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The Go-BetweensAlbums ReviewedBefore Hollywood (1983)Spring Hill Fair (1984) Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express (1986) Tallulah (1987) 16 Lovers Lane (1988) Bellavista Terrace: Best Of The Go-Betweens (1999) The Friends Of Rachel Worth (2000) Bright Yellow Bright Orange (2003) Oceans Apart (2005) Watershed (1991) Send Me A Lullaby(1982)I haven't heard anything from this; apparently it's less accessible and less pop-oriented than the rest of the group's catalogue. Before Hollywood(1983)The Go-Betweens' second album, and the last the group recorded as a three piece, was their critical breakthrough, containing their signature song 'Cattle and Cane'. Guitarist/songwriter Robert Forster, bassist/songwriter Grant McLennan and drummer Lindy Morrison had moved to London following their debut, and signed with Rough Trade. Before Hollywood was recorded in Eastbourne's International Christian Communication Studios, with minimal overdubs, although guest keyboardist Bernard Clarke is quite an integral part of the band, with his graceful piano in 'Dusty In Here' and swirling organ in 'That Way'. Despite the thin sound - the group's other first tier records (Liberty Belle, 16 Lovers Lane and Oceans Apart) are all much more studio based and lushly produced - Before Hollywood stands up as one of the group's best records, one of their most consistent sets of songs and more reliant of Forster's charisma than on studio ear candy. This is the band's last album with McLennan on bass, and his busy, melodic bass lines are an important part of the group's structure, anchoring Forster's intermittent guitar. It's McLennan's childhood reminiscence 'Cattle and Cane' that's the most noteworthy song here, recently voted as one of the ten greatest Australian songs of all time, with its weird time signature and nostalgic lyrics ("I recall a schoolboy coming home/through fields of cane/to a house of tin and timber.") The organ led 'That Way', which sounds like a cross between The Monkees, Bob Dylan, and Television (a conglomeration which sums up the group's sound pretty well) shows McLennan's ability in well-crafted, understated pop. McLennan's other stunner is the minimalist, understated 'Dusty In Here', almost pared down to a lonely piano. Balancing McLennan's nostalgia and romanticism, Forster's nervy pop is tense and hooky. 'As Long As That' ("I've got a feeling, sounds like a fact") is his most accessible, while 'Ask' and 'On My Block' throw lots of energy around. One of the best, and most over-looked, records to come out of late new wave, Before Hollywood is markedly different than the group's subsequent albums, but excellent nonetheless. The double CD reissue is worth picking up for the non-album singles 'Man O'Sand To Girl O'Sea' and 'Hammer The Hammer', as well as the excellent b-side 'This Girl, Black Girl'. 
 Spring Hill Fair(1984)With this album, The Go-Betweens became a four piece, adding bassist Robert Vickers to the band. While more conventional than McLennan, Vickers is a strong musician, adding a more funky bottom end. With McLennan moving to guitar, the band sound much fuller than before, and Forster's material is more conventional, forgoing jerky new wave in favour of more conventional pop, although his material is still more fractured than McLennan's. So conceivably, Spring Hill Fair could have been the album where the Go-Betweens crossed over to the mainstream, spear-headed by the transcendent opener 'Bachelor Kisses' ("Don't believe what you heard/Faithful's not a bad word"). They didn't, and never progressed much further than an enthusiastic cult following, but from this point on it gets difficult to see why, beyond Forster and McLennan's plain singing voices. Spring Hill Fair was recorded in jazz keyboardist Jacques Loussier's Cannes studio; Loussier contributes a weird Prophet synth part that makes Forster's 'Part Company'. The widened sound palette allows the group to try more things, and for both better and worse Spring Hill Fair is far more diverse than the low key Before Hollywood. Most notably, 'River Of Money' features a spoken McLennan vocal over a backdrop of a repetitive bassline and loud guitars; while McLennan has enough literary talent to pull off his dialogue ("It is neither fair nor reasonable to expect sadness to confine itself to its causes"), it's still one of the weaker pieces on the disc. But elsewhere, McLennan's ultra-melodic and accessible; as well as the acknowledged genius of 'Bachelor Kisses', the more overlooked 'Unkind and Unwise' is almost hymn-like childhood reminiscence, a sequel to 'Cattle and Cane'. McLennan also contributes 'Slow Slow Music', unusually funky and hard-edged by his standards, but still effective. But as brilliant as some of his material is, McLennan is eclipsed by Forster here: a fuller four piece version of 'Man O' Sand To Girl O' Sea' lacks the raw energy of the original, but it's still worth a revisit, while 'Draining The Pool For You' tells the tale of a disgruntled employee of a celebrity. 'The Old Way Out' sounds like an eccentric take on Television, while 'Part Company' is an ambiguous kiss off, set off by Loussier's keyboard. I'd rank Spring Hill Fair slightly behind the more coherent albums that bookend it, but it's still a fine effort and worthy of an equal grading.
Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express(1986)The fourth album from Australia's most critically acclaimed pop band - at least if Robert Christgau is anything to go by. By this time founders Grant McLennan and Robert Forster had been joined by drummer Lindy Morrison and bassist Robert Vickers. The key aspect of the band is the song writing team of singer/guitarists McLennan and Forster. Writing separately, they complement each other nicely - McLennan is the arch romantic whose sweet pop songs provide accessible entry points to the group's records, while Forster writes the artier, more conceptual pieces, although over the course of the group's eighties records his songs generally became more melodic and more difficult to differentiate from McLennan's. Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express is reminiscent of R.E.M.'s Fables Of The Reconstruction from the previous year, with its acoustic guitars and string section, although it's a much better record. Apart from the debut, each Go-Betweens album follows the rule of five Forster songs and five McLennan songs, and it's Forster who dominates this record with the singles 'Head Full Of Steam' (apparently an attempt to emulate Prince!) and 'Spring Rain', both melodic and driving. 'To Reach Me' throws in a great lead break, before its memorable "Ruth said/Ruth said/She said/That you once disapproved/How could anyone disapprove of me?" middle eight, while 'Twin Layers Of Lightning' out-Morrisseys The Smiths. McLennan writes another evocative childhood song, 'The Ghost And The Black Hat', while a string section underpins his gorgeous epic 'The Wrong Road' ("When the rain hit the roof/With the sound of a finished kiss/Like a lip lifted up from a lip"). Some of McLennan's second half compositions aren't as convincing, especially lyrically - 'In The Core Of A Flame' has a surprisingly banal "that's the right word/Cos I love you" chorus - while 'Bow Down' and 'Apology Accepted' are two of the disc's least memorable songs. Still, from the slightly tenuous position of having only heard about half of the band's albums, Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express rates as one of the band's strongest records. I have the expanded version of Liberty Belle, which has a bunch of b-sides and alternate versions on the second disc, as well as the extremely entertaining video for 'Head Full Of Steam', which features Forster in a black crop top and tight red pants.
Tallulah(1971)Multi-instrumentalist and arranger Amanda Brown joined the band at this point, and her skills on violin, oboe, guitar, and keyboards helped usher in the band's most commercially oriented era, providing the band with more pop hooks than ever before. The Go-Betweens tend to benefit from a lusher, more detailed sound - the richly textured 16 Lovers Lane and Oceans Apart are among their most successful albums - and Tallulah is also heading in the same direction, although the reverb on the snare dates it squarely in the mid 1980s. Song for song, however, Tallulah isn't the most consistent Go-Betweens album, mostly due to inconsistent writing from McLennan. It's almost as if he'd put all his effort into one song - the sublime 'Bye Bye Pride' might be my favourite entry in the entire Go-Between's catalogue, a warm, enigmatic breakup song ("When a woman learns to walk she's not dependent anymore/A line from her letter May 24"). But McLennan's other songs are all somewhat flawed - 'Right Here' squanders a great verse melody and terrific lyrics ("You say you're undone by his kiss/But don't you think for once in your life it should be like this?") on a cheap, sentimental chorus and peppy violin arrangement, while 'Someone Else's Wife' and 'Hope Then Strife' largely neglect verse melodies, and only come alive on their dynamic choruses - the former is redeemed by the rhythm guitar flourish at the end of chorus. Meanwhile, 'Cut It Out' is perhaps the most awkward song the Go-Betweens ever put on an album, with an unnatural funk rhythm and stilted female vocals. On the other hand, Forster's material is becoming more aligned with McLennan's melodic pop - 'You Tell Me' and 'I Just Get Caught Out' are hooky and urgent, while 'The House That Jack Kerouac Built' is haughty and compelling - only 'The Clarke Sisters' really steps into arty territory, and its portraits of three bookstore workers are engrossing. There are too many tracks that don't quite gel to give Tallulah a particularly high rating, but when this album works it really works - 'Bye Bye Pride', 'You Tell Me', 'I Just Get Caught Out', and 'The House That Jack Kerouac Built' are all super moments, and make Tallulah well worthwhile.
16 Lovers Lane(1988)16 Lovers Lane is the Go-Betweens album most likely to make critics best of lists, and its reputation is fully justified. While it's possible to argue that the band lose some of their idiosyncrasies with the album's more ornate production and arrangements, the album contains Forster's most accessible set of songs and McLennan's most consistent set. The band had returned to Australia at this point, and 16 Lovers Lane was recorded in the midst of a reportedly glorious Sydney summer, as Australia celebrated its bicentennial. The English based Robert Vickers had left the band, and was replaced by Australian musician John Wilsteed, who as well as bass also plays guitar and keyboard parts on the record, meaning that along with Brown this is easily the most technically gifted configuration of the Go-Betweens. Also affecting the sound of the album, Forster and Morrison had broken up by this point, and instead of rehearsing intricate rhythmic patterns together, Morrison's often bypassed in favour of a drum machine, further aggravating band tensions. The production sheen is even more noticeable than on Tallulah, although countering that effect, there's also far more obvious acoustic guitar than on any other Go-Betweens album up this point. Another feature of the album's creation was that producer Mark Wallis had more control than any other producer on a Go-Betweens record, working from solo demos rather than from band tracks. This means the band are taken in more directions than ever before - McLennan's 'The Devil's Eye' is pared down almost to acoustic guitar, while Forster's 'You Can't Say No Forever' is given a danceable beat and sassy blaxpoitation guitar. Occasionally the production is a little overbearing - the charming Forster and McLennan duet on 2005's That Striped Sunlight Sound works better for 'Clouds' than the everything but the kitchen sink job here, but it's a great song either way. Forster comes up with his prettiest material ever - 'Dive For Your Memory', 'I'm Allright' and 'Love Is A Sign' are all sweetly melodic, underscored by Amanda Brown's oboe. McLennan's five songs are all winners, ranging in mood from the aggressive, punchy 'Was There Anything I Could Do?', through the exuberance of 'Love Goes On!' and the melancholic resignation of 'Quiet Heart'. Quite simply, 16 Lovers Lane is one of the best pop albums by anyone, a superb final statement before 12 years of silence by one of the best pop bands ever.
Bellavista Terrace: Best Of The Go-Betweens(1999)A collection which anthologises the first era of the Go-Betweens collects 14 of the group's best songs. It's not exactly a Greatest Hits type album, equally divided between Forster and McLennan and skipping accessible McLennan pieces like 'Right Here' in favour of more cryptic Forster material like 'The House That Jack Kerouac Built' and 'Man O' Sand To Girl O' Sea', while the group's hilarious first single 'Lee Remick' (She comes from Ireland, she's very beautiful/I come from Brisbane, I'm quite plain") is included as a bonus track at the end of 'Dive For Your Memory'. As a result of this policy, which based on the albums I've heard actually does a pretty good job of picking the fourteen best Go-Betweens songs, Bellavista Terrace isn't the most accessible collection and as my first Go-Betweens experience, only a handful of songs like the late period, polished McLennan singles 'Streets Of Your Town' and 'Bye Bye Pride' stood out initially. The quotes that accompany each song in the liner notes underline how strong Forster and McLennan's lyrics are; the couplets from Forster's 'Part Company' ("And what will I miss? Her cruelty, her unfaithfulness, her fun, her love, her kiss") and McLennan's 'Cattle And Cane' ("I recall a schoolboy coming home/Through fields of cane/To a house of tin and timber") are two prime examples. This collection succeeds the earlier 1978-1990, which also included b-sides - the b-sides are now included on the bonus discs that accompany the reissue of each album. Bellavista Terrace isn't among the catchiest of compilations, but it's a useful gateway to a rewarding catalogue; even so, it's possible that some of the band's more polished albums, like 16 Lovers Lane or Oceans Apart would make easier starting points. The album name continues the band's tradition of always including a double "l" in their record titles throughout their first tenure (if the initials of 16 Lovers Lane count).
The Friends Of Rachel Worth(2000)Although Forster and McLennan had maintained a friendship and played a few acoustic concerts together since The Go-Betweens breakup, a fully fledged reunion didn't occur until 2000 with the recording of The Friends Of Rachel Worth in Portland, Oregon. Understandably, having former lovers Morrison and Brown back in the band wasn't a desirable option, so Forster and McLennan recruited bassist Adele Pickvance, a permanent fixture in The Go-Betweens' second incarnation, and drummer Janet Weiss from Portland natives Sleater-Kinney, while the other Sleater-Kinney members guest on McLennan's 'Going Blind'. As much as The Friends Of Rachel Worth is a relatively firm reinstatement of the classic Go-Betweens formula, back to ten songs equally shared between Forster and McLennan, it's also different from the relatively ornate studio craft that the group pursued on Tallulah and 16 Lovers Lane. Instead, the sound is more alternative and stripped down - while the group rock hard on Forster's riff-fest 'German Farmhouse', it can be problematic on some of the acoustic tracks which are more monotonous than necessary. Still, The Friends Of Rachel Worth is a respectable comeback effort; Forster and McLennan complement and balance each other nicely, and are more effective working in tandem than individually. The record isn't helped by the fact that it gets off to a slow, low-key start; although McLennan is sometimes guilty of tending towards sentimentality, opener 'Magic In Here' is more hackneyed than one would expect on a Go-Betweens album ("Now the coast is clear/You've got no time to fear") while acoustic first drop 'Spirit' is pleasant but exposes Forster's lack of vocal chops. But apart from Forster's irritating 'Surfing Magazines', the rest of the album is surprisingly solid. Forster rocks hard on 'German Farmhouse', a song that explains what he did after The Go-Betweens breakup, while McLennan's 'Heart And Home' has a beautiful melody and joint lead vocal from Forster and McLennan. The more enigmatic pieces that close the disc are also effective - McLennan's 'Orpheus Beach' is melodic and haunting, while Forster's Patti Smith tribute 'When She Sang About Angels' asks "When she sang about a boy/Kurt Cobain/I thought what a shame/It wasn't about Tom Verlaine." You'd have to go all the way back to Send Me A Lullaby to find a less accomplished Go-Betweens record, but it's a respectable reunion nonetheless, and the start of an ultimately rewarding second tenure.
Bright Yellow Bright Orange(2003)The second instalment in the reunion trilogy from The Go-Betweens is also the least noteworthy of the trio. Forster and McLennan recruited a new permanent backing band with bassist Adele Pickvance and drummer Glenn Thompson. After The Friends Of Rachel Worth dabbled with alternative rock, Bright Yellow Bright Orange returns to more familiar territory, consisting almost entirely of mid-tempo, semi-acoustic folk rock. While this sounds like a step in the right direction, it's not; it still lacks the lushness that characterised their best period late albums like 16 Lovers Lane and Oceans Apart. Even more markedly, it's easily the least interesting set of songs that Forster and McLennan have compiled on a studio record; song for song this isn't any better than the bonus discs that come with the reissues of their eighties albums. It's not surprising that Forster's verbose, autobiographical 'Too Much Of One Thing' was the only song to make the live DVD that followed Oceans Apart; alternatively titled "The Ballad Of The Go-Betweens", it's a likeable, jaunty countryrocker. But apart from McLennan's melodicism on 'Mrs Morgan', and the piano-based closer 'Unfinished Business', nothing really seperates from the pack; it's all mid-tempo, acoustic guitar based music that's meticulously written and crafted, but fails to capture the spark of the Go-Betweens at their best. Bright Yellow Bright Orange is a pleasant collection of acoustic-leaning songs, but Forster and McLennan can do this kind of thing with their arms tied behind their backs. It's arguably more substantial than The Friends Of Rachel Worth, but it's certainly not more entertaining.
Oceans Apart(2005)After two worthy, but unspectacular, additions to their canon with The Friends Of Rachel Worth and Bright Yellow Bright Orange, The Go-Betweens reunion suddenly clicked to wonderful effect third time around. This is easily Forster and McLennan's best set of songs from their reunion, where even the weaker pieces are the equal of anything on the previous two records. Sonically the album returns to the lusher sound of Tallulah and 16 Lovers Lane, and it's a welcome reversion; without Amanda Brown's multi-instrumental abilities, a lot of the additional layering come from keyboards, played by Thompson and Pickvance, creating shimmering backdrops without detracting from the group's basic guitar and vocal driven sound. Underneath the studio trappings, Pickvance and Thompson gel beautifully as a rhythm section here, creating perhaps the strongest Go-Betweens lineup ever. The first half of Oceans Apart is loaded with concise, accessible pop songs; Forster contributes the opening 'Here Comes A City', reminiscent of early Talking Heads, but fuelled by an energetic Pickvance bassline and lyrics like "Why do people who read Dostoevsky always look like Dostoevsky?" McLennan might be shooting too close to radio fodder with the pretty 'Finding You', but his other first half contributions are magnificent; 'No Reason To Cry' launches from regret ("fifteen years since we last spoke") into a soaring guitar solo, while 'Boundary Rider' is cut from the same elegant, nostalgic cloth as 'Cattle and Cane' and 'Unkind and Unwise'. The second half of the album is more ambitious and more ambiguous; Forster's 'Darlinghurst Nights' builds over six minutes, eventually overlaying a horn section over Forster's punchy guitar riff. McLennan's 'The Statue' dives headlong into a hypnotic guitar riff, drum machine and synthesiser based arrangement, before opening into a pretty acoustic bridge ("They say that ice will melt"), while 'This Night's For You' marries bouncy pop and pretty harmonies to outbursts of crashing rhythm guitars. Forster's low key 'The Mountains Near Dellray' provides a suitably enigmatic conclusion to what's quite possibly the group's best ever album. While the group weren't aware of it while making Oceans Apart, it proved to be their last album, as McLennan died of a heart attack in 2006, especially sad as prior to McLennan's death, Forster had stated in interviews that McLennan had been writing some of his best ever songs. Still, it seems unlikely they would have topped this record, which is an extremely satisfying final album and a fitting elegy to one of pop music's most overlooked bands. Strangely, the mastering job on the original album is noticeably substandard - there's obvious distortion, particularly on 'This Night's For You', although apparently there's a remaster that fixes these issues.
from Walter Nervik: Grant McLennanWatershed(1991)Because McLennan was a non-musician who was taught to play and drafted into a band by Forster, he'd never played in another context apart from the Go-Betweens before they split. After releasing an album with The Church's Steve Kilbey as Jack Frost, McLennan used New Zealand's Dave Dobbyn as producer for his first solo record, while Amanda Brown and singer/songwriter Paul Kelly are among his sidemen. Recorded in September and October 1990, Watershed is one of those 1991 albums that escaped the influence of Nevermind, instead following the lush, full arrangements of the later Go-Betweens records, while not embracing the zany instrumentation one would expect from a Dobbyn produced record. More importantly, without Forster's harder edged, artier compositions and abrasive rhythm guitar to provide balance, Watershed does tread into more dangerously saccharine territory and it's much more lightweight than the Go-Between's catalogue. Still, it's filled with McLennan's trademark warmth and melodic hooks, and the quality control isn't as bad as you'd expect from someone who previously only needed to write five songs per album. On the most saccharine side, 'Just Get That Straight' is meandering and shallow, even though the line "I know you've been seeing your boyfriend the actor/Sometimes I want to run him over with a great big tractor" gives it an off kilter edge. On the other hand, I actually enjoy the often dissed 'Wheels Back On' - its bass tone and keyboard flourishes are as hokey as heck, but it's still the catchiest hook on the album and its hard-edged lyrics are surprisingly relentless. For a hypothetical Go-Betweens album, the five McLennan songs would be the folkish 'Black Mule', the elegant closing 'Dream About Tomorrow', with its pretty string break, the opener 'When Word Gets Around', also somewhat hokey with its pulsing guitar effect and voiceovers but also hooky and memorable, and the breezy 'Easy Come, Easy Go', which falls into the same category. It's probably a worry that its difficult to think of a fifth contender and as a whole it drifts dangerously close to guilty pleasure territory, but if you want the sugar of the Go-Betweens without the spice, Watershed is likeable enough.
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Written 2001-2009, Graham Fyfe
