Come Back, All is Forgiven is the sixth album by Australian band Custard](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custard(band)) “Custard (band)”), and their first new material in 16 years. It was released on 6 November 2015 through ABC Music “ABC Music”) on CD, vinyl, and digital.[1]) The album features the classic line-up of David McCormack “David McCormack”), Glenn Thompson](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlennThompson_(musician)) “Glenn Thompson (musician)”), Paul Medew and Matthew Strong. The songs were tracked at Horses Of Australia Studio on a weekend in February 2015. Overdubs were later added by David at Sonar Studio and Glenn at Horses Of Australia Studio. Glenn mixed it over the following couple of months.[2])
Source: Come Back, All Is Forgiven by Wikipedia
I was recently listening to the All Songs Considered podcast in which Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton and Daoud Tyler-Ameen reflect on Green Day and their legacy. The question that they grappled with throughout is how does pop-punk grow up? I was left thinking about the same question thinking about Custard and what it means to come back after a hiatus. This is something that Andrew Stafford addresses in his review of Come Back, All is Forgiven:
A comeback record was always going to be a more difficult proposition for Custard than most. That’s because a key part of the band’s appeal was an innocence that often tripped over into a playful sense of anarchy. Their early recordings, especially, are full of the exuberance and abandon that marks one’s late teens and early 20s. And anyone who’s ever grown up knows how difficult that feeling is to recapture.
Source: CUSTARD: COME BACK, ALL IS FORGIVEN -Notes from Pig City by Andrew Stafford
In a conversation with Jamie Lidell, Jon Hopkins said that he wishes that he could ‘choose’ the music he writes. Instead, he argues that we have no choice over what we do, the choice is about what our body gives energy for. All we can do is appreciate the outcome. I thought this was pertinent listening to Custard. Their music often feels a little random, however maybe it is simply the music that their collective bodies gave energy for. Interestingly, this collective energy was actually recorded quickly and managed by Glenn Thompson.
“Glenn is too modest to tell you this, but Glenn recorded, produced and mixed this album,” McCormack says. “All Matthew, Paul and I did was go to his studio for one and a half days to record and then he sweated on it for weeks and months.”
Source: Dave McCormack’s Custard comes back (and all is forgiven)) by Craig Mathieson
Although the various musicians have done various things since Loverama, coming together again it feels that they have a particular sound. As Stafford suggests, things have changed.
Come Back, All Is Forgiven sounds exactly like what it is: four guys in their mid-40s, casually knocking out a bunch of songs most bands half their age would kill for. Just don’t expect to do the Wahooti Fandango to it.
Source: CUSTARD: COME BACK, ALL IS FORGIVEN -Notes from Pig City by Andrew Stafford
Come Back, All is Forgiven begins with a more laidback country rock feel, maybe it is country or western or Custard Goes Country. As is Custard’s way though, they often lull you in before throwing a spanner into the mix, that being the up tempo ‘If You Would Like To’. This stretch allows the album to pivot to ‘1990’s’, a track whose bass and drums groove makes way for a chorus that reminded me of Sonic Youth’s ‘Sunday’. The rest of the album then bounces around. Offering up Thompson’s ode to ‘Contemporary Art’ (“You want something new for your hall? Dude, I only do stuff that’s like 10 metres tall”), the stream of consciousness associated with ‘Queensland University’, and ‘Factual’ which sounds like Jarvis Cocker listening to the Carpenters. (For a different perspective, Leon Bambrick has written a lengthy commentary breaking down each track.)
I like how Craig Mathieson captures the album. Gone is the dream of world conquering success or a big record deal, instead we are left with a ‘welcome visit’:
Despite the title, for Custard the new album isn’t so much a career comeback as a welcome visit
Source: Dave McCormack’s Custard comes back (and all is forgiven)) by Craig Mathieson
Place between Bob Evans and Pulp
Tracklist:
- “Orchids in Water” 2:59
- “We Are the Parents (Our Parents Warned Us About)” 3:52
- “Warren Rd” 2:48
- “Record Machine” 3:03
- “If You Would Like To” 1:03
- “1990’s” 4:52 – Sonic Youth’s ‘Sunday’
- “Contemporary Art” 2:27 – Lou Reed / Jonathan Richman
- “Queensland University” 2:12
- “Rice & Beans” 4:11
- “Factual” 5:10 – Jarvis Cocker listening to The Carpenters.
- “Get in Your Car” 7:54
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