Customer Reviews

Before Hollywood

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Originally released in May 1983 on Rough Trade, "Before Hollywood" was The Go-Betweens' second studio album. The record was, though it may be difficult to conjure it now, very much of its time and place in the history of independent pop music. At the time, Rough Trade was home to Aztec Camera, The Fall, and The Smiths (whose debut single, "Hand in Glove" was also released in May). While these other bands were decidedly British in comparison to The Go-Betweens' Australian outlook, they all shared a skeptical attitude to London and the New Wave: hostile to fashion, the media, the top-40. And yet, the strength of "Before Hollywood" resides not so much in its place within postpunk British avant-gardism - moving ever forward, crushing rock's outdated paradigms underfoot - but in its anomalous and eccentric thematics of loss and retrieval of the past.
Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, the band's songwriters, along with drummer Lindy Morrison had relocated from Melbourne to London in May 1982, and quickly saw Rough Trade release their first album "Send Me a Lullaby" and their fourth single "Hammer The Hammer" (recorded during a break in the Birthday Party's "Junkyard" sessions in January, and released again here on the second cd of this set). They spent the summer writing the songs that appeared on "Before Hollywood" and recording demos of songs that did not - e.g. "Just a King in Mirrors," "A Peaceful Wreck," "Near the Chimney" (all included here). By all accounts the summer was exceptional ("fantastic" is McLennan's word), and produced some of the group's best songs. "Cattle and Cane" - voted one of the greatest Australian songs ever - stands out, not least because it embodies the tone of album as whole: nostalgic, longing, bittersweet, but also deeply and maturely accepting of the pastness of the past.
Robert Christgau was once hooked on the chorus from "As Long As That": "I've got a feeling, sounds like a fact/It's been around as long as that." There is a distinct and pervasive sense throughout these recordings of memory and history concretizing into forms and images, words and sounds. Film is the metaphor but tape and vinyl were the reference: "Bring on the microphones/Hidden under stones/Record my sobs/In baritones" ("Before Hollywood"). Likewise, a thematic of visibility (audibility?) and invisibility runs through both Grant and Robert's songs: "Pull back the curtains/Let in the dark" ("A Bad Debt Follows You"); "I'm standing on a quay wrapped up in mist" ("Two Steps Step Out"); "In the dark/When shadows have their way" ("Dusty in Here"); "There is magic but really there's no magic/In what appears" ("Ask"). Grant's songs are filled with stars and ships, moons and trains - images of motion and and dim light from the heavens. Robert's songs use more oblique but consonant images of creativity, loss and transformation - early film ("the flicker of light"), Tin Pan Alley, mansions in ruin. The album is filled with a certain attitude towards the past and its role in artistic creativity -"Inspired by shadows/Driven by tears" - that never really settles down into a concept or statement, but circles around an empty core that is never revealed. The past is forever lost to the present.
That these songs have built into them a metaphoric sense of crumbling celluloid, yellowing images of imagined worlds outside time, impervious to restoration, is a testament to The Go-Betweens' enduring artistic sensibility. The lost gem on this reissue is, in this light, the tinny live recording of Grant's "The Exception of Deception or How the Broadway Bosses Beat Me of My Bucks" in which he sings: "And I won't say/That time stands still." But he does, and "Before Hollywood" takes us step-by-step through the pathos-ridden unsayability of time standing still.

The magnificent Before Hollywood from 1982 was what critics would (and did) call the Go-Betweens' "watershed album". Forster and McLennan intertwine so beautifully as to be singing the album in one voice, the way Lennon and McCartney blur together on Rubber Soul. Lindy Morrison's drumming is incredible on this album. Like the writing, edgy but more disciplined. Lyrically Before Hollywood is romantic in the nostalgic sense. Sometimes it feels like a shared memory. This is beautiful spacious evocative music. A classic, and one which richly deserves this excellent reissue, complete with a second disc of rare single sides and demos from the period. These show the fiery side of the group, in the same vein as By Chance, and include the majestic This Girl Black Girl. There is also a bonus video of Cattle And Cane.
The design is true to the original and has informative liner notes. This is an essential purchase.

Those who are familiar with the Go-Betweens' pre- "Before Hollywood" body of work are aware of the staggering amount of growth the band underwent since their debut, "Send Me a Lullaby." From an odd, disjointed collection of promising yet self-consciously arty songs, to this, an astonishingly mature, refreshingly melodic, and deeply emotional record that put the Go-Betweens alongside other 80s melodic guitar-pop greats like the Smiths, Aztec Camera, and early REM.

"BH" is remarkably consistent, though some songs may take a few listens to sink in. One notices immediately a newfound knack for strong, inventive melodies on songs like "On My Block," "Cattle and Cane," "As Long as That," and "By Chance." Forster's crystal-clear guitar and McLennan's inventively melodic bass interweave uniquely to create mesmerizing textures that harmonize beautifully, at times vaguely recalling Television or the Smiths.

Drummer Lindy Morrison's playing is smoother this time around, anchoring the songs rather than fighting them. Her drumming is still off-kilter in places, though it works more effectively, injecting a subtly jagged intensity, especially on "Two Steps Step Out" and "Cattle and Cane."

"BH" is the first album where McLennan and Forster began evenly splitting the singing/songwriting. McLennan steps up to the mic confident and sincere, singing his intensely personal lyrics with unparalleled emotion (one music journalist proclaimed McLennan had the "most sincere eyebrows in pop"). Forster is strong as usual, confronting real, adult emotions with his typical brand of irony.

Excellently produced by John Brand, the sound of "BH" provides a pleasing, colorful, organic atmosphere, with light touches of reverb and an emphasis on the sparkly-clean tone of their guitars. Hammond organ, played by 80s new wave session-man Bernard Clarke, adds much to the overall feel, sometimes lending the songs a sophisticated jazz-like quality, while other times recalling mid to late-60s Dylan.

"BH" was the first Go-Betweens album I bought/heard, and I'd say it's a good intro to the band. It captures them at a point where they'd made profound growth in a short amount of time, yet still retained enough rough edges to have a sound completely their own.

In a funny sort of way, these are the kind of reviews I like doing least, when they should be the easiest and therefore the most enjoyable.

Fact is, there's only so many ways you can say something is good without a) sounding repetitive and b) not really conveying what you really feel. Neither is satisfactory. This is why 'professional' writers - good writers - are held in such esteem. Its not easy, week after week thinking up wise new thrusts, entertaining barbs when quite frankly, the briefs they get handed, would sink a battleship never mind ones' enthusiasm.

There's only so much you can say about culture (unless you have 2 years to do research and then plunder the thesaurus), even when dealing, on rare occasions, with genius.
Imagine years of it; the same pop groups, same comedians, same sporting events. (Imagine being Motty!(GB soccer journalist) doing the Cup Final for 40 years, and still having to have to come up with something original to say about it). Difficult.

We have it easy on Amazon. Recycle some ancient rock clichés, rummage through some old obscure reviews and re-jig the salient points, add some modern parlance so you don't sound EXACTLY like some-ones grandad, throw the lot in a mixer and away you go. Just add water (like most bands!), and happy days.
It helps slightly when you've been experiencing something for decades (and not just a week like a 'real' reviewer would get). You can then comment on how the years have been kind, the power of the songs is undiminished, and how the whole caboodle is timeless.
Doddle. Time for tea.

The Go-Betweens excellent second album is easily all those obvious things and much more. Its basically guitar pop with an edge, ie; superb melodies and great lyrics. Quite straightforward really.

But there is proper, grown up greatness, all their albums have it to a degree, but here its at some sort of peak. This is where they should have broke out from being an indie cult band, and moved into the million sellers club. I can't fathom why this didn't happen, maybe Rough Trade didn't have the clout, or were concentrating too much on the fledgling Smiths. I suppose we wont know now, same as I'll never know how the outstanding 'Cattle and Cane' wasn't Number 1 for weeks. Too good perhaps?

"I recall, a bigger brighter world,
A world of books, and silent times in thought,
And then the railroad, the railroad takes me home,
Through fields of cattle, through fields of cane."

Sweeping lyricism like this infests every song, permeates every digital groove. Pulls you even deeper into the already seething and soaring mass the music has become since the punky opener 'A Bad Debt Follows You' strode from the speakers.
See? The titles are a transparent giveaway.

At the time, it seemed the Go-Betweens were timidly and coyly pushing this stuff. I think it was around about their fourth lp 'Tallulah' that they began to realize how good they were. The bluff they expounded during interviews at the time was exactly that. Almost Dylan-like, both in sound AND attitude, but where it counts, on the record, strident and magnificent. An odd paradox, but when you're trying to convey the feelings and dreams that have shaped your life, you fit what counts high, where you can.
You could certainly play 'Before Hollywood' directly after 'Blood on the Tracks' and notice all kinds of communion, you might even get a genuine sense of continuity.
It's also a marked truism that the Go-Betweens creative rocketing mirrored the beginning of Dylan's decline. Its like he turned to God when he heard the competition!

Comparisons/influences (one and the same here) aside, this is yet another screamer from a time when it seemed we got a screamer every week. No slight on today's turns (it is!), good music's always out there if you know where to look, and with age doesn't come jade.
I still want to leap round the room when I hear 'Two Steps, Step Out' or 'By Chance' even after all this time.

I'm trying to say this ain't some relic from a bygone era, it's fresh and sexy and every thing you've heard is the God's honest.
Ask Bobby D.

Mm...not as difficult as I expected. Now where's that kettle?

NB. Grant. A good un. RIP

Within the last few months I have developed a ravenous appetite for the music of Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, beginning with Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express and Oceans Apart. Guitar and keyboard sonorities that hearkened back to my childhood, keen, literate lyrics and coming of age in the 80's sensibilities - what a combination, what a treat! I included more CD's in my next batch, and yet Before Hollywood ended up in my third - to be devoured after the brilliant Spring Hill Fair and 16 Lover's Lane.

As the liner notes attest, BEFORE HOLLYWOOD came about as if the then-threesome were standing on the cusp of great things. Robert Forster had tapped into his energetic side, and Grant McLennan had begun to sing his own songs, while making his bass guitar lines melodic. The chiaroscuro formula familiar to fans of the Go-Betweens began here, as soon as the two strong creative personalities asserted themselves. By the time the sultry tang of 'Ask' segues into the endearing simplicity of 'Cattle and Cane', we are pleased with such contrast, enjoying the present moment but anticipating what follows. But in no other song by the Go-Betweens has dawn and lightning contrasted as much as in 'As Long as That', because RF and GM so evenly alternate lead vocals. Forster's characteristic declamations, out of tune with the guitar but sounding right somehow, are answered by McLennan in a manner attuned to the mood of the song, with the same tune his bass plays. Within the bounds of those simple but not easy chord progressions, one man gets the listener's attention, and the other finds he cannot help but sing. And so it goes, from 'A Bad Debt Follows You' all the way to 'That Way' - on to Spring Hill Fair and the fuller, less vulnerable sound of a foursome. But don't miss the title track on the way - the lyrics are brilliant - and be sure to notice 'Dusty in Here' - typical McLennan songcraft. The glory days of 'Twin Layers of Lightning' are still to come, and I am happy to say I also love my Go-B's raw.

Before Hollywood by The Go-Betweens is a strong album. The track Cattle and Cane is a classic.

After this album, this band was - to almost all who heard them -feted and loved. 'Before Hollywood' has power, depth and grace. 'Cattle and Cane' is a pop elegy with little parallel.

And for good measure, the bonus disc is not full of outtakes, but has previously released singles, the most compelling of which is the driving 'Man O'Sand to Girl O'Sea'

This is the GoBs disc where GM finally started to assert himself and contribute songs, the beginning of the classic GoBs album formula, wherein each writer contributes 5 songs...

And GM more than acquits himself here, right out of the f-in starting gate, with the all time, extremely top shelf "Cattle and Cane"... I can't say enough about this epic and monumental tale of GM's growing up in rural Australia. It has to be in the top 5 best GoBs songs and is quite possibly their best ever...

And here, after the harsh and not particularly melodic sounds of the first disc, their songcraft starts to come into its own here. "Bad Debt", "By Chance", et al. are memorable and strong...

......finally the critics got one right!! Television? Nope. Much better sense of melody and the talky vocals aren't nearly as capable of making me want to strangle the singer, as is the case with the outrageously overrated television. Some real jems on here. Good production on this album. Bright and clear but not over the top annoying 80's like many things from this era. Pretty classic sounding. I recommend it.