|
|
The Go-Betweens Album: “Spring Hill Fair”
| Album Information : |
|---|
|
|
Release Date:1996-03-25
|
|
Type:Unknown
|
|
Genre:Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
|
|
Label:Beggars Banquet
|
|
Explicit Lyrics:Yes
|
|
UPC:5012093200323
|
Review - :
With {$Robert Vickers} and his more straightforward style of bass introduced to the band, {$McLennan} switched fully over to guitar and the quartet entered the studio with producer {$John Brand} for {^Spring Hill Fair}. A slightly more conventional but no less entrancing collection of songs in comparison to {^Before Hollywood}, {^Spring Hill Fair} contains its fair share of {$Go-Betweens} classics, with the rough, barbed emotional edge of many lyrics getting almost gentle arrangements. There's more appearances from guest musicians than ever before, with contributions running from string arrangements to trumpet and saxophone. It's all still the {$Go-Betweens}' own style of chiming guitar rock, able to switch between restraint and a hard-swinging (definite credit again to {$Morrison} -- check out her glammy stomp on {&"The Old Way Out"}) but not hard-riffing punch. Leadoff track {&"Bachelor Kisses,"} with its subtly intense mid-song break, {$McLennan}'s suddenly nervous singing matched by a quiet intensity in the music, is easily matched at the end with {$Forster}'s {&"Man O' Sand to Girl O' Sea,"} its pounding chorus one of the band's best captured moments of desperation. If {$McLennan} had ultimate pride of place on {^Before Hollywood} with {&"Cattle and Cane,"} {$Forster} comes to the fore here with the just tense enough {&"Draining the Pool for You."} It's a blackly humorous portrait of a maintenance worker and the faded superstar who hired him that also succeeds as a perfect kiss-off, with a memorable chorus to boot. Other {$Forster}-sung standouts include {&"Part Company,"} an almost-{$Smiths}-like all-around performance on the verses spiked with an at once inspirational and regret-laden chorus. Throughout the album one can not only hear the expanded lineup testing things out, but individual players adding their own particular flair -- the brush-and-shuffle percussion from {$Morrison} on {&"Five Words,"} {$McLennan}'s great lead guitar solo on {&"You've Never Lived,"} {$Vickers}' ability with crisp funk on {&"Slow Slow Music."} ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
|
|
|
Privacy PolicyTerms of UseContact Us