Five years ago on this date, Grant McLennan died in his sleep from a heart attack at the age of just 48. Along with Robert Forster, he shared songwriting and vocal duties in the brilliant but unappreciated Australian band The Go-Betweens. I've always put the pair up there with popular music's most celebrated writing partnership: [...]
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Go-Betweens co-founder Grant McLennan at the age of 48. On May 6th 2006, preparing for a party at his home in Brisbane, Grant complained of feeling unwell and went upstairs for a rest; he died in his room shortly afterwards from a heart attack. Grant was one of the finest singer-songwriters of his generation and one of my all-time musical heroes, so I think it only right that I use this blog to commemorate him and remind people of what an exceptional talent we lost on that shitty [...]
This weekend, let's spend some time delving into the Go-Betweens back catalogue, shall we? Oh, go on. Much supported by the Record Mirror and Snipe, the music fanzine which morphed into When Saturday Comes, the Go-Betweens were part of what felt like a very minor Australian invasion at the time. Which would have been early-ish on in the 1980s. (See, young people, it wasn't all outsize phones and Richard Branson launching airlines...) Built around Robert Forster and Grant McLennan's songwriting partnership, you could argue that they were two bands, or a single band with [...]
I had a dream the other night. Me and the missus went to one of the more salubrious venues to watch The Go-Betweens play a show, starting with an acoustic set, followed by a full electric set. Very good it was too, until I had to take a big metal cage up Bloomfield Road in Bath. Look, it was a dream, you know. The Go-Betweens and a Couch But on waking, I suddenly felt rather sad. Because, of course, we'll [...]
Smudge - Don´t Want To Be Grant McLennan ( buy ) Hot on the heels of yesterday´s great Go-Betweens track, here´s an infectious tribute to the Antipodean cult heroes by Smudge, the brainchild of erstwhile Evan Dando sidekick Tom Morgan. No matter how hard he tries to be original, all the songs he writes ´in the middle of the night´ make him sound like Grant McLennan. Which actually rhymes with ´Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon´...
In 1997, I heard The Go-Betweens for the first time. In Olympia, Wash., sitting on the floor of a carpeted dining room in the rickety rental house of a friend, the album Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express came through the speakers. Each song was my new best friend. In subsequent months, on tour with my band, I tracked down all of The Go-Betweens' LPs, poring over the mysteries that constitute their sound and their scope. Each album title up through Send Me a Lullaby contained two Ls in the title, and [...]
Fighting the Marek Fire, which burned 3700 acres this month The third week of October is often the worst of fire season in southern California. The largest fires that have produced the most damage and taken the most lives have occurred during this week. The saddest part is that many of them are set on purpose. Last year by this time there had been two fires within two miles of our house. It is really frightening to see flames licking the sky just behind the next hill over and [...]
Over now, on MySpace: Rare Victory , a musical tribute to Grant McLennan, featuring The Orchids, Trembling Blue Stars, Luke Haines and others; we've posted about this before, but it's worth mentioning again.
Verano Meatballs, Are You Ready For the Summer? War, Summer. The Woods, Love Me Again This Summer. The Beach Boys, Your Summer Dream. Bob Dylan, In the Summertime. Les Paul and Mary Ford, In the Good Old Summertime. Al Green, Summertime. Sidney Bechet, Summertime. Roy Richards and the Soul Vendors, Summertime. Gene Vincent, Summertime. Antonio Vivaldi, L'Estate: Presto. Astor Piazzolla, Verano
1995 was a year of many changes for me, mainly because, for the first time in many years, I found myself living alone. One result was that I spent a lot of time not only listening to music, but seriously exploring music and artists I wasn't previously aware of. I'm posting songs by three of those artists here: Grant McLennan, who passed away last year, was one of the co-leaders of the great Australian band the Go-Betweens. Horsebreaker, A True Star was his third solo album. The songs are jangly 12-string pop, very Byrds-like, but with offbeat [...]
7 Means of Movement: Interlude 2, Asses and Mules Fletcher Henderson, Jackass Blues. The Andrews Sisters and Glenn Miller, The Donkey Serenade. The Tennors, Ride Your Donkey. Alec Johnson and the Mississippi Sheiks, Sister Maud Mule. Coley Jones and the Dallas String Band, Army Mule in No Man's Land. Bo Diddley, Whoa Mule (Shine). Junior Wells and Earl Hooker, Galloping Horses A Lazy Mule.
Absent Friends, part 1 Grant McLennan, Ballad of Easy Rider. Jackie McLean, Love and Hate. Love, 7 and 7 Is. Gene Simmons, Drinkin' Scotch. Gene Pitney, Every Breath I Take. Ivor Cutler, Pstola. Dewey Redman, Joie de Vivre. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Handel: Bane of Virtue, Nurse of Passions. Pink Floyd, See Emily Play. Desmond Dekker, Dracula. Gy
G rant Mc Lennan nous a quitté durant son sommeil ce samedi 6 mai, chez lui à Brisbane, à l'âge de 48 ans. Il restera avec son compère Robert Forster , un des co-leader d'un des groupes majeurs de l'Internationale pop, The Go-Betweens . Formé en 1978 après leur rencontre à l'université, nos deux meilleurs amis réaliseront une série de single dont le premier, Lee Remick , possédait en face B, leur titre emblématique, Karen , depuis maintes fois repris. Vinrent ensuite six albums de haute volée figurant tous au panthéon [...]
Play it: The Go-Betweens' Grant McLennan Grant McLennan , co-leader of Australia's legendary the Go-Betweens , died Saturday, May 6, at his home in Brisbane at the age of 48. McLennan and Go-Betweens co-founder Robert Forster were one of the finest songwriting team of the 1980s. McLennan's "Cattle and Cane" was recently named one of the 10 greatest Australian songs of all time by the Australian Performing Rights Association (APRA) . When [...]
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