Robert Forster, Songs to Play, 2015

Album Review

By Henry Lipput

Robert Forster’s new album, Songs to Play, is his first in seven years. It has elements of his previous work with the much-loved Go-Betweens and his solo work in the 90s; and it has some new things, too.

Forster, along with Grant McLennan, founded The Go-Betweens in Brisbane, Australia, in 1978. Phase One of the band’s recorded output, with Forster on lead guitar and alternating lead vocals, lasted from 1978 to 1990. Unfortunately, I discovered the band after Phase One had ended. This was followed by an intermission in which Forster and McLennan released a string of solo albums, a period that is captured in the two-disc collection Intermission.

Phase Two began when the duo began to work again as The Go-Betweens; and, bringing in new musicians to fill out the group, released the very fine The Friends Of Rachel Worth in 2000. After two more albums and a great live CD/DVD set, That Striped Sunlight Sound, this phase of the group ended with the untimely death of Grant McLennan in 2006.

Forster’s last album, the terrific The Evangelist from 2008, used two musicians from the final Go-Betweens’ lineup. Some of the songs from that album included input from McLennan before he died and gave the disc a sense of being the last from The Go-Betweens.

There are many things on the new Songs to Play that will remind listeners of his former group -- mainly Forster’s voice and guitar playing. There’s a distinctive sound to his guitar work. It's crisp and efficient, especially evident on "Learn To Burn," the album’s opening track. And his vocals -- more talking than singing -- are much like those of Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen.

Like those two, Forster is a master lyricist and storyteller. From "Rock and Roll Friend" through "Surfing Magazines," "German Farmhouse," "Darlinghurst Nights," and "Songwriters On The Run" on the new disc, he continues to  provide us with smart and literate songs.

There’s a clear, consistent sound (which I like a lot) to the new album owing to a core group of musicians that includes Scott Bromiley and Luke McDonald, two of the disc’s co-producers. They shared production duties with Forster. The vocals and violin of Karin Baumler add a lot to the mix -- especially her vocals on "Songwriters On The Run" and violin on "Learn To Burn" and "I‘m So Happy for You," giving that song a Phase One Go-Betweens feel.

What’s new on the disc? Well, I’ve never found Forster to be Mr. Happy Guy. That position was usually held in The Go-Betweens by Grant McLennan. But Songs to Play has the poppy "I’m So Happy For You" (He sounds like he’s having fun.) and the bossa nova stylings of "Love Is Where It Is" in which he sounds as if he’s been listening to Michael Franks (a good thing). 

Other highlights include "Let Me Imagine You," "And I Knew" (classic Forster), and the gorgeous "Turn On The Rain."

Songs to Play is a wonderful album of new songs from one of my long-time favorites. And even if it takes seven years for the next Robert Forster album to find its way to my CD player, at least for now, I have some new songs to play.

Songs to Play is out now on Tapete Records.