The Go-Betweens

Mark Jenkins — Washington Post, 21 April 1989

A sympathetic reviewer once likened an early Go-Betweens album to a poetry reading, but Wednesday night the brilliant Australian band dispelled its bookish reputation with its most musical 9:30 club performance yet. The group, expanded from a trio to a quintet since its poetry-reading days, now has at its disposal a wide array of timbres (latest addition Amanda Brown provides violin, oboe, guitar and backing vocals) and a new-found rhythmic confidence.

Though the band's recent 16 Lovers Lane album has a light, acoustic sound, at 9:30 only The Devil's Eye was played thus. Instead, the backbeat came up front, with Quiet Heart given a primal pulse and Streets of Your Town a funky swing. These surprisingly loose-limbed arrangements didn't always improve on the recorded versions – Grant McLennan's full-bodied melodies generally fared better than Robert Forster's lean ones – but they showed that the Go-Betweens have achieved a musical playfulness worthy of the verbal wit for which they've long been known.