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The Evangelist
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The Evangelist Image
Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 11 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.4

Universal acclaim- based on 9 Ratings

  • Summary: Robert Forster's first album in 11 years also features songs written by his now-deceased Go-Between partner.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Uncut
    100
    The Evangelist isn’t a Go-Betweens album, but it’s more cohesive than any of Forster’s other solo albums, and more moving.
  2. MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
    91
    As on most Go-Betweens records, the melodies take time to sink in, though not the Grant McLennan legacy retrofitted with a Robert lyric about Grant's affinity for melody.
  3. AllMusic
    90
    Bittersweet and poignant, The Evangelist is Robert Forster's most fully realized, seamless, and masterfully articulated solo record yet.
  4. Q Magazine
    80
    There could be no finer tribute to a departed friend. [May 2008, p.135]
    All this publication's reviews
  5. Pitchfork
    76
    It's not fair to Forster, of course, who rose to the occasion with his warmest and most welcoming solo album. But even beyond the imherant emotional baggage, songs such as 'Did She Overtake You' or the slightly bombastic 'Don't Touch Anything' still sound like they could have used a pass through someone else's filter.
  6. Spin
    70
    With his unassuming voice--like a more agreeable Lou Reed--and spare folk-rock tunes, he's got a gift for importing cosmic subjects like mortality ('Demon Days') and transcendence ('If It Rains') into vivid everyday vignettes, minus any cheesy melodrama.
  7. Mojo
    60
    The Evangelist is tinged with the voyeur's illicit thrill a Forster spies on his neighbours and loved ones, but these are slso some of the most direct songs he's written. [June 2008, p.114]
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See all 11 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. BrandonM.
    May 20, 2008
    10
    This is by far the best solo effort from Forster, if not the best album all year. The music is excellent through and through. There is an This is by far the best solo effort from Forster, if not the best album all year. The music is excellent through and through. There is an urgency here to the songs, but not in a jangly pop manner. The songs just feel like they oozed out from his soul. The music is often muted, the mood subdued, but every song unfolds with such precision and humble grandeur that it is impossible to walk away from this album unaffected. Some of the songs are a touching reminder of what we all lost when Grant McLennan died in 2006. Forster has found beauty and appreciation in such an untimely tragedy. It's not often that an album turns out to be so perfect from beginning to end, but this is one of them.… Collapse
  2. HughM.
    May 19, 2008
    10
    As a long time admirer of the go-betweens, I was much saddened by the untimely death of Grant McLennan. What Robert has done is continue the As a long time admirer of the go-betweens, I was much saddened by the untimely death of Grant McLennan. What Robert has done is continue the legacy, and broaden it wonderfully. A terrific album!… Expand
  4. ChadS.
    May 29, 2008
    8
    Ten songs, just like a Go-Betweens album: "Springhill Fair", "Talluah", "16 Lovers Lane", classic pop albums all, from the anti-Air Supply, Ten songs, just like a Go-Betweens album: "Springhill Fair", "Talluah", "16 Lovers Lane", classic pop albums all, from the anti-Air Supply, and anti-AC/DC band from Brisbane, Australia. It's rare for a songwriter, late in his career, to still be in peak form, but the late Grant McLennan's "The Statue"("At night I haunt the boulevard/To the songs of Sacha") from "Ocean's Apart", the band's unfortunate swansong, challenged such legacy-making songs like "Cattle and Cane", "Bachelor Kisses", and my personal favorite, "Right Here". But life goes or, or is that "love goes on, anyway," and Robert Forster goes on, too. The title track will remind longtime fans of "Dive For Your Memory"(from "16 Lovers Lane"), with its opening melody set to a jauntier pace. "It Ain't Easy" pays tribute to McLennan, which is positioned near the end of "The Evangelist", but not the end itself. As if to say that he's still here, Forster delivers "From Ghost Town", an elegaic, but forward-thinking piano ballad that rocks like a funeral. "The Evangelist" is a solid album, a modest album, that honors Forster's fallen creative soulmate and friend, by not being too extravagant in sound, or galvanizing in vision. But this former Go-Betweener, won't go under.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

69
#69 Best Album of 2008