LaRM day 178 (Global Communication - Go-Betweens)

Probably the single greatest work in the ambient techno field, Global Communication's 1994 album 76:14 is a work of absolutely stunning beauty.  While Richard James was fiddling with Eno's flat-lining end of ambience to create a sense of cynical menace, Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton chose instead to refine the melodic part of Eno's work into an incredibly graceful piece of glacial, drifting melody.  The album taken as a whole can be seen as a series of interconnected movements, tied together by haunting, delicate melodies which glide throughout the work in a continuous flow, and whether it's Eno's extraterrestrial ambience or the lighter end of Kraftwerk's motorik that forms the frame, it's the ethereal melodies which really drive the album.  In some ways it fails as a true work of ambient house or ambient techno because it really can't take a backseat as, despite the fact that it's a slow-burning wash of noise, it's absolutely arresting, you simply can't use it as background music.  One of 76:14's greatest achievements though is its absolute and pure beauty.  I think it's highly unusual for a record composed entirely of synthetic noise, conducted through endless processing and created almost wholly of clinical samples to sound so utterly gorgeous, and where usually ambient techno falls foul of its placing in a technological timeline (listen to how terribly dated the Future Sound of London records sound now and you'll see what I mean), 76:14 could have been made yesterday and it would seem as fresh and unchallengably beautiful as it did in 1994.  As far as purely electronic music goes I don't think it has ever been bettered.

Many people think highly of the collaboration between Guided By Voices' Robert Pollard and Superchunk's Mac McCaughan but personally I've always thought it to be disappointingly less than the sum of its parts.  Bearing in mind that both men trade in pretty heavy duty melody it's all a bit messy and unfocussed and feels very much like they worked on their parts in different rooms.  There are some fun pop songs on Calling Zero (2002) (the duo called themselves Go Back Snowball btw) (opener 'Radical Girl' is clear and fun with some cheerful synthesised horns) but on the whole it's too muddy and unwieldy and seems to play on the weaknesses of both rather than the strengths.  There are occasional flashes of McCaughan's Portastatic work on 'Go Gold' and 'It Is Divine' but Pollard then introduces his own idiosyncratic take on British invasion melody and makes them less impressive.  In fact it's really that each seems to undo the others good work and although it's a perfectly decent album it leaves me a bit cold and acts as a reminder that just because people are really great at what they do it doesn't mean that putting them together will necessarily work.

It's quite possible that the Go-Betweens were the best band Australia ever produced.  A ramshackle, unpredictable mix of esoteric literary posturing and highly tuned pop nous made for a band who were never less than exciting and always throroughly engaging.  The first two albums were spiky, odd, angular and minimal records, cheaply recorded and composed mainly of spindly guitar, bass and Robert Forster and Grant McLennan's artless vocals (with drummer Lindy Morrison adding her four/four drumming to the second).  The difference in approach between the two was made explicitly clear from the start with Forster's arch, wordy and strict style contrasting with McLennan's much more pop melody friendly approach.  By the third album, 1984's Spring Hill Fair, the trio had been joined by bass player Robert Vickers, allowing McLennan to add second guitar to Forster's lead, and the band's sound was cemented.  A much smoother and confident style pervades Spring Hill Fair than the nervy, cold sound of the preceding records, and while Forster's raised eyebrow style still feels slightly aloof and knowing, it's much more accessible than before and his songwriting has matured into something allowing itself to be approachable. 'Part Company' and 'Draining the Pool for You' showed just how far he'd come by combining his jittery songwriting with great, smart storytelling and although his songs were never as straightforwardly enjoyable as McLennan's they were where the real depth of the Go-Betweens was.  McLennan's contributions meanwhile are as charming as ever, with 'Bachelor Kisses' being one of his greatest small-town romances.

The seemingly Forster-led Go-Betweens shifts dynamic by fourth album, 1986's Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express, with McLennan's much more listener-friendly approach being felt dominantly throughout.  It's a fine development for the band, knocking those spiky edges off and leaving a pristinely odd pop band, making utterly charming ramshackle guitar-pop.  That's not to say that Forster isn't able to continue his arch mannerisms, but when you listen to 'Bow Down' although you're still getting his smart-arse attitude, you're getting it through a beautifully wistful, accommodating song.  There's scarcely a dud moment on Liberty Belle, with McLennan's pop songs blending almost seamlessly with Forster's cleverness, and the relationship between Forster's lyrics (which make Morrissey's read like those of a bone-headed fifteen year-old) and McLennan's more instinctively delicate tales of love and simple life is one of mutual dependence which is oddly inspiring.  Opener 'Spring Rain' is one of the Go-Betweens most straightforwardly forthright pop songs and it really sets the tone for an album of great warmth, charm and embracing, inviting intellect.

The following year the band were joined by oboeist, percussionist and vocalist Amanda Brown and the sound and dynamic changed again.  There had been plans to make the band successful and part of this operation involved using new producers and recording studios and the resultant album, Tallulah, while still being full of really great songs, sounds off.  It's overproduced, it has drum machine patterns, shiny surfaces and the sound doesn't really match the mood and tone of the Go-Betweens' songs.  It's a shame because it makes the introduction of Brown's unusual instrumentation sound like it's part of the problem when in reality she brings an interesting light touch to the songs.  And as I say, the songs themselves are as pristine as ever.  We've got McLennan's fabulous (if lyrically rather brutal) pop song 'Right Here', a summer breeze of a song if ever there was one, and the wonderful, wistful kiss-off of 'Bye Bye Pride' as well as Forster's stabbing, jazzy and snarky 'Someone Else's Wife' and driving, soaring 'I Just Get Caught Out'.  All told it's a really superb album, and it's a shame that (I suspect a record company rather than the band's) ambition meant that it was recorded in a way that so clearly dates it.  The copy I've got has a second disc of B-sides and rarities, which are a mixed bag, but there are some nice second tier tunes in 'A Little Romance' and 'Don't Call Me Gone' and decent alternative versions of 'Right Here' and 'I Just Get Caught Out'.