release date: Dec. 1994
format: 2 cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: John Keane
label: Beggars Banquet - nationality: Australia
Track highlights, disc 1: 1. "Simone and Perry" (4 / 5) - 2. "Ice in Heaven" - 5. "Don't You Cry for Me No More" - 6. "Put You Down" - 8. "Coming Up for Air" - 9. "Ballad of Easy Rider" - 10. "Open Invitation" - 11. "Open My Eyes" - 12. "From My Lips" - - disc 2: 1. "Dropping You" - 2. "Hot Water" - 3. "Keep My Word" - 9. "All Her Songs"
3rd studio album by Grant McLennan following two years after Fireboy is no less than a double album consisting of 24 compositions - all written and composed by McLennan except "Ballad of Easy Rider" by Roger McGuinn. The album is his first solo release where he skipped the 'W.' in Grant W. McLennan. It was recorded in Athens, Georgia by local sound engineer and producer John Keane, who at this point recently had worked with R.E.M. (Out of Time and Automatic for the People), Lisa Germano (Happiness), Indigo Girls (Rites of Passage), Madder Rose (Swim), Vic Cheshnut (Drunk) amongst others and he was already a hot producer name on the indie rock and alt. rock scene.
After Fireboy, McLennan was busy touring as solo artist throughout '93. John Keane is also credited as multi-instrumentalist, and together with a handful of local studio musicians including Steve Venz, Andy Carlson and Joel Morris they play alongside McLennan on all tracks. Uncredited (except on track #6) Syd Straw provides some fine backing vocals to most songs. The music is predominantly held together by guitar, bass, percussion and string arrangements. Some are light and uptempo shaped, some are slow and ballad-like with a strong folk or country-sensation reminding us about Athens, Georgia where jangle pop flourished through R.E.M. and 10,000 Maniacs, but also with a strong reminiscence of The Go-Betweens and their sources of inspiration.
Personally, he seems to have put Amanda Brown behind him. At least when listening to the lyrics, but it's still evident that broken love and an ever-present melancholy plays a major part in his songwriting. It's music in the well-known jangle pop and singer / songwriter category with songs about relations - the ld and new, about friendships, the good and warm, but also the lost love songs as the scary dark tale in "Coming Up for Air".
Horsebreaker Star is a tremendous achievement when thinking it's one man's work. I can't decide if I find it too long or just right. There's undoubtedly tracks you could live without, and despite I have "only" found 13 highlighted tracks it's still difficult to point out enough songs for a standard 10-12 track album 'cause it feels very much of a whole. The album alone showcases McLennan as one of the finest Australian songwriters of modern ages.
Imho, this is his so far best solo album and naturally highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5
