During my 2010 - 2012 sojourns, the album I played most was
"The Evangelist" by Robert Forster. I don't why, but the 10 songs
appealed to me from Phnom Penh to Kathmandu to Botswana. I first
became aware of the album, as it
appeared in many critics top 10s in 2008, and I liked the sample tracks that I
downloaded.
Robert Forster was a
co-founder of the 1980s Australian group "The Go-Betweens". I am not sure how I missed them at that time,
but it was easy to do, as they were commercially unsuccessful and had no hit singles,
as they bounced between record labels. Forster
shared song-writing and lead vocals with Grant McLennan, a kindred spirit and
competitor. The group split in 1989 (McLennan had to inform his
girlfriend and bandmate Amanda Brown,
who immediately became an ex-girlfriend too), with
Forster and McLennan becoming separate
solo artists.
They reconstituted the group in the 2000s for three further
critically praised but low-selling albums. Tragically McLennan died of a heart
attack in 2006, as they were writing songs for a new album. In grief, Robert Forster managed to use three of these
songs on what became a solo album.
He added words to his favourite McLennan melody to produce
"It Ain't Easy", his elegy and
tribute to his colleague and great friend. As he describes in the song " I write
these words to his tune / That he wrote on a full moon".
It is a heartfelt homage, as he details their relationship
and Grant's encouragement - "It was
a head trip, it was a friendship /He picked me up when I might have slipped and
not done a thing". Later he refers
to "a movie was in his head", acknowledging his visual song-writing
style and also their shared passion for cinema
(The Go Betweens first single was a love song to Lee Remick ). Finally there is the weary acceptance that
"We will not see his kind again anymore".
The idea of mixing his lament with the McLennan's jaunty
upbeat music appealed to him, as he knew that is what Grant would have wanted,
as he croons "it was melody he loved most of all". The female backing
chorus adds to the effect.
Similar tributes is to ex-colleagues are "Here Today" by Paul McCartney about
John Lennon, and Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" for Syd
Barrett.
Despite such a sad subject matter, Forster achieves his aim
of a farewell with a great pop song.
Hear Now - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PqNonkfFXE
Hear Next - "The Evangelist" is a great
album, and all of "The Go-Betweens"
work is worth investigating too , especially "16 Lovers Lane", which
should have made them huge stars. I would also recommend "Grant and
Me", Forster's book detailing life
in "The Go Betweens".
