The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only constant members throughout its existence. Drummer Lindy Morrison joined the band in 1980, and its lineup would later expand to include bass guitarist Robert Vickers and multi-instrumentalist Amanda Brown. Vickers was replaced by John Willsteed in 1987, and the quintet lineup remained in place until the band split two years later. Forster and McLennan reformed the band in 2000 with a new lineup that did not include any previous personnel aside from them. McLennan died on 6 May 2006 of a heart attack and the Go-Betweens disbanded again. In 2010, a toll bridge in their native Brisbane was renamed the Go Between Bridge after them.
In 1988, "Streets of Your Town", the first single from 16 Lovers Lane, entered the Top 100 on both the Kent Music Report chart in Australia and the UK Singles Chart in the United Kingdom. The follow-up single "Was There Anything I Could Do?" was a No. 16 hit on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States. In May 2001, "Cattle and Cane", from 1983's Before Hollywood, was selected by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) as one of the Top 30 Australian songs of all time. In 2008, 16 Lovers Lane was highlighted on Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) TV's The Great Australian Albums series.
Contents
Career
1977–1982: early years
Robert Forster and Grant McLennan met at the University of Queensland, where both were taking a theatre arts course. Forster provided vocals and guitar, while McLennan provided vocals, bass, and guitar; the pair shared songwriting duties. Together, they formed the Go-Betweens in December 1977 in Brisbane, Queensland. The name of the band reflects L. P. Hartley's classic novel The Go-Between. The band made its first public appearance as the support act for the Numbers at Baroona Hall in Brisbane in early April 1978. We performed two songs, and as soon as we got off stage, Mark Callaghan, Robert Vickers – we met them all, in five minutes ... They immediately asked us to play a second show. The band, however, were still without a drummer, having borrowed Gerard Lee for their first show. They had a succession of drummers, starting with Bruce Anthon (ex–the Survivors). With a guest drummer, Dennis Cantwell (the Riptides), they recorded their debut single, "Lee Remick", in May 1978. The song, an ode to the US actress Lee Remick, was released on the independent Able label in September 1978. The B-side to the single, "Karen", was a love song to a librarian. The sleeve depicts Forster and McLennan alongside portraits of Bob Dylan, Che Guevara and Lee Remick. The band sent copies to record labels around the world, with interest shown by the UK arm of America's Beserkley Records. The group's first real drummer was Temucin "Tim" Mustafa, recruited after the recording of "Lee Remick", although he appears on the picture sleeve of the single. The band further expanded with the addition of guitarist Peter Milton Walsh. Beserkley offered the band a contract that proposed the re-issue of "Lee Remick" and "Karen" as two singles, followed by an eight-album deal. The band recorded two more songs for Beserkley in November 1978 (including "The Sound of Rain"); however, when Beserkley went bust weeks later, Walsh left to form the Apartments.
The band's second single, "People Say", which was recorded in May 1979, was produced by the Go-Betweens with Mustapha on drums and Malcolm Kelly on piano and organ. The B-side, "Don't Let Him Come Back", is a farewell to Walsh, who remained friends with Forster and McLennan. From May 1978 to May 1979, the group recorded some tracks live in Forster's bedroom using McLennan's two-track tape deck—they were not released until 1999 as 78 'Til 79 – The Lost Album, which also includes both sides of the first two singles. These songs were simple pop tunes with a rough new wave edge, an obvious blend of pure pop influences such as the Monkees with the gritty simplicity of the Velvet Underground.
In November 1979, the duo left Australia with a plan to shop their songs from record company to record company simply by visiting their offices and playing them. In Glasgow, Scotland, on 28 April 1980, for independent label Postcard, they recorded their next single, "I Need Two Heads", with Steven Daly of Scottish band Orange Juice guesting on drums and Alex Fergusson producing. Forster returned to Australia in June 1980, whilst McLennan continued to New York. They followed Australian contemporaries the Birthday Party to the busier music scene in London. "I Need Two Heads" peaked at No. 6 on the UK independent charts. Upon return to Brisbane they were joined by Belinda "Lindy" Morrison (ex-Xero) on drums in 1980. In November 1980 the band played their first Sydney show at the Paris Theatre, supporting the Birthday Party and the Laughing Clowns. The band impressed Missing Link Records label boss, Keith Glass, which had re-issued "I Need Two Heads" for the Australian market, and offered to release the band's next single. Their fourth single, the first with Morrison, "Your Turn My Turn", was recorded in Sydney with Tony Cohen (the Birthday Party) in April 1981. The single was released in September. They recorded ten tracks as demos in Brisbane during 1981, which were released as Very Quick on the Eye by Man Made Records in 1982, the tracks showed that Morrison's "drum abilities, always a deeply underrated part of the band's appeal, fit hand in glove with the arrangements". By this time, Forster and Morrison were lovers and Morrison was living in Spring Hill, a neighbourhood in Brisbane.
1983–1989
The Go-Betweens returned to the UK and recorded their second album, Before Hollywood (May 1983), with John Brand producing, at the International Christian Communications studio in Eastbourne. It established them as cult favourites while "Cattle and Cane" was released as a single and was "[a]rguably the band's absolute highlight of its earliest years". In Australia, the song had exposure on the national broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)'s iconic pop music TV series Countdown. Their tracks were played on ABC's alternative rock radio station Triple J—although mainly heard only in the Sydney region at that time. Despite the consistent critical acclaim their recordings garnered both in Australia and overseas, the Go-Betweens were mostly ignored by Australian commercial pop radio and never gained a broad national audience. Before Hollywood was described as "more world-weary ... full of deceptively simple yet accomplished songs".
Robert Vickers joined on bass guitar in late 1983—freeing McLennan for lead guitar work. Their next album, Spring Hill Fair (September 1984), was produced by Brand with Robert Andrews and Colin Fairley for Sire Records. The album was acclaimed as "the sound was bolder and more confident", while "Man O' Sand to Girl O' Sea", "Bachelor Kisses" and "Part Company" were issued as singles. In 1985, the band signed with True Tone Records distributed by PolyGram.
Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express, released in March 1986 on Beggars Banquet Records, received favourable reviews, and showed the band gradually moving towards a smoother and more contemporary sound while retaining elements of their idiosyncratic early style. McFarlane claims "[it] remains the band's most cohesive and finely crafted statement". "Spring Rain" (February) and "Head Full of Steam" (June) were released as singles, with "Spring Rain" reaching the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart Top 100.
Amanda Brown on violin, oboe, guitar, keyboards and backing vocals joined later in the year. Within a few months, Brown and McLennan were lovers—many of McLennan's new lyrics were about this relationship. Tallulah (June 1987), produced by the Go-Betweens for True Tone and Beggars Banquet, contained their "most winsome and hummable songs, 'Right Here' and 'Bye Bye Pride'"; while Brown's contributions "added extra lustre". LO-MAX Records released a 2×CD version of Tallulah in 2004; one of the additional tracks, "Doo Wop in 'A' (Bam Boom)", was co-written by Morrison, Brown, McLennan and Forster. In November 1987, the Go-Betweens returned to Australia and John Willsteed (ex-Xero with Morrison) replaced Vickers on bass.
2000–2006: reformation
Forster and McLennan pursued solo careers throughout the 1990s, and McLennan also collaborated with Steve Kilbey of The Church in the studio project band Jack Frost.
Forster and McLennan were inspired to work together again after they were invited by fans at French music magazine Les Inrockuptibles to perform at the magazine's 10th anniversary on 23 May 1996 in Paris. For this performance the band comprised Forster, McLennan, Adele Pickvance on bass guitar and Glenn Thompson on drums.
In 2000, Forster, McLennan and Pickvance went to Jackpot! studio in Portland, Oregon, with members of Sleater-Kinney, and recorded the album The Friends of Rachel Worth (the first album to ignore their "double L" titling tradition).
In 2001 Thompson rejoined the band for the Australian Big Day Out Festival. This line up of Forster, McLennan, Pickvance and Thompson went on to record Bright Yellow Bright Orange and in October 2005, the Go-Betweens finally achieved mainstream recognition, with the album Oceans Apart (produced by Mark Wallis and Dave Ruffy) winning the ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album. Grant McLennan died on 6 May 2006 of a heart attack, and Robert Forster subsequently announced that the Go-Betweens were no more. Forster has continued to perform and records as a solo artist and has also written well-received music criticism.
In August 2006, several of their albums re-entered the ARIA top 500.
Legacy
The focal point of the Go-Betweens was the song writing skills of Forster and McLennan, described by The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau as "the greatest songwriting partnership working today." Each developed a distinctive but complementary style: Forster's songs were angular and angst-ridden, making much use of irony and unusual lyrical imagery, while McLennan's were generally softer and more sensitive, his lyrics often based on character study and reported speech. They never secured an Australian or UK Top 50 chart single—a fact which mystified their supporters in the press, to the point where this "scandalous" lack of popular success became a cliché when writing about the band. However, there were a few very minor chart successes for the band, starting with "Spring Rain", which snuck into the lower rungs of the Australian charts in 1986 and became the band's first ever Top 100 chart hit. The following year, "Right Here" similarly rode low on the UK Top 100 Charts. Then in 1988, "Streets of Your Town", the first single from 1988's 16 Lovers Lane, reached the Top 100 in both Australia and UK.
In May 2001 "Cattle and Cane", written by McLennan and Forster, was selected by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) as one of the Top 30 Australian songs of all time. McLennan described writing the lyrics:
I wrote (the song) to please my mother. She hasn't heard it yet because my mother and stepfather live (on a cattle station) and they can't get 240 volts electricity there, so I have to sing it over the phone to her ... I don't like the word nostalgic; to me, it's a sloppy yearning for the past, and I'm not trying to do that in that song. I'm just trying to put three vignettes of a person, who's a lot like myself, growing up in Queensland, and just juxtaposing that against how I am now.
Their song, "Streets of Your Town", was used by Prime Television and GWN in their station identification from 2001 to 2003.
In the 4th Season of American TV Series 24 a company is named McLennan-Forster—the producer of the series and author, Evan Katz, wanted to express his veneration of the Go-Betweens by this company name.
On the eve of the first anniversary of McLennan's death, Triple J & JTV broadcast a tribute concert to The Go-Betweens, recorded in 2006 at Brisbane venue, the Tivoli Theatre. Inspired by this tribute concert, and featuring many of the same artists, a tribute album to the Go-Betweens, Write Your Adventures Down, was released in June 2007 in Australia by The Red Label.
Members
Robert Forster – lead vocals, guitar (1977–1989; 2000–2006)
Grant McLennan – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica (1977–1989; 2000–2006), bass (1977–1983)
Bruce Anthon – drums (1978, 1979–1980)
Dennis Cantwell – drums (1978)
Lissa Ross – drums (1978)
Tim Mustapha – drums (1978–1979)
Peter Milton Walsh – guitar, backing vocals (1978–1979)
Malcolm Kelly – piano, organ (1979)
Steven Daly – drums (1980)
Claire McKenna – drums (1980)
Dave Tyrer – guitar (1980)
Lindy Morrison – drums, backing vocals (1980–1989)
Robert Vickers – bass (1983–1987)
Amanda Brown – violin, oboe, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1986–1989)
John Willsteed – bass, guitar (1987–1989)
Michael Armiger – bass (1989)
Adele Pickvance – bass, backing vocals (2000–2006)
Matthias Strzoda – drums (2000)
Janet Weiss – drums, backing vocals (2000)
Discography
Awards and nominations
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. The Go-Betweens won one award.
Australian Music Prize
The Australian Music Prize (the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. They commenced in 2005.