The Go-Betweens - G Stands For Go-Betweens Volume 3 (2024) Hi-Res

The story of the Go-Betweens in their original incarnation was told on the first two volumes of G Stands for Go-Betweens, lavish box sets complied by the band's Robert Forster. Made up of original albums plus a wealth of outtakes, demos, B-sides, photos, and Forster's well-chosen words, the collections helped reinforce the group's position as one of the most important bands to come out of the post-punk era. The third volume of the series gathers up material recorded after the group, now down to the core of Forster and co-songwriter/vocalist Grant McLennan, got back together in 2000. They issued three excellent albums (2000's The Friends of Rachel Worth, 2003's Bright Yellow Bright Orange, and 2005's Oceans Apart) before McLennan's sudden passing in 2006. Each is included here in remastered form and shows the band recapturing their form and making music that stands next to the best they had done, and is easily the equal of what their contemporaries were doing. Both Forster and McLennan had grown into even more poignant and melodic songwriters, and the musicians they worked with -- particularly bassist Adele Pickvance -- were wonderfully supportive. The albums are paired with a wealth of demos, some of them solo acoustic ventures, sometimes the two writers working together, other times with full-band backing. It's fascinating to hear how the songs sound in different settings, and sometimes hearing them stripped free of the scrappy (in the case of Rachel Worth) or lush (Oceans Apart) gives each one some extra emotional impact.

Along with the demos are the tracks issued on the singles that were released for each album and a full album dedicated to a radio show Forster and McLennan recorded for a German station in 1999, just as they were formulating their return as a recording unit. The set is truly lovely, as the pair work through old Go-Betweens songs and tracks from their respective solo careers. It's hard to say that that one album justifies the entire cost of the set, but hearing the two in an intimate setting in the throes of reuniting is magical, maybe even priceless. The set also includes a rough mix of The Friends of Rachel Worth that strips away some of the finished product's polish and leaves the songs feeling more intimate and live. That feels at first glance like the most interesting rarity until one gets a look at/listen to the disc titled Love in Foreign Rooms, which consists of 14 songs the duo recorded in 1991 while they were on a short U.S. tour together. They were offered a chance to record a new album at that juncture, and despite having a fine batch of songs between them, turned it down. It's a treat to get a glimpse of what could have been, and it's lucky that the tapes survived. It's a vital piece of the band's history filled in at last and helps make this installment -- the last one -- another treasured document that fans of the group will only be too happy adding to the shelf alongside the other two.