More Go-bees goodness

Here's another very cool Go Betweens soundboard recording from the mid-80s that's recently emerged seemingly outta nowhere.

This features many of the classic older songs that they stopped playing in later years, as well as an early version of  In The Core Of A Flame, released on the following years classic Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express - in some peoples opinion (including mine) the best Go-bees album. This recording also features lesser known b-sides Just Right For Him (dedicated to legendary Aussie pub rockers Mental as Anything) and Rare Breed.

As mentioned previously, I'm a sucker for narratives and spoken word lyrics, and this recording features one of the best examples of the "genre", the awesome, River Of Money - though I could have done without the repeated emphasis of the syllables of the word repossessed - superb on the album version, but losing it's grandeur when repeated ten or so times in a row as on this recording!

But don't let this minor quibble affect put you off downloading this awesome recording!

The Go Betweens - 1985-12-02 - The Cricketers Arms Tavern, Wellington, New Zealand

01. Cattle And Cane
02. Part Company
03. Unkind & Unwise
04. On My Block
05. Just Right For Him
06. Bachelor Kisses
07. Rare Breed
08. Five Words
09. In The Core Of A Flame
10. Draining The Pool For You
11. That Way
12. People Say
13. A Bad Debt Follows You
14. Man O'Sand To Girl O'Sea
15. I Need Two Heads
16. Hammer The Hammer
17. River Of Money

FLAC: Pt1, Pt2, Pt3, Pt4, Pt5
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The Go-Betweens - 1987-05-10 - Live at the Town & Country Club, London, England

To commemorate the 6th anniversary of the death of Grant (GW) McLennan, here's my favourite recording of The Go-Betweens - at the height of their power in 1987, having just recorded the soon to be released Tallulah album.

So why is this my favourite?

The sound is fantastic - a soundboard recording allegedly recorded by bassist Robert Vickers!

And the set list is to die for - Part Company, The Clarke Sisters, Head Full Of Steam, Karen, and my all time Go-Betweens faves, Apology Accepted and When People Are Dead. Astonishing to think the latter was released as a B-side, having been recorded too late to make the Tallulah album - although it was eventually released on the awesome posthumous compilation 1978-1980. However, inexplicably, the classic Cattle and Cane is absent - hence the presence of the YouTube clip above to appease the masses!


The Go-Betweens - 1987-05-10 - Live at the Town & Country Club, London, England

1. Bye Bye Pride
2. Cut It Out
3. You Tell Me
4. Head Full Of Steam
5. Right Here (cut)
6. Man O'Sand To Girl O'Sea
7. Apology Accepted
8. Spring Rain
9. Karen
10. Eight Pictures
11. Unkind & Unwise
12. Part Company
13. The House That Jack Kerouac Built
14. The Clarke Sisters
15. This Girl, Black Girl
16. Don't Call Me Gone
17. When People Are Dead
18. Your Turn, My Turn

FLAC: Pt1, Pt2, Pt3, Pt4, Pt5, Pt6
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GW McLennan

Finally getting around to digitizing some of my VHS video collection. I'm not going to digitize all 30 cassettes though - if I can't find something on YouTube, then I'll digitize it!

First cab off the rank, the late great G Dubya Mc performing "Easy Come Easy Go" on Tonight Live with Steve Vizard in 1991.

Tonight Live was a blatant rip-off of The Late Show with David Letterman, right down to having a "top 7!" When Letterman finally started broadcasting into Australia, Vizard's gig was up, and he disappeared from public view, until being done for insider trading some years later!

Anyhow, enjoy the GW - what a sad loss.

Obscure Australian compilation albums

Here are some bits and pieces from miscellaneous obscure Australian compilation albums that I'm sure most readers would be unaware of....

Happy Patch - Predator (FLAC) and Lucy Jr (FLAC), from The Sound Barrier, a 1993 compilation of Adelaide (South Australia) bands.

Eels - Mr E's Beautiful Blues, from More Music Live From the Panel. The Panel was an Australian talk show. E turned up for an interview and played both Mr E's beautiful blues and Fucker, which I think can both be seen on You Tube. This interview is not the legendary interview conducted a few days later where E joked he loved Melbourne as it was the smack capital of the world!

The Go-Betweens - Head full of steam, and Mercury Rev - When you wish upon a star, from the Studio 22 highlights album. Studio 22 is a late night TV show where bands perform in front of a small live studio audience. The bands are usually little known Australian bands (little known outside Australia, at least), but Mercury Rev popped in after the release of their awesome Deserters Songs album, and graced the show with a set that also included a cover of Neil Young's Motion Pictures.

The Go Betweens - Hammer the hammer, The Triffids - My Baby Thinks She's A Train, and Hoodoo Gurus - Dig it Up, from Triple J live at the wireless album. Triple J is an Australian youth radio station. They have an awesome archive of live shows, including a Birthday Party show from 1983, part of which is streamed here.

Smudge - I Just Get Caught Out, from Right Here - Go-betweens Tribute. A match made in heaven - one of my fave Australian bands covering one of my fave Australian bands. Smudge, of course, released the classic Don't want to be Grant McLennan single, wrongly interpreted by most people as a slag-off! They will be featured shortly on this here blog with a gushing/fawning review of their classic Manilow album

Australia Day

To celebrate Australia day (or I should say, Or-strail-ya day?), a quick post of the Go-Betweens 1984 Peel Session (recorded 21st October, broadcast 29th October), released in 1989. The first two tracks are included on the 2002 reissue of Spring Hill Fair, while the last two tracks are available only on this release.

The Go-Betweens - 1989 - The Peel Sessions

1. The Power that I now have
2. Secondhand Furniture
3. Five Words
4. Rare Breed

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FLAC

G. W. McLennan/The Go-Betweens

I used to think there were no great Australian bands, and I had some weird-assed theories why this may be the case. Some of the more rationale theories were that the sunshine disintegrated peoples brains, or that life was too comfortable here to produce the pain, suffering and mental anguish needed to produce great art! Sure, there were some good bands from time to time, such as Split Enz (Kiwis actually - but we'll claim good ones as our own) and The Hoodoo Gurus, but no great bands.

My thoughts started to change once youth radio station JJJ started transmitting into Adelaide in the early 1990s. In the space of a week I heard The Go-Betweens Cattle and Cane and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds The Witness Song on JJJ. This led me to delve into both bands back catalogues, and I slowly came to the realisation that there were actually two great Australian bands! And then I dug further into Nick Cave's past and found The Birthday Party! Three great Australian bands!

By this time the Go-Betweens had split, and Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, or G. W. McLennan as he became known (apparently it made him sound like an author!), were making their first foray into solo-dom. I was lucky enough to see G. W. McLennan at the Adelaide Tivoli in Adelaide in 1991, at an acoustic show accompanied by Phil Kakulas on double bass. He performed songs from his soon to be released debut album Watershed, his Go-Betweens songs, and a memorable version of Clouds, written by his former Go-Betweens bandmate Robert Forster.

McLennans debut single Easy come easy go came out a few weeks later. This contained two non-album cuts, The man who died in rapture and She's So Strange, which I felt surpassed most of the songs on the Watershed album. Both songs are sparse, acoustic guitar numbers, the latter drenched in reverb, with accompanying double bass and violin, and clocking in at just over two minutes - leaving you wanting (much) more. Possibly McLennans finest moment? The CD single also came with a bonus 5-track cassette Live Last Monday recorded at The Club, Melbourne, Australia, May 27th 1991. This features the aforementioned Clouds and She's So Strange, plus Haven't I Been A Fool and Just Get That Straight from Watershed, and Providence from the Jack Frost album, McLennan's collaboration with Steve Kilbey of The Church.

The Go Betweens eventually reformed in 2000. A highlight of their reunion was their show at the Barbican in London, June 27th 2004, where they performed an eccentric collection of rarely played songs, including early songs such as Karen, the legendary B-side from their debut single. A subset of this performance was released as a bonus CD with the Oceans apart album. The whole performance was available on a double CD Live in London, sold at shows on the Oceans apart tour.

McLennan passed away from a heart attack at his home in Brisbane on 6 May 2006, aged 48. Some of the material he had written for the next Go-Betweens album was used by Robert Forster on his 2008 solo album The Evangelist, including Demon Days, which Forster felt was one of the best songs McLennan ever wrote.

G. W. McLennan - 1991 - Easy Come Easy Go (CDS)

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G. W. McLennan - 1991 - Live Last Monday

1. Clouds
2. She's So Strange
3. Providence
4. Haven't I Been A Fool
5. Just Get That Straight

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The Go-Betweens - 2004 - Live in London

CD 1

01. The Sound of Rain
02. It Could be Anyone
03. Your Turn, My Turn
04. Hammer the Hammer
05. People Say
06. This Girl, Black Girl
07. Make Her Day
08. Karen
09. Magic in Here
10. Poison in the Walls
11. Surfing Magazines
12. Baby Stones
13. Cattle and Cane
14. The Clock


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FLAC Pt1, Pt2, Pt3, Pt4

CD 2

01. Too Much of one Thing
02. He Lives My Life
03. The Wrong Road
04. Right Here
05. Spring Rain
06. Here Comes a City
07. Love Goes On!
08. The House That Jack Kerouac Built
09. Spirit
10. German Farmhouse
11. Bye Bye Pride
12. When People Are Dead
13. Streets of Your Town
14. In The core of the Flame

MP3
FLAC Pt1, Pt2, Pt3, Pt4, Pt5