release date: Aug. 1988
format: cd (1996 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,03]
producer: Mark Wallis
label: Beggars Banquet - nationality: Australia
Track highlights: 1. "Love Goes On!" - 2. "Quiet Heart" - 3. "Love Is a Sign" - 4. "You Can't Say No Forever" (4 / 5) - 5. "The Devil's Eye" - 6. "Streets of Your Town" - 8. "Was There Anything I Could Do?" - 10. "Dive for Your Memory"
6th studio album by The Go-Betweens originally released by Mushroom Records in Australia and Beggars Banquet in Europe. Before recording the album, bassist Robert Vickers left the band and was replaced by John Willsteed - his only album with the band. The members credited here are: Grant McLennan on vocals & lead guitar, Robert Forster on vocals, rhythm guitar & harmonica, Amanda Brown on violin, oboe, guitar, vocals, tambourine (listed as "Oliver Tambo" on the sleeve notes, an in-joke of the band), John Willsteed on bass, guitar, Hammond organ & piano and with Lindy Morrison on drums. All compositions are credited McLennan / Forster.
The covers by The Go-Betweens have all been fronted by the band members, and the interesting thing about this particular cover is that three members have been put on the front and two on the back, and I always kind of thought the natural: here's the three original members of course and then the two new ones, put aside. But no! Actually you have Willsteed, McLennan and Morrison on the front and then Forster and Brown put (away) on the back.
Musically, the band continue its jangle pop style and pretty much takes off where they left with the promising Tallulah (1987) only with this being the band's so far boldest pop-shaped album with focus on harmony chorus-lines. In contrast to the '87 album there's a strong synergy between the individual songs by the two songwriters, and with this The Go-Betweens made its so far best album, hailed by music critics. After the release they supported R.E.M. on their Australian tour, and they did a complete world-tour. And when that came to an end, they were back at a new starting point - prepared to initiate the recordings for a follow-up album. Willsteed was fired from the band - apparently for heavy substance abuse, and the four remaining members were in the midst of rehearsing new songs, when the two founding songwriters both felt the lack of energy. McLennan and Forster met in a bar and Grant told Forster that he wanted out to which Forster immediately suggested that the two of them continued as a duo - the way they had started, and Grant agreed. So, only a little more than a year after the album release, Dec. 27, 1989, The Go-Betweens officially disbanded. Forster and Morrison were already in the process of ending their relationship when Amanda Brown had joined the band in '87, at a time when she and McLennan was a couple, and now upon learning about the McLennan / Forster decision to end the band, Amanda simply put an end to the McLennan - Brown affair. Amanda Brown and Lindy Morrison sought new musical bonds and together founded the (short-lived) band Cleopatra Wong in '91. However, the idea of starting a duo by the two main songwriters proved not to succeed at this point. McLennan had basically hit rock bottom after Amanda's leave, and when Forster left for Germany to be with his new-found love, Karin Bäumler in Berlin, the two friends simply continued writing new songs on their own, which eventually resultated in the beginning of two solo careers instead. For the next decade they made solo albums and were involved in various collaborative projects, and it wasn't until the year 2000 that they reunited to reform the band.
16 Lovers Lane is the only album by the band to be included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" and it's a must in any collection of modern pop / rock. For the first six months after the release, I actually mistook it for being a best of album - it's that solid and filled with great songs, but despite being praised by the press and other musicians the album sales didn't equal the artistic effort, which can only point to the people of the record company.
Although, it's not the very final of the band it is the band's last studio album with the original line-up, and it's also the last to feature drummer [Belinda] Lindy Morrison, who has been the staple drummer on all of the band's six studio albums and been a member since 1981. After artistically successful solo careers, McLennan and Forster revived the band in 2000, and by doing so they also introduced a new line-up with their seventh studio album The Friends of Rachel Worth.
Imho, 16 Lovers Lane is the absolute best by The Go-Betweens and highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com, Mojo, Uncut 5 / 5, Blender, Select 4 / 5, Rolling Stone, NME 3,5 / 5 stars ]
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| back cover featuring Forster & Brown |
