sound of the suburbs

I heard the news today that Grant McLennan passed away in in his sleep at his Brisbane home May 6 at the tender age of 48. I won't pretend to be his biggest fan though it must be said that I have followed his career with interest since the late eighties for the simple reason that he was a highly gifted songwriter and a talented performer, both with his partner Robert Forster in the Go Betweens and as a solo artist. His songs often played a role in my life, during my period as a DJ on 89.9 Radio Alligator we had the track 'Sally's Revolution', taken from his first solo album, on very heavy rotation, as was to be the case for 'Thought I Was Over You' from another of his side projects, Jack Frost, both of these date from 1991. The reason we played these songs to death was simple; they were and still are great songs. The respect that he commands from his peers is all to obvious, after all God's favorite rock star Bono has stated that 'Cattle and Cane' by the Go Betweens is one of his all time favorite songs. I think the best way to keep the memory alive of this gifted artist is after downloading and tasting the songs to go out and buy the albums.......... and that's an order.