Go-Betweens

[longhouse]

It was nice to discover this clip of the Go-Betweens in which Robert Forster is playing lead on Ric 325 (or 350?). If you're unfamiliar with the Gobies, give 'em a tumble. Forster/McLennan (RIP) are one of the best songwriting tandems this side of Lennon/McCartney.



'Bye Bye Pride' with Ric and the lovely Amanda Brown playing oboe!



Here's another clip with the Ric.

[jimk]

All in all, it's a good band with some real potential, I think. I give them high marks for the unconventional instrumentation, violin and oboe. That's great! I'd like to hear more of that sort of thinking and arranging.

They fall down a bit on their vocal arrangements on Bye Bye Pride and Right Here. The Rickenbacker player is under utilized and the unison singing is ineffective in my judgment.

I'm glad to see the Rickenbacker player got a feature on Part Company. So he can sing. I think if the group worked out some good, tight 3 part harmony, they'd really take off.

These three vids don't demonstrate the guitar skills of the two guitarists much. So it leaves me with the feeling that the violinist/oboist carries the bulk of the instrumental work.

So these would be my suggestions for the band:
1. improve the vocal harmony
2. work on the guitar skills.

The song writing is pretty good. They've got that down.

JimK

[longhouse]

Sadly Jim, they are no more. Grant McLennan died a few years ago. All of his solo releases were critical smashes. Almost all of the Gobies albums were/are lauded by critics to this day.

You might remember this track (from the height of the Aussie invasion). Listen to the gorgeous lead break in the middle.


Need to find out what guitar Amanda's playing here...

[chucksimms]

Part Company was one of my favourite songs from the '80s. The guitar breaks are a lot more prevelant on the studio version. Some wonderful tunes.

[jimk]

Sadly Jim, they are no more. Grant McLennan died a few years ago. All of his solo releases were critical smashes. Almost all of the Gobies albums were/are lauded by critics to this day.

You might remember this track (from the height of the Aussie invasion). Listen to the gorgeous lead break in the middle.


Need to find out what guitar Amanda's playing here...

The '80s, eh? Well that explains a lot of my ingnorance I was actively paying no attention to rock'n'roll during that decade but rather concentrating on traditional American folk music. Oh well.......
JimK