16 Lovers Lane (Remaster)

Recorded at Sydney’s Studios 301 from late 1987 into 1988, 16 Lovers Lane was produced by Mark Wallis and released by Mushroom in Australia and Beggars Banquet in the UK. The sessions featured songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan alongside Lindy Morrison, Amanda Brown and John Willsteed. It was the Go-Betweens’ sixth studio album and their last before the group disbanded in 1989. Wallis’s polished late-1980s production places acoustic guitars, clean electric leads, violin and oboe in a spacious, bittersweet mix.

The album sits between indie pop and folk-rock, with chiming guitars, measured drums and Brown’s strings framing Forster and McLennan’s alternating vocals. “Streets of Your Town,” “Was There Anything I Could Do?” and “Love Goes On!” were released as singles, while “Dive for Your Memory” closes the album. This Beggars Banquet remastered edition presents the original ten-track album on a single vinyl LP. It belongs in collections built around literate guitar pop, Australian independent music and the melodic end of 1980s post-punk.