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Poetic, languid, spoken/sung vocals similar to Lou Reed weave between lovely melodies whose appeal is evident usually after repeated listenings.... Its highlights recall the past glories of this commercially overlooked band, and adds a handful of keepers to their best work.
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Quite possibly their best album.
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A thoroughly modern, introspective album... The lush sound of earlier Go-Betweens albums has been traded for simpler, more restrained instrumentation even when accented with cello and violin.
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Twelve years after the band split, it's immensely reassuring to hear Forster deliver lines only he could have written in his bruised, laconic, declamatory tone...
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A slow-burn knockout.
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...a spontaneity here that replaces the formality of tradition with something more vital. Like a snapshot's moment captured, the gap between composition and recording seems to have been reduced to nothing, and it's here that the group hit their mark.
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For a band returning from a decade-long sabbatical, these guys are surprisingly spry. Their consistency is also, to some degree, their downfall, since they still sound uncannily mid-'80s.... But even past their prime, the Go-Betweens are still better than anything on present alternative radio playlists.
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SelectAn album that sits together with silken cohesion... (Oct 2000, p.108)
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The Friends of Rachel Worth is the first new Go-Betweens album in a dozen years, and, remarkably, it's as if they were never away.... an ever-so-slightly-updated sound with a hint of lo-fi -- something the Go-Betweens pioneered on their earliest albums, before they found their more renowned intimate style.
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Wall of SoundAs always, the acoustic pop tracks remain the Go-Between's most effective.... It's clear that the band's heyday, those heady times that supplied fans with a surfeit of astonishingly good pop songs... are over, but there's also no doubt that McLennan and Forster can still turn out quality goods.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 4 out of 6
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Mixed: 1 out of 6
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Negative: 1 out of 6
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SaulBApr 16, 2005Fantastic. One of their best. Not a dud in the nunch. As good as liberty bell. A very mature pop record.