New Album - Rising

[zczdfairlane]

I am a Melbournian Ex-Pat in Finland, I saw you guys at the WPA ANZAC Day gig in London 2008 - you blew me away with your energy. So I got the "A Journey for a Nation" album...a great album and I have listened to it 100s of times...and will probably listen to it 100s & 100s more times.

I finally got someone to send me the new album "Rising". Only 28mins03sec...What ? Where is the rest of it ?.....I mean it is shorter than ANY of The Ramones albums. What happened ?

It is a "forgetable" album - not a classic on it...sorry there is one , but it is Radio Birdman's Newrace, and even that lacked the energy of the original !

With Billy Bragg's "Waiting for the Great Forward" you almost rewrote that....you guys "own" that song now. I am sure there are plenty of people who even think you actually wrote it originally.

But Newrace...not even close...

I certainly hope that the live CD/DVD if something to remember...I have given "Rising" half a dozen chances at least ...sadly it will now gather dust in my CD collection.

You guys are a great band - I saw that with my own eyes - and "A Journey for a Nation" proved it .....Please Please Please find it agian.....what ever you lost - what ever happened - press rewind and find "it" again.

[keeno]

Hey mate. Thanks for the opinion.

All I can say is this....

When we recorded 'Journey' in 2007, a lot of our punters commented that it was 'too soft' and didnt sound like The Go Set live. 'Journey' was the most expensive album we had made (and being independent, this was a lot more than we could afford). Nevertheless, we got a great sounding record, and at the time I thought it was definitely the best record we had made to date.

On all of the Go Set records I am the only songwriter, and 'Journey' is the only record that the songwriting got some help too...help in arranging mainly, from the great Mick Thomas. Needless to say, the album was really refined and was produced really well. To get this sort of criticism really made me disheartened. So much so, that the bad feedback combined with the financial debt caused lots of difficulty in the band and almost caused it to fold entirely.

When we recorded 'Rising' late last year, we took a more 'punk' approach. We recorded it fairly quickly, just a few days, and captured most of it as live as possible. Funny enough, its probably our most successful album thus far , and its only been out a few months. I feel as though its another step along that evolving path.

As a songwriter, I think that its just a case of continually writing songs, continually seeking to improve your skills, and hopefully your creativity evolves as a result. I'd like to think that the songwriting and recording on album number 4 is certainly at a much higher level than our debut. At least I hope so.

Putting your art out to public criticism is a daunting proposition. For every person who thinks a song is a masterpiece, another thinks its a pile of shit. I try not to take any of it personally, otherwise it would kill the enthusiasm with which the music is created.

And yes, I hope the live album is a corker too. If we can capture a bit of that live energy and Melbourne pub atmosphere we'll have a great album hopefully.

In the meantime, I shall continue to put pen to paper and write more new songs. Hopefully you'll hear something in the future that you really like.

Thanks for dropping us a line.

[zczdfairlane]

The thing that pops into my mind after I read your totally valid and great responce/reply was Rancid – might be strange to say that, yet The GoSet reminded me of them. It was the combined energy and love of music mixed with the “heading in different directions”

To explain a little further ...with their “And Out Come the Wolves” they blew many people away, including myself, a brilliant album. Many say they “explored” things a little too far on “Life Won't Wait” - I think it was a great experiment, which produced a really good album. It seemed the knee jurk reaction from all that Criticism was the PunkPunk sound of the Album Rancid – seemingly trying to shed the “Tourist/3MMM” Rancid fans...but then from out of nowhere comes the Indestructible album...maybe a happy balance – but a bloody great album none-the-less.


I can not understand why someone would critize “A journey..” Anyone associate with that album should be proud – it stands there with the best of them, in my humble opinion. It is certain in the “25 studio albums to take to a desert Island” in my book...easily along side London Calling , Exile on Main St. and the White album (( ok they are double albums...so I was cheating to take lots of music with me...)) So the people who knocked you about that one should be ashamed of themselves....

I mean, I might be a weird guy since I liked, for example: End of the Century – there were plenty of good songs on that album the Ramones took to the stage and rocked. Since I had never heard of you guys before I saw you on stage and you made a very big impression ….So I guess that is one way to turn those “blasphemers” around !....


Althought this might sound longwinded....and I am not saying that “Rising” was your “Zooropa”
What made me think of Rancid when reading your responce/reply ….were the words from “Indestructible“.....“And I’m dancing now to a whole different drummer ..And I keep listening to the great Joe Strummer ...cause through music, we can live forever”

I have never written anything worth mentioning, so I could not begin to imagine how hard it sometimes might be...Yet I guess if you are 110% satisfied that what you put down can stand the test of time and are not “just fillers” …. I suppose I just wanted to say that “ A Journey..” was as good as anything Joe Strummer put out – so I know you have it in you and I hope that the next album is worthy (in my books) to be associated with his name. Some of the stuff that Joe Stummer put out with the The Mescaleros was/is timeless.

Then again why listen, or take any notice of me, I was the guy who gave up on listening to “Rising”.


I certainly hope the up coming live album is among my list of the “25 live albums” on that derert Island....standing up with Live & Dangerous, No Sleep til Hammersmith, If You Want Blood You Got It , Live After Death, Double Live Gonzo and The Song Remains the Same.......even They Were Better Live.

If you are ever in Finland, there will always be a meal and cold beer in the fridge for you at my place, even a somewhere to sleep – might need a sofa and a sleeping bag, but Welcome!

[lilybella]

I am totally puzzled as to why you feel that you must compare every album with another favourite. I have quite diverse taste in music and would never bother to judge one album against another. It seems rather pointless, you either like something or you don't. I enjoyed all the Goset albums, which were purchased in random order. I appreciate that they differ in content, if i wanted the same sound i would just put one cd on repeat and never change it. I too was blown away when i first saw the Goset live, and i was rapt that you had managed to capture that energy on their cds. I will admit that some albums need more than one playing to get the feel across but i haven't found that with any of the Gosets music. I can't listen to any of the shite that is played on the radio anymore so it is great to find another band that i am happy to put into my cd player and totally hammer. All i can say is keep at it, you have a great band with lots of great songs. Totally enjoyed the gig at Clancys in Freo, thanks again to Lachlan for letting my husband play his pipes. All the best Louise