Forster's solo debut saw him reinvented a touch as the classic traditionalist
-- certainly the cover photo, black and white with him dressed in a neat
suit, looks like it could have been taken somewhere in rural America circa
1920. For all that, Forster himself wasn't sounding like an unearthed
wax cylinder recording from the back of beyond -- Danger in the Past,
if anything, continues from where the Go-Betweens had temporarily stopped,
with literate, understated rock & roll still the driving focus. Away
from McLennan, a full album of Forster's gently cracked, high vocals succeeds
better than might be thought, setting and maintaining a variety of moods
from sudden energy to soft rumination, especially evident on the death-haunted
title track. Perhaps the secret to the album's success partly lies in
his collaborators -- fellow Australian music legend Mick Harvey took some
time off from working with Nick Cave to produce and play, bringing fellow
Bad Seeds vets Thomas Wydler and Hugo Race with him. Wisely, nobody tries
to sound like Saint Nick, least of all Forster himself -- this is his
own reflective, quietly energetic vision and style through and through,
and his fellow performers play to his strengths. There's a strong element
of country & western in Danger in the Past, generally avoiding brawling
honky tonk in favor of an elegant, almost studied high and lonesome approach
not far off from Bob Dylan's own experiments in the field. Certainly the
roiling Hammond organ background behind the acoustic guitar on the lovely,
haunted "The River People," later covered with equal talent
by the Walkabouts, hints at something the Band could have done, and why
not? Forster's wry sense of humor is clearly evident as well, as on this
line from the stop-start shuffle "Dear Black Dream": "Wondering
who sings better in the dark/Is it Townes Van Zandt or Guy Clark?"
(by Ned Raggett, All
Music Guide)
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