The Go-Betweens.html



The Go-Betweens were an internationally influential indie rock band from Australia, formed by guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan in Brisbane in 1977.

Biography

Early on Robert Forster and Grant McLennan were joined by Lissa Ross (drums 1978) and Tim Mustapha (drums 1978–1979) then, during their "classic" period by Lindy Morrison (drums 1980–1989), Robert Vickers (bass 1983–1987), Amanda Brown (violin, oboe, guitar, backing vocals 1986–1989) and John Willsteed (bass 1987–1989) and, in their reformation, by Glenn Thompson (drums 2002–2006), and Adele Pickvance (bass 2000–2006).

The focal point of the group was the songwriting skills of Forster and McLennan, described by Village Voice critic Robert Christgau as "the greatest songwriting partnership working today." Each developed a distinctive but complementary style: Forster's songs were angular and angst-ridden, making much use of irony and unusual lyrical imagery, while McLennan's were generally softer and more sensitive, his lyrics often based on character study and reported speech.

The band's first recordings ("Lee Remick", "Karen" - both 1978 - and "People Say", 1979) were simple pop tunes with a rough New Wave edge, an obvious blend of pure pop influences such as The Monkees with the gritty simplicity of The Velvet Underground. By their first official album, 1982's Send Me A Lullaby, they had developed a subtler sound consisting of dry semi-spoken vocals, complex lyrics and melodic but fractious guitar pop influenced by contemporary bands such as Television, Wire and Talking Heads. In 1979, the group had left Australia, first for Glasgow, where they briefly joined the roster of cult independent label Postcard, then following their friends and contemporaries The Birthday Party to the busier music scene in London. Their second LP Before Hollywood (1983) established the group as cult favourites in the UK, McLennan's "Cattle And Cane" becoming a large hit on the independent charts.

Their albums Spring Hill Fair (1984) and Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express (1986) received particularly strong reviews, and showed the band gradually moving towards a smoother and more contemporary sound, while retaining elements of their idiosyncratic early style. Their later LPs Tallulah (1987) and 16 Lovers Lane (1988) were the group's most commercial offerings yet,

The Go-Betweens spent much of the 80s touring, regularly producing such alternative radio hits as "Spring Rain" (1986) and "Streets of Your Town" (1988), without ever securing a UK top 75 chart single - a fact which mystified their supporters in the press, to the point where this "scandalous" lack of popular success became a cliché when writing about the band. However, there were several very minor chart successes for the band, starting with "Spring Rain", which sneaked in to the lower rungs of the Australian charts in 1986, peaking at #92 and becoming the band's first ever chart hit. The following year, "Right Here" similarly rode low on the UK charts, topping out at #82. Then in 1988, "Streets of Your Town", the first single from 1988's 16 Lovers Lane, became the band's biggest chart hit in both the UK (peaking at #80), and Australia (#70). The follow-up single "Was There Anything I Could Do?" was a #16 hit on US Modern Rock radio stations, and Beggars Banquet, trying to encourage the band's commercial momentum re-released "Streets Of Your Town" in the UK in early 1989, where it charted low once again, peaking at #82.

These minimal successes were hardly the hoped-for commercial breakthrough for the band, and after recording six albums, Forster and McLennan disbanded The Go-Betweens in December 1989.

Forster and McLennan pursued solo careers throughout the '90s but were inspired to work together after they were invited by fans at French music magazine Les Inrockuptibles to perform at the magazine's 10th anniversary.

In 2000, Forster and McLennan reformed The Go-Betweens, assisted by all three members of Sleater-Kinney, and recorded the album The Friends of Rachel Worth.

In May 2001 "Cattle and Cane", written by McLennan and Forster,¹ was selected by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) as one of the Top 30 Australian songs of all time.² McLennan described writing the song:

I wrote (the song) to please my mother. She hasn't heard it yet because my mother and stepfather live (on a cattle station) and they can't get 240 volts electricity there, so I have to sing it over the phone to her [...] I don't like the word nostalgic; to me, it's a sloppy yearning for the past, and I'm not trying to do that in that song. I'm just trying to put three vignettes of a person, who's a lot like myself, growing up in Queensland, and just juxtaposing that against how I am now.³

—Grant McLennan, 1983

The most recent line-up (2005) included Forster, McLennan, Adele Pickvance (bass) and Glenn Thompson (drums). In October 2005, The Go-Betweens finally achieved mainstream recognition, with the album Oceans Apart (produced by Mark Wallis and Dave Ruffy) winning an ARIA award for Best Adult Contemporary Album.

With the death of Grant McLennan on May 6, 2006, Robert Forster announced that The Go-Betweens were no more. Forster has continued to perform and records as a solo artist and has also produced well-received music criticism.

On the eve of the first anniversary of McLennan's death, Triple J & JTV broadcast a tribute concert to The Go-Betweens, recorded in 2006 at Brisbane venue, the Tivoli Theatre. Inspired by this tribute concert, and featuring many of the same artists, a tribute album to The Go-Betweens, Write Your Adventures Down, was released in June 2007 in Australia by The Red Label.

Discography

Singles

Studio Albums

• Very Quick on the Eye (recorded 1981, semi-official release; re-released 2002)
• Send Me a Lullaby (1982)
• Before Hollywood (1983)
• Spring Hill Fair (1984)
• Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express (1986)
• Tallulah (1987)
• 16 Lovers Lane (1988)
• The Friends of Rachel Worth (2000)
• Bright Yellow Bright Orange (2003)
• Oceans Apart (2005)
• Worlds Apart EP (2005)

Compilation Albums

• Metal and Shells (1985)
• The Able Label Singles (1986)
• The Peel Sessions EP (1989)
• 1978-1990 (1990)
• Bellavista Terrace: Best of The Go-Betweens (1999)
• 78 'til 79 the Lost Album (1999)

Live Albums

• Live On Snap With Deirdre O'Donoghue (1999)
• Live In London (2005)
• That Striped Sunlight Sound live CD/DVD (2006)

Singles

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (December 2008)

• All official albums published in the '80s have words with a double L (e. g., Send me a LuLLaby, TaLLulah), except 16 Lovers Lane, which has two words beginning with an L. Bright Yellow Bright Orange, released in the band's second phase, also features a double L.

• The song elements from "Streets of Your Town" was used as the sampled basis for the 2003 single "Just The Way You Are" by the Italian Dance group Milky.

• The song "Streets of Your Town" was used by Prime Television and GWN in their station IDs from 2001 to 2003.

Further reading

• Clinton Walker (1996). Stranded: The Secret History of Australian Independent Music 1977-1991. Pan MacMillan Australia. ISBN 0-7329-0883-3
• David Nichols (2003). The Go-Betweens. Verse Chorus Press. ISBN 1-891241-16-8
• David Nichols (2005). The Go-Betweens (Limited Italian edition). Libera Publishing. ISBN 88-901889-1-X

References

1. ^ ""Cattle and Cane" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/worksearch.axd?q=Cattle%20and%20Cane. Retrieved on 2008-10-27. 
2. ^ Kruger, Debbie (2001-05-02). ""The songs that resonate through the years"" (PDF). Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). http://www.debbiekruger.com/pdfs/aprathirty.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-10-27. 
3. ^ Jenkins, Jeff; Ian Meldrum (2007). "40 Great Australian songs". Molly Meldrum presents 50 years of rock in Australia. Melbourne: Wilkinson Publishing. pp. 286–287. ISBN 9781921332111. http://nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an41896781. Retrieved on 27 October 2008. 

External links

• www.lomaxrecords.com Latest news on the band
• www.go-betweens.net Official Website
• www.robertchristgau.com US-rock critic Robert Christgau on their comeback
• www.brella.org Extensive 2005-interview with Grant McLennan
• www.beggars.com Extensive Information on Beggars Banquet Records-site
• CNN's Barry Neild writes on the Go-Betweens; why did fame forget them?
• Details of JTV Tribute Concert
• Essay on "Man O'Sand To Girl O'Sea" from Webcuts
• Report on Forster winning the Pascall Prize
• Music Australia Biography: The Go-Betweens