Robert Forster-Warm Nights

Every now and then a record comes along that is so aptly titled that it's uncanny. Kind of Blue by Miles Davis is a good example. This record is another. "Warm Nights" by Robert Forster sounds like just that. One of those breezeless, cricket-filled nights where the temperature stays exactly the same when it gets dark than it was at noon. The kind of night that you decide to just sit outside and look at the sky or chat with a friend about nothing. This record perfectly captures that mood, but there's something under it. Robert Forster started his career as one half of the songwriting team of Australia's legendary Go- Betweens. That's what he does now, too. But in the 90's when they were broken up he put out a series of solo records concluding with this one. What I love most about this record is its subtle deception. On the surface it's merely a series of really great, simple pop songs. Classic arrangements of Guitar/Bass/Organ/Drum dispensed in near perfect three to four minute doses full of catchy hooks and tight intuitive musicianship. The lyrics appear to propel the subject matter laid down in the title. "Hey it's a nice night, let's groove". Spin it a few more times and you realize there's a (perhaps) universal pain under there. I think he puts it best in the line "I've come to praise, not dismiss Loneliness". This is actually a painfully honest record. A ten song cycle of a man in his late 30's, for the first time staying home for more than a month or two at a time, a man finished with touring with his band after a decade and realizing he's home alone. Realizing he has no idea how to approach a woman that lives near him, or how to approach a woman with whom he may have competition with another suitor. Throughout the ten songs here he realizes music is the only thing he knows he can offer the world, that he is mighty jealous, unsure how to spend his new free time, remembers his youth, gets drunk alone, tries his hand at using his music to get a girl and concludes with nothing but the realization that he has a lot of growth ahead of him. It's a powerful thing when an artist is so free and honest with his personal struggles that he lets his fans in so completely. It's rare that an artist can risk pride and ridicule to make a statement and speak more directly than most pop stars can ever hope to. It's almost unheard of that a record can be so moving and entertaining simultaneously. All dispensed in near perfect three to four minute doses.-Greg Trout

The Go Betweens