Go-Betweens

Because I'm infatuated with Australian culture, I was reading the Go-Betweens biography over the weekend. Something I'd always thought, which this book drove home, was that most artists are self-serving sonofabitches who will do almost anything in their pursuit of fame of fortune. For instance, in the late 80s, the Go-Betweens had a good lineup, but then the two songwriters decided to break up the band so they could do solo careers, leaving the drummer, Lindy Morrison, and violinist, Amanda Brown, unemployed. And the one songwriter was dating Amanda, and he wondered why she was pissed at him. Unbelievable. . . . Still, they had some great singles. Too bad their compilation 1978-1990 is out of print, 'cause that's all ya really need from them in your record collection.

Go-Betweens: "Born to a Family" (2005)

This pop band's heyday was in the eighties. They broke up somewhere around 1989, but the two primary songwriters reformed under the Go-Betweens banner around 2000. This song is from Oceans Apart, the best album in the Go-Betweens' catalog, in my opinion.

"Born to a Family"





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Tuesday I got up at 6 a.m. to catch the 7:45 train to Melbourne.

On the train I sat next to some guy from Canada who is touring Australia's East Coast. He was lanky, had a mustache, and was a bit of a Chatty Cathy. At one point I joked that Canada was a subsidiary of the United States, which he didn't find too funny.

Oh, here's something I found hysterical. The Canadian was hitting on the girl next to him, Tiffany, who lives in Melbourne and had been in Sydney for a friend's wedding. (She was about six feet tall, when she smiled you saw her gums, she wore a cap [not baseball, jeff cap, is it?] and she had long fingers.) The Canadian said, "You have the best accent I've heard down here. It almost sounds like Paul McCartney." Then he babbled about Britney Spears. Man, I had to fight really hard not to guffaw. Here I thought I was the king of lame pick-up lines. This Canadian cat has me beat. (Tiffany did laugh. I got the impression she appreciated the attention but wasn't wooed.)

I ate tons of food on the train. I must've spent nearly $50 on the buffet car. No big deal. That's only about 33 U.S. dollars.

The train was supposed to pull into Melbourne at 7:15 p.m., but a few delays knocked that time back to 7:45. Not too bad. Twelve hours to travel a little under 1,000 miles. The trip didn't go through the outback, mostly through farm country. Saw several sheep farms.

I took a cab to the hotel and checked in. Very nice. It's four star but has this avant-garde thang going on.

Melbourne doesn't seem so upscale as Sydney. True to its reputation, it has an European vibe to it. Lots of trams (translation: trolleys) here. Think I'm gonna enjoy my five nights here.










I'm posting this pic for my nephews, Marty and Billy, since they love trains so much. This is the one I took after it pulled into the Melbourne station.

Snow Job: Jack Frost (1996)

I finally got around to getting a hold of this 1996 album -- a side project from The Church's Steve Kilbey and The Go-Between's Grant McLennan. I really enjoyed their first album, 1991's self-titled CD, but I waited until now to get a hold of Snow Job for two reasons: a) it was only available as an import, which meant a high sticker price, and b) I heard it sounded very Church-y, which I wasn't too excited about because I loved The Church in the '80s when they were a great pop-rock act -- I'm not a fan of their work since the '90s . . . too psychedelic. Fortunately, Snow Job isn't too psychedelic. McLennan's pop sensibilities are in there as much as possible. Good stuff if you're a fan of these two songwriter's main bands.
"Cousin / Angel"