The Go-Betweens

[historyman]

It must be one of the biggest and unimaginitive cliches in music - "this band should've been bigger/more famous than they were" - but surely this phrase applies to The Go-Betweens.

They were - quite simply - superb. I only discovered them a few years ago but they very quickly captured my imagination and imo displayed a canny ability to write songs that appeal to every different mood that you can experience whilst listening to music.

A few highlights as a reminder to fans on here or as an introduction if you've never really heard much of their work before:

Cattle And Cane

Bachelor Kisses

Spring Rain

Right Here

Quiet Heart

Their music seems all the more poignant since Grant McLennan is no longer with us having died of a heart attack in 2006.

I'll get around to doing a top ten once I've whittled down my long list of favourites.

Any fans?

[ad hoc]

The Go-Betweens

I preferred the Triffids. But yes, I am/was a fan of the Go-Betweens.

Did you know that a public vote in Brisbane on the naming of a new bridge a few years ago, resulted in it being named the Go-Between Bridge? Which I think is a fantastic name for a bridge anyway, but as it's also commemorating some of Queensland's finest, it's perfect

[delicatemoth]

The Go-Betweens

That's a great fact, ad hoc.

A very nice thing about the Go Betweens, which stems from their combination of musical quality/accessibility and relative obscurity, is that they are a really good group for getting people into. The sort of band you'll play to someone and the next time you see that person they'll have all the albums.

Dear, lovely Grant at his best

[Sundeporino]

The Go-Betweens

I saw em a couple of times in the late 80s. Everyone Ive ever played "Batchelor Kisses" too has been unable to understand why it wasnt a huge worldwide hit.
If anyones interested I discovered a GoBetweens forum last week while searching for Magazines current tour info.

Some of their albums were released on cd recently with an extra cd of 'extras". Ho hum. I considered "upgrading" mine immediately but couldnt justify it at the prices asked. A few weeks later I wandered into my local Oxfam shop and there sat the deluxe versions of three different albums for £1.99 each. Sorted.

[Taylor]

The Go-Betweens

I've never quite got this idea that The Go-Betweens should have been massive, and it's a mystery that they weren't, etc etc. I love them, but if you listen closely it's pretty obvious why they never made it big. They're very dry and wordy, they don't really do hooklines in a way that could be thought of as commercial, there's nothing much for an average pop-picker to hang onto. Their skinny, jerky post-punky stuff was too adult-orientated for the indie crowd, while their more overtly AOR-type stuff was way too idiosyncratic for fans of "No Jacket Required" or "Mary's Prayer". Even their image was uncommercial - too geeky to be mainstream, too old and straight-looking to be 'cool'. They were a cult band from head to toe, never could have been anything else.

Fantastic, though.

[WOM]

The Go-Betweens

From last time.

[Sundeporino]

The Go-Betweens

Reading the last GoBetweens thread has reminded me that I actually saw em once back then, old age has me confusing them with The Triffids.

The reason they werent massive was their lack of conventional singing voices. The almost "spectoresque" production on Batchelor Kisses manages to disguise their vocal shortcomings better than on any other release.

[moo cowe]

The Go-Betweens

I think they're great. I bought 16 Lovers Lane on a whim, can't remember now if it was because I liked the cover or the name of either the band or the album. I played that casette until it wore out.Got most of theirs now. Great beautifully crafted songs.

[Renart]

The Go-Betweens

I love them, a great combination of melancholy and wit and beautiful tunes. I first heard them through "Cattle and Cane" on the radio when I was in high school. My favorites:

"Lee Remick"
"Cattle and Cane"
"Man O'Sand to Girl O'Sea"
"Streets of Your Town"
"Right Here"
"Spring Rain"
"The House that Jack Kerouac Built"
"Draining the Pool for You"

All the singles, really.

[Purves Grundy]

The Go-Betweens

historyman wrote:

displayed a canny ability to write songs that appeal to every different mood that you can experience whilst listening to music.

I can't pretend to have heard everything they've ever recorded, but on the basis of what I have heard of theirs I think they'd have struggled to write a a song that would appeal to me when I was feeling horny, or when I felt like smashing up a phone box for the hell of it.

They always struck me as music to go fishing to.

[Edie St Pierre]

The Go-Betweens

Yeah, music to have a fag walking around a harbour aimlessly too.

I liked them, but they were one of the gentlest bands ever weren't they?

Their twin emotional extremes were standing gazing out the window because you feel sad or standing gazing over a bridge because you feel happy.

[historyman]

The Go-Betweens

Purves Grundy wrote:
[quote]historyman wrote:

displayed a canny ability to write songs that appeal to every different mood that you can experience whilst listening to music.

I can't pretend to have heard everything they've ever recorded, but on the basis of what I have heard of theirs I think they'd have struggled to write a a song that would appeal to me when I was feeling horny, or when I felt like smashing up a phone box for the hell of it.

[quote]

Well fair point. I suppose I should have personalised things a bit more by referring to moods that I experience rather than generalising.

So which songs would be on your 'smashing up a phone box for the hell of it' playlist? Assuning you can find one that isn't already vandalised presumably...

Still working on my Gobies top ten...

[Purves Grundy]

The Go-Betweens

haven't put together a full top ten, but this would be number 1.

[anton pulisov]

The Go-Betweens

The second part of Cattle & Cane is damned close to musical perfection.

[GypsyDownUnder]

The Go-Betweens

Saw them live a few times. First was as support to REM on the Green toor in 1989, Festival Hall, Melb. I think.

Bloody great.

Time to play 16 lovers and have a quiet beer.

[Sits]

The Go-Betweens

Thanks historyman and everyone for a great thread (and the link to the 2008 one).

I must admit in my 13 years in Oz I have tended to pre-judge local music based on some of the stuff that gets regular airplay and is deemed "classic" on the radio here, most of which I can't stand such as:

Australian Crawl - Boys Light Up

and one which is right down there with "Wind Beneath My Wings" and "I've Never Been to Me" in my book:

Skyhooks - Horror Movie

But there have been notable exceptions such as the excellent and underrated Augie March. Although this is the obvious selection (their only big hit) it's a great track:

One Crowded Hour

So one way or another I completely missed the Go-Betweens. That will now be corrected.

Thanks again.

[Guest]

The Go-Betweens

The three comeback albums between 2000 and 2005 aren't as great as the half dozen from the 80s but they shouldn't be ignored especially the final album Oceans Apart. Finding You, from Oceans Apart, is one of the great Grant McLennan songs.

[historyman]

The Go-Betweens

Melbourne Arab wrote:

The three comeback albums between 2000 and 2005 aren't as great as the half dozen from the 80s but they shouldn't be ignored especially the final album Oceans Apart. Finding You, from Oceans Apart, is one of the great Grant McLennan songs.

I was wondering about that. I was aware of them but I've been afraid to check them out, tbh, in case it spoils their concise '80s legacy. Maybe it's time to take the plunge.

Meanwhile here's my Top 10:

Cattle and Cane

Dusty in Here

River of Money

Spring Rain

Right Here

Bachelor Kisses

Streets of Your Town

Quiet Heart

The Old Way Out

The Clarke Sisters

I've never understood the idea that 'Streets Of Your Town' is dull and boring. Although it has polished production I think that compliments the dark lyrics in a typically perverse Go-Betweens way.

[Satchmo Distel]

I've just heard Cattle and Cane for the first time in ages. An absolute gem.

[Belhaven]

The Go-Betweens is one of the rare bands I never stopped listening to after having first been introduced to them sometime in the early 90s. At the time they had split up and I had to play catch up while at the same time listening to their solo efforts, of which Robert Forster's 'Danger in the past' is my favourite album. 'The Evangelist' from 2009 is the most touching, being Forster's first album after Grant McLennam passed away.

Only last week I watched a You Tube video of one their concerts, Live At the Tivoli in Brisbane, sometime in 2005,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdHmAZkz7Gg

It is somehow fitting that they became pals with Edwyn Collins and Roddy Frame while they stayed in Britain. They all seem like genuinely nice people.

[steveeeeeeeee]

I find Grant McLennan is quite unique as a singer songwriter; dull vocals, no real hooks in his songs but writes songs that tear you apart emotionally for reasons I struggle to explain.

Beyond that, has anyone heard The Goon Sax? They're pretty good and feature Robert Forster's son.

[Greenlander]

The most incredible thing about the Go-Betweens is that McLennan was the wild bohemian and boozer while Forster the all-Australian, cricket loving, family man because I'd never have guessed that from any photograph of the pair of them.

Forster's Grant & I is a wonderful book.