Brisbane’s The Go-Betweens are one of my favourite bands, but it’s sometimes difficult to explain their appeal. Robert Forster and Grant McLennan are limited as guitarists and vocalists, but they balance each other beautifully; the edgier Forster was a fan of The Velvet Underground, while McLennan was a fan of The Monkees. Their songs are literate, graceful, and melodic. Apart from their debut, each of their albums has ten songs, five from each writer, and most of their album titles feature a pair of Ls.
The Go-Betweens’ 1981 debut Send Me A Lullaby was recorded as a three-piece, with McLennan on bass and Lindy Morrison on drums. The group gradually expanded throughout the 1980s, adding English bass player Robert Vickers, and then multi-instrumentalist Amanda Brown on violin and oboe. By 1988’s 16 Lovers Lane, the band’s sound was lush and layered, a drastic evolution from their austere early albums. But band tensions took their toll, with two pairs of lovers and former lovers, and the band broke up in 1989.
Forster and McLennan remained friends and reunited The Go-Betweens in the 21st century. They released two worthy but uninspiring albums before 2005’s Oceans Apart. The latter measured up to their 1980s peaks with some great songs. But as The Go-Betweens were regaining momentum, Grant McLennan passed away from a heart attack at the age of 48, ending the career of a brilliant yet overlooked band.
Here are The Go-Betweens’ nine studio albums, ranked from worst to best:
#9 Send Me A Lullaby
1981
After some promising early singles, The Go-Betweens released an awkward first album. McLennan later told Rave Magazine that “Send Me A Lullaby is to me an inauspicious debut”.
Forster, in particular, is trying too hard for weirdness – the “I shot you with my….. camera” line from ‘Eight Pictures’ is particularly cringeworthy. The iconic cover art is the album’s strongest point.
Send Me A Lullaby is the only Go-Betweens album not to follow the standard formula of ten tracks, with five songs from each writer.
#8 Bright Yellow, Bright Orange
2003
The Go-Betweens’ second reunion album is monotonous. The largely acoustic Bright Yellow, Bright Orange is well crafted but lacks the spark of The Go-Betweens’ best material.
The country jangle of Forster’s ‘Too Much Of One Thing’ is one song worth discovering.
#7 The Friends of Rachel Worth
2001
The Go-Betweens’ first reunion album was recorded with members of Sleater-Kinney. Accordingly, The Friends of Rachel Worth is alternative-flavoured and stripped-down, a stark follow-up to 16 Lovers Lane.
Forster explains his post-Go-Betweens’ activities on ‘German Farmhouse’, while McLennan shines on the haunting ‘Orpheus Beach’.
#6 Spring Hill Fair
1984
The Go-Betweens’ first album as a four-piece has great material from Forster, like the regretful ‘Part Company’ and the scathing ‘Draining The Pool For You’. McLennan’s writing is more scattershot, contributing both the gorgeous pop of ‘Bachelor Kisses’ and the awkward experimentation of ‘River Of Money’.
But like the next five albums on this list, Spring Hill Fair is an essential purchase for fans of the Go-Betweens.
#5 Tallulah
1987
Multi-instrumentalist Amanda Brown joined The Go-Betweens. Her skills on oboe and violin help fill out their sound for Tallulah.
As with most of the band’s 1980s albums, Forster’s writing is excellent with overlooked deep cuts like ‘You Tell Me’ and ‘I Just Get Caught Out’. McLennan’s writing is more inconsistent – my favourite Go-Betweens track, ‘Bye Bye Pride’, shares space with the awkward and stilted funk of ‘Cut It Out’.
#4 Oceans Apart
2005
The Go-Betweens’ third and final reunion album is easily their best of the 21st century. It recaptures the lush sound of 16 Lovers Lane with memorable songs like Forster’s ‘Darlinghurst Nights’ and McLennan’s ‘No Reason To Cry’.
Some of the early CDs have poor mastering jobs, however – I’m no audiophile, but it’s bad enough that I notice.
#3 Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express
1986
Liberty Belle is a substantial effort from the band’s stellar run in the 1980s, and it’s a favourite of many dedicated fans.
A crop-top-wearing Forster emulates Prince on ‘Head Full Of Steam’ (and parodies him in its music video) while McLennan writes gorgeous songs like ‘The Wrong Road’ and ‘The Ghost and the Black Hat’.
#2 Before Hollywood
1983
Before Hollywood is the great step forward for The Go-Betweens after their awkward debut. McLennan’s evocative ‘Cattle and Cane’ is the group’s signature song, while Forster balances his partner’s sweetness with the jerky new wave of ‘As Long As That’ and ‘Ask’.
Bass player Robert Vickers signed up in time to appear in the music video for ‘Cattle and Cane.
#1 16 Lovers Lane
1988
After spending much of the 1980s in the UK, The Go-Betweens returned to Australia and recorded their most accessible album.
The recordings were built up from Forster and McLennan’s acoustic demos, with Amanda Brown and new bass player John Willsteed adding overdubs. Willsteed plays many of the guitar leads, while Morrison is often absent and replaced by a drum machine.
16 Lovers Lane boasts McLennan’s most consistent set of songs, with ‘Quiet Heart’ and the minor hit ‘Streets Of Your Town’. Forster’s writing is more approachable than usual with ‘Clouds’ and ‘Dive For Your Memory’.
Do you have a favourite album?
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I can’t say I’m that familiar – but I believe 16 Lovers Lane is on the 1001, so it looks like they picked the right one!
If I was in charge of collating the book, 1980s indie rock would be much more generously covered.
And more 70s progressive music if it were my editing!
And Germans playing synthesizers?
Richtig!
They do have three Yes albums, two Gabriel-era Genesis albums, and two King Crimson albums, which isn’t too bad – at least they’re not anti-prog. Even out of those bands they missed a couple of classics IMO – Foxtrot and Red would be no-brainer inclusions if I was making the list. They’re always the three main 1970s prog bands I think of, but I’ve really been enjoying Gentle Giant lately and they’re not on the list.
Can’t argue with your number one. I’d place “Liberty Belle…” at number 2. Dare I say it…my third pick would be “Spring Hill Fair”. I didn’t hear the two recent albums. I should really give them a shot.
Spring Hill Fair is a totally legit pick – I’d respect a list with it as the top choice – the first six on my list are all essential IMO.
Not everyone likes Oceans Apart but I like the hooks and lushness. The other two reunion albums weren’t catchy enough for my liking, but Oceans Apart has ‘Boundary Rider’, ‘Darlinghurst Nights’ (one of Robert’s best ever songs IMO), ‘No Reason To Cry’, and ‘The Mountains Near Dellray’ – lots of great songs.
Their first LP “Send Me A Lullaby” was very interesting. Too bad The Go-Betweens started making British songwriting. “1-16 Lovers Lane” is certainly a good creation-album, but The Go-Betweens are already their own imitators.
I think they stayed fairly Australian, although they certainly strayed away from indie and towards the mainstream in terms of sound. But ‘Cattle and Cane’ from the second album is very Australian, and there are plenty of other songs that recall McLennan’s childhood or are situated in Australia. 16 Lovers Lane was recorded after they returned to Australia too – they’ve said it was inspired by the bi-centennial celebrations in 1988.
The later albums always reminded me on Prefab Sprout. What fascinated me were the simple, clear, emotional songs like on “Send Me A Lullaby”.
I’d argue that both bands started with an arty album that’s not really representative of their later work, then became more mainstream.
I think I tried checking these guys out once a few years ago when I went looking to find out where Allo Darlin’ got the name for their song “Tallulah”. I wasn’t super impressed though. Maybe it was a time and place thing? Like trying to read “Catcher in the rye” for the first time in your twenties?
Which album(s) did you hear? I started with a greatest hits, and while I liked some of McLennan’s poppy stuff (‘Bachelor Kisses’, ‘Streets of Your Town’) straight away, it took me a while to appreciate some of their other songs. And as I said in my post, Forster and McLennan’s guitars and voices aren’t particularly polished, so they’re probably not for everyone.
Do I hear a Prefab influence on ‘Streets Of Your Town’?
Maybe the vocals more than anything? Smith and Brown both have thin whispy voices, and McAloon and McLennan both have some natural warmth. ‘Streets of Your Town’ is kind of heading into sophisti-pop territory, but a lot of The Go-Betweens’ music is less adorned. I’m sure the two bands were aware of each other though – both indie pop bands in the UK in the same era.
I remember hearing ‘Streets Of Your Town’ reviewed on one of those Radio 1 round table sessions where musicians hear snatches of other bands’ new singles and give their immediate impression. Don’t remember who it was, but someone likened it to Deacon Blue, which seemed a little unfair at the time and more so now. I seem to recall REM’s ‘Orange Crush’ was dismissed on the same show as ‘a rip-off of The Byrds’. Can never decide whether Liberty Belle or 16 Lovers Lane is my favourite Go-Betweens album,