The Go-Betweens - what's it all about?

forgive the essays I sure love talking about the Go-Betweens

They sold a lot more records than Microdisney! I'd guess they sold more than the Triffids too, in the UK at least.

Yeah you can always look in the other direction. Sure, they were no U2 or Echo and the Bunnymen in terms of success, but they were also much more successful than Microdisney or the Apartments or Close Lobsters or whatever.

Their career thrived on failure -- that's the story. They needed cultdom to release such tense, uneven albums.

― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

100%. As a NZer, I've always thought of them as occupying an uneasy mid-point between Crowded House and the Chills (probably the closest Flying Nun band to them) in terms of success/cult-dom. Any Aussies want to chime in on how they're currently situated? I get the feeling "Cattle and Cane" is the song everyone covers / makes the APRA lists but 16LL tracks are the ones played on the radio.

Bono praising "Cattle and Cane" in 2006 as one of the best songs of all time did a lot for it.

the story of Grant's unraveling without mentioning heroin.

left with the elephant in the room--

Oh, c'mon, all, it's clear from Forster's memoir that heroin and, later, alcoholism destroyed McLennan. The idea of a grown man over 22 drinking Long Island ice teas depresses me.

I haven't read the book, so was going by prev comment. Seems right it's clear.

From a recent interview, after a few years of seeming to skirt around it: "Forster wholeheartedly rejects rumours that he died of a heroin overdose, and not because he is trying to sanctify the guy. “It seems ludicrous to me that Grant would shoot up heroin at 4pm, just before a hundred of his friends came over,” he says. “Maybe at 11pm when the party was dying down … I think alcohol killed him. It ate away at his body.""

Might be denial but he's pretty unequivocal elsewhere that Grant "walked to" an early death (I think he says that in the documentary extras) and unsparing in ways about his previous melancholy and physical decline that are revealing / heartbreaking enough, and maybe feels that last step is too ghoulish to take.

I find it even slightly more painful tbh to think of someone finally getting the life they want and then being taken by the cumulative result of previous heavy living. Cruel.

Thanks. Yeah, the longtime affects of alcohol and speedy drugs, especially, can really keep affecting even people who have cleaned up a while back.

This theory makes sense to me. Reminds me of the sad case of Rick Danko who, after he stopped using, basically ate himself to death iirc.

It was probably a constellation of health reasons, not all alcoholics die before they're 50. His father died young too. In the book as I recall, Robert says Grant had complained of tingling in the fingers and ill health in the weeks before, and had gone to see a doctor. He probably had some cardiovascular blockage that ultimately led to the heart attack.

Forster also has chronic hepatitis thanks to his heroin experiments.

I find it even slightly more painful tbh to think of someone finally getting the life they want and then being taken by the cumulative result of previous heavy living. Cruel.

The last girlfriend of Miles Davis reported that this is how he felt in his final months.

Forster also has chronic hepatitis thanks to his heroin experiments.

So did Walter Becker, who was apparently very unwell for quite a while before he died.

I've been trying to think of a Canadian equivalent to this group. Best I can come up with is if Grapes of Wrath had banded together with their girlfriends in Lava Hay and worked overtime trying to write "literary" lyrics.
90s Canadian equivalent probably Ron Sexsmith, whose songs I haven't found that impressive. But people seemed to be blown away for awhile.

Happy birthday, Mr. Forster!

Oh wow. Happy Birthday, big yin!

I assembled a playlist a few years ago, updated.

this discussion prompted me to look at what's on us spotify and, welp, that was fairly disappointing. oddly it seems all of the pair's solo recordings are there. not complaining, but what the hell?

I've been trying to think of a Canadian equivalent to this group.

Contemporaneous Canadians? I loved the Grapes but they lacked the appealing awkwardness of Forster/McLennan. Pursuit of Happiness had the gender diversity but stylistically weren't at all similar. I dunno, I don't think I could name a reasonable equivalent for them even at the global level.

And yes, a happy birthday to RF!

also on the list of luminaries destroyed by historical excess despite getting their shit together, Rowland S Howard. His death still hurts.

Robert seems to have launched a cereal called Spring Grain and it's not a joke

https://www.facebook.com/robertforsterofficial/posts/pfbid0XR9dC1XNxupnYrji7xdBxkMsWokhJzgXAJ4JHuA1QBbCUbiwMjYTRsnffYyfJfYLl

I am going to the launch event on Thursday morning and will report back.

I began eating muesli in my late teens. I loved the milky mixture of oats and grains and sultanas – and knowing it was good for me. Through the years as muesli became more mainstream, I noticed my morning bowl was becoming more colourful and sweeter. A time came when my doctor and dieticians told me my breakfast was no longer good for my long-term health. The exotic pieces of dried fruit were pushing up my sugar levels. The nuts lurking in the dried fruit were harming my teeth. Something had to change.

I looked for a simpler, tastier, gentler product on the shelves, but I couldn’t find it. What was I looking for? I knew organic wholegrain oats were important. I knew a sprinkle of coconut would be good. Ground sunflower and linseeds were super healthy. A strategically placed sultana would be divine. I remembered Amaranth puffs, the South American superfood. And ground Brazil Nuts, rich in the health-preserving mineral Selenium – every nutritionist recommended them. I mixed these ingredients in my kitchen like an inspired scientist. Until I got what I wanted. The magic mix. Spring Grain.

Now here’s the genius part. It’s your muesli. I’m giving you the basics, a cereal that works beautifully by itself. However, if you want to augment your muesli experience you can. Add half a chopped pear one day. A handful of berries the next. The corporations aren’t sweetening your muesli – you are. Add your chosen milk. And as a final treat, perhaps a loving spoonful of natural yoghurt on top. How will it taste? Just like Spring Grain.

https://robertforsterspringgrain.tmstor.es/product/117976

delivery cost makes this a bit rich for my blood sadly

This is great. My breakfast these days is mostly steel cut oatmeal with nuts and fat-free yogurt so I would definitely get this.

Pick me up in pieces, I'm scattered and broken
Slow, slow muesli

In development: Bachelor Knishes

I got as far as "falling down like wheat" before I gave up trying to Weird Al it

dude like his breakfast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV-mi0bFpaI

Draining the Bowl for You

Was There Anything I Could Chew?

Wheats of Your Town

Head Full of Cream (of Wheat)

and their steel-cut oats, their lovely steel-cut oats
the Clarke sisters

Cattle and Grain

Sorry, doesn’t work, too close to the original

I can't wait to see if my
Amaranth's accepted

Graining The Pool For You

er, Graining The Bowl For You

Sorry, doesn’t work, too close to the original

But that makes the song all the more viable for advertising - they missed their chance to cash-in with Quaker Oats!

Joking aside, it's strange how old white guys are like the go-to face for breakfast grains now, between the Quaker dude, the late Wilford Brimley, Bob's Red Mill and now Robert.