74) Go-Betweens 16 Lovers Lane

In 1988 I worked at Glasgow’s Garden Festival and listened to music on the way in and a really nice young lady I worked with offered to make me a compilation tape. My partner assures me that meant she fancied me if she was willing to do that. I like to think she is right but think the truth was she just took pity on me. Side A was REM all the early stuff, magical. Side B was Go-Betweens who I had never heard a note. Absolutely wonderful. August of that year 16 Lovers Lane was released and I was quick to advise people of my vast knowledge of a band I knew nothing about two months earlier. The shallowness of youth. This is a band that had two members splitting up and another two getting together during this period. Inter band relationships are never usually advisable but they still manage to produce a record of the highest quality. The album is all acoustic guitars with the band building on top and Robert Forster and Grant McLennan are hitting a high with their song writing. If opener Love Goes On and the ba ba ba part does not have you tapping your foot please contact the morgue and A Quiet Heart has an impassioned vocal from Forster with a beautiful harmonica riff. Streets of Your Town was a minor hit, again we failed a band, catchy as hell and beautifully played. Clouds is accomplished and polished and a little bit heart-breaking. Was There Anything I Could Do? Bounces along with violin added in to enhance an already glorious pop song and we end on the melancholic Dive for your Memory. An underrated gem, that’s the band and the album. 8/10 GIVE IT A STREAM: Love Goes On