''Spring Hill Fair'' is
The Go-Betweens
The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only constant members throughout it ...
' third album, released on 27 September 1984 in the UK on
Sire Records
Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records.
History Beginnings
The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer ...
. The LP was recorded during a "very wet May"
at
Studio Miraval
Miraval Studios is a recording studio located in the Château de Miraval, a 900 hectares estate located in Correns, in the Var department of Provence (France). Founded in 1977 by French jazz pianist Jacques Loussier and sound engineer Patrice Quef ...
in
Le Val, France. Prior to the recording of the album,
bass player
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low bra ...
Robert Vickers
Robert Vickers (born 25 November 1958, Brisbane, Australia) is an Australian bass guitarist, who is best known as a member of the Australian musical group The Go-Betweens.
Vickers visited London, England in 1977, and returned to Brisbane to join ...
had joined the group, enabling
Grant McLennan
Grant William McLennan (12 February 19586 May 2006) was an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter-guitarist. He co-founded the Go-Betweens with Robert Forster in Brisbane in 1977. In addition to his work with the Go-Betweens (1977–89, ...
to move to lead guitar. The original release consisted of ten songs. In 2002, Circus released an expanded CD which included a second disc of ten
bonus tracks
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...
and a music video for the song, "
Bachelor Kisses".
[Mueller, Andrew, from the ]liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes.
Origin
Liner notes are desce ...
for the 2002 Circus Compact Disc reissue of ''Spring Hill Fair''. All track listing/production history/song writing credit information in this article is taken from these liner notes.
Details
The album was named after an annual fair in
Spring Hill, Queensland
Spring Hill is an inner northern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Spring Hill had a population of 5,974 people.
Geography
Spring Hill is located north of the central business district. Parts of Spring Hill can ...
, suburb of
Brisbane Grammar School
, motto_translation = Nothing Without Labour
, established = 1868
, type = Independent, day & boarding
, gender = Boys
, denomination = Non-denominational
, slogan =
, key_people =
, ci ...
,
Robert Forster
Robert Wallace Forster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019) was an American actor, known for his roles as John Cassellis in '' Medium Cool'' (1969), Captain Dan Holland in ''The Black Hole'' (1979), Abdul Rafai in '' The Delta Force'' (1986 ...
's high school. Some of the band had also lived there in the early eighties.
Grant McLennan
Grant William McLennan (12 February 19586 May 2006) was an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter-guitarist. He co-founded the Go-Betweens with Robert Forster in Brisbane in 1977. In addition to his work with the Go-Betweens (1977–89, ...
said of the title, "It was generally not that we were home sick, I think we just wanted to have, after ''Before Hollywood'', which was so obviously an American kind of thing, a regional home-town thing."
In another interview McLennan stated "we all lived there and the main reason was that in September, October of every year in Brisbane, there is, in Spring Hill, a fair, and as the album came out around then we thought it would be nice to have a parochial mention in a title because we hadn't done that for a long time."
McLennan and Forster later said that they were uninspired and felt the songs on their previous album had been better, with Forster saying they were more interested in, "sitting around drinking wine and eating rabbit! It definitely lacked 'the edge' of where we were before." They were also unhappy with the production, despite using the same producer as on ''Before Hollywood''. McLennan said, "John Brand, the producer, he did change between the second and third, which we did as well, but he went and made a very produced 1984 English pop record, which in a way... well, that's not what we were." Forster more bluntly claimed, "John Brand was terrible. His whole attitude was, 'Now we're making a real record.'"
Recording in France was much more expensive than their earlier recordings,
with the Miraval studio booked for a month. Forster recalls that the band initially thought that they would set up and play in the recording studio in a similar way to how they had recorded ''
Before Hollywood
''Before Hollywood'' is the second album by Australian rock band the Go-Betweens, released in May 1983. The album reached No. 2 on the UK Independent Charts and a single, "Cattle and Cane" reached No. 4. In 2001 "Cattle and Cane" was voted as o ...
'' with Brand previously. About half the tracks had programmed rhythm tracks, leading to conflict between Brand and drummer
Lindy Morrison
Belinda "Lindy" Morrison (born 2 November 1951) is an Australian musician originally from Brisbane, Queensland. She was the drummer in indie rock group the Go-Betweens from 1980 to 1989, appearing on all of the band's releases from their first L ...
.
Morrison claimed the relationship had also soured after Brand attempted to seduce her and was rebuffed on their first day in the studio. Brand spent the first week trying to gate the drums and set click tracks,
with the rest of the band feeling trapped.
Furthermore, Morrison recalled the relationships within the band were poor. "They were fucked. There were little power struggles going on all over the place. We were a neurotic mess," she said. Forster indicating in hindsight that the band should have sacked Brand, however as Brand's manager had booked the studio on a deal, they felt compelled to proceed with him.
Soon after the release, he said, "I'm firmly anti-producer now. For the life of me, I can't see their function."
Forster said of his writing, "The lyrics I wrote on this album, I wrote when I've been drinking. I wanted to speak a lot more directly and I wanted to speak about certain topics in a very straightforward way. And the best way I found of doing that was by sitting down and drinking. A conversational-type lyric. Most of the lyrics I've done on that album were started at night. I'd start drinking, smoking cigarettes, and I'd write all the lyrics in one sitting. I think it shows."
Defending accusations that the album was disjointed, McLennan said, "It's an album where we talked right from the start of ''
Loaded'' or a ''
White Album
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
'', where there would be different songs on the record, and I stand by that. I deny the allegations of scrappiness." In an interview in 2016 Forster takes a different view, stating "Grant was always perceived as the pop kid in the band, but he didn’t pick the pop songs. At times I would try and sway him on material, because he had a lot more than me: I would have four or five songs for each album and he would have 15 or 20. But he chose avant-garde weirdness over pop."
The album features a number of guest musicians, more than any of the band's previous recordings,
with
Ana da Silva
Ana da Silva is a musician, best known as a founding member of post-punk rock band the Raincoats.
Career
Born in Madeira island of Portugal, she grew up without television and little access to popular culture. She had exposure to music throu ...
(
The Raincoats
The Raincoats are a British experimental post-punk band. Ana da Silva (vocals, guitar) and Gina Birch (vocals, bass) formed the group in 1977 while they were students at Hornsey College of Art in London.
Signed to the label Rough Trade, the ...
) providing additional vocals on "
Bachelor Kisses",
Jacques Loussier
Jacques Loussier (26 October 1934 – 5 March 2019) was a French pianist and composer. He arranged jazz interpretations of many of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, such as the ''Goldberg Variations''. The Jacques Loussier Trio, founded in 19 ...
(the owner of the recording studio) performing synthesizer on "Part Company", Graeme Pleeth on keyboards and brass, Denis Gautier on trumpet and Marc Fontana on saxophone.
The album cover, of the band was taken at the
Richmond Theatre
The present Richmond Theatre, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is a British Victorian theatre located on Little Green, adjacent to Richmond Green. It opened on 18 September 1899 with a performance of ''As You Like It''. One of ...
in London, by American photographer, Sheila Rock.
The first single released was "Part Company" in August 1984 but it failed to make an impact on the charts. The second single "
Bachelor Kisses" was the band's first real attempt at a commercial single. Although Sire Records didn't produce a music video for "Part Company" they did for "Bachelor Kisses", which was filmed in part at
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
. "Bachelor Kisses" was however voted in at No. 72 in
Triple J's Hottest 100 for 1989.
Critical reception
Clinton Walker
Clinton Walker is an Australian writer, best known for his works on popular music. He is known for his books ''Highway to Hell'' (1994; a biography of Bon Scott), ''Buried Country'' (2000; also a film and soundtrack album), ''History is Made a ...
, writing in ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' newspaper, felt "the album as a whole was disappointing, disjointed and uneven." Helen FitzGerald was more enthusiastic in her review for ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'', writing, "There's an endearing imperfection to this record, but it's a calculation of style rather than incompetence of design. In places, the vocals quaver dangerously as out-of-focus love songs paint a picture of the kind of melancholia that's impossible to forge." The songs were compared to sepia-toned photographs. Biba Kopf of ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' said, "It would be silly to pretend the Go-Betweens are a sparkling fun experience – they are sometimes excessively sombre, verging on sobriety. They don't make for the easiest of entries, but the pleasures and rewards are longer lasting." ''NME'' ranked ''Spring Hill Fair'' at number 11 among the "Albums of the Year" for 1984.
In 1996,
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
of ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' gave the album an "A" rating.
Ned Raggett's review of the album on
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
states, "A slightly more conventional but no less entrancing collection of songs in comparison to ''Before Hollywood'', ''Spring Hill Fair'' contains its fair share of Go-Betweens classics, with the rough, barbed emotional edge of many lyrics getting almost gentle arrangements." He added, "Throughout the album one can not only hear the expanded lineup testing things out, but individual players adding their own particular flair – the brush-and-shuffle percussion from Morrison on 'Five Words,' McLennan's great lead guitar solo on 'You've Never Lived,' Vickers' ability with crisp funk on 'Slow Slow Music.'"
Track listing
(All tracks written by Grant McLennan and Robert Forster)
Release history
Personnel
;The Go-Betweens
*
Robert Forster
Robert Wallace Forster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019) was an American actor, known for his roles as John Cassellis in '' Medium Cool'' (1969), Captain Dan Holland in ''The Black Hole'' (1979), Abdul Rafai in '' The Delta Force'' (1986 ...
— vocals, guitar
*
Grant McLennan
Grant William McLennan (12 February 19586 May 2006) was an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter-guitarist. He co-founded the Go-Betweens with Robert Forster in Brisbane in 1977. In addition to his work with the Go-Betweens (1977–89, ...
— vocals, guitar
*
Lindy Morrison
Belinda "Lindy" Morrison (born 2 November 1951) is an Australian musician originally from Brisbane, Queensland. She was the drummer in indie rock group the Go-Betweens from 1980 to 1989, appearing on all of the band's releases from their first L ...
— drums, backing vocals
*
Robert Vickers
Robert Vickers (born 25 November 1958, Brisbane, Australia) is an Australian bass guitarist, who is best known as a member of the Australian musical group The Go-Betweens.
Vickers visited London, England in 1977, and returned to Brisbane to join ...
— bass guitar
;Additional musicians
* Graeme Pleeth — keyboards, brass and string arrangements
* Denis Gautier — trumpet
* Marc Fontana — saxophone
*
Ana da Silva
Ana da Silva is a musician, best known as a founding member of post-punk rock band the Raincoats.
Career
Born in Madeira island of Portugal, she grew up without television and little access to popular culture. She had exposure to music throu ...
— backing vocals on "Bachelor Kisses"
Production
* Engineer — Jacques Hermet
* Layout — Martyn Lambert
* Photography — Sheila Rock
* Producer, Engineer — John Brand
* Producer, Engineer — Colin Fairley ("Bachelor Kisses")
* Producer — Robert Andrews ("Bachelor Kisses")
References
{{Authority control
The Go-Betweens albums
1984 albums
Sire Records albums
Albums recorded at Studio Miraval