Amanda Brown, Tim Rogers, Holy Rollercoasters: New album reviews

Go-Betweens fans have been spoilt with two solo albums by former members in the space of weeks PLUS Tim Rogers & The Twin Set and Holy Rollercoasters.

Amanda Brown | Picture: Simon Marnie

This week’s album reviews from The Courier-Mail (ratings out of five stars):

ALT-COUNTRY

Amanda Brown, eight guitars

(LilliPilli) ***

“We were part of everything, and nothing all at once.” The Brisbane of 1973 was a backwater, and as we mark the grim 50th anniversary of the Whiskey Au Go Go firebombing, ex-Go-Between Amanda Brown makes mention of it on her long-time-coming debut solo record, just weeks after former bandmate Robert Forster’s latest effort. That night of infamy sits alongside world events from Vietnam to Watergate and the last moon landing on the track 1973. The eight guitars referred to in the title are the guest artists on each of the eight tracks, from Dragon’s Bruce Reid to Karma Country’s Brendan Gallagher. And Brown’s mesmerising vocals are undimmed by the decades, even recalling Shirley Manson on the likes of Light Lingers On. Then there’s the hypnotic percussion of Freedom and the country twang of Lost in the Wilderness. And while this reviewer normally has an aversion to ballad-ified cover versions, her jangly, chillaxed version of The Church’s Unguarded Moment is beguiling all the same.

SOUL

The Holy Rollercoasters, Odyssey

(4000 Records) ***

From one Brisbane product to another, the musical journey is complete for these River City groovers with the third and final instalment of their Odyssey project. While the sumptuous horn arrangements and old-time rock ’n’ soul melodies set them apart from their contemporaries, their lush arrangements and storytelling recall the likes of Closure in Moscow. Tears, Heartache and Sighs is an epic break-up tune where the brass reaches an emotive crescendo. Elsewhere, frenzied trumpets give way to cool jazz on Sirens, Perils and Pleasures. The Worst Years of My Life is a message to an absent father, while the dramatic Blood in the Dust documents a violent homecoming. Then there are the Caribbean rhythms of Let the Olive Branches Sway. This musical journey has been well worth the ride!

ALTERNATIVE

Tim Rogers & The Twin Set, Tines of Stars Unfurled

(Virgin) ***1/2

If Tim Rogers’ new album isn’t quite what you’re expecting, maybe it’s because Rogers isn’t quite who you thought he was – or he thought he was, for that matter. If not a midlife crisis it’s at least a reassessment of a life largely lived and what his priorities should be, while the alt-rock of You Am I is traded for the stringy alt-country of The Twin Set. The Beatlesque string crescendo of title-ish track Tines of Stars sets the mood for an album of reflection on his demons, parents and children, train stations and friends present or absent. And Rogers’ high, whimsical vocals often recall those of Tim Finn (he even sings “what… can a poor boy do”). “That steamroller time doesn’t make amends/It’ll roll you flat before your story ends,” he sings on Been So Good, Been So Far, while we visit an AA meeting on Left My Heart in a Country Church: “With the money I saved on powder, piss and pills/I doubled down on meds for all my ills.” Rogers declares “I love you Dad” on A Quiet Anniversary, while The Drink They Drained as I Drove Away carries a disclaimer about rock star behaviour. It ain’t You Am I, but you’ll find some melodic parallels, and either way it’s a refreshing departure.