Bellavista Terrace: Best of the Go-Betweens

The Go-Betweens

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 18, 1999)
• Original Release Date: May 18, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Beggars UK - Ada
• ASIN: B00000IP4Z
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #163,443 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"French rock & roll" is generally considered a contradiction in terms, so it's not surprising that it took an Australian band to fully bring a Gallic sensibility to the music. Led by singer/songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, the Go-Betweens spent the '80s making powerful, lithe, occasionally mournful music. Filled with wit and literary and film references that never succumbed to their winking pretensions, the group's classic songs number in the dozens. Bellavista Terrace collects 14 in a starter kit that fans of Dylan, Costello, and Belle and Sebastian should investigate. --Rickey Wright

Product Description

15 of the greatest from this top Aussie indie pop/ rock cult band of the '80s. Spanning their entire career, it includes standout tracks like 'Was There Anything I Could Do?', 'The House That Jack Kerouac Built', 'Streets Of Your Town' and 'Bye Bye Pride', plus 'Lee Remick' as an unlisted bonus track. 1999 release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's ALL true..., December 7, 2000

By	J G Neffinger (Boston, USA) - See all my reviews

Both those reviews that conclude "mediocre" and those who gush "transcendent" are right on the mark. I bought their old singles CD (alas, no longer printed), listened to it a couple of times, and put it at the top of my pile of CD's to sell immediately. I reconsidered at the music shop, listened to it again at home, and within two months it had become one of my five favorite albums ever, by anyone, bar none. The songs are sweet, sparse, don't really go much of anywhere. As such they do very little to reward the excited anticipation most of us feel when listening to a new disc. Thing is, their vision of the world -- ultimately pretty bleak, but at least full of little curiousities that are half-redeeming -- is, well, right. Listen to it enough, brow furrowed, head cocked, wondering what exactly they thought they were doing making such a record, and eventually this becomes clear. It's a little eerie, frankly, but get there and you'll absolutely adore them for it. I give it only four stars because it's tough sledding the first couple of listens and because this collection leaves out "Two Step, Step Down," which is easy to warm to and enduringly super, as well as some choice gems from the earlier singles collection, including "Dusty in Here" and a few others I all-too dimly remember. [Darn] ex-girlfriend, she wouldn't part with it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ok, so oh my god, the go-betweens are amazing!, August 3, 2004

By	Davy (Athens, GA) - See all my reviews

imagine the pixies' "here comes your man" softened a tad, with endless variations.

imagine the smiths and the cure hooking up and getting pregnant out of wedlock, then getting married, then honeymooning in australia, where they have their baby--which they name the go-betweens--and leave it stranded on the cove-front deck of the sydney opera house to fend for itself.

down-under pop brilliance. probably the most accessible and delightful band that never made it big (note: there is NO valid reason these guys were never commercially successful...and if the humorously venomous liner notes are any indication, the band members are still quite bitter).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great music that deserved a wider audience, January 31, 2000

By	Erik Vitols (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews

I actually heard more about the group than actually heard their music. With all the rave reviews, I figured they were worth hunting down. After listening to this compilation, I'm intrigued by some of their other albums. The Go Betweens have a great, breezy, intelligent pop-rock sound, a bit like the Church in fact. My favorites here are 'Streets of Your Town', 'Dive For Your Memory' and 'Draining the Pool For You'; the rest of the CD is great as well. As for people upset with the artist's 'egotistical' liner notes; it looks to me the artist was simply proud of the music and was justifiably upset being passed over by lesser lights. Nothing wrong with that attitude; maybe if other groups had it, the dreck would disappear. This CD is highly recommended for those who want to escape 80's mush. It gets quite a bit of attention when I play it. Now if only the powers that be would reissue '16 Lovers Lane' in the U.S. ...