The third of an occasional feature in which I’ll draw your attention to some albums that have been purchased in 2023 and which I reckon are worth highlighting. It’s an LP that came out on Tapete Records back in February.
The Candle and The Flame is the eighth solo album to be released by Robert Forster, going back all the way to Danger In The Past in 1990. There have also, of course, been three Go-Betweens album in that period, with the last being Oceans Apart (2005) which came out a year before Grant McLennan passed away, at the age of 48, after a heart attack.
It’s always been a tough one comparing Robert’s solo releases to those with his former band. He’s never been one to completely let go of what came before, with his always entertaining live shows being a mix of the solo and band material. As much as I’ve always enjoyed the solo records, none of them have really managed to have the same longevity as most Go-Betweens records in that I don’t often find myself going back for very regular listens once the vinyl or CDs were put on the shelf.
Things are going to change with this one, thanks to it easily being his best solo effort this far. It’s an album that was largely conceived and recorded against the challenging background of Karin Bäumler, his wife and musical partner for more than 30 years, being diagnosed, during the COVID lockdown period, with ovarian cancer that was inoperable and could only be treated with chemotherapy.
Robert, who makes great use of social media to keep in touch and update his fans, broke the news in October 2022. It’s best to actually reproduce what he said:-
“Greetings from Brisbane
Dear friends, pull up chairs, this is a difficult and lengthy post. It is tough news that I wish to share with you and not for you to pick up second hand on the internet over the next months.
In early July last year (2021), Karin Bäumler, my wife and musical companion for thirty-two years, was diagnosed with a confronting case of ovarian cancer. It was a time of shock and grief, and that same month, she embarked on a regime of chemotherapy treatment.
Ever since we met, Karin and I have sung and played music together in our home, and in these dark days we turned to music once again. I had a batch of new songs I’d written over the last years, and we started playing them together. Our son Louis often dropped in for a meal and a chat and soon he began joining us on guitar. One night, when sitting cross-legged on the couch, after we had played a song, Karin looked up from her xylophone and said, “When we play music, is the only time I forget I have cancer.” That was a big moment.
In the meantime some of our very kind Brisbane friends had formed a cooking roster, leaving meals at our front door to support us through this time. One of them was Adele Pickvance, former Go-Betweens and Warm Nights bass player. On one of her meal delivery trips, I asked her to bring her bass and an amp along. She pulled up a chair in our lounge room and fell right in on the new songs.
In October, Karin was scheduled for surgery. We booked a studio, and on September 27th, the four of us sitting in a circle, recorded 10 songs live in 7 hours. Whatever would happen in the future, we would always have the tape.
Over the next months, when Karin was strong enough and Covid numbers were low, we booked odd days in the studio. Sometimes our daughter, Loretta, would come along and join us and we brought in friends to help us, too. Karin was driving the album and listening to what we’d done on each session, gave us weeks of enjoyment and a place we could retreat to, away from hospital visits and scans and blood tests. In early March, with her chemotherapy course just finished, we did our last day in the studio.
The songs we recorded formed an album that will come out early next year, and this Wednesday, the 19th, we will release a single. But we wanted you to know the story of the creation of the record first. Why it exists. Why these musicians are playing on it. Why there isn’t layers of production, instead a live, catch a moment feel to the sound. Two of the songs on the album are from that September 27 recording. We didn’t know we’d started an album but we had, in the shadow of Karin’s hospital visits.
With a challenging year behind her, Karin is feeling strong and positive now and she can’t wait for our music to go out of our house and into the world. It may seem strange making an album in these circumstances and looking back, we really don’t know how we did it, but we do know that it helped us just so much as a family. It was done in drops and gave us this other reality we could live in. Something that music is great in giving.
In the slow process of the album’s recording, we didn’t inform a wide range of family and friends of what we were doing, and we ask for their understanding in the delivery of this news.
The album is called The Candle And The Flame. We hope you will enjoy it!
Fondest Regards from Karin and myself,
Robert”
This is the video which dropped into our inboxes a short time later:-
Not too much in the way of words, but by god, it delivered a musical and emotional punch. Robert would later reveal that the bones of the song had actually been written prior to Karin’s diagnosis, but it emerged fully from those home sessions in Brisbane.
She’s A Fighter would be the track chosen to open the new album. It’s totally different, musically, from any of the other eight songs, but what they all have in common is that they are a celebration of the good and happy things in life, all of which makes for an album that was, without any question, the most uplifting and rewarding listen of 2023.
One of the standout tracks, Tender Years, is a wonderful love song, an autobiographical tale of domestic bliss with a video that matches it perfectly,:-
Surprisingly for an album that was made in such challenging circumstances, there are many moments of humour across the record, particularly in the self-deprecating I Don’t Do Drugs I Do Time, while album closer When I Was A Young Man sees Robert look back on his own life and the paths that led him to become a musician. It’s yet another song of celebration, but its not made with any sort of boastfulness, and the lyrics and tune clearly pay homage to those heroes of Robert who helped him on the journey.
Robert has been out on the road with the album. I was lucky enough to see him twice – the first being in Hebden Bridge when he was accompanied on stage by his son Louis, while the second was when he played solo as the headline and closing act of the 2023 edition of Glas-Goes Pop. The latter was probably my favourite gig of the past year, perfectly paced with the usual blend of solo and band material, but taken to new levels thanks to Robert’s chat in-between the songs being just as entertaining. This song was a particular highlight:-
mp3: Robert Forster – There’s A Reason To Live
The Candle and The Flame is a tremendous record. If you don’t have a copy, please do something about it. At the very least, have one of your loved ones make sure that Santa Claus knows you’re interested……
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Spot on review, JC. I’ve really enjoyed this album and it’s on regular rotation here. The other feature of Robert’s albums that I like is their relative brevity and this is no exception: 9 songs in under 40 minutes and every word and note counts. She’s A Fighter is a misleading and uncharacteristic opener, with sparse lyrics and stripped back music but boy, does it carry some emotional heft. Album closer When I Was A Young Man may be one of the finest songs he’s ever written. Oh, how I wish I’d been able to see Robert live in concert this year.
An effusive recommendation.
(Flimflamfan)
Saw Robert and Louis play a great show in a packed-out sweaty dive round the back of Kings Cross. Respect that he resists the temptation to play more than a handful of Go-Bes classics, even when I’d love to hear more. The Roads is probably my favourite from this LP, but When I Was A Young Man is a lovely bit of elegiac self-deprecation. Would recommend Robert’s Grant & I book for anyone who hasn’t read it. One of the great music memoirs, and best combined with Tracey Thorn’s My Rock N Roll Friend memoir of Lindy for a rounded picture of the classic Go-Betweens line-up.
chaval
For my money all four of his 21st century albums are up there with his very best work. A really stunning run of releases.
Agreed, JC. When I Was A Young Man is one of my songs of the year.