The Go-Betweens-- The Lost Album

(Jetset 19)

Aussie indie-pop legends Go-Betweens definitely got better

as they went along, their final album (1988's 16 Lovers Lane) being their masterpiece.

But it's still worthwhile to hear them in their early days, when the songs were rawer, more guitar-driven and less textured. There's a lot of innocence here, green songs paying homage to actress Lee Remick and an ode to a simple-yet-pure librarian ("She helps me find Joyce, she always makes the right choice").

This is an album for fans, sure, but anyone should be able to hear plenty of promise here in the budding songwriting talents of Robert Forster and Grant McLennan.

-- Brian Greene