Jack Frost - As Seen on TV
by Dixie Ernill
published: 17 / 8 / 2025
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intro
In our Re: View section, in which we look back at albumsfrom the past, Dixie Ernill examines a new box set from Jack Frost, the 1990’s side project of Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens and Steve Kilbey from The Church, which collects together their two albums plus extra material.
The songs ‘Cattle and Cane’ (by The Go Betweens) and ‘Under The Milky Way’ (by The Church) are widely considered to be two of the best alternative songs to have come out of Australia in the last 50 years. The former was written by Grant McLennan and the latter by Steve Kilbey and both had been released prior to the pair forming Jack Frost. As such it is no surprise that the band would create two excellent albums, particular their self-titled debut in 1990, that are neatly gathered together with additional material in this box set along with a 3rd cd containing a collection of live and radio tracks. Jack Frost proved to be useful diversion for Grant McLennan as he gradually came to terms with the break-up of The Go-Betweens in 1989, and more tellingly his own break-up with partner Amanda Brown who had also been in his former band for the previous few years. The first album seems to nod heavily towards the above break-ups – especially on the sublime ‘Thought That I Was Over You’ and also has a number of other key tracks such as ‘Providence’ and ‘Even As We Speak’– both of which are utterly stunning. The second album came out some 6 years later (with both McLennan, solo, and Kilbey, in The Church, remaining busy on their day jobs in the intervening years by releasing a trio of albums each) and whilst it is a solid record (great by anyone else’s standards), it doesn’t match up to the debut. It is still well worth investigation. The live album is certainly of interest and not just for completists, as it contains lovely versions of many of the tracks from the debut along with stripped back versions of two Go-Betweens classics that had been penned by McLennan in the shape of ‘The Wrong Road’ and ‘Bye Bye Pride’. The only criticism of the box set is the lack of a glossy booklet, but I suppose when the music is this good who needs a distraction?
Track Listing:-
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Band Links:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Frost_(Australian_band)Play in YouTube:-
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