
3. bye bye pride
4. unkind and unwise
5. love goes on
6. quiet heart
7. going blind
8. that way
9. two step, step out
10. easy come easy go

This is turning out to be like Phil Hartman for me. Getting weirder as the hours go by.

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

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

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-Betweens
Was 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 ...

(Warning: this video contains Robert Forster's Tallulah-era mullet)

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.

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.

*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.

"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.

By far the best song on that record too.

I recall a schoolboy coming home
Through fields of cane
To a house of tin and timber
And in the sky
A rain of falling cinders
From time to time the waste
Memory wastes

I recall a boy in bigger pants
Like everyone
Just waiting for a chance
His father's watch
He left it in the showers
From time to time the waste
Memory wastes

I recall a bigger brighter world
A world of books
And silent times in thought
And then the railroad
The railroad takes him home
Through fields of cattle
Through fields of cane
From time to time the waste
Memory wastes
And the waste
Memory wastes

I recall the same
A reply
A plan you once had
From time down to mine
That time was bad
So I knew where I was
Alone and so at home

Further, longer, higher
Further, longer, it's getting higher
Further, longer...

What a melodist. His Go-Betweens best-of.

You should do his solo stuff, which is often just as good (and sometimes better).

Love that you have Apology Accepted so high on the list.

and "You Won't Find it Again"!

Those songs kill me

<3 The Statue

That riff running beneath and through it...

good call on "a bad debt follows you." i always feel like that one gets overlooked because it's so short.

The "you told me skies could fall" section = A+