16 Lovers Lane

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16 Lovers Lane
16LoversLane.jpg
Studio album by The Go-Betweens
Released August 1988
(See Release history)
Recorded May 1988
Sydney
Genre
Length 37:04
Label Mushroom (AUS), Beggars Banquet (UK)
(See Release history)
Producer Mark Wallis, Go-Betweens
The Go-Betweens chronology
Tallulah
(1987)Tallulah1987		 16 Lovers Lane
(1988)		 The Friends of Rachel Worth
(2000)The Friends of Rachel Worth2000
Singles from 16 Lovers Lane
  1. "Streets of Your Town"
    Released: July 1988
  2. "Was There Anything I Could Do?"
    Released: October 1988
  3. "Love Goes On"
    Released: 1989
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 5/5 stars[1]
Rolling Stone 3/5 stars[2]

16 Lovers Lane was the sixth album by Australian indie rock group The Go-Betweens, released in 1988 by Beggars Banquet Records. Prior to the recording of the album, longtime bassist Robert Vickers left the band when the other group members decided to return to Australia after having spent several years in London, England; he was replaced by John Willsteed. The album was recorded at Studios 301 in Sydney, between Christmas 1987 and Spring 1988.

16 Lovers Lane was the final release from the original version of the band. The Go-Betweens broke up in 1989 and would produce no other material until Grant McLennan and Robert Forster reformed the band, with a completely different line-up of personnel, in 2000.

Details

In late 1987 the band relocated from the UK to Sydney, with the relationship between Forster and Morrison dissolving whilst McLennan and Brown becoming more involved. Upon their return to Australia the band added John Willsteed on bass and began preparing their sixth album.

The recording process for 16 Lovers Lane was different to previous releases. Between December 1987 and January 1998 McLennan and Forster began an intense songwriting process. They demoed all the songs in advance and then presented them to the producer and their band mates, leaving less room for improvisation. McLennan stated "We really sat down for the first time in years and wrote together in the sense that anything new we'd come up with the night before we'd go through and rearrange and discard or put it into something else. Our normal method was to write separately and the spend two weeks together, familarising ourselves with each other songs and suggesting things. So this way was a completely different process and it was due to trying to get back to what started the band - closeness."[3]

McLennan said the band was also effected by moving back to Australia. "We'd spent five years in London - blackness, darkness, greyness and poverty - and suddenly for some reason we seemed to have more money in Sydney, and we all had places to live and being in a city where after five years we can go to the beach in ten minutes."[4] Forster agreed saying it brought on "a burst of energy, a burst of songs."[3]

McLennan said, "I had a vision for this record. It was, in some way, just sitting down with acoustic guitars in sunlight, writing songs, and then making a record. It was as simple as that. And I get that vibe from the record, a summer feeling."[5] Forster described the album as, "the perfect combination between London melancholy and Sydney sunshine."[4]

The songwriting duo demoed sixteen tunes acoustically and sent them to English producer, Mark Wallis, prior to his arrival in Australia. The book, 100 Best Australian Albums, describes that Wallis' production maintained the acoustic feel, embellishing them sparingly and "affording them a sparkle and crispness that suggested the summer that was their inspiration."[3] Drummer Lindy Morrison was said to have "hated" Wallis, which may be a reflection of the fact that Wallis replaced Morrison with a drum machine on five of the songs on the album.[6] Both Morrison and Brown were unhappy with the pre-production process, which limited their contribution, but Forster defended it, saying, "The pre-production to every album can't always been the same. You can't keep doing the same things over and over."[7]

Elsewhere, Forster blamed others for the synthetic nature of the recordings. He said, "I wanted to make the kind of record I ended up making on Danger in the Past. I just wanted the band to be playing live, get us into a really big studio. Instead, it was one person in the studio with the rest of them playing pool. Lindy would be talking about drum machines, and her and Amanda were talking about triggering the violin to make synthesizer keyboard sounds. The only two live tracks on that album are both my songs, and I insisted on those."[8]

The original release of the album contained ten songs, most of them written about Amanda Brown.[9]

In 2004, LO-MAX Records issued a greatly expanded CD which included a second disc of ten bonus tracks and music videos for the songs "Streets of Your Town" (two versions) and "Was There Anything I Could Do?" which were filmed to promote 16 Lovers Lane at the time of its initial release.

Reception

In October 2010, 16 Lovers Lane was listed at No. 12 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.[10] The authors describe the album as being "the band's high-water mark and Forster and McLennan knew they'd nailed it" and that the songs were "their most direct, accessible and heartfelt ever", with "Forster, particularly, having learnt a new restraint. Gone was the bravado and archness that had informed much of his earlier work and in its place was an openess and honesty."[3]

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"“Unbelievably brilliant, I think the whole album was incredible. Normally if you have an album with two singers and two writers, there’s always one that you like better. Not in the case of The Go-Betweens, two equally talented guys, just like Lennon and McCartney."

−Steve Kilbey[11]

Reviewing the album in Spin, Evelyn McDonnell said the Go-Betweens reminded her of, "whooping cranes: great gangling creatures capable of heights of gracefulness when in flight and passionate spasms when in heat. Similarly, the Go-Betweens infuse portentious poetry into giddy pop structures, then throw the uncertain songs in the air, whispering 'Fly or fuck.'" While praising the album, McDonnell blamed most of the album's occasional "putrid moments" on producer Mark Wallis.[12]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by G. McLennan, R. Forster. 

Original 1988 release
No. Title Length
1. "Love Goes On"   3:19
2. "Quiet Heart"   5:20
3. "Love Is a Sign"   4:12
4. "You Can't Say No Forever"   3:57
5. "The Devil's Eye"   2:05
6. "Streets of Your Town"   3:36
7. "Clouds"   4:02
8. "Was There Anything I Could Do?"   3:06
9. "I'm All Right"   3:10
10. "Dive for Your Memory"   4:17
11. "Streets of Your Town" (Australian video on 2004 expanded CD)  
12. "Streets of Your Town" (US/UK video on 2004 expanded CD)  
13. "Was There Anything I Could Do?" (video on 2004 expanded CD)  
2004 CD Cover of 16 Lovers Lane

All songs written and composed by G. McLennan, R. Forster, except where noted. 

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalogue
Australia August 1988 Mushroom LP L38950
CD D38950
United Kingdom Beggars Banquet LP BEGA 95
Cassette BEGC 95
CD BEGA 95CD
United States 1988 Capitol CDP 7 91230 2
Germany Rebel Rec. SPV 85-2875
United Kingdom 1996 Beggars Banquet BBL 2006 CD
Australia Silk Sheen SILK 007
Europe Labels 724384173029
United Kingdom 2004 LO-MAX LO-MAX CD004
Australia EMI Australia 0946 3 69600 2 9
United States Jetset TWA72CD

Personnel

The Go-Betweens

Additional musicians

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic Review
  2. ↑ Rolling Stone Review
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