Tracklisting | Solo Discography | Downloads | Buy
Robert Forster and Grant McLennanIntermission - The Best Of The Solo Recordings
Released 18 June 2007
-
The best solo recordings from the founding members of
the Go-Betweens on 2 individual CD sets - 26 tracks recorded between 1990 and 1997
- Contains special 28 page lyric book
After The Go-Betweens disbanded in 1989, founding members and songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan recorded four albums each. Here their radically different writing styles were showcased; Robert arch and dramatic, Grant earnest and romantic.
It is important to remember that throughout the 80s The Go-Betweens were a cult band and their solo outings would sadly court only a rarified audience. But for those who took a punt on such magical albums as Horsebreaker Star and Danger In The Past the rewards were plentiful and contained some of their best work. It was a reminder of how great these two songwriters were - Forster's isolated vignettes of longing and McLennan's great outpourings of sublime pop music were thrown into relief.
All the solo albums are worth investigating but for now, this release presents some of the greatest highlights from a fascinating chapter in their career.
Grant McLennan passed away at his home on 6th May 2006. One of the last things he did as a Go-Between was choose the thirteen songs for this CD. He also suggested the title "Intermission". While Grant's disc is a chronological journey through his catalogue, Robert elected to mix up the running order, book-ending his disc with the track Falling Star, the second version being an unreleased out-take from the Danger In The Past sessions, long forgotten and only rediscovered when mastering the album.
Robert Forster
- Falling Star
- Baby Stones
- 121
- I've Been Looking For Somebody
- I'll Jump
- Beyond Their Law
- I Can Do
- The Circle
- Cryin' Love
- The River People
- Frisco Depot
- Danger in The Past
- Falling Star (Original Version)
Grant McLennan
- Haven't I Been A Fool
- Easy Come Easy Go
- Black Mule
- The Dark Side Of Town
- Lighting Fires
- Surround Me
- No Peace In The Palace
- Hot Water
- I'll Call You Wild
- Horsebreaker Star
- Malibu 69
- One Plus One
- In Your Bright Ray
"McLennan and Forster are the kind of lavishly talented artists who, you suspect, would find it hard to make a bad album"
- Alexis Petridis, The Guardian
"Grant McLennan is one of today's best songwriters. He's also an effortless melodist who can both rock and break your heart"
- Rolling Stone 1995
"In the Indian summer of a formal moment, singer-songwriter-guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan joined to fashion as deep and intricate and prematurely mature a body of traditional relationship songs as, oh, Joni Mitchell herself, who should only have accessed half their empathy and synergy. The lyrics, which set oblique but never opaque romantic vicissitudes against a diffidently implied existential world-historic, aren't the secret of their lyricism, and why should they be? These Aussies make music, with Robert Forster's intensely sincere vocals and Grant McLennan's assertive but never pushy hooks pinning down the melodies. There are no popsters writing stronger personal love songs. I doubt there are any page poets envisioning more plangently, either."
- Robert Christgau, The Village Voice
| Grant McLennan | Robert Forster |
| Watershed, 1991 | Danger in the Past, 1990 |
| Fireboy, 1993 | Calling From A Country Phone, 1993 |
| Horsebreaker Star, 1994 | I Had A New York Girlfriend, 1994 |
| In Your Bright Ray, 1997 | Warm Nights, 1996 |
Grant McLennan - Easy Come, Easy Go
Grant McLennan - Fingers
Grant McLennan - Lighting Fires
Grant McLennan - Word Gets Around
Robert Forster - Baby Stones
Robert Forster - Cryin' Love
Click to download high resolution artwork
Click to download high resolution photographs
The Go-Betweens... tell tales
A 1996 interview with Grant McLennan and Robert Forster discussing the first six Go-Betweens albums. The interview is 55 minutes long and features extracts from the records and you can download it here (31mb mp3).
Intermission is available to order online from all these retailers:
Amazon | US | UK | France | Germany | Play | HMV
