It's New to Me: The Evangelist by Robert Forster (2008)

Panel from Best of the West comic book issue #6, 1952

I've been on a big Go-Betweens kick over the last year or so, listening to the Australian band's original run of '80s albums, their reunion albums from the last decade, and some of the solo albums that songwriter Grant McLennan released during the hiatus years. But I was always hesitant to approach the solo work of the band's other songwriter, Robert Forster. People say that Forster and McLennan were a perfect songwriting team because they complemented each other so well, each bringing to the table something that the other lacked. I think there's a lot of truth to that, but I always preferred the lighter melodic touch of McLennan to Forster's weightier, more literate songs.

I'm having to reevaluate things now, though, because The Evangelist is a very impressive album. Released in 2008, after Grant McLennan's passing, it includes the songs that were going to go on the next Go-Betweens record, including a few unfinished McLennan songs that Forster has fleshed out. So, in a way, this is not really a solo album at all - Grant McLennan's presence is pervasive in the album's sounds and melodies. You can almost hear him singing backing vocals on some of the tracks, and this feeling is reinforced by the fact that Forster clearly intended to pay tribute to his friend with these songs. The album begins with a pair of wistful songs, "If It Rains" and "Demon Days", that find Forster setting a circumspect mood. "Demon Days" was a McLennan song, so the songs mesh together like a dialogue about regret and hope. These songs are followed by two simple pop songs, "Pandanus" and the excellent "Did She Overtake You", that keep the album's momentum from getting bogged down with melancholy.

The glossy production keeps The Evangelist from becoming too raw or too personal, but the songs are great and flow together really well. The centerpiece of the album is the title track, where Forster brings some heavy emotion into his conversational delivery - that's the one song that can be a little hard to listen to if you're thinking about the great loss that overshadowed the album's recording. After that point, though, things take on a more positive tone, and McLennan contributes two characteristically upbeat songs to the album's second half. "It Ain't Easy" is the most interesting of these, as Forster balances McLennan's breezy chorus with a touching verse lyric of his own about his friend. It's affecting without being macabre, with memorable lines like, "A river ran and a train ran and a dream ran through everything he did." Like the album as a whole, it's a capstone on a long and fruitful songwriting partnership.

"Did She Overtake You" by Robert Forster