Grant McLennan of the Go-Betweens Dead
It was only about 5 months ago that Eva put on a compilation a friend had made for her years, and i first heard the song "Streets of your town" mixed in with a bunch of other less memorable tracks. I remember thinking, wow... This is really good pop. Really good. I didn't even feel embarrassed to sing along; "It was the Go-betweens" she said, "You've never heard of the Go-betweens?" I hadn't, though, for that matter I hadn't heard, of or otherwise, a lot of bands from the 80's - I was a bit skeptical of the time period, mostly I considered it a wasteland deserving only of retro night dancefloors; but with Eva's help I was warn down, and eventually gave in to the 80's slick sunshining Pop, primitive electronic beats and passionate heart on sleeve, open mouthed vocals, now I can't imagine a record collection; Ipod shuffle, or mix tape, without this time period.With the Close of the 80's The Go-Betweens had six albums under there belt, including the lovely poptastic 16 Lovers lane and the moody stripped back Before Hollywood - then abruptly they called it quits, going their separate ways. 10 years passed and no news or much interest from the music world; Slowly however their name started getting dropped in Indie-pop circles, and in 2000 they resurfaced, putting out 3 more albums in the last 6 years including the lovely "Oceans Apart".
And just like that, 1/2 of the writing duo is dead - i for one was excited to see what they were going to do next, now we'll never know. My advice would be to get out there and find one or two of their albums, it's summer now, and it's hot - These Aussies wrote perfect summertime music. And speaking of summer, I'm on my way out for breakfast at Sneakers and a walk on the Waterfront; being alive really is great yeah?
1 comment:
Mr T
thanks for giving the 80s cheeseball music a try even though it was/is against your better judgement. despite all the crap 80s music that you might find at various late night frat-populated dance halls, there is some good shit out there and you are already hot on its trail.
too bad about the go betweens being kaput. it also makes me sad that kirsty maccoll drowned not too long ago, more music i won't be hearing anymore new stuff of, oh and elliott smith had to go and stab himself with a knife as well. dang it, is there anyone left alive to make music these days??! and who dies in their sleep at 45? that is just weird. next musician who dies will no doubt do so via defenestration...oi.
Post a Comment