Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
Showing posts with label Go-Betweens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Go-Betweens. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Monday, May 20, 2019
Monday, March 4, 2019
Robert Forster – Inferno – Album Review
Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2019/03/04/robert-forster-inferno-album-review/
Sunday, October 8, 2017
The Go-Betweens - Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express
The Go-Betweens released their fourth album in 1986. At that time, arguably their finest album to date, it begins with Robert Forster's clarion call Spring Rain. A perfect jangly guitar part introduces Forster's lyric of being "dressed in my white shirt with my hair combed straight", over a beat that can only be described as bouncy, until he gets to the chorus: "falling down like sheets... just like spring rain". Accordion opens The Ghost and the Black Hat, leading nicely into the slow interlocking guitars of Grant McLennan's The Wrong Road with him lamenting over lyrics like "what was that phase, grace under pressure". To Reach Me has a very mid-eighties chord progression, one that could almost feature in a John Hughes movie but for Forster's idiosyncratic voice. Which is not meant in any way to denigrate the track, it has a fine melody and guitar work.
Forster is on fine form on this album and the centrepiece is probably the tense, late night Twin Layers of Lightning. The song is almost like a reflection of Forster's doomed dramatic on stage persona in those days, with keyboards creating suspense and cool, understated but incredibly intricate guitars over Forster's detached singing. It's an almost Smiths-like slowburner. The mood dispelled by McLennan's dramatic In The Core of the Flame, all sweeping violins and swooping basslines and a cracking and yes, jangly guitar solo midway through. It really is guitar heaven on this album with the likes of Head Full of Steam and Bow Down featuring not a note more than necessary, the latter featuring a particularly lovely violin part.
Final song is Apology Accepted. Generally simpler and more direct than what precedes it, again the guitars here are just pristine with a simple plea from McLennan ("I gotta wait to see is my apology accepted"). Nobody really cared at the time. Perhaps their tunes were 'too melodic'? Anyway this is a great one for fans of intelligent guitar pop.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Robert Forster - Warm Nights
Robert Forster's fourth solo album was released in 1996. It's quite the groovy affair kicking off with the slinky pairing of I Can Do and the title track, which feature some great guitar soloing from what could be Edwyn Collins (he's credited on the sleeve). Cryin' Love is more of a vocal tour de force, a sort of arch, egotistical ballad where Forster sings about how "he cannot be as good looking as me", while Snake Skin Lady is slower, a picked acoustic track harking back to his Danger In The Past material with a hint of Springsteen.
Further into the album it gets more uneven. Songs like Jug of Wine, Fortress and Rock n Roll Friend are fairly ordinary. However the album finishes with two decent songs, the sparse, acoustic guitar and cello combination of On A Street Corner, and I'll Jump - a jerky yet relaxed guitar song. I'd say this one is positioned oddly on the album, it doesn't sound like a closing track on an album, more like track 2 or 3. Like some of his best material, the album sounds like nothing initially but gradually grows on you...
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Album Review: The Go-Betweens – Bright Yellow, Bright Orange
2003’s Bright Yellow, Bright Orange was the second album in the second incarnation of the Go-Betweens. It’s probably the weakest of the three, with some of the songs sounding underwritten.
Nevertheless, Caroline and I is a great opener, with Robert Forster playing a summery track that could have come straight from Lou Reed’s Coney Island Baby. In fact, the influence of Lou Reed/Velvet Underground also impacts on Grant McLennan’s Mrs Morgan, which borrows part of the Sweet Jane riff over a lovely yearning chorus (“she never wanted, she never wanted to see the rain”) while guitars jangle and backing vocals coo.
Robert Forster has a couple of decent songs here, the acoustic Hunky Dory-esque In Her Diary has a beautiful string arrangement and the self-referential Something for Myself (“want to get out of folk and get into rare groove”). However his Too Much of One Thing was a chore to listen to when it came out the first time as Bob Dylan’s Lily, Rosemary & the Jack of Hearts (it’s a dead ringer for this song). McLennan’s Poison in the Walls and Crooked Lines are blissfully pleasant without being very engaging, Mexico has an annoying keyboard sound going through it and Unfinished Business sounds like its title, unfinished.
It’s the least essential of the ‘comeback’ albums, but the better songs are worth investigating.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Album Review: Robert Forster – The Evangelist
This 2008 album was Robert Forster’s first solo album in 12 years. It should have been a Go-Betweens album, but for the death of Grant McLennan. It’s very much in the vein of the post-reformation Go-Betweens albums, and can definitely stand beside them.
Opening track If It Rains is a pretty calm, slow number, in the vein of the Velvet Underground’s Pale Blue Eyes (especially the guitar solo in the middle). The playing on this is really pretty, and it has an air of a lost Lou Reed classic, and even the storm sounds towards the end work well.
Demon Days which follows is the centrepiece. Written with Grant McLennan a few days before his death, it displays a hitherto unheard Neil Young influence, sounding like an instant classic, which would fit in seamlessly on any of Young’s more acoustic albums. Forster sounds like a worldly wise Neil Young on his vocals with a simple chorus of “something’s not right, something’s gone wrong”, as the music becomes ever more lovely, with the guitars joined by violin, cello and even celeste. Despite this, it’s a beautifully simple song.
Pandanus picks up the pace a bit with a simple jangly guitar/bass/drums arrangement and arrives in time to stop the album from sinking in a sea of morbidity with some particularly fine guitar on this one. Did She Overtake You follows in a very similar vein, also uptempo before the pace slows again with the title track. This one is a classic dreamer type song, about taking a girl “out of her world and put her into mine… let’s sail away baby, please try and follow me”. Later there’s a lovely image about how “she drove a Golf white diesel… she took me into her world of parks and wooden seats”. Indeed it’s these little details that make this romantic song work, without them it would probably be fairly unremarkable.
Let Your Light In, Babe and It Ain’t Easy were also worked on with McLennan, and are kind of countryish skiffles, with the former featuring jaunty mandolin. But the final track From Ghost Town is another tear-jerker, again in the vein of Neil Young, with plaintive piano. The lyrics however are all Forster, presumably singing about McLennan: “and he knew more than I knew, and I hated what he hated too”, and also “it’s gone, yes yes yes it’s wrong”. It’s deeply sad, yet goose-bump inducing and is then punctuated by a Neil Young style harmonica at the end. It could have been mawkish and sentimental but it’s handled with self-deprecation and sensitivity. It’s powerful stuff.
Opening track If It Rains is a pretty calm, slow number, in the vein of the Velvet Underground’s Pale Blue Eyes (especially the guitar solo in the middle). The playing on this is really pretty, and it has an air of a lost Lou Reed classic, and even the storm sounds towards the end work well.
Demon Days which follows is the centrepiece. Written with Grant McLennan a few days before his death, it displays a hitherto unheard Neil Young influence, sounding like an instant classic, which would fit in seamlessly on any of Young’s more acoustic albums. Forster sounds like a worldly wise Neil Young on his vocals with a simple chorus of “something’s not right, something’s gone wrong”, as the music becomes ever more lovely, with the guitars joined by violin, cello and even celeste. Despite this, it’s a beautifully simple song.
Pandanus picks up the pace a bit with a simple jangly guitar/bass/drums arrangement and arrives in time to stop the album from sinking in a sea of morbidity with some particularly fine guitar on this one. Did She Overtake You follows in a very similar vein, also uptempo before the pace slows again with the title track. This one is a classic dreamer type song, about taking a girl “out of her world and put her into mine… let’s sail away baby, please try and follow me”. Later there’s a lovely image about how “she drove a Golf white diesel… she took me into her world of parks and wooden seats”. Indeed it’s these little details that make this romantic song work, without them it would probably be fairly unremarkable.
Let Your Light In, Babe and It Ain’t Easy were also worked on with McLennan, and are kind of countryish skiffles, with the former featuring jaunty mandolin. But the final track From Ghost Town is another tear-jerker, again in the vein of Neil Young, with plaintive piano. The lyrics however are all Forster, presumably singing about McLennan: “and he knew more than I knew, and I hated what he hated too”, and also “it’s gone, yes yes yes it’s wrong”. It’s deeply sad, yet goose-bump inducing and is then punctuated by a Neil Young style harmonica at the end. It could have been mawkish and sentimental but it’s handled with self-deprecation and sensitivity. It’s powerful stuff.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Album Review: The Go-Betweens – Oceans Apart
The Go-Betweens’ third album after regrouping, released in 2005 turned out to be their last. Song for song it’s probably their strongest. Robert Forster was on particularly good form here, opener Here Comes A City has a great jerky, snappy rhythm to it, all choppy guitar and clever lyrics (“why do people who read Dostoevsky look like… Dostoevsky). It's almost like Talking Heads, when Forster goes "hey, hey, hey" before the guitar solo he sounds just like David Byrne. There’s a change of pace for Finding You, a Grant McLennan mid-paced track featuring mandolin, very reminiscent of REM (when they were good).
Both Forster and McLennan are on good form here. McLennan’s are usually more commercial sounding and here it’s no different, any of his songs would sound good in more mainstream surroundings, especially the uptempo acoustic Boundary Rider.
But it’s Forster’s tracks which represent the edgier side of the Go-Betweens. Darlinghurst Nights is the emotional heart of the album, featuring a great descending acoustic guitar riff, full of yearning, matching the subject matter, concerning itself mainly with memories, and a nice Dylan reference in the bridge (“one more coffee then I must go”). He even tries his hand at a semi-reggae piece, Lavender, which shouldn’t work but actually does, helped in the main by the guitars and some cool-sounding lyrics “she’s got a pair of black boots that kick stones she’s got black moods she calls her own”). It’s a straightforward enough song about a girl who “wears lavender, it’s her scent” but it avoids cliché.
Final track, Mountains Near Dellray, sounds enormous, like it’s being performed on the aforementioned mountains, drifting across the valley. In fact Mark Wallis’ production is a little overwrought, as all the tracks boom out of the speakers, both the uptempo ones and the more delicate ones. A subtler production would have been preferable.
Both Forster and McLennan are on good form here. McLennan’s are usually more commercial sounding and here it’s no different, any of his songs would sound good in more mainstream surroundings, especially the uptempo acoustic Boundary Rider.
But it’s Forster’s tracks which represent the edgier side of the Go-Betweens. Darlinghurst Nights is the emotional heart of the album, featuring a great descending acoustic guitar riff, full of yearning, matching the subject matter, concerning itself mainly with memories, and a nice Dylan reference in the bridge (“one more coffee then I must go”). He even tries his hand at a semi-reggae piece, Lavender, which shouldn’t work but actually does, helped in the main by the guitars and some cool-sounding lyrics “she’s got a pair of black boots that kick stones she’s got black moods she calls her own”). It’s a straightforward enough song about a girl who “wears lavender, it’s her scent” but it avoids cliché.
Final track, Mountains Near Dellray, sounds enormous, like it’s being performed on the aforementioned mountains, drifting across the valley. In fact Mark Wallis’ production is a little overwrought, as all the tracks boom out of the speakers, both the uptempo ones and the more delicate ones. A subtler production would have been preferable.
Ideal listening circumstances: Driving on a sunny day, late morning in spring, on your way to an event you are dreading and looking forward to in equal measures.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Album Review: Robert Forster – Danger in the Past
This was Robert Forster’s first solo album. Released in 1990 after the dissolution of the Go-Betweens, it has a great picture of Robert on the cover. It kicks off with Baby Stones, which is a dead ringer for early REM, around Reckoning direction. The song is driven along nicely by jangly guitar and piano. Forster is a great songwriter, and good guitarist but is a bit of a non-singer, his voice is something of an acquired taste. It’s followed by the River People which is a kind of folky ballad, with down-by-the-river type imagery.
Leave Here Satisfied is more dramatic, with quieter verses before building up to a crescendo for the chorus before the music drops away again. It’s in a minor key, which gives it a different sound from both Baby Stones and most other Go-Betweens songs. There’s a great line on this one: “there was dust on the piano keys, dust on the backyard trees, dust on the doorlocks but not on me.”
After a couple of songs which to my ears are a little disappointing, things improve with the title track, which is a little doomier than what had gone before. It’s arranged like a Nick Cave ballad, with darkish sounding verses and then chorus which is little more than the song-title repeated a few times. But it works really well, as does second-last song I’ve Been Looking for Somebody. It’s the classic story of the guy who never thought he could find a woman but then surprises himself by doing just that.
Overall the album is a little patchy but at least half of it is great.
Leave Here Satisfied is more dramatic, with quieter verses before building up to a crescendo for the chorus before the music drops away again. It’s in a minor key, which gives it a different sound from both Baby Stones and most other Go-Betweens songs. There’s a great line on this one: “there was dust on the piano keys, dust on the backyard trees, dust on the doorlocks but not on me.”
After a couple of songs which to my ears are a little disappointing, things improve with the title track, which is a little doomier than what had gone before. It’s arranged like a Nick Cave ballad, with darkish sounding verses and then chorus which is little more than the song-title repeated a few times. But it works really well, as does second-last song I’ve Been Looking for Somebody. It’s the classic story of the guy who never thought he could find a woman but then surprises himself by doing just that.
Overall the album is a little patchy but at least half of it is great.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Review of the Decade - Part 5: RIP
Layne Staley: 22nd August 1967 – 5th April 2002
There was a depressing inevitability about Layne’s death. As the singer with ‘grunge’ band Alice in Chains, he had struggled with heroin addiction for many years, indeed wrote about it openly on their 1992 album Dirt. He had retreated from the spotlight in his latter years, his last high profile appearance was on MTV Unplugged in 1996 where he appeared to be struggling. He was found two weeks after his death, when police broke into his apartment. Cause of death was adjudged to be an overdose. He contributed vocals and lyrics to all of Alice in Chains albums in the 1990s. Strangely the band reformed in 2008 with a replacement singer, William DuVall. It’s worth checking out the album Dirt, if you like their heavier side, or Jar of Flies for moodier acoustic music.
Nina Simone: 21st February 1933 – 12th January 2003
Nina Simone died of breast cancer in 2003. A giant of the jazz/blues scene, she had not recorded for 10 years or so, yet has a strong body of work which belongs in anyone’s music collection. Hard to distil her career down into highlights, but Feeling Good will probably become her signature tune. A comprehensive ‘best of’ is definitely worth seeking out.
Johnny Cash: 26th February 1932 – 12th September 2003
Cash died in 2003 four months after his wife. While best known for country music, his deep voice and black apparel caused him to be adopted by younger followers in the mid-90s, when he recorded a series of stripped-down, largely acoustic albums known as the American Recordings, which interspersed original songs with unusual covers of artists like Beck, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden.
Elliott Smith: 6th August 1969 – 21st October 2003
Primarily known for guitar-based acoustic music, Elliott Smith recorded a series of albums in the 1990s and early 2000s. Earlier albums were largely acoustic, though later albums saw him achieve a degree of success and an Oscar nomination with a more-fleshed out sound. He did however struggle with depression and drug addiction, and took his life in 2003.
Grant McLennan: 12th February 1958 – 6th May 2006
Played in the Go-Betweens, main songwriter and guitarist along with Robert Forster. His songs tended to be more upbeat than Forster’s, and generally had a more commercial sound (though little commercial success). The band released several albums in the 1980s but split in 1990. He released solo albums in the 90s before regrouping with Forster in 1999 for 3 further Go-Betweens albums. The band’s reunion was brought to an abrupt end due to McLennan’s death of a heart attack.
Ron Asheton: 17th July 1948 – 6th January 2009
See previous entry: http://sacredcowpats.blogspot.com/2009/02/ron-asheton-rip.html
John Martyn: 11th September 1948 – 29th January 2009
John Martyn had a long musical career from the late 60s till the 2000s, with his albums straddling folk, jazz and blues and a slurred vocal style. His 1973 album Solid Air contained his best-known songs, the title track (a tribute to Nick Drake) and May You Never. Much of his work was experimental as he explored ambient sounds, however alcohol and drugs became the ruin of him. He was forced to have his right leg amputated in 2004 and died in 2009 of double pneumonia.
There was a depressing inevitability about Layne’s death. As the singer with ‘grunge’ band Alice in Chains, he had struggled with heroin addiction for many years, indeed wrote about it openly on their 1992 album Dirt. He had retreated from the spotlight in his latter years, his last high profile appearance was on MTV Unplugged in 1996 where he appeared to be struggling. He was found two weeks after his death, when police broke into his apartment. Cause of death was adjudged to be an overdose. He contributed vocals and lyrics to all of Alice in Chains albums in the 1990s. Strangely the band reformed in 2008 with a replacement singer, William DuVall. It’s worth checking out the album Dirt, if you like their heavier side, or Jar of Flies for moodier acoustic music.
Nina Simone: 21st February 1933 – 12th January 2003
Nina Simone died of breast cancer in 2003. A giant of the jazz/blues scene, she had not recorded for 10 years or so, yet has a strong body of work which belongs in anyone’s music collection. Hard to distil her career down into highlights, but Feeling Good will probably become her signature tune. A comprehensive ‘best of’ is definitely worth seeking out.
Johnny Cash: 26th February 1932 – 12th September 2003
Cash died in 2003 four months after his wife. While best known for country music, his deep voice and black apparel caused him to be adopted by younger followers in the mid-90s, when he recorded a series of stripped-down, largely acoustic albums known as the American Recordings, which interspersed original songs with unusual covers of artists like Beck, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden.
Elliott Smith: 6th August 1969 – 21st October 2003
Primarily known for guitar-based acoustic music, Elliott Smith recorded a series of albums in the 1990s and early 2000s. Earlier albums were largely acoustic, though later albums saw him achieve a degree of success and an Oscar nomination with a more-fleshed out sound. He did however struggle with depression and drug addiction, and took his life in 2003.
Grant McLennan: 12th February 1958 – 6th May 2006
Played in the Go-Betweens, main songwriter and guitarist along with Robert Forster. His songs tended to be more upbeat than Forster’s, and generally had a more commercial sound (though little commercial success). The band released several albums in the 1980s but split in 1990. He released solo albums in the 90s before regrouping with Forster in 1999 for 3 further Go-Betweens albums. The band’s reunion was brought to an abrupt end due to McLennan’s death of a heart attack.
Ron Asheton: 17th July 1948 – 6th January 2009
See previous entry: http://sacredcowpats.blogspot.com/2009/02/ron-asheton-rip.html
John Martyn: 11th September 1948 – 29th January 2009
John Martyn had a long musical career from the late 60s till the 2000s, with his albums straddling folk, jazz and blues and a slurred vocal style. His 1973 album Solid Air contained his best-known songs, the title track (a tribute to Nick Drake) and May You Never. Much of his work was experimental as he explored ambient sounds, however alcohol and drugs became the ruin of him. He was forced to have his right leg amputated in 2004 and died in 2009 of double pneumonia.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Review of the Decade - Part 2: Reformations
The Go-Betweens kicked off a trend of bands reforming in 2000. The Go-Betweens had sat out the 90s, leaving Robert and Grant to release solo albums. When The Friends of Rachel Worth came out in 2000, it signified a rebirth for the band, not aping former glories but peddling a brand of world wise melodies which easily stood up with previously released material. After 2 more strong albums (Bright Yellow, Bright Orange and Oceans Apart) the band came to an abrupt end with the passing of Grant McLennan.
American Music Club also (improbably) reformed in 2004. The Love Songs for Patriots album contained a number of great Eitzel songs and bettered any of his solo albums, which served only to prove that he needed the band more than he thought! The band reformed without steel guitar player Bruce Kaphan, and for the follow-up album, The Golden Age, which was a lot smoother-sounding, the only 2 original members were Mark Eitzel and Vudi. Eitzel has continued to put out solo albums also, but the band still appears to be a going concern. Which is a good thing.
The Lemonheads reformed in name but in reality was just Evan Dando plus assorted guests. Their self-titled album in 2006 was a little punkier than their 90s albums and contained some pretty good songs, along with some fairly indistinctive ones, but for the most part it worked. Unfortunately Dando went and blew it all with a pretty useless follow-up album, Varshons, which consisted of some pretty bizarre (in a bad way) covers.
Tindersticks went on a short-term hiatus after 2003’s Waiting for the Moon, during which time singer Stuart Staples (or as he calls himself Stuart ‘A’ Staples) released a couple of solo albums. These didn’t differ greatly from Tindersticks, a little more stripped-down, but dominated by Stuart’s morose croon. 3 of the 6 members of the band regrouped for 2008’s The Hungry Saw which is every bit as good as previous albums, and plans are in place for another album, Falling Down a Mountain, early next year.
Most bizarrely of all, given the untimely death of singer Layne Staley, Alice In Chains reformed with a new singer, William DuVall, and released an album, Black Gives Way to Blue in 2009. And the funny thing is the album sounds like it could have been released a year or two after 1995’s self-titled album. The combination of DuVall and guitarist Jerry Cantrell’s vocals are incredibly close to the Staley/Cantrell combination of before, which is really quite odd when you think about it. Many of the heavier tracks (All Secrets Knowns and Check My Brain) stand up well against the older material, though the slower, less heavy material is a little dull. Word is that pop-grunge kings Stone Temple Pilots, who reformed for touring purposes in 2008 are recording an album, let’s hope it’s not an embarrassment.
American Music Club also (improbably) reformed in 2004. The Love Songs for Patriots album contained a number of great Eitzel songs and bettered any of his solo albums, which served only to prove that he needed the band more than he thought! The band reformed without steel guitar player Bruce Kaphan, and for the follow-up album, The Golden Age, which was a lot smoother-sounding, the only 2 original members were Mark Eitzel and Vudi. Eitzel has continued to put out solo albums also, but the band still appears to be a going concern. Which is a good thing.
The Lemonheads reformed in name but in reality was just Evan Dando plus assorted guests. Their self-titled album in 2006 was a little punkier than their 90s albums and contained some pretty good songs, along with some fairly indistinctive ones, but for the most part it worked. Unfortunately Dando went and blew it all with a pretty useless follow-up album, Varshons, which consisted of some pretty bizarre (in a bad way) covers.
Tindersticks went on a short-term hiatus after 2003’s Waiting for the Moon, during which time singer Stuart Staples (or as he calls himself Stuart ‘A’ Staples) released a couple of solo albums. These didn’t differ greatly from Tindersticks, a little more stripped-down, but dominated by Stuart’s morose croon. 3 of the 6 members of the band regrouped for 2008’s The Hungry Saw which is every bit as good as previous albums, and plans are in place for another album, Falling Down a Mountain, early next year.
Most bizarrely of all, given the untimely death of singer Layne Staley, Alice In Chains reformed with a new singer, William DuVall, and released an album, Black Gives Way to Blue in 2009. And the funny thing is the album sounds like it could have been released a year or two after 1995’s self-titled album. The combination of DuVall and guitarist Jerry Cantrell’s vocals are incredibly close to the Staley/Cantrell combination of before, which is really quite odd when you think about it. Many of the heavier tracks (All Secrets Knowns and Check My Brain) stand up well against the older material, though the slower, less heavy material is a little dull. Word is that pop-grunge kings Stone Temple Pilots, who reformed for touring purposes in 2008 are recording an album, let’s hope it’s not an embarrassment.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Album Review: The Go-Betweens - The Friends of Rachel Worth
This is the first of the Go-Betweens reunion albums. Released in 2000, it finds Robert Forster and Grant McLennan (RIP) backed by the band Sleater-Kinney, who I am not really familiar with.
The material is generally mellower than their 80s material but it does contain some trademark jangly guitars and some very wistful numbers. Grant was always the poppier songwriter, and so it follows here, the album opening with his Magic in Here. Anchored by a brittle yet beautifully constructed riff, it ambles along nicely before leading into Robert's wonderful Spirit. It has a simple but utterly addictive guitar figure powering this mellow, elder-statesman like song. The flamboyant Robert Forster persona of yore has been replaced by a world-weary, wistful storyteller, and it suits him well.
2 more uptempo tracks follow, where the guitars have been beefed up a little, particularly on German Farmhouse, which is a Lou Reed-like rocker talking of his years of seclusion(!).
Most of the rest of the material is mellower though in general more downbeat than their previous material. It still contains 'sunshine', though it's more like winter sun breaking over a frosty landscape.
It's a very pleasant listen which should appeal to fans of the band and any new listeners wondering if they should check them out. Yes you should.
The material is generally mellower than their 80s material but it does contain some trademark jangly guitars and some very wistful numbers. Grant was always the poppier songwriter, and so it follows here, the album opening with his Magic in Here. Anchored by a brittle yet beautifully constructed riff, it ambles along nicely before leading into Robert's wonderful Spirit. It has a simple but utterly addictive guitar figure powering this mellow, elder-statesman like song. The flamboyant Robert Forster persona of yore has been replaced by a world-weary, wistful storyteller, and it suits him well.
2 more uptempo tracks follow, where the guitars have been beefed up a little, particularly on German Farmhouse, which is a Lou Reed-like rocker talking of his years of seclusion(!).
Most of the rest of the material is mellower though in general more downbeat than their previous material. It still contains 'sunshine', though it's more like winter sun breaking over a frosty landscape.
It's a very pleasant listen which should appeal to fans of the band and any new listeners wondering if they should check them out. Yes you should.
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