Cut It Out (song)

"Cut It Out" is a song by the Australian alternative band The Go-Betweens that was released as the second single their fifth studio album Tallulah. It was released as a 7" and 12" vinyl single on the Beggars Banquet label in the United Kingdom on 11 May 1987, with "Time in the Desert" as the B-side.

"Cut It Out"
Single by The Go-Betweens
from the album Tallulah
A-side"Cut It Out"
B-side"Time in the Desert"
Released11 May 1987 (1987-05-11)
Recorded
  • December 1986
  • January 1987
Genre
Length3:58
LabelBeggars Banquet
Songwriter(s)Grant McLennan, Robert Forster[1]
Producer(s)Craig Leon
The Go-Betweens singles chronology
"Right Here"
(1987)		 "Cut It Out"
(1987)		 "I Just Get Caught Out"
(1988)

"Cut It Out", was recorded with producer Craig Leon in London in late December 1986.[2] "Time in the Desert" was then recorded in the second week in January, with producer Richard Preston.[2]

Details

Forster described the song as, "a riffy thing that we would jam on backstage; it had a choppy, mid-60s R&B feel to it." Unhappy with the recording, Forster wrote that it is, "the worst song in the Go-Betweens catalogue."[3]

Critical reception

Ian Cranna in his review of the song in Smash Hits states "surprise galore with a most un-folky laboured guitar and drum machine "riff", great backing vocalists and swirling organ followed by a contrasting heavenly girlie chorus. It's a wonderful piece of work but doomed as a single because those dullards at Radio One will never play anything so adventurous."[4] John Aizlewood however was less enthusiastic in his review commenting "Poor little Go-Betweens, always searching for the hit in the haystack. Never finding it. This isn't the hit, beautiful, stately and dignified though it is. 'Spring Rain' was the hit and that wasn't, if you follow."[5]

Jason McNeil in Popmatters believes that the song "follows a different path, yet the chorus is pure gold, drawing the listener in again."[6] Sounds felt the single was a "mildy disappointing" follow up to "Right Here, but described it as, "A swaggering stomp that bursts a bouquet of lyrical barbed wire over an expensive sounding bass sound and a sharply punctuating backbeat."[7]

In his review of Tallulah, at Allmusic, Thom Jurek describes "the nearly funky organ and bass swirl of "Cut It Out," is unlike any Go-Betweens song before or since."[8]

In David Nichols' book, The Go-Betweens he describes "Cut It Out" as representing "very neatly what striving for commercial success was doing to the Go-Betweens." He goes onto state "It is disjointed, mechanical, and trite, and while in some cases such attributes can combine to make winning pop music, "Cut It Out" is just a slender tune battered to death by studio effects."[2]

Track listing

All tracks are written by G. McLennan, R. Forster[1].

7" vinyl release
No.TitleLength
1."Cut It Out"3:58
2."Time in the Desert"2:32
Total length:6:30

All tracks are written by G. McLennan, R. Forster, except where noted..

12" vinyl release
No.TitleLength
1."Cut It Out"6:23
2."Time in the Desert"3:51
3."Doo Wop in 'A' (Bam Boom)" (A. Brown, G. McLennan, L. Morrison, R. Forster)2:53
Total length:13:07

Release history
Region Date Label Format Catalogue
United Kingdom May 1987 Beggars Banquet 7" vinyl BEG 190
12" vinyl BEG 190T

Credits
The Go-Betweens
Production
  • Producer – Craig Leon ("Cut It Out")
  • Assistant Producer – Cassell Webb ("Cut It Out")
  • Engineer – Sid Wells ("Cut It Out")
  • Producer — Richard Preston ("Time in the Desert")

References
  1. "'Cut It Out' at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 25 July 2015. Note: User may have to click on 'Search again' and provide details at 'Enter a title:', e.g. Cut It Out; or at 'Performer:' The Go-Betweens.
  2. David, Nichols (2003). The Go-Betweens. Portland, OR: Verse Chorus Press. ISBN 1-891241-16-8. Note: [online] version has limited functionality.
  3. Robert Forster (2016). Grant & I. Penguin. pp. 173–174. ISBN 978-0-6700782-2-6.
  4. Cranna, Ian (1987). "The Go-Betweens: Cut It Out (Beggars Banquet Records)". Smash Hits. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  5. Aizlewood, John (May 1987). "The Go-Betweens - Cut It Out (Beggars Banquet)". No.1 Review. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  6. McNeil, Jason (3 February 2005). "16 Lovers Lane / Tallulah". Popmatters. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  7. Roy Wilkinson (16 May 1987). "THE GO-BETWEENS: Cut It Out". Sounds.
  8. Jurek, Thom. "Tallulah - The Go-Betweens". Allmusic. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
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