The Go-Betweens: Amanda Brown (vocals, guitar, violin, oboe); Robert Forster (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Grant McLennan (vocals, guitar); John Willsteed (piano, Hammond B-3 organ, bass); Lindy Morrison (drums).
Recorded at Studio 301, Sydney, Australia in May 1988.
The sixth Go-Betweens record (and their last before a 12-year hiatus), 16 LOVERS LANE, is not only one of the band's finest albums, it's a remarkable collection of love songs. Focusing on the bittersweet side of romance, vocalist/guitarists Grant McLennan and Robert Forster write with a clear-eyed, unflinching intensity that draws listeners into their narratives of loss and redemption. Moving back to their native Australia, the group abandoned a short-lived experiment with programming and synthesizers begun on their previous album, and returned to a more organic sound that, accompanied by crisp production, gives this outing a bracing, undated immediacy.
Everything here is a gem (including the supremely catchy near-hit "Streets of Your Town"), but perhaps shining most brightly are "Love Is a Sign" and "Dive for Your Memory." The first features Amanda Brown's violin intertwining with chiming guitars as Forster's lyrics depict the vapor trail of a collapsing long-distance relationship. The second, a tale of poignant longing, has harmonized vocals and a mournful oboe coloring the spare, largely acoustic arrangement. One of pop music's masterpieces, 16 LOVERS LANE is a record that people with even a passing interest in the form owe it to themselves to own.
Professional Reviews
Uncut (p.120) - 5 stars out of 5 - "[A]ll radiant crescendos and dark elegies..."
Melody Maker (4/13/96, p.39) - "...smooth but still darkly romantic....nice guitars and dreaminess..."
Musician (10/96, pp.83-84) - "...It's by no means a stretch...to call Australia's Go-Betweens the very best rock 'n' roll band of the '80s.... combining tension with beauty, happiness with regret, and love with anger..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.122) - 5 stars out of 5 - "Their masterpiece....A minor chord monument to the redemptive powers of new love."
NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #76 in NME's list of the `Greatest Albums Of All Time.'
NME (Magazine) (9/25/93, p.19) - Ranked #20 in NME's list of the `50 Greatest Albums Of The '80s.'
