By Henry Lipput
The latest solo album by Robert Forster and the debut album by Britain's returning, reunited The Loft are recent releases from Germany’s Tapete Records that have caught my ears.
Robert Forster, Strawberries
As a member of the great band The Go-Betweens as well as his solo
work Robert Forster has been known for his story songs. His “Born To A Family”
on 2004’s Oceans Apart, the final Go-Betweens album is a perfect example. His albums since then have also included “Life
Has Turned A Page” from 2019’s Inferno and “When I Was A Young Man” on 2023’s
The Candle And The Flame.
n his new album Strawberries, “Tell It Back To Me” is a tale about two very different people getting together and over the years finding it difficult to continue to be a couple. “Breakfast On The Train” is unique in that it begins with an ending and then circles back with a story about a chance meeting at a rugby game when he remembers her from school and a night of love making that causes a family in the hotel room next door to complain about the noise. It’s a lovely, melancholy song and one of Forster’s best.
The title song, “Strawberries," is a delightful duet between
Forster and his wife and musical partner Karin Baumler especially because
before the recording of the album The Candle And The Flame she was diagnosed with
ovarian cancer. Although he was able to quickly record that album the
result was a collection of songs that were literate and heartfelt with an
underlying feeling of sadness throughout. So it’s wonderful to hear them have
fun singing about a suddenly empty bowl of fruit while recognizing “it took
time to recover/from the edge of the night.”
“Diamonds” is a departure in the sort of arrangement Forster has set for his songs with a free jazz interlude and shouted lyrics. Beginning with a riff that recalls “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield, he sings “She put diamonds in my eyes/Changed the way I saw life.” What follows could be seen and heard as a strong declaration of his love or a cry of despair for the loss of that love. The sax follows a similar route with a lovely melody that turns into an angry, confused blast.
The Loft, Everything Changes Everything Stays The Same
For a band on the fabled Creation Records label in the 1980s
that broke up in the middle of a song during a concert, The Loft has been very
busy recently. After performing at the Glas-Goes Pop Festival last year they
were invited to record a BBC session for the Riley & Coe show (released on
vinyl by Precious Recordings of London who also put out a single with “Dr.
Clarke” and “Got A Job,” a non-album B-side).
Now the original band members Peter Astor (guitar and
vocals). Andy Strickland (guitar), Bill Prince (bass), and Dave Morgan (drums)
have reunited and recorded their debut album Everything Changes Everything
Stays The Same. “The Loft has always been just the four of us,” said Strickland,
“and it’s a real thrill to be writing and recording and playing across the UK
with the band again.”
You can hear this renewed focus on playing together on each
of the songs on the new album. The band
has a clean, crisp sound that recalls four-piece bands in the mid-Sixties as
well as the Britpop sounds of the 90s.
Despite being upbeat, the protagonist of the opening track “Feel Good Now” can’t wait for that feeling so just wants to start drinking now. A similar disconnect between the lyrics and the playing is on “Killer” with its dark message but a lovely guitar solo.
The mid-Sixties sound is most evident on “Dr. Clarke” with a lyric and guitar that recalls another song about another physician on a certain Revolver album.
The beautiful “Greensward Days” has the looking-back feel of a Ray Davies song from The Village Green Preservation Society or the opening songs of Preservation Act 1.
