Es gibt Dinge, auf die kann ich mich einfach verlassen. Weihnachten zum
Beispiel. Und darauf, dass mich jedes neue Album von Grant McLennan und
Robert Forster wieder überraschen wird. Sicher nicht, weil sie sich
ständig neu erfinden. Nein, ihr Wert liegt in der beständigen
Qualität, die ihre Songs auszeichnet. Und dennoch: Beim ersten Anhören
von Oceans Apart war ich echt platt: So rauh und gleichzeitig reif, so
gelassen und dennoch kraftvoll, so erdverbunden und dennoch verspielt-reichhaltig
erleb ich sie fast zum ersten Mal. McLennan und Forster sind kompositorisch
zusammengewachsen und verstehen es gleichzeitig, uns so nebenbei in 10
Songs die Essenz britisch-geprägter Gitarren-Pop-Musik zu kredenzen.
Auf einem erdigen Fundament aus Bass und Schlagzeug errichten sie mit
einer fast schon altersweisen Nonchalance ein stilistisch weit gefächertes
Wohlklang-Werk, das mit einer Federleichtigkeit 40 Jahre der schönsten
Pop-Musik-Momente des Vereinigten Königreichs (nicht zu vergessen:
Australiens) Revue passieren lässt. In der glasklaren, ebenso reichen
wie direkten Produktion geben Gitarren n allen Klangfarben den Ton an,
den Melodien Ohrwurmtaulichkeit zu attestieren, ist schon fast untertrieben.
Das immer wieder und beim neuen Album besonders Verblüffende aber
ist, wie es den beiden gelingt, ganz Go-Betweens zu sein und dennoch immer
wieder neue, liebgewordene Erinnerungen wachzurufen; da lassen Bläser
das 6-minütige Darlinghursts Nights beatlesk ausufern, reisst eine
Stranglers-reife Rauheit mit, rifft es wie einst bei Ray & Dave, schmeichelt
es sanft wie bei den Finn-Brüdern, geben uns die Go-Betweens die
erdverbundene Antwort auf Prefab Sprout.
(Glitterhouse)
Auf der Suche nach dem perfekten Pop-Song haben die Go-Betweens viele
Höhen und wenige Tiefen erlebt. Oceans Apart liegt irgendwo dazwischen
und wirkt wie ein entspannter Spaziergang durch unspektakuläre Landschaften.
Auffällig ist, dass die beiden Songwriter Grant McLennan und Robert
Forster dicht beieinander laufen. So kongenial dieses Duo auch sein mag,
so groß seine Kunst ist, Geschichten aus Mitte des Lebens zu erzähllen,
so spürbar war immer die Konkurrenz zwischen den beiden. Was bei
Konzerten meist offensichtlich ist, bleibt auf Oceans Apart weitgehend
verborgen. Und dass sie auf die separaten Songwriter-Credits verzichten,
kommt auch nicht häufig vor. Dadurch gleichen sich die einmal mehr
sehr lässigen, luftigen und nie nach Effekten haschenden, überwiegend
akustischen Pop-Songs erstaunlich an. Da bleibt für die Fangemeinden
von Forster beziehungsweise McLennan wenig Streitmaterial und somit viele
gemeinsame Gelegenheiten, sich über zehn typische Go-Betweens-Songs
zu freuen. Der rockigste ist "This Nights For You", wo
die Gitarre von der Leine gelassen wird. Der intimste heißt "No
Reason To Cry", der auf McLennans ehemalige Freundin und ex-Bandmitglied,
die so bezaubernde Violinistin Amanda Brown, anspielt: "...Been fifteen
years that we spoke / The wounds have healed on my throat... lauten ein
paar Zeilen. Da sollte mal jemand zum Hörer greifen.
(Sven Niechziol, www.amazon.de)
Though it's been two years since Bright Yellow Bright Orange, Oceans
Apart is further proof that the Go-Betweens are still a going concern.
It is their third recording since reuniting after a 12-year hiatus. The
lineup is the same as the last time out: Songwriters and frontmen Robert
Forster and Grant McLennan are joined once more by drummer Glenn Thompson,
and bassist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist Adele Pickvance. In addition,
there is a small wind and brass section on some tracks, and, for a change,
no strings. The band dug into its past for this one, bringing in producer
Mark Wallis, who helmed the sessions for the classic 16 Lovers Lane in
1988. Oceans Apart sounds very little like its aforementioned predecessor,
but that's hardly a problem. Wallis understands the band's subtleties
and the textures they like to evoke better than anyone else they've ever
worked with. His production is more assertive, but hardly excessive. In
fact, he lends the added dimension (he loves keyboards and electronic
percussions) the band's records have lacked since their comeback. The
set opens with "Here Comes a City," a literary rocker by Forster.
Its shimmering, chunka-chunka riff and Forster's vocals feel like a refined,
musical nod to the Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime." It's
also paranoid, clamoring for an edge it doesn't quite get to, and careens
along to an uncertain yet quite arresting end. Things become a bit more
characteristic on McLennan's beautiful "Finding You," with its
lilting guitars, spare, clean lines, and poetic, emotional lyrics that
can open veins with the fine slash of their honesty. The dreamy, pillowy
"No Reason to Cry" is among the more elegant songs McLennan
has ever composed. Its soulful vocal, chorus, and the way Wallis layers
keyboards, vocals, and Forster's distorted lead lines give the lyrics
great weight and depth. It's a truly wonderful pop song. The poetry in
"Darlinghurst Nights" is some of Forster's more poignant, moving
through reverie, grief, and loss. The weave of acoustic and electric guitars,
keyboards, drums, and percussion surrounds his voice, pushing it out in
front just enough to let his words move toward the listener with enough
force to draw her in. In contrast, his "Lavender" touches country
music but never goes there. Loops, keyboards, and washes of guitars carry
the tune somewhere else as a clarinet wafts in from the margin. Once more,
its reverie is in his lyric, with a hint of the previous, as it meets
the solitary present, and it's gorgeous. The electronic beats in "The
Statue" are a bit jarring until the watery, warm, and luscious keyboards
slip underneath subtly, only to be buoyed by a ringing lead-guitar line
and McLennan's vocal speaking his desire without flinching. Forster's
brief, elegiac "Mountains Near Dellray" closes the set with
another sense of place, very different from his opener's. The mood is
pastoral as the guitars wind and slip over one another. In addition, early
editions of the CD come with a six-track, live EP, recorded at the Barbican
in 2004. With its imagination, startling creativity, and sheer pop soul,
Oceans Apart is the first great Go-Betweens' record of the 21st century.
(by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide)
"It is the simple that is hard to achieve" - what
Berthold Brecht wrote about this in "In Praise of Communism" can
also be applied to Pop songs. The often conjured up good, clear Pop song
in itself. Many too many fail.
The Australian Go-Betweens are without a doubt masters of the good song,
ever since Karen, a librarian, introduced them to Brecht and other great
authors. 1978, "Karen", the Go-Betweens first single. Spartanic,
uneven, but whoever heard this record had to loose his heart to this band.
During the 80s, the Go-Betweens were less uneven, but on their six regular
albums Robert Forster and Grant McLennen worked their way up to becoming
the decade's best songwriter-duo of intelligent Indie Pop (in word and
sound) of that decade. Two profiles, occasionally antipodes, that somehow
always found their way back to a whole that was more than the sum of its
parts. On the one side, Robert Forster's somewhat angular-expansive style,
on the other side Grant McLennan's wonderful melodies. "Liberty Belle
& The Black Diamond Express" (1986) was a milestone in Pop history,
which unfortunately was noticed by too few people, "16 Lovers' Lane"
was the title of the equally excellent (provisional) end. The band broke
up, Robert and Grant pursued solo careers.
During the 90s early demos ("The Lost Album") and the Best-of
compilation, "Bellavista Terrace", were also released. The band's
reputation continued to grow, even though the group no longer existed.
That is perhaps why Robert & Grant waited until 1999 to reunite for
a tour. The Go-Betweens were back. And the albums, "The Friends of
Rachel Worth" and "Bright Yellow Bright Orange", from 1999
and 2002 respectively, sounded as if they had never been gone.
2005:
Robert Forster opens the new album, "Oceans Apart", with the
driving song "Here Comes A City". The description of his last
train ride from Regensburg (where he had lived for some years) and Frankfurt
offers evidence of the cause of the album's special spirit and homogeneity:
Robert Forster returned to Australia. There, where Grant McLennan had
been living again. So, they saw each other more regularly, not just meeting
in the studio once every two years with each of them bringing the obligatory
five songs. The democratic sharing of credits and lead vocals continued
as before, but a Go-Betweens rehearsal is still sitting down together,
discussing books and films, sharing friends. The old cliche, but good.
This is a band which also includes bass player Adele Pickvance and drummer
Glen Thompson, both of whom have accompanied Robert & Grant ever since
their solo years.
"Oceans Apart" presents the quartet tighter than they have
ever been. You can interpret the title however you want. Does it stand
for the protagonists' very different styles when it comes to songs? For
the distance between the focal points of their lives and the London studio,
where producer Mark Wallis recorded the album? Robert Forster doesn't
care: "Maybe it's just the name of a bar next to the studio."
What remains the same: Forster is still the storyteller, the chronicler;
McLennan deals with emotional states. But the songwriting comes together.
Forster's and McLennan's hardcore fans will have a hard time identifying
their favorites, even though it is Forster, who usually sets the tempo.
As is the opening track or in the jaunting "Born To A Family".
The epic "Darlinghurst Nights" is not at the center of attention
just because of its six-minute length. This monument of a song is built
up from the acoustic introduction to the furious finale, where horns drunkenly
stagger out of the song reminiscent of "Sgt. Pepper". McLennan's
"No Reason To Cry" can be understood as a greeting to former
band member and girlfriend Amanda Brown: friendly, without bitterness.
Surprisingly, he is allowed the "heaviest" guitar riff on the
album in his "This Night's For You". Moreover it can hardly
be ignored how much care and creativity has been put into the rhythm arrangements.
It could be a groove box setting the tempo ("The Statue") or
rumbling percussion sound painting a background landscape ("Lavender").
"Oceans Apart" is "complete" in the best sense of
the word. Bass and drums provide the earthy foundation, while the guitars
jangle, sparkle and write melodies in the sky. "Oceans Apart"
is not hectic, loose, cleverly light-footed, relaxed. That has nothing
to do with the wisdom of age, but with the timelessness of good ideas.
Great art with a light touch.
(www.tuition-music.com)