The Evangelist by singer and songwriter Robert Forster is his first solo recording in 11 years. It may not be a record he ever planned to make at all after the unexpected death of Grant McLennan, his collaborator for over 25 years in the Go Betweens. The band had released and was on tour for Oceans Apart, a masterpiece surpassed only by 16 Lovers Lane, if at all. Forster and McLennan had begun writing a new Go Betweens album in 2006, when McLennan passed away in his sleep from natural causes just shy of his 47th birthday. ...
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The Evangelist by singer and songwriter Robert Forster is his first solo recording in 11 years. It may not be a record he ever planned to make at all after the unexpected death of Grant McLennan, his collaborator for over 25 years in the Go Betweens. The band had released and was on tour for Oceans Apart, a masterpiece surpassed only by 16 Lovers Lane, if at all. Forster and McLennan had begun writing a new Go Betweens album in 2006, when McLennan passed away in his sleep from natural causes just shy of his 47th birthday. Three of the songs on this album were co-written by the pair and contain McLennan's final lyrics. That said, The Evangelist is not an elegy or a conscious homage to McLennan. The remaining Go Betweens -- bassist Adele Pickvance and drummer Glenn Thompson -- make up the core band, with a small string section arranged by Audrey Riley (who did them for the Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express). Pianist Seamus Beaghen lends a hand on keyboards. Mark Wallis and Dave Ruffy produced The Evangelist. So is this a Go Betweens record without McLennan? No, but it's close, and it is certainly a new brand of Forster solo album.Forster's writing here is quite different than on his previous offerings. Always a poetic writer, his allusions, metaphors, cultural archetypes, and literary aspirations -- which appeared in his solo material and sometimes in the Go Betweens' as well, but the latter's were always tempered by McLennan's earthy approach -- are all but absent on The Evangelist. Instead, Forster has never been this direct before, so unadorned and honest, and yes, vulnerable without the mask of his gift to weave a story, even in first person, and make himself seem a narrator. These songs are conversational; they express what the protagonist is feeling as a way of opening a dialogue with the listener. The Evangelist is not an elegy or simply some tawdry memorial, but it is a living testament to the influence and camaraderie McLennan brought to Forster's life and work. The ten-song, 40-minute set begins with "Let It Rain," introduced by the sound of a small chord of a droning Casio. Electric guitar chords shimmer and softly ring into the foreground slowly and deliberately. As the bassline all but whispers in the backdrop, Forster opens his mouth and unlocks the door to everything that follows: "If it rains, now we'll change/We'll hold and save all of what came/We won't let it run away/...If it rains/different this time/We won't break the chain or make our own rain/We'll just take what came/If it rains. We'll worship again...We'll be thankful for what came..." An acoustic guitar and the sound of a thunderstorm eclipse the electric one, and suddenly, it just ends. It's a gentle manifesto, not an anthem."Demon Days," one of the songs written with McLennan, is almost purely his. It looks sadly and tenderly into the void. It is tempting to read this as perhaps an unwilling goodbye. That said, it's actually a simple look at being middle-aged with the nagging feeling that "something's not right/something's gone wrong." Here Forster's enunciation shapeshifts, allowing for McLennan's voice in the tune to come through clearly, illustrated by strings, acoustic guitars, a celeste, piano, and a contrabass and the final underscoring of a gentle, pop-laden backing chorus of hushed voices. It's deeply effective, sad beyond belief, but Forster's ability to channel his late friend's manner of acceptance as a natural part of the baggage of life is remarkable, and deeply moving. He shifts gears immediately with "Pandanus," one of the finest tracks he's ever written. It's got a midtempo, elegant rock hook, accompanied by Adele and Glenn: this is a Go Betweens song if ever there was one, with a shimmering Beach Boys-styled backing chorus and a stridently graceful, unforced articulation of the melody which lets his lyrics just fall into the listener's lap: "...I love the shades of nightfall, the faded blues and grays/The silver on the...
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Add this copy of The Evangelist to cart. $22.39, new condition, Sold by EB-Books LLC rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Rockford, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Yep Roc.
Add this copy of The Evangelist to cart. $23.94, new condition, Sold by Music Fiendz rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from South Hackensack, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Yep Roc Records.
