Go-Betweens

The reunion in 2000 of Go-Betweens principals Robert Forster and Grant McLennan caused much anticipatory hand-wringing among long-time fans; those for whom the group's break-up ten years earlier felt as unexpected and saddening as the star-crossed love affairs their songs so eloquently detail. Although the first recorded fruits of their renewed partnership, The Friends of Rachel Worth, didn't entirely convince that the duo weren't simply parking their disparate solo vehicles beneath a more alluring marquee, Bright Yellow, Bright Orange swiftly lays all reservations to rest and hangs party streamers around the room. Older and wiser, but no less capable of being awestruck by the vagaries of romance, Forster and McLennan match-make sun-dappled melodies with poetic sentiments that strike the right balance between stubborn idealism ("Make Her Day") and profound world-weariness ("Crooked Lines"). The title of the closing track, "Unfinished Business," can be taken as the broader signifier it might just be: ladies and gentlemen, this is the greatest record either of these men have put their names to since 1988's 16 Lovers Lane.