The Evangelist

（不足10人评分）

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共10首歌曲

艺人: Robert Forster
语种: 英语
厂牌: Yep Roc
发行时间: 2008年04月29日
专辑类别: 录音室专辑

专辑介绍

by Thom Jurek

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. ... Read More...