Has anyone seen this? Supposedly released last month (http://www.go-betweens.net/news.htm).http://www.go-betweens.net/images/GBboxs.jpg
― Jazzbo, Wednesday, 10 September 2014 14:39 (nine years ago) link
mysterious! seems like the people over on the go betweens message board don't know much either -- don't think it's actually out though.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 10 September 2014 15:01 (nine years ago) link
Box set coming in a couple of weeks. I'm very curious about the unreleased stuff on the CDs but honestly if it's all like "78-79 The Lost Album" it's not much more than a curiosity.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 5 January 2015 17:18 (nine years ago) link
i don't know, i love that 78-79 material -- but it is kind of like an entirely different band in a lot of ways. wish i could afford this thing! anyone seen any awesome deals on it?
― tylerw, Monday, 5 January 2015 17:20 (nine years ago) link
Is there much unreleased stuff? My nearest Go-Betweens expert told me that there was very little.
― Tim, Monday, 5 January 2015 17:24 (nine years ago) link
I thought the Jetset doubles ten years ago took care of unreleased material.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 January 2015 17:26 (nine years ago) link
Ah, I've looked it up now; four CDs of rare, hard to-find and unreleased material apparently. I imagine when he said "there's nothing new", he meant new to him.
― Tim, Monday, 5 January 2015 17:30 (nine years ago) link
Rare and hard to find if you don't have the previous reissues, probably.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 5 January 2015 18:25 (nine years ago) link
Is there a track source listing for the CDs in the new box set? I can't tell which are live, demo, radio session, etc.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 3 February 2015 20:41 (nine years ago) link
wondering the same thing, not really willing to crack open the cd shrinks to find out
― don't ask me why i posted this (electricsound), Tuesday, 3 February 2015 21:36 (nine years ago) link
i must say lee remick / karen has never sounded better
― don't ask me why i posted this (electricsound), Tuesday, 3 February 2015 21:38 (nine years ago) link
LP #1 The First Five Singlesside A: Lee RemickPeople SayI Need Two HeadsYour Turn, My TurnHammer The Hammerside B: KarenDon’t Let Him Come BackStop Before You Say ItWorld WearyBy Chance
LP #2 Send Me A Lullabyside A: Your Turn, My TurnOne Thing Can Hold UsPeople KnowThe Girls Have MovedMidnight To NeonEight Picturesside B: CarelessAll About StrengthRideHold Your HorsesArrow In A BowIt Could Be Anyone
LP #3 Before Hollywoodside A: A Bad Debt Follows YouTwo Steps Step OutBefore HollywoodDusty In HereAskside B: Cattle And CaneBy ChanceAs Long As ThatOn My BlockThat Way
LP #4 Spring Hill Fairside A: Bachelor KissesFive WordsThe Old Way OutYou’ve Never LivedPart Companyside B: Slow Slow MusicDraining The Pool For YouRiver Of MoneyUnkind And UnwiseMan O’Sand To Girl O’Sea
CD #1 Life As Sweet As LemonadeRarities Volume One: 1978-79I Want To Be TodayThe Sound Of RainPeople SayDon’t Let Him Come BackLong Lonely DayDay For NightLove Wasn’t Made For You And MeJust Hang OnSummer’s Melting My MindObsession With YouThe NightRare VictoryBig Sleeping CityBeachcomberThe Missing OneI Am An Architect8 PicturesThe Green Light Don’t Mean GoCold Flame (It Burns)Help Or SomethingOnly Sinners CareLies
CD #2 Skeletons That CryRarities Volume Two: 1980-81Don’t Let Him BackThe Clowns Are In TownSerenade SoundSunday NightHopeIt Took You A WeekDay After TomorrowI Know WhyCircle YouI Need Two HeadsAll About StrengthOne WordRed Epaulettes
CD #3 Live 82Rarities Volume Three: Live at The Mosman Hotel April 23, 1982Metal And ShellsYour Turn, My TurnCarelessDistant HandsHammer The HammerPeople KnowI Need Two HeadsOne Thing Can Hold UsNear The ChimneyUndo What You DidBy ChanceIt Could Be Anyone
CD #4 A Suicide Note To SatanRarities Volume Four: 1982-84A Peaceful WreckHeaven SaysOn My BlockCattle And CaneHammer The HammerMan O’Sand To Girl O’SeaNewton Told MeMan O’Sand To Girl O’SeaThis Girl, Black GirlEmperor’s CourtesanAttractionMarco Polo Jr.Sweet Tasting HoursPart CompanyBachelor KissesThe Old Way OutUnkind And UnwiseJust A King In MirrorsRare BreedSecondhand FurnitureThe Power That I Now HaveFive WordsFor Him
― everything, Tuesday, 3 February 2015 23:56 (nine years ago) link
sooooo is it true there are speed issues w/ some of this set? people are saying the lost album stuff is really slowed down?
― tylerw, Tuesday, 3 February 2015 23:57 (nine years ago) link
Yah, that's the tracklisting but it needs annotations. Honestly there's not much unreleased material that's more than merely interesting. "Red Aeppalets" Is probably the best of them. I'm quite happy with the 2cd reissues, I don't think they skipped any studio b-sides.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 00:05 (nine years ago) link
i haven't played the vinyl but the downloads sound 100% correct
― don't ask me why i posted this (electricsound), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 00:12 (nine years ago) link
The "lost album stuff" is all alternate recordings, save one tune. For the record, there are 52 songs on the CDs which are otherwise unavailable on CD.
These are (broken down by CD and listed by track number on the relevant CD:
CD 1:1) I Want To Be Today3) People Say4) Don’t Let Him Come Back5) Long Lonely Day 6) Day For Night 7) Love Wasn't Made For You And Me 8) Just Hang On 9) Summer’s Melting My Mind 10) Obsession With You 11) The Night 12) Rare Victory 13) Big Sleeping City 14) Beachcomber 15) The Missing One 16) I Am An Architect 17) 8 Pictures 18) The Green Light Don't Mean Go 19) Cold Flame (It Burns) 20) Help Or Something 21) Only Sinners Care 22) Lies
CD 2: 1) Don’t Let Him Come Back 6) It Took You A Week 7) Day After Tomorrow 8) I Know Why 9) Circle You 10) I Need Two Heads11) All About Strength 12) One Word 13) Red Epaulettes
CD 3: (live show - all 12 songs previously unreleased)
CD 4:3) On My Block 4) Cattle And Cane 5) Hammer The Hammer 6) Man O' Sand To Girl O' Sea 14) Part Company 15) Bachelor Kisses 16) The Old Way Out 17) Unkind And Unwise 18) Just A King In Mirrors 19) Rare Breed
A lot of stuff (but not the stuff above) was made available on the 2xCD reissues, but these tracks are exclusive to those:
Send Me A Lullaby:1) Hammer The Hammer (except this is on the vinyl LP of the first five singles)3) Just A King In Mirrors6) Near The Chimney8) Exception Of Deception (or How The Broadway Bosses Beat Me Out Of My Bucks)
Before Hollywood:3) I Need Two Heads (except this is on the vinyl LP of the first five singles)7) Stop Before You Say It (except this is on the vinyl LP of the first five singles)8) World Weary (except this is on the vinyl LP of the first five singles)9) Distant Hands10) Undo What You Did 11) Cracked Wheat 12) After The Fireworks
Spring Hill Fair: 2) Rare Breed 10) Unkind & Unwise (instrumental)
The alternate early stuff on CD #1 isn't all that enthralling, but things pick up on CD #2, and the live stuff on CD #3 is amazing and the unreleased stuff on CD #4 UTTERLY LIFE-CHANGING, including "new" versions of Man O'Sand, Cattle And Cane, Unkind And Unwise, Hammer The Hammer and others. The booklet is amazing. I got two signed books, all the other stuff and a handwritten letter from Robert thanking me for being a long-time fan. Sweet.
― crustaceanrebelisback, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 00:12 (nine years ago) link
Some of the stuff on CD1 does sound a bit off, but not terribly. It's not my favorite period so it doesn't bother me.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 00:14 (nine years ago) link
It's true about the unreleased *songs* not being all that much - but there aren't too many of them anyhow - less than a dozen (?)
But the unreleased versions of the Before Hollywood / Spring Hill Fair eras are fantastic.
All the b-sides were on the relevant 2xCDs, with the exception of "Just A King In Mirrors," which makes its first appearance in the original recording here. And it's one of my favourite tunes / versions of theirs!
(Except "After, After The Firewords," the b-side of the Go-Betweens / Birthday Party collaboration, still unreleased on CD but no great shakes.
― crustaceanrebelisback, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 00:15 (nine years ago) link
Kicking myself I didn't buy this on the pre-order.
― michaellambert, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 00:17 (nine years ago) link
But some of those versions are live, single versions and radio sessions, does the booklet identify those?
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 00:25 (nine years ago) link
what is the deal with this? ONLY available by pre-order? wish i'd pre-ordered; yet worried about speed issues. life is hard.
― nerve_pylon, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 14:58 (nine years ago) link
Ugh I know [weeps softly as quiet heart plays]
― tylerw, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 15:01 (nine years ago) link
when push comes to shove, i'm most interested in the book.
― nerve_pylon, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 15:03 (nine years ago) link
i'm pretty annoyed that you have to buy redundant (for me) vinyl versions of the proper albums in order to get the CDs with the unreleased stuff.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 15:06 (nine years ago) link
i mean, i guess it makes commercial sense for them, so good on that, i guess. but no thanks.
xpost me too. plus i already have all of the 2cd sets.
― nerve_pylon, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 15:08 (nine years ago) link
yeah, i've bought most of their albums twice -- older 1-cd reissues, those 2-cd things. i'm not going to buy them a 3rd time. :(
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 15:11 (nine years ago) link
To answer some of those questions - the book is great - beautifully done and informative. There are some discographical notes in the book about the source of the recordings, and there is more information within the booklets for each CD. Between them, the picture is clear. I've copied all the CD tracks to my computer for easy listening and put away the box, but because I AM AWESOME, I shall delineate the origins of the rare tracks for you here:
CD 1:1) I Want To Be Today - studio October, 1978 w/ Peter Walsh on guitar, recorded the same time as the "known" early version of Don't Let Him Come Back."
3) People Say4) Don’t Let Him Come Back5) Long Lonely Day 6) Day For Night 7) Love Wasn't Made For You And Me 8) Just Hang On 9) Summer’s Melting My Mind 10) Obsession With You 11) The Night 12) Rare Victory 13) Big Sleeping City 14) Beachcomber 15) The Missing One 16) I Am An Architect 17) 8 Pictures 18) The Green Light Don't Mean Go 19) Cold Flame (It Burns) 20) Help Or Something 21) Only Sinners Care 22) Lies- all of the above are studio demos (more like decently recorded rehearsals, really) recorded by Gerry Teekman from May to October 1979.
CD 2: 1) Don’t Let Him Come Back - recorded at the Glasgow College Of Technology, April, 1980 w/ Stephen Daly of Orange Juice on drums - this apparently live, but sounds like a rehearsal take - interesting, though it sounds like it was dubbed from cassette
6) It Took You A Week - early studio version from Brisbane, May, 1981 w/ Lindy on drums
7) Day After Tomorrow (this is an early version of "Hold your Horses")8) I Know Why 9) Circle You 10) I Need Two Heads11) All About Strength 12) One Word - all the above tracks recorded in the studio by Gerry Teekman, in June, 1981
13) Red Epaulettes- great live track from Brisbane, 1981 engineered by Gerry Teekman - an otherwise missing classic.
CD 3: (live show - all 12 songs previously unreleased) ACTUALLY, I take this back - "Distant Hands" is the same version as on the 2xCD "Before Hollywood" - but everything else unreleased. This is an *astonishing* live show - the Subway Sect-ish weirdness of the early stuff played with fire and energy. Crucial.
CD 4:3) On My Block 4) Cattle And Cane 5) Hammer The Hammer - recorded live to air for Swiss Radio - sound and performances are amazing. "Hammer The Hammer" particularly fine.
6) Man O' Sand To Girl O' Sea - rejected studio single version
14) Part Company - earlier studio version - great, with some interesting lyrical differences and a wee bit less polish
15) Bachelor Kisses 16) The Old Way Out 17) Unkind And Unwise - early studio demos - brilliant, especially "Unkind And Unwise"
18) Just A King In Mirrors 19) Rare Breed- these are the original 12" b-side versions, unreleased on CD until now JAKIM is way superior to the other version, IMO
Of the otherwise never-released-on-CD stuff, aside from the Swiss radio session (if you count that) and the two listed live tracks and the entirely live CD, there isn't anything "live" of the rare tracks, although a lot of CD #1 is kind of live-in-studio.
Hope this helps!
― crustaceanrebelisback, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 18:51 (nine years ago) link
wonder if there's any chance in hell of this stuff being released in a slightly more affordable/less lavish format? pleeaassse?
― tylerw, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 18:54 (nine years ago) link
as much as I love these guys I have no interest in owning this. The Ryan Maffei essay inside is first-rate though.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 19:14 (nine years ago) link
Crusty, that's exactly what I was looking for, thanks so much! The tracks you didn't list, there's no info for them?
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 19:51 (nine years ago) link
(i think) 3 of the last few tracks on 'suicide note' are from a peel session
― don't ask me why i posted this (electricsound), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 21:51 (nine years ago) link
The tracks I don't list feature on the 2xCD reissues, the Lost Album or the Peel Sessions EP - what I list is the stuff that's not on CD anywhere else, ie, you can only get it here.
― crustaceanrebel, Thursday, 5 February 2015 00:08 (nine years ago) link
Grant's pretty gold in this lolzy Brisbane hometown interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfiOt6CIvEM
My favourite cities in the world - and this isn't one - have harbours....
― yuoowemeone, Friday, 13 March 2015 10:25 (nine years ago) link
haha, that is a good one...still digging through the box set -- so much cool stuff. wonder if they'll do another pressing of it? perhaps in more affordable format? that would be cool.
― tylerw, Friday, 13 March 2015 14:08 (nine years ago) link
I've had my eye on that boxset... and the rising ebay prices make me antsy to nab the one at my former place of employment that's still there. Though I can't justify another splurge.
― Evan, Friday, 13 March 2015 14:37 (nine years ago) link
https://scontent.fsnc1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/t31.0-0/p526x296/13724083_1141012472608806_6727107650706108692_o.jpgForster sez: Here in this post is the cover of my book 'Grant & I'. Seven years in the writing, to be released in Australia and New Zealand on Penguin/ Random House at the end of August. I hasten to add It is currently on prospective publishing house desks around the world, and I hope it will be taken up and available everywhere. The book has been a massive undertaking - to tell the story and learn how to tell it over 87,000 words. I have little idea how it will be received, as only a few people involved with its production have read it, and I am in the days before reviews appear and the opinion of friends around the world arrive. So I am nervous. Knowing though that I gave it my best and when I read some of its pages, I always want to read more. A good sign. I look forward to it being in shops and in people's hands and hearing reactions. My final word on it for now, is that it is a book about a friendship, and one that existed almost as much in the years when we weren't in the band, as when we were.
― tylerw, Thursday, 21 July 2016 14:24 (seven years ago) link
That's one for the Christmas stocking.
― 24 Hour Sex Ban Man (Tom D.), Thursday, 21 July 2016 14:43 (seven years ago) link
Look forward to reading that.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Thursday, 21 July 2016 14:43 (seven years ago) link
B-b-but why is there a picture of Gerard Depardieu on the cover?
― The Professor of Hard Rain (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 21 July 2016 14:44 (seven years ago) link
That looks so great. I only just ordered Robert Forster's 10 Rules of Rock n Roll the other day.
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 21 July 2016 14:55 (seven years ago) link
The book looks just great. As for the big question posed by this thread, well, I have come to think that the Go-Betweens were pretty much what Pavement wanted to be, but with a romantic side Pavement never had. Post-punk with Guy Clark hanging around at the bar, if you will. If anything, Forster and McLennan were every bit the equal of lauded songwriters like Clark or Townes Van Zandt or any number of Nashville or Memphis tunesmiths. I don't own the box, but a friend of mine does, and I've heard the tracks (the remastering of Spring Hill Fair, which is my favorite album when Tallulah isn't, is superb. And the demos and live stuff are often stunning, with the version of "Part Company" particularly stunning. These guys were musical--the oddball meters and foreshortened licks were integrated structurally into song form that hits my ears as addictive as, say, Big Star's stuff, just way more skewed and modest and literary. And the box contains this live-with-John-Peel version of the Spring Hill track "Five Words" that may be the greatest thing the band ever did, or at least the one track you'd play to demonstrate how a literary band with seemingly little song smarts turned out to be songful as hell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4snhqQ9eP24
― Edd Hurt, Thursday, 21 July 2016 15:04 (seven years ago) link
"Five Words" always reminds me a little bit of Seals and Crofts' "Diamond Girl."
― The Professor of Hard Rain (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 21 July 2016 15:10 (seven years ago) link
They probably liked Seals and Crofts.
― Edd Hurt, Thursday, 21 July 2016 15:28 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, the intro to "Part Company" is like Seals and Crofts play Television.
― Tim, Thursday, 21 July 2016 15:34 (seven years ago) link
I'm definitely looking forward to reading that!
― the hair - it's lost its energy (Turrican), Thursday, 21 July 2016 18:06 (seven years ago) link
Review of Forster's memoir:
The heart of the book, though, is about a close friendship with someone who remained unknowable: a “naive boy” who kept a close watch on his inner life, only to pour it out in songs such as the revered Cattle and Cane and its companion, Dusty in Here. Both songs reference McLennan’s father, who died when he was six. Yet as Grant & I (and the band’s career) unfurls, McLennan recedes; as his friendship with Forster is attenuated to a few words or glances, it’s easy to lose sight of him.
And in this, there is an omission. The shadow of heroin hangs over this book, but we don’t know of it until Forster drops the bombshell of his own diagnosis with hepatitis C, a likely consequence of his own dabbling with the drug. It’s well known in rock circles that McLennan was a long-term user; Steve Kilbey’s book Something Quite Peculiar speaks bitterly of McLennan introducing him to opiates, and the journalist Clinton Walker has also written of his habit.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/australia-books-blog/2016/aug/29/grant-i-review-the-go-betweens-robert-forster-grant-mclennan-moving-definitive-portrait
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 30 August 2016 14:10 (seven years ago) link
ha, Lindy pops up the comments there ... knew of mclennan's heroin habits, didn't know of forster's ... seems it was really a big part of the aussie music scene in the 80s.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 30 August 2016 14:13 (seven years ago) link
Thanks for a reminder that this book is coming out.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 30 August 2016 14:15 (seven years ago) link
That photo there sure captures a divide -- the 'regular' McLennan, Forster going for the alien sculpted beauty look.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 30 August 2016 15:41 (seven years ago) link