Tallulah

The Go-Betweens | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 4, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Beggars UK - Ada
• ASIN: B0000018AE
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  VHS Tape
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,972 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #80 in Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi > Chamber Pop
  • #81 in Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi > Jangle Pop

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Uneven -- but the highlights are high indeed, January 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Tallulah (Audio CD)

The album is a bit of a disappointment, especially when measured against "Liberty Belle," but it contains two of the best songs the Go-Betweens (or any other 80s band) ever did. "Right Here" and "Bye Bye Pride" are the GB's at an absolute peak -- melodies, harmonies, bittersweet exuberance, gut-wrenching singing, pop at its pinnacle. If you're lucky enough to hear them when you're young and impressionable or going through something momentous in your life, they will touch you indelibly. Nothing else on the album matches these two jewels (a few tracks sound a bit dated in an unfortunate, 80s kind of way), but it's still worth picking up. That said, the "Bellavista Terrace" best-of collection might be the place to start for the uninitiated. It's a little skimpy and I could quibble with the selection, but any disc that has "Right Here", "Bye Bye Pride," "Head Full of Steam", "Streets of Your Town" and "Spring Rain" is a must. If you want a coherent, consistent album, try "Liberty Belle", a true masterpiece.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps the finest rock album of the 1980's., July 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Tallulah (Audio CD)

Mixing the rhythmic stiffness and perverse amelodicism of the least user-friendly parts of "Spring Hill Fair" with their penchant for shameless beauty (that would dominate 1989's fine "16 Lovers Lane"), "Tallulah" is the Go-Betweens' toughest and finest work. "Spirit of a Vampyr" and "The House Jack Kerouac Built" detail personal anguish with angular music to match, but "Right Here," "Bye Bye Pride," and "Hope Then Strife" lace realistic depictions of relationships in-and-out-of-crisis (always the Go-Betweens' coup de grace) with absurdly magnificent chord changes. The additional instruments (viola/oboe -- thanks Amanda!) are the flourishes that make it even more memorable. Thanks for reissuing this!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Rock Album, July 27, 2003

By 

cameron-vale "cameron-vale" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tallulah (Audio CD)

The Go-Betweens were one of the few rock bands who just got better and better with each new album. After SEND ME A LULLABY, their charming but somewhat limp debut, all of their subsequent releases were major classic pop masterpieces. TALLULAH, the bands' fifth album, is one of their finest. The long standing lineup of Grant McLennan, Robert Forster, Lindy Morrison and Robert Vickers was augmented here by multi-instrumentalist Amanda Brown, who added immeasurably to the group's ever growing proficiency and fullness of sound.

A great place to start for Go-Betweens' neophytes, TALLULAH contains some of the band's strongest and most delightful songs. The glorious "Right Here" and "Bye Bye Pride" are the album's most melodic and pop oriented songs, of course, but all of the others (especially "Hope Then Strife", the desparing and haunting final track) provide almost perfect examples of the group's beguiling and quirky music. The only true problem child, "Cut It Out", has received a great deal of flack over the years but it has an absolutely terrific chorus that irrefutably breaks the song free from the constraints of mediocrity.

It may not be The Go-Betweens' ultimate masterpiece--that would arguably be 16 LOVERS LANE--but TALLULAH is full of great songs and comes highly recommended for all fans of lush, ravishingly beautiful guitar rock.