― 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