In theory, the idea of one of your favourite bands re-forming sounds great, especially if you never saw them onstage and can imagine yourself down the front when they hit your town in the near future.
Of course, this theory often falls through when idea becomes execution and truly the number of worthwhile re-unions in rock can be traced on the fingers of two hands, give or take.
Thankfully, one of these digits must surely be reserved for Brisbane's THE GO-BETWEENS, the vehicle for the magificently idiosyncratic songwriting styles of joint leaders Robert Forster and Grant McLennan.
In reality, neither really went away during their period away from each other during the 1990s, and though nothing was actually released with The Go-Betweens imprint during that decade, this writer would avidly steer you to "Danger In The Past" and "Warm Nights" (Forster) and "Horsebreaker Star" (McLennan) respectively - just for starters!
Nonetheless, the first Go-Betweens album in over a decade - "The Friends Of Rachel Worth", recorded in Oregon during 2000 with long-term bassist/ acolyte Adele Pickvance and members of Sleater Kinney/ Quasi - was an absolute triumph and now it gets better as "Bright Yellow, Bright Orange" turns out to be every bit it's predecessor's equal.
For (I think) the first time since their "Send Me A Lullabye" debut, "Bright Yellow.." finds Forster and McLennan coming full circle and returning to Australia to record. Adele Pickvance has sensibly been retained as bassist and with Glenn Thompson nabbing the drum stool, the band have another fine, sympathetic rhythm section in tow. They're a little straighter than the quirky results obtained by "classic" 'tweens rhythm partners Lindy Morrison and Robert Vickers, but their approach - along with the live, organic sound of these ten memorable songs - makes for another totally fulfilling experience.
And of course it's the songwriting that truly reels you in here. With the usual democratic split, "Bright Yellow..." features five new songs each from Robert and Grant and (surprise! surprise!) they're as fabulous as ever.
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For some reason, the previous Go-B's outing that springs to mind when considering these tracks is "Before Hollywood", especially in the minimal guitar intro to Robert's "Make Her Day" and the gentle, resigned beauty of Grant's "Unfinished Business,": this latter strongly recalling "Dusty In Here." That's no bad thing, though, as "Before Hollywood" is arguably this writer's favourite early period Go-Betweens album and like that record, "Bright Yellow, Bright Orange" shows Forster and McLennan's respective muses are still pregnant with possibilities.
Treasures simply bleed all over the floor. "Caroline And I" is a great, strident opener, full of Forster's arch wit and some great, Velvets -y guitar work the undeniably gorgeous "Crooked Lines" and "Mrs. Morgan"s vivid, mad clairvoyant around town tale (with a cheeky nod to "Sweet Jane" during the intro) demonstrate McLennan has (again) raised his game, while "In Her Diary" shows that Forster still has that spooked, downbeat capacity for observation a la "Danger In The Past" down pat.
Stuffed to the gills with wisdom, humanity and that indefinable knack for killer, slightly off-kilter tunes that we've come to demand from them, "Bright Yellow, Bright Orange" once again proves that when it's this good, nothing gets close to lyrical stardust sprinkled over sweetly struck guitars, no matter how old fashioned that sounds. You could say this is simply 'another' superb Go-Betweens album, but as usual it's really so much more. What else were you waiting for?
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