Oceans Apart

Last updated

Oceans Apart
Oceans apart.jpg
Studio album by
Released3 May 2005
RecordedNovember 2004 – January 2005
Genre Rock
Length65:04
Label LO-MAX Records
EMI
Producer Mark Wallis & Dave Ruffy
The Go-Betweens chronology
Bright Yellow Bright Orange
(2003)
Oceans Apart
(2005)
Quiet Heart
(2012)
Singles from Oceans Apart
  1. "Here Comes a City"
    Released: 23 May 2005
  2. "Finding You"
    Released: 25 July 2005
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 85/100 [1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Blender Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Entertainment Weekly A− [4]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [5]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [6]
Pitchfork 7.0/10 [7]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Spin B+ [9]
Uncut Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [10]
The Village Voice A [11]

Oceans Apart is the ninth and final studio album by The Go-Betweens, released in 2005. All the songs were written by Grant McLennan and Robert Forster. The album was recorded at the Good Luck Studios in London between November 2004 through to January 2005, except for "Boundary Rider" which was recorded at The White Room Recording Studio in Brisbane.

Contents

Details

The live recordings on the bonus disc were recorded at The Barbican Concert Hall, London on 27 June 2004.

The album won the 2005 "Adult Contemporary Album" award at the 2005 ARIA music awards.

Many reviews and fans complained of the aggressively loud and distorted mastering of the initial release by Jon Astley to the extent that Lo-Max offered to exchange the original pressing for a newer release where the problem is less evident.

Forster later claimed "Darlinghurst Nights" was the song he was most pleased with writing throughout his career. He said "I loved writing the lyric, and I could just get all these people in - Frank Brunetti, who used to be in Died Pretty and was a music journalist on RAM; Clinton Walker is in it. It's a song that no-one else could have written but me - for better or worse." [12]

McLennan said, "We didn't want to be on the outer ripples of the pond anymore. We wanted to jump back into the maelstrom – London, just the energy, the competition of the place. We've made enough records and have listened to enough records by other people that we know this is a fucking good one." [13]

Reception

According to the review aggregator Metacritic , Oceans Apart received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 from 23 critic scores. The site named it the 22nd-best reviewed album of 2005. [1]

Track listing

  1. "Here Comes a City" – 3:25
  2. "Finding You" – 4:02
  3. "Born to a Family" – 3:08
  4. "No Reason to Cry" – 3:53
  5. "Boundary Rider" – 2:45
  6. "Darlinghurst Nights" – 6:18
  7. "Lavender" – 3:09
  8. "The Statue" – 4:25
  9. "This Night's for You" – 4:25
  10. "The Mountains Near Dellray" – 3:28

Bonus disc

  1. "People Say" (Live) – 3:31
  2. "He Lives My Life" (Live) – 4:03
  3. "The Wrong Road" (Live) – 5:17
  4. "Bye Bye Pride" (Live) – 4:54
  5. "When People Are Dead" (Live) – 4:45
  6. "Streets of Your Town" (Live) – 3:36

Personnel

Go-Betweens

Additional musicians

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References

  1. 1 2 "Reviews for Oceans Apart by The Go-Betweens". Metacritic . Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  2. Jurek, Thom. "Oceans Apart – The Go-Betweens". AllMusic . Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  3. "The Go-Betweens: Oceans Apart". Blender (36): 119. May 2005.
  4. Raftery, Brian M. (25 April 2005). "Oceans Apart". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  5. Petridis, Alexis (14 April 2005). "The Go-Betweens, Oceans Apart". The Guardian . Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  6. "The Go-Betweens: Oceans Apart". Mojo (138): 95. May 2005.
  7. Moerder, Adam (16 May 2005). "The Go-Betweens: Oceans Apart". Pitchfork . Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  8. Hoard, Christian (5 May 2005). "The Go-Betweens: Oceans Apart". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 29 June 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  9. Dolan, Jon (May 2005). "The Go-Betweens, Oceans Apart (Yep Roc)". Spin . 21 (5): 105. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  10. Troussé, Stephen (May 2005). "The Go-Betweens – Oceans Apart". Uncut (96): 102. Archived from the original on 19 July 2005. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  11. Christgau, Robert (3 May 2005). "Beguilement and Rage". The Village Voice . Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  12. Cameron Emerson-Elliott (November 2015). "My Soundtrack". Rolling Stone Australia . No. 768. Paper Riot Pty Ltd. pp. 38–39.
  13. Fred Mills. "The Go-Betweens: Their Back Pages". Rock's Backpages.