What Are You Listening To?

Robert Forster:  "From Ghost Town" and "If It Rains"

Robert Forster's first album in 11 years, The Evangelist finds the Go-Betweens co-founder as winsome and haunting as ever. Nearly two years after the death of Grant McLennan, his fellow Go-Between and writing partner of 30 years, Forster has produced an album that is both wildly progressive and haunted by the ghost of his artistic soul mate. "Demon Days," co-written with McLennan shortly before he died, is an all too telling spine tingling journey into oblivion. "Pandanus" and "Did She Overtake You?" are lively juggernauts that delightfully reprise the rhythmic tensions of Spring Hill Fair. "The Evangelist" is a wistful cousin to "He Lives My Life" (from The Friends of Rachel Worth) and "From Ghost Town" is a deeply personal and poignant farewell to a lost brother. Throughout, The Evangelist is a masterpiece of honesty and compassion.

Forster himself describes The Evangelist this way, "I wasn't sure if I was ever going to make another record but this summer it just materialized. It's a direct record. I've written seven of the songs, and three are co-written with Grant. Adele and Glenn from The Go-Betweens are with me. It's not Oceans Apart 2 - it's something else, but with trails going into the past and I'm proud of it."

--Listen to this album at www.yeproc.com

Currently refueling to:

Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure

AMG

On Roxy Music's debut, the tensions between Brian Eno and Bryan Ferry propelled their music to great, unexpected heights, and for most of the group's second album, For Your Pleasure, the band equals, if not surpasses, those expectations. However, there are a handful of moments where those tensions become unbearable, as when Eno wants to move toward texture and Ferry wants to stay in more conventional rock territory; the nine-minute "The Bogus Man" captures such creative tensions perfectly, and it's easy to see why Eno left the group after the album was completed. Still, those differences result in yet another extraordinary record from Roxy Music, one that demonstrates even more clearly than the debut how avant-garde ideas can flourish in a pop setting. This is especially evident in the driving singles "Do the Strand" and "Editions of You," which pulsate with raw energy and jarring melodic structures. Roxy also illuminate the slower numbers, such as the eerie "In Every Dream Home a Heartache," with atonal, shimmering synthesizers, textures that were unexpected and innovative at the time of its release. Similarly, all of For Your Pleasure walks the tightrope between the experimental and the accessible, creating a new vocabulary for rock bands, and one that was exploited heavily in the ensuing decade.

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-Afternoon, everyone!

-My sincere congratulations on the birth of your grand-daughter, Wyo, and thanks a million for the heads-up concerning Sonny-  You can count on my being there!  Another album of his that is great that you didn't mention is The Sound Of Sonny (1957).

-Very cool that your going to see Robin Trower, Bluez-  The Bridge of Sighs album's been a favorite of mine for a long time...

-Well, kinda having some insomnia, so I am watching this on my PC through a Chinese P2P platform.  Mandarin sub-titles, but excellent sound and picture quality, so what the hey..

Now Playing:

The X-Files, Season 2,  Colony

-Love this old stuff...