In a world that fully embraces Crowded House (who might just crop up later this month, you never know…), it’s mystifying that a band like the Go-Betweens should pass by almost unnoticed during a 12-year career that spanned six albums, but which spawned almost zero chart time. 1988’s Streets of Your Town bothered the compilers in their native Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, but that was about as good as it got, and scant reward for Robert Forster and Grant McLennan’s songcraft.

In 2001, Cattle and Cane, from their second album Before Hollywood (1983), was selected by the Australasian Performing Right Association in its list of the top 30 Australian songs of all time (in a diverse selection, taking in Powderfinger, Savage Garden, Nick Cave and Men at Work). I was tempted to post that here instead of Spring Rain, but the sound quality is a bit iffy on the versions I could find.

Having split in 1989, the band reformed at the start of the 20th century for three more albums. Sadly, shortly after the last of these (Oceans Apart, 2005), McLennan suffered a fatal heart attack, and Forster announced that it was the end of the line for the band.

I wouldn’t normally be so Alan as to recommend a Best of as an introduction to a band, but if you want a tidy summation of the first six albums, Bellavista Terrace fits the bill. Better still, head straight for Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express, from which Spring Rain is taken.