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

I added a randomly-selected track to it, in case its emptiness is a factor.

http://i65.tinypic.com/mm7aq0.jpg

#17
GW McLENNAN - WATERSHED
September 1991

Points: 5
Votes: 2
First-place votes: 0

When Word Gets Around / Haven't I Been A Fool / Haunted House / Stones For You / Easy Come Easy Go / Black Mule // Putting The Wheels Back On / You Can't Have Everything / Sally's Revolution / Broadway Bride / Just Get That Straight / Dream About Tomorrow

"Stylistically, McLennan wears many hats, without committing to any one. Though this approach might spell disaster for lesser artists, the veteran singer/songwriter dabbles effortlessly. The key is his knack for splicing clever hooks with perfectly turned phrases, many of which are spoken rather than sung. Nothing on Watershed forsakes the song for style -- though a few tracks would be better with less excess ("Putting the Wheels Back On"). Most also suffer from dated and increasingly stale production. With tiny highs and muffled lows, the album lacks a certain brightness present in his later recordings." - Norm Elrod

Youtube audio track: Haunted House

Might have been. Now I can see, thanks

The sad thing is that it's harder to find McLennan's reflections on his post-80s work than Forster's. For obvious reasons, I guess. Quotes from other parties will dominate his long-player entries.

I'll leave it at one entry for a little while...

Always been worried that it's an Oakland Raiders fan wielding the razor on the 'Watershed' album cover. (x-post)

I only realised this week how often he was photographed in that hat.

http://i65.tinypic.com/35a92dv.jpg

#16
GRANT McLENNAN - IN YOUR BRIGHT RAY
July 1997

Points: 6
Votes: 2
First-place votes: 0

In Your Bright Ray / Cave In / One Plus One / Sea Breeze / Malibu 69 / Who Said Love Was Dead / Room For Skin / All Them Pretty Angels / Comet Scar / Down Here / Lamp By Lamp / Do You See the Lights? / The Parade of Shadows

"By far the best of McLennan's solo works, the album is consistent, upbeat, and extremely strong musically and lyrically. It was produced by Wayne Connolly, who had been recommended to McLennan by Brett Myers of Died Pretty. McLennan was interested because he had enjoyed Connolly's production work for the Underground Lovers." - David Nichols

Youtube audio track: Cave In

Nichols might be of one of IYBR's biggest fans. He praises it at several points in his GBs book.

Couldn’t get it together to vote in this poll but will certainly be kibitzing if nobody minds too much.

Never paid attention to those two Grant albums, maybe because Alfred didn’t blog about them.

But now that I am listening some of the tunes are familiar from other contexts, such as “Black Mule.”

Kibitzing is good! Last one for a while...

http://i68.tinypic.com/2ppnbd3.jpg

#15
ROBERT FORSTER - SONGS TO PLAY
September 2015

Points: 6
Votes: 3
First-place votes: 0

Learn to Burn / Let Me Imagine You / Songwriters On The Run / And I Knew / A Poet Walks // I'm So Happy For You / Love Is Where It Is / Turn On The Rain / I Love Myself (And I Always Have) / Disaster In Motion

"it’s such a different record… when I was doing Warm Nights and I was in Edwyn Collins’ studio, and I’m in London, I sort of knew it was going to sound a certain way. But this was in Brisbane, in a studio on a mountain, analog, the gear had just arrived… so I had no idea! So it really was, after we’d made the album, we were sitting at home and going 'what are people going to make of this?'" - RF

Youtube audio track: I'm So Happy For You

I seemed to like this one way more than many in these parts, but it still slipped off the end of my ballot.

those first two tracks you posted i was unfamiliar with - they're so dreamy and at the same time are reminders dreams are part of reality

Songs To Play might've made my ballot had we done this poll before Inferno came out.

In Your Bright Ray is by far my favourite of Grant's albums. I've never been able to get into any of the others in the same way.

I've gone back to Songs To Play a lot. Robert's been on such great form recently.

He has. I love his new one as well. And obviously The Evangelist will be quite high in this.

Just looking the final tracks results for the first time. I think there might have been enough votes to support a solo/side project rollout of the TOP FORTY. Does that seem too much in addition to the actual Go-Betweens rollout proper, which is likely to be bigger still? LOL.

http://i68.tinypic.com/2e65x12.jpg

#14
THE GO-BETWEENS - BRIGHT YELLOW BRIGHT ORANGE
February 2003

Points: 7
Votes: 3
First-place votes: 0

Caroline and I / Poison in the Walls / Mrs Morgan / In Her Diary / Too Much of One Thing // Crooked Lines / Old Mexico / Make Her Day / Something for Myself / Unfinished Business

"We had a PA and monitors in the studio, which they had hardly ever seen, and we basically played a lot of it very, very live. There's overdubs, of course, but it's mainly bass, drums, guitars, vocals. Just people strumming in a room. It's very much the way people recorded from the late '60s to the mid-'70s, the way we've done this album. And very counter to the way we recorded in the '80s." - RF

Youtube audio track: Old Mexico

Firmly the weakest of the three reunion albums, despite a couple of classic Robert tracks. I'm up for a top 40 solo btw.

I frequently like the sound of it when it's playing but, even after this period of immersion, I can't bring to mind several of those tracks from their titles.

This is an interesting one. Not so much a 'best-of' as Xgau suggests, more a condensate of BH + SHF for the USA. I see no reason to exclude it and can easily imagine giving it a first-place vote myself if I'd grown up with it. :) It seems the cassette had additional tracks -- denoted by *.

http://i65.tinypic.com/5cmyaq.jpg

#13
THE GO-BETWEENS - METAL AND SHELLS
1985 (compilation)

Points: 10
Votes: 1
First-place votes: 1

Part Company / Bachelor Kisses / By Chance / That Way / Draining The Pool For You / Man O'Sand To Girl O'Sea / Ask* // Cattle And Cane / Unkind & Unwise / As Long As That / A Bad Debt Follows You / You've Never Lived / Slow Slow Music / This Girl, Black Girl*

"When what the Brits call pop isn't popular, it's usually rock and roll chamber music if it's any good at all. This U.S. debut, a best-of that highlights the soulful ache in the vocals and the quirky opacities in the lyrics and does what it can for a modest tune sense, honors that suspect notion. It's not stylized, and not static either, but it's pretty subtle, and its half-finished edges and kinetic lyricism are best appreciated in tranquility if not repose. Where it can be expected to unfold for quite a while. A-" - Robert Christgau

Youtube audio track: Ask

(Pssst! It's possible I posted 'Ask' there because I voted for it and am sad that it's unlikely to appear later. But that's a minor spoiler, so don't tell anyone.)

The title of that, Metal & Shells, is from the lyrics - and title too, I think- of an early version of the song “Before Hollywood,” iirc.

"When what the Brits call pop isn't popular, it's usually rock and roll chamber music if it's any good at all. This U.S. debut, a best-of that highlights the soulful ache in the vocals and the quirky opacities in the lyrics and does what it can for a modest tune sense, honors that suspect notion. It's not stylized, and not static either, but it's pretty subtle, and its half-finished edges and kinetic lyricism are best appreciated in tranquility if not repose. Where it can be expected to unfold for quite a while. A-" - Robert Christgau

I don't think I'll ever understand the enduring popularity of Christgau's reviews.

http://i65.tinypic.com/8yv11t.jpg

#12
THE GO-BETWEENS - 78 'TIL 79: THE LOST ALBUM
1999 (compilation)

Points: 12
Votes: 4
First-place votes: 0

Lee Remick / Karen / Help Or Something / Just Hang On / Long Lonely Day / Day For Night / Love Wasn't Made For You And Me / Summer's Melting My Mind / Obsession With You / Rare Victory / The Sound Of Rain / People Say / Don't Let Him Come Back

"The album is a composite of what we were at the time. Remember we were only at second single stage, and had existed for little over a year. But there's an album there, you can hear it. Grant and I, shortly after this period was over, believed it and still do, which is why this is coming out." - RF

Youtube audio track: Karen

For 35 years I've thought Metal and Shells was a live album, for some reason. Were they doing the double L thing deliberately by then, or was it still a coincidence?

I've never heard of Metal and Shells before, can't really argue with that tracklist!

^ I know right!

Didn't think of the double-L thing. Maybe that could explain the recycling of the title despite jettisoning "Before Hollywood"/"M&S", the song!

What proportion of ballots included compilations? I left them off mine but I guess you could make a case that the branding of 78-79 could make it an exception.

We've seen the full extent of the compilations now. So 5 selections out of about 200. I vaguely mumbled that the more conventional best-of sets were probably not a great thing to include, and I saw none of those on ballots.

It occurs to me that The Lost Album was the first GBs new release I purchased as an established enthusiast, after collecting secondhand copies of the '80s records in the '90s. I can't say I've returned to those demo tracks terribly often! It's fairly impressive really that Forster was given another opportunity to release even more of that stuff in G is for Go-Betweens.

Um, wait, when did Spring Hill Fair go missing from streaming?

i am surprised that bybo does not get more love. i think there are some of their best songs on it. "caroline & i", "mrs morgan" , "too much of one thing", "make her day" and "something for myself" are five classic gems. with my #1 vote - which unfortunately came in too late for the album poll - bybo would have probably finished in the top ten, wouldn'it?

I noticed your number #1 vote just as I was starting this thread and almost went back to redo the number-crunching I'd done the night before. Almost. :) (Rest assured that your tracks were added to the tally, as promised.)

That would have shifted BYBO up to where we are now, but no higher, IIRC. There's a bit of an uptick beyond here.

http://i65.tinypic.com/15dq3bm.jpg

#11
GRANT McLENNAN - HORSEBREAKER STAR
December 1994

Points: 22
Votes: 7
First-place votes: 0

Simone & Perry / Lighting Fires / Ice In Heaven / What Went Wrong / Race Day Rag / Don't You Cry For Me No More / Put You Down / Coming Up For Air / Open Invitation / Open My Eyes / From My Lips // Dropping You / Hot Water / Keep My Word / Girl In A Beret / All Her Songs / No Peace In The Palace / I'll Call You Wild / Horsebreaker Star

"One thing I actually like about Horsebreaker Star is how dense it is. I understand the one-note critique but I love that one-note enough that I love throwing it on at random places and letting the distinctions and specific tracks appear to me gradually." - Anthony Miccio

Youtube audio track: Horsebreaker Star

otm

I was looking for words from you on this one, Alfred! Because I know I've read some at various points, but my search skills apparently evaporated.

That title track sounds great at this instant.

one of the few times on the album he plays electric lead

Alfred’s been waiting to comment throughout this thread the same way Grant waited out that whole album before he busted out the lead at the end.

hi!

👋

(XP) I can see a 10-track Sire version of SHF on Spotify from here. But I was almost certainly streaming that expanded one with beloved outtakes quite recently!

http://i67.tinypic.com/2ikps5.jpg

#10
THE GO-BETWEENS - SEND ME LULLABY
November 1981 / February 1982 [expanded (*) Rough Trade issue]

Points: 24
Votes: 6
First-place votes: 0

Your Turn, My Turn* / One Thing Can Hold Us / People Know / The Girls Have Moved* / Midnight to Neon / Eight Pictures* // Careless / All About Strength / Ride / Hold Your Horses / Arrow in a Bow* / It Could Be Anyone

"Send Me A Lullaby is to me an inauspicious debut. It's a record that I think if I'd heard - well, it's hard for me to say that, but if I'd heard that and I wasn't in the band, I think my comment would have been 'What the fuck is going on here.' There's great melodies but then there's changes which to this day I can't work out. There's lyrics to this day which I don't understand and when I actually summon up enough courage to get to the microphone, I sound like a choirboy with a mouthful of fruitcake." - GM

Youtube audio track: Complete SMAL tracklist

Eeek! "Send me *A* Lullaby", obviously.

SEND MORE LULLABY

again i do not understand why "send me a lullaby" is so unpopular. i do not especially like the classic period from "before hollywood" to "tallulah" but i love the quirky SMAL and the tunefulness of everything from 16LL onwards.

You don't find the so-called classic period tuneful?

not really, i find those tunes pretty hard to decipher if they are there at all. they do not grab me but i must admit i have not listened to them many, many times. in the 80s i did listen to other music, not the go-betweens.

I gave SMAL some points. I sometimes wonder how it'd be perceived if it was the only LP they managed to release. I can still imagine it having a sizeable cult following in Australia, at least. Gawky Queenslanders prone to stumbling into weird rhythms who came down and hung with the Birthday Party and left us this strangely compelling LP. Or something. (Though apparently Rough Trade only became interested in them at about this point, having deemed their first two singles 'too pop'. Maybe such a cult following would still endure further afield.)

I'd imagine in NZ you wouldn't have to drain it at all? ppl do you up here because obv water would freeze

can't speak to the colder island climes of NZ, but in Australia ppl will go years without draining a chlorinated and regularly-maintained pool

thanks and huzzahs to N!N!N! for the poll! as a casual G-Bs enjoyer it's been a great time following along, and I especially appreciate the decision to do a thorough separate solo poll.


(something that occurred to me for the first time when I noticed that no Far Out Corporation placed -- is that band the reason that Steve Kilbey cold-called Haug to join The Church sans audition? having long held that P0wderfing3r are the third-worst band in Australia, that was bemusing at the time, but it's not implausible that Kilbey impulsively phoned him on an "anyone good enough for Grant is good enough for me!" principle)

Yeah thanks for this poll, nnn. Still getting into this band myself, but 16LL and Liberty Belle are great and it seems I'm gonna wanna listen to some of the solo stuff as well

Inevitable question for sic: what are the two worst bands in Aus?

Interesting thought re Haug. I think the FOC record is also the first time either Forster or McLennan worked with Pickvance too. I have no affection whatsoever for that record but am suddenly enjoying the idea that it, of all things, is secretly central to an entire nation's pop music industry. :)

silverchair and Something For Kate

I have no affection whatsoever for that record

as far as late-90s Brisbane supergroups go, it knocks The Boat Show into a cocked hat. and having just watched the two videos for the first time, the CGI in If You Want Release >>>> CGI in the Wu-Tang's Triumph video

While most of the Far Out Corporation album is unmemorable, I put this track pretty high on my solo / side projects ballot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04NHQhUsJEA

Another FOC song, 'Suicide at Home', is also good.

My ballot:

Cattle and Cane
That Way
Bachelor Kisses
Part Company
Bye Bye Pride
Man O'Sand to Girl O'Sea (single)
Draining the Pool for You
Right Here
Spring Rain
Clouds

Streets of Your Town
Rock and Roll Friend
Dusty in Here
On My Block
A Bad Debt Follows You
Two Steps Step Out
Head Full of Steam
I'm All Right
Apology Accepted
As Long As That

Twin Layers of Lightning
Just a King in Mirrors
Love Goes On
Love Is a Sign
The Wrong Road
The Clarke Sisters
Rare Breed
The Ghost and the Black Hat
Dive for Your Memory
Before Hollywood

Albums:
Before Hollywood
Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express
Spring Hill Fair
Tallulah
16 Lovers Lane
Send Me a Lullaby

My list:

1. Bye Bye Pride
2. Bachelor Kisses
3. Right Here
4. Cattle and Cane
5. Part Company
6. Lee Remick
7. I'm Allright
8. People Say
9. Going Blind
10. The Statue
11. Spirit
12. Streets of Your Town
13. Before Hollywood
14. Clouds
15. As Long As That
16. When People Are Dead
17. Spring Ran
18. Casanova's Last Words
19. Finding You
20. German Farmhouse
21. Dive For Your Memory
22. Slow Slow Music
23. Newton Told Me
24. The Clock
25. Darlinghurst Nights
26. Love is a Sign
27. You Tell Me
28. Two Steps Step Out
29. You've Never Lived
30. That Way

One thing I've noticed over the years is something of a change of loyalties - It was Grant's songs that initially hooked me into the Go-Betweens and were very much my favourites... but as the years have gone by Robert's capture me much more. I'm listening to Before Hollywood for the first time in years, possibly decades, and this really strikes me. I think it's that Grant's heart-on-his-sleeve style affects me less now I'm older and is more likely to come across as sentimental. Whereas Robert comes at things at more of an angle, he remains a bit more oblique...

Same for me.

My God though, Before Hollywood is so good! Much better than 16LL, good as that is...

Oh yeah, we haven't had all that much posting of ballots, etc...

Pretty sure these are my track selections wot didn't make the cut. Proud member of Team Send Me A Lullaby Is Not Worthless, clearly.

69 Casanova's Last Words
71 Emperor's Courtesan
74 Ask
79 Newton Told Me
82 The Mountains Near Dellray
83 Eight Pictures
91 It Could Be Anyone

thanks for running the poll!

my ballot, which really should've had to reach me on it:

Finding you
Going blind
The Statue
Spirit of a vampyre
Bye bye pride
Hope then strife
The wrong road
The Clarke sisters
Boundary rider
You can’t say no forever
Someone else’s wife
Streets of your town
As long as that
Darlinghurst nights
Spring rain
Born to a family
That way
Was there anything I could do
Love goes on!
I just get caught out
The House jack Kerouac brought
You tell me
German farmhouse
Twin layers of lightning
This Night’s for you
Cattle and cane

Oceans apart
tallullah
16 lovers lane
Danger in the past
Liberty belle and the black diamond express

Grant's solo career has at last clicked for me in a big way in the last month or so. But I can't get away from thinking this

https://img.discogs.com/39EAhdwLjXmnAtAzWCSLjBg7ni0=/fit-in/541x474/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2250743-1272378366.jpeg.jpg

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PN_vlrY18Jg/WapOKUGRAjI/AAAAAAABow4/x_UUqs7HeC4yAOnxOYu1MpSvGuyIrdnlwCLcBGAs/s1600/Jim%2BDiamond%2B-%2BI%2BShould%2BHave%2BKnown%2BBetter.jpg

I am not surprised by the winner but I think they have about fifty songs which I prefer. Here are my three ballots.

Songs (unranked):
Apology Accepted
Bachelor Kisses
Caroline & I
The City of Lights
The Clock
Crystal Shacks
Dive for Your Memory
Finding You
Heart and Home
He Lives My Life
Here Comes a City
Love Goes on!
Magic in Here
Make Her Day
Mrs Morgan
Quiet Heart
Something for Myself
The Statue
This Night’s for You
Streets of Your Town
Surfing Magazines
Too Much of One Thing
Was There Anything I Could Do?
Woman Across the Way
Your Turn, My Turn

Solo etc. (unranked):
Crazy Jane on the Day of Judgement (Forster)
Demon Days (Forster)
Did She Overtake You (Forster)
Fingers (McLennan)
Haven’t Been a Fool (McLennan)
Let Your Light in, Babe (Forster)
Lighting Fires (McLennan)
No Fame (Forster)
No Peace in the Palace (McLennan)
Turn on the Rain (Forster)

Albums (ranked):
Bright Yellow, Bright Orange
16 Lovers Lane
The Friends of Rachel Worth
Oceans Apart
Send Me a Lullabye

Concerning revisions by now I would put Before Hollywood in the album ballot.

One thing that didn't make my albums list, because it doesn't really fit, is the bonus disc that came with That Striped Sunlight Sound. It's McLennan and Forster with acoustic guitars going through:

Lee Remick
Cattle And Cane
Part Company
Bachelor Kisses
Head Full Of Steam
Bye Bye Pride
Dive For Your Memory
German Farmhouse
Too Much Of One Thing
Here Comes A City
Finding You

and telling stories. It's well worth watching if you're a fan - more essential than the main live disc at the Tivoli.

songs

Twin Layers of Lightning
Streets of Your Town
Spring Rain
Quiet Heart
I'm All Right
Cattle and Cane
Bye Bye Pride
Boundary Rider
Head Full of Steam
The House That Jack Kerouac Built
Bachelor Kisses
Love Goes On
Part Company
No Reason to Cry
He Lives My Life
Was There Anything I Could Do?
This Girl, Black Girl
You've Never Lived
The Wrong Road
The Sound of Rain
Born to a Family
As Long As That
Careless
Old Mexico
Five Words
The Clock
Apology Accepted
That Way
The Statue
Magic in Here

albums

Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express
16 Lovers Lane
Oceans Apart
Spring Hill Fair
Tallulah
Before Hollywood
The Friends of Rachel Worth
Horsebreaker Star
Songs to Play
Send Me A Lullaby

Perhaps we could have a quick round up of Go-Bs soundalikes. Someone mentioned "The Sun a Small Star" by The Servants upthread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2R-dV6uwYk

and I'm going to throw in "When Daddy Blows His Top" by Frontier Scouts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDYhjZGI7Cs

Going to have to seek more Frontier Scouts methinks!

I think I suggested in the other thread that the Servants sounded like ever earlier GBs as time went on. Didn't realise there was an official video for this excellent example. I understand one of those there people is Luke Haines!?

I know Trembling Blue Stars (the Field Mice chap) named Her Handwriting after "Part Company", though I don't recall an obvious resemblance.

there's also, uh, the goon sax

I was once told Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever sounded like the Go-Betweens but better. The first part proved sort of true, the latter not.

I don't hear many similarities myself: the rhythms, uh, roll too powerfully for a Go-Be's album, and they run out of tunes quickly.

otm re: RBCF.

Re: The Frontier Scouts: They were from Brisbane—there's a compilation. Grant and Lindy play on two tracks (it was a 7" single if I remember correctly), and Robert wrote the liner notes.

Correction—I see they formed in Sydney.

Oh yeah! I've been meaning to pay proper attention to that comp. Thanks.

Re RBCF, it's never been clear to me that they resemble the GBs much more than they resemble... I don't know... The Feelies or The Clean.

Big shout out to the other person who voted for I Had A New York Girlfriend. Forster described the collection of cover versions as "the one mistake of my recording career", but it's a great album to relax to with a glass of wine in your hand. He interprets other people's songs with the same degree of empathy with which he writes about them as a journalist, and the band (including Mick Harvey, Warren Ellis, Clare Moore, Conway Savage & 'Evil' Graham Lee) are strong too.

Here's a chunk of Dave Graney's weekly community radio show from late last month (recorded during a supporter drive) - about half an hour in, he prompts Clare Moore for amusing memories from the recording of the album.

Box set vol 2 up for pre-order - missed the first one but couldnt resist this one
https://www.dominomusic.com/releases/the-go-betweens/g-stands-for-go-betweens-the-go-betweens-anthology-volume-two/box-set

aka the tinypic thread

Ooh at the Go-betweens versions of songs that ended up on Danger In The Past.

Tinypic announced they were shutting down about the time I posted the final image. I considered requesting short term edit privileges or whatever, but I don't imagine that's actually a thing.

Kinda frustrating how they don't mention what versions of songs appear on the bonus discs, unless I'm missing it somewhere?

Also, all the Botany sessions are just Grant and Robert Acoustic aren't they?

Going to see Forster tomorrow in BK!

Fun fact: Lindy Morrison is suddenly a regular fixture in prime time TV ad breaks in Aus now. (Associated interview snippet HERE too.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68CnsqpQO38

woah

Looking forward to the day Stephen Pastel advertises Ralgex or incontinence pads on UK TV.

LOL

Truck, Train, Chiropractor

Bravo.

Imagine not just writing, but delivering lines as good as these:

In la Brisa de la Palma
A teenage Rasputin
Takes the sting from a gin

a) what even is the Brisa de la Palma? Brisbane, presumably? Not to mention squeezing 9 syllables into what are generally 5 or 6-syllable lines for the rest of the song.
b) a teenage Rasputin! Just put that in there.
c) the assonance of 'sting from a gin' and the insouciance of the delivery. One of those lines you wonder if it went through multiple iterations of 'sip from' or 'sling from' but you really hope arrived fully formed.

"When a woman learns to walk she's not dependent anymore"
A line from a letter May 24

A white moon appears
Like a hole in the sky
The mangroves go quiet

XXP: The 1978-1990 sleeve notes talk about an oppressively hot, tropical, Cairns (Qld) setting. The 'Shields St' elsewhere in the song is almost certainly the one in the middle of said town. There's an intriguing claim on ye olde GB messageboard that there was a Cairns establishment called Las Palmas or similar. Maybe he constructed 'Palm Breeze' from that starting point? (Spanish names are not exactly abundant otherwise in Aus, so maybe?!)

http://go-betweens.org.uk/chatroom/messages/6/51.html?1479982384