The Go-Betweens – 10 of the best

1. Lee Remick

The earliest Go-Betweens recordings reveal the band’s simpler, shambolic pop aesthetic rather than the sophisticated sound for which they became renowned. The 1978 single Lee Remick was a bouncy, light-hearted love letter to the actor that’s as poppy as it is punk, but offered an early showcase for the Go-Betweens’ knack for melody. Lee Remick, alongside the primitive brilliance of other early recordings Karen and Eight Pictures, was written in the space of a month, not long after the Go-Betweens formed. The band consisted of two 19-year-olds, Robert Forster and co-founder Grant McLennan, who were joined by a drummer they knew. Nervous, depressed and distrustful, this was when the Go-Betweens focused their attention on what Forster described as “feelings in the bedroom, Brisbane, driving my car and anything from overheard conversations” rather than attempting to address universal themes. The group were still unformed in many ways, but Lee Remick’s addictive pop sensibility makes it an enduring cult classic that sounds as joyously youthful today as it ever did.

2. Your Turn My Turn

The band’s first album, 1981’s Send Me a Lullaby, confirms the notion that debuts usually present the least refined version of a group, but even here the Go-Betweens still sound more cultivated than most of their indie contemporaries. But there remained a raw post-punk sensibility in tracks such as Your Turn, My Turn, with its sharp edges. The combination of clunky, sporadic piano parts with the melody and sharp, resonant guitar creates an affecting contrast.

3. By Chance

While Send Me a Lullaby primarily dabbled in post-punk urgency, its successor, Before Hollywood, established the Go-Betweens’ propensity for melding calm, intricate melodies with something more frantic. The sudden shifts in tempo results in a record filled with variety and colour, exhibited in the contrast between Cattle and Cane – which focuses on the band’s more introspective tendencies – and the hurried frenzy of By Chance. The lyrics are cryptic here, but it’s the impulsive, stop-start arrangements that make it an often omitted Go-Betweens classic, alongside the desperate brilliance of Send Me a Lullaby’s Midnight to Neon.

4. Cattle and Cane

Their most celebrated song, Cattle and Cane, was composed in the summer of 1982 on a borrowed guitar in London, though it sounded meticulously thought-out and crafted, rather than impulsively put together in someone’s spare bedroom. That’s the effortless genius of Grant McLennan: an incredibly talented songwriter and guitarist who had a way with words that was haunting and evocative. “The rhythm struck me as strange, the mood as beautiful and sad. The song came easily, was recorded quickly and still haunts me,” he said in an interview shortly before his death, at the age of 48, in 2006. Cattle and Cane reflects a phase in the Go-Betweens’ trajectory when many of their songs dwelt on the subject of Australia, catalysed by the homesickness they felt after relocating to England.

5. As Long As That

The Go-Betweens progressed to a style that was more focused, if not unknowingly complicated and clever, on Before Hollywood. By this point, Lindy Morrison had become more proficient on drums – her effortless, no-frills approach was essential to the Go-Betweens’ sound. Filled with a series of intricate melodies, the slow, languid pace of As Long As That is a comparative slow-burner among the chaos of tracks such as By Chance and That Way. That variation and nuance made Before Hollywood one of the best records they ever made, and perhaps the absolute best.

6. Part Company

When my last relationship fell apart, I had Part Company on repeat for weeks. On first listen, it sounds like the perfect love song to soundtrack broken hearts and lovers going their separate ways: “What will I miss? Her cruelty; her unfaithfulness,” Forster laments, sounding both tragic and heartfelt, but never too sentimental. According to Forster, however, all is not what it seems. He wrote the song when the group were on the cusp of moving to England, and it is an ode to Australia. That all makes perfect sense once you delve a little deeper into the inner workings of Forster’s poetic discourse: “From the first letter I got to this, her bill of rights,” he sings. Part Company – from the band’s third album, Spring Hill Fair – displays the more mature style that Forster and McLennan were aiming for. It exhibits so many prevailing Go-Betweens qualities in one song: strong, literate lyrics that are never self-indulgent, arrangements that are filled with occasional subtle tweaks – such as the nervous hum of the keyboard low in the mix – and Morrison’s drums: simple, but effective. The best thing about Part Company is the interplay of Forster’s and McLennan’s guitars, a perfect example of their musical relationship being one of cohesion and understanding. What’s more, there will never be a moment in music as melancholy as when Forster sings: “That’s her handwriting, that’s the way she writes.”

7. River of Money

River of Money is the Go-Betweens trying their hand at sleazy post-punk in the spirit of their friend Nick Cave. Put next to an album such as 16 Lovers Lane, you’d think it was an entirely different band. The lyrics are some of the Go-Betweens’ best, and on paper they read like strangely affecting free verse: “It is neither fair nor reasonable to expect sadness to confine itself to its causes.” River of Money plods along at such a leisurely pace that it sounds like it’s stuck on the wrong RPM, but it sits comfortably among the other more buoyant, upbeat songs on Spring Hill Fair, and the contrast displays the band’s breadth of vision perfectly.

8. Draining the Pool for You

A lesson in how to write the perfect indie rock song, Draining the Pool for You sounds like the inspiration behind everything Pavement have ever done, though Forster confessed to writing the melody in 10 minutes in a London hotel while writing for Morrison to put on her lipstick. The lyrics are set in a mansion in Los Angeles where the narrator is working for an “idiot movie star”. He sees himself as the only intelligent, talented person there, yet he is hired to clean the pool for the luxury parties that take place. Lyrically, it’s perhaps one of the more simplistic Go-Betweens songs, but the arrangements – leisurely guitar lines, aptly placid, repetitive drums, and an unforgettable, soaring chorus – should make this a hit in an ideal world. The song portrays resentment brilliantly: “I remembered your name – evidently you’ve forgotten mine,” Forster sings, apathetically, feeling overworked and underappreciated.

9. Head Full of Steam

Released in March 1986, the Go-Betweens’ fourth LP, Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express, was the band’s most accessible album up to that point: Morrison said she believed that if drum machines and synthesisers had replaced the organic arrangements it would have been a hit. This new FM-friendly approach was a surprise to those who had been following the Go-Betweens from the start, but in retrospect it was a natural progression for a band who always had a pop sensibility. Liberty Belle is often regarded as rather hit and miss, but Head Full of Steam is a highlight. Its softer, janglepop sound showed that shifting towards simplification could work in their favour. As Forster said: “I’m writing a lot less complicated music, and it’s giving me space to put myself in it.”

10. Clouds

In a 1988 NME interview, McLennan said: “I maintain that the Go-Betweens write about love better than anybody else in the world.” He wasn’t wrong: their sixth LP, 16 Lovers Lane, is shamelessly lovelorn. It should have been the album that took them beyond being a cult band – one for whom the phrase “critics’ favourite” might have been invented. Gone were the ragged edges; lyrics became less obtuse, the production more polished, the guitars acoustic and the strings warm and contemplative. The Go-Betweens were at their most accessible, and with that came praise from many critics, but fans seemed sceptical of the change in direction and the breakthrough didn’t happen. Still, 16 Lovers Lane had a cohesion their other albums perhaps lacked. Forster’s lyrics sat perfectly alongside McLennan’s heartfelt, melodic impulses. Clouds showcased that juxtaposition: its uplifting tone is undercut by a deep sadness.