The Go-Betweens Album: “16 Lovers Lane [Bonus CD]”

This would be my desert island disc, if I could only choose one. Sheer bloody magnificence is contained in these 10 perfect songs. I can't even choose favorites - my favorite is whatever one I'm listening to at the moment - but highpoints include: the fragile, but optimistic "Love Goes On!", the deceptively sunny, but dark "Streets of Your Town" (it's "full of battered wives") and "Quiet Heart", a tender love song that contains the somewhat depressing, but nonetheless true, wisdom "No matter how far you've gone, you've always got further to go".

"Dive For Your Memory", too, is sublime, Zen perfection. Very forlorn, but deeply poetic lyrics, set to a gorgeous, simple folk melody, accompanied by rich and tasteful acoustic guitar fills...

And, let me not leave out the romantically tortured narrative of "I'm Alright"...the protagonist of this song has been beaten down, but is, somewhat shakily, ready for a comeback.

Every Go-Betweens disc is worth picking up, but this is the most masterful and perfect distillation of their gifts so far.

(I'm a huge fan of them all, but if I had to narrow it down, I'd say the ones to get are: "Tallulah", "Liberty Belle", "Spring Hill Fair", "Oceans Apart" and, of course, this.)

That the Go-Betweens ended their career around 1989 after they had released their absolute masterpiece is a bit of a puzzle and a tragedy. "16 Lovers Lane" is transcendent and breathtaking. The opening cuts from Grant McLennan, "Love Goes On!" and "Quiet Heart", are so exquisite, it's hard for me to do them justice in words. Elsewhere, Robert Forster offers up some stunners as well ("Love Is a Sign", "Clouds"), and Amanda Brown proves to be a brilliant accompaniment with her oboe, violin and shimmering backing vocals. "Streets of Your Town" is *THE* pop masterpiece, even if it disguises something sinister and ironic beneath its optimistic veneer. I anxiously await Grant and Robert's new album. Could a full Go-Betweens reunion be in the cards soon? Let's pray so.

Ok, everyone is now enchanted with Montreal's Arcade Fire, or spending their money with Bloc Party and over consider things like Mars Volta, but I think they're still far from great original indie core. "16th Lovers Lane" was recorded almost 20 years ago,and still it's songs are pristine and loveable as the first time I've heard it. "Love is a Sign" is the most strange love song I've ever heard: "I wish you had a big house,and that your work would start to sell", needless to say more. Buy it, thanks God for this new edition, and when you went really deep into the Betweens, go and check out, for another Aussie stars as The Cannanes.

I've been into the Go-Betweens for about 2 years now and I don't know what I did without them. It is unfair to single out any one of their albums for individual praise, as they released four classics and two very good albums, but this is the best introduction to their work. Best listened to while kissing or dreaming of your loved one.

Good sensitive souls of the universe, who carve a world inside songs to build a safe home for their hearts, please, won't you buy this record?