Stale bread and paper without privilege, if you live here, learn the language
When I was travelling through the Peloponnese in 1996 with Tamsin, we came across a very pleasant Australian couple, Brendan and Fiona, who were on their honeymoon. We had no thoughts of living in Australia at that point, but nevertheless Brendan and I rapidly bonded over the music of The Go Betweens.
And a quarter of the century later, in my safe Melburnian home, I’d conclude that perhaps the greatest of all Australian bands are the one Brendan and I discussed in a mountainside Arcadian village back then. If there is a distinctive Australian sound, for me this is it. Distilled through classic Americana, refined in the crucible of punk and post-punk in their homeland and the UK, they wrangled their influences into a sound uniquely their own.
Time drags on Sundays spent in Mayfair, with all your riches, why aren't you there?
I would not for one minute wish to downplay the importance of the other members of the band, Lindy Morrison’s complex time signature which underpins ‘Cattle and Cane’ being but one case in point. Amanda Brown added a new dimension as a multi-instrumentalist late in the piece.
But Grant and Robert were the John and Paul of the Antipodes, striving to outdo each other, as per their Liverpudlian forebears. Grant with the more melodic ear, like Paul. John and Robert less comfortable, spikier, but both still capable of heartfelt melancholia as well as art school experimentation.
I took the wrong road round, started out Oliver, ended up Fagin
I have friends who don’t especially care for the final album, 16 Lovers’ Lane - too gentle, gone soft - but it’s never as simple as that with the GBs. Within the The Streets of Your Town dwell the battered wives. Brisbane might seem like paradise from the outside, but like a David Lynch film, there’s ugliness behind the façade of picket fences and picnics on the oval.
So, here’s a selection of Grant and Robert’s compositions, with some of the bands they influenced woven into the fabric. I hope you like it.
Tracklist:
Head full of steam, The Go Betweens
Midweek midmorning, The Lucksmiths
Depth of field, The Sea Pinks
Magic in here, The Go Between
Falling down the stairs, Even As We Speak
The last dance, Disco Inferno
The wrong road, The Go Betweens
Heaven, Popstrangers
Rue savage, Dub Noir
The guilty office, The Bats
Rock and roll friend, The Go Betweens
Make time for love, The Goon Sax
Siesta, The Zebras
Streets of your town, The Go Betweens