LP or CD
How were these records ever allowed to go out of print? This is not a debate: simply the best Australian band in history at their most mighty, notwithstanding the fact that these long overdue reissues document their ‘London years’, but that’s a mere detail of locale…. Why should they be valued so highly? The answer should be obvious, but that’s nonetheless a big question that deserves a big answer, and of course I have neither the time nor space to do it justice... Still, why not take the opportunity to observe a few crucial qualities. At their heart, there’s the astonishing creative bond between the group’s principle songwriters, who both share a near-unparalleled ability to find universal meaning in the ennui of small(er) town life and suburban microdramas, and how the city hides stories that turn lives in sometimes devastating, sometimes remarkable directions, and how love and desire - of whatever kind and whatever level of reciprocation or misapplication - always lies at the centre of every decision. The words can stop you in your tracks. Love songs dressed in the costume of great literature, which is how you get to the eternal declarations of ‘Apology Accepted’ and ‘Bachelor Kisses’ and ‘Dive For Your Memory’, and, in truth, anything here you want to choose: literally drop a pin. And so there’s the words, and there’s the band, and then there’s the magnetic force of Lindy Morrison, the drummer and a beating heart (hands and chest in tandem), who perhaps feels more central on these records than at any other point in the band’s career, a counterpoint to that songwriting duo that adds a different kind of dynamism and a feminine touch to what is an otherwise very male kind of fated love that’s being expressed. If you’re new to all of this, then it’s a grand road that lies ahead for you - you can start anywhere here and the results will be the same. For more established fans, the big draw is most likely the wider availability of the immaculately recorded live performance at the Town and Country Club from 1987, previously only available in the now extremely expensive second boxset. 18 tracks records to two-inch analog tape which captures a group coiled tight and utterly determined. Everyone needs a bit more of the Go-Betweens in their life. It’s now become a little easier to make that so. Good news for once (at last).
