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The Go-Betweens / G Stands for Go-Betweens limited box set

By Paul Sinclair

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Domino Record’s sold out Go-Betweens deluxe box set, G Stands For Go-Betweens, is now available via a number of Amazon stores.

The limited edition release will never be repressed and the anthology captures Aussie indie rock band’s output from 1978 through 1984 via four vinyl albums and four CDs (featuring different content – see full track listing below).

The set also comes with a 112-page book (with extensive notes from Robert Forster and archival photographs) and a silkscreen of their first promotional poster for their debut single, Lee Remick, as well as a reproduction of their very first press release. You do also get 24 bit-WAV or 320 kbps downloads of the remastered LPs.

Domino mention on their website that a “a very small overrun” may be made available to a few select retail outlets at a later date, and that is exactly what this is, so it seems as if this could be the last opportunity to grab a set before they’re gone for good and command high prices on the used market.

G Stands For Go-Betweens is released on 3 February across various Amazon sites.

gobetweens

G Stands for Go-Betweens track listing

LP #1 The First Five Singles

side A:
Lee Remick
People Say
I Need Two Heads
Your Turn, My Turn
Hammer The Hammer

side B:
Karen
Don’t Let Him Come Back
Stop Before You Say It
World Weary
By Chance

LP #2 Send Me A Lullaby

side A:
Your Turn, My Turn
One Thing Can Hold Us
People Know
The Girls Have Moved
Midnight To Neon
Eight Pictures

side B:
Careless
All About Strength
Ride
Hold Your Horses
Arrow In A Bow
It Could Be Anyone

LP #3 Before Hollywood

side A:
A Bad Debt Follows You
Two Steps Step Out
Before Hollywood
Dusty In Here
Ask

side B:
Cattle And Cane
By Chance
As Long As That
On My Block
That Way

LP #4 Spring Hill Fair

side A:
Bachelor Kisses
Five Words
The Old Way Out
You’ve Never Lived
Part Company

side B:
Slow Slow Music
Draining The Pool For You
River Of Money
Unkind And Unwise
Man O’Sand To Girl O’Sea

CD #1 Life As Sweet As Lemonade
Rarities Volume One: 1978-79

I Want To Be Today
The Sound Of Rain
People Say
Don’t Let Him Come Back
Long Lonely Day
Day For Night
Love Wasn’t Made For You And Me
Just Hang On
Summer’s Melting My Mind
Obsession With You
The Night
Rare Victory
Big Sleeping City
Beachcomber
The Missing One
I Am An Architect
8 Pictures
The Green Light Don’t Mean Go
Cold Flame (It Burns)
Help Or Something
Only Sinners Care
Lies

CD #2 Skeletons That Cry
Rarities Volume Two: 1980-81

Don’t Let Him Back
The Clowns Are In Town
Serenade Sound
Sunday Night
Hope
It Took You A Week
Day After Tomorrow
I Know Why
Circle You
I Need Two Heads
All About Strength
One Word
Red Epaulettes

CD #3 Live 82
Rarities Volume Three: Live at The Mosman Hotel April 23, 1982

Metal And Shells
Your Turn, My Turn
Careless
Distant Hands
Hammer The Hammer
People Know
I Need Two Heads
One Thing Can Hold Us
Near The Chimney
Undo What You Did
By Chance
It Could Be Anyone

CD #4 A Suicide Note To Satan
Rarities Volume Four: 1982-84

A Peaceful Wreck
Heaven Says
On My Block
Cattle And Cane
Hammer The Hammer
Man O’Sand To Girl O’Sea
Newton Told Me
Man O’Sand To Girl O’Sea
This Girl, Black Girl
Emperor’s Courtesan
Attraction
Marco Polo Jr.
Sweet Tasting Hours
Part Company
Bachelor Kisses
The Old Way Out
Unkind And Unwise
Just A King In Mirrors
Rare Breed
Secondhand Furniture
The Power That I Now Have
Five Words
For Him

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41 Comments

41 thoughts on “The Go-Betweens / G Stands for Go-Betweens limited box set”

  2. It’s available at HMV Japan, for those still looking for it. I have the lovely doubles on CD from awhile back, so I don’t see myself forking out for this, but it is a nice-looking box, no question!

  3. I pre-ordered from Barnes & Noble who then really messed me around. On the US day of release (Feb 3rd) I phoned Best Buy and was told they had it in stock for immediate delivery. I received it 2 days later and it really is gorgeous. Barnes & Noble continued pushing back the availability date and I cancelled my order with them. Anyway, it’s possible that Best Buy may have it still.

    My beef with this whole thing is that Domino seem to be in the business of creating highly desirable “collectibles” that sell out immediately and become virtually impossible to get for most devoted fans. They did the same with the Triffids. Although I commend them for their excellent reissues of the classic Triffids albums and the brilliant “Beautiful Waste” compilation, has anybody out there even seen a copy of the 10 disc rarities collection? I’d give my right arm for a copy, but since Domino made a mere 1000 for worldwide distribution, I’m more likely to find the Holy Grail on e-bay!

    So Domino…thanks for re-releasing some incredible music from criminally overlooked bands, but PLEASE release more copies of the boxed sets, or make the songs in those boxed sets at least available for download so more true fans can get hold of what’s most important…not glossy books and posters, but the actual music!

    1. Hello Mark

      I cancelled with amazon.de as I managed to find it from Universal Music Australia, get music.au.
      It cost a fair bit for postage to Dublin but it wasn’t too dear otherwise.
      They have it listed on ebay as well from them. 200 aus dollars plus postage. They seem to have a good few available.
      I was happy enough with the price,except international courier!

      I think that for once amazon might not be able to get it.
      It’s £214 on amazon.co.uk now and they say 1 to 3 weeks.
      Worked out cheaper for me in Euro from Australia.

  7. Hi Paul

    I have pre-order with amazon.de but it now appears to be out of stock.
    I hope they will able to send it. I was going to go with amazon.ca but was afraid of custom duties between Canada and Ireland.

    Wish I pre-ordered with Domino!!!

  9. Hi Gareth

    I think so – on previous releases, Bachelor Kisses was down in volume – I think they’ve now corrected it – I’ll double check.

    Just for the record – not all the extra material has been remastered from source tapes. The Able Label stuff and the ‘Very Quick on the Eye’ material is all sourced from Vinyl.

  10. Great stuff, Justin. They’re my favourite band but the price has put me off…until now. One question: the cd of ‘Spring Hill Fair’ from 10 years or so ago has a fault on ‘Bachelor Kisses’. I recall it being quieter (or louder?) than the rest of the album. Have they fixed that on this release?

    Hopefully we’ll get a new version of ‘Oceans Apart’ in the future that removes the awful distortion and compression. It’s the worst sounding album I’ve heard.

    1. Gareth, I remember after ‘Ocean’s Apart’ came out Lomax re-pressed a quieter master of the CD and made it available for swap for those that had already purchased. I’d got in touch about getting mine exchanged but then Grant died and it didn’t seem so important.

      I wasn’t sure about this box set, but now I’m starting to wish I had just gone for it on the pre-order. Took me a while to collect up all the previous 2CD editions, still missing ‘Before Hollywood’. Will see what the next two instalments bring I guess!

      1. Hi Michael,
        I bought the re-pressing of ‘Oceans Apart’ and it improved on the original but it’s still a difficult listen. The chrous to ‘Finding You’ is really bad and the distortion is still present throughout the album, albeit quieter. A shame as Grant’s songs on the album are amongst his very best.
        Perhaps the master is like this so not a lot can be done.

        1. Thanks for the reply, Gareth. Glad to hear I’ve not really been missing out not having the re-pressing of ‘Oceans Apart’. Like you say though, it does raise the issue that it may be the master mix-d0wn itself that’s too loud.

  11. I was undecided for a long time. The vinyl put me off (I don’t have a turntable, thus making them redundant). I eventually capitualated and bought one from domino on the last day of the deadline.

    Firstly, the remastered LPs which I have downloaded as wav files and burnt on to cd. These sound lovely – more depth, clarity and punch. Particularly the first 2 lp’s. I’m very pleased with those as I have to admit I wasn’t completely satisfied with the sound of SMAL and BH from the previous 2002 remasters.

    The bonus cd’s contain a wealth of great songs – many of them unreleased. The first 2 cd’s are fine – sonic improvements for the ‘lost album’ material (but they were low fidelity recordings to start with). I prefer the second Teekman session with tracks like ‘I am an architect’ and ‘Big sleeping city’ – mostly unreleased. The second unreleased cd is probably the least interesting, but even so – tracks like ‘I know why’ and ‘Circle you’ are good additions.

    I don’t like Live cd’s as a rule, but the Mosman Hotel disc is fantastic. Very taut performances – the clarity is so good that they sound like studio recordings – great versions of well-known songs and versions of obscurities like ‘Undo what you did’ which sound excellent.

    The final disc is my favourite. There is a great early single version of Man o’sand which runs perfectly into Newton Told me and on into the released version of Man o’sand. Somehow it works – and the sound quality is superb. Significantly better than on previous releases in my opinion. There are some lovely demos from Spring Hill Fair here as well. Some previously released, some not. Finally, we get the release of the b-sides Just a king in mirrors and Rare breed for the first time – again the sound quality is superb. And so on…

    I was very undecided for a long time, but I’m now very happy I bought the box – the booklet is also very well written and it is clear that a lot of thought and attention has gone into this package.

    I’ve chucked all this down because I think that if you love the band, you will really enjoy the box. The downloads of the albums are a very component for me – you can download them in mp3 320, wav 16 bit, wav 24 bit. All of the 8 cd’s are available for download. It would be nice to have the lp’s as physical cd’s, but that is about my only criticism.

      1. HQ downloads of all the content is definitely a big plus point. If labels and acts are going to insist on following the vinyl-only fad, then offering up accessible alternatives within the package is a must for me. We saw that with the FGTH Pleasuredome super deluxe. So good on the people behind the GB box.

    1. You would need to get decent money for those LPs to make it worthwhile. I play vinyl, and I’m not such a fan I’ll play the CDs more than once or twice. But I wouldn’t want to split up my box because it’ll destroy its future on-sale value should I ever want to part with it.

  14. I’m pretty upset about it also. I dropped quite a bit of money on the 2 disc reissues several years ago, but there are many rarities on the CD’s in this set not on those discs. Vinyl has no appeal to me, and the download cards are pointless as I’m satisfied with the mastering on the previous CD’s. So basically I’m having to decide between dropping $160 for about 30 songs I won’t be able to get elsewhere or just not owning them depsite GB being one of my favorite bands of the 80’s (alongside aussie comtemporaries the Church).

  17. I agree with Charles. I bought The Go Betweens albums on vinyl during the 1980s. I don’t want or need reissued LPs. The CDs would be fine on their own.

  18. Chucky – by ‘getting screwed’, I simply mean being asked to re-buy what I already have (the vinyl) to get what I don’t have (the rarities CD’s). As the vinyl will account for the vast majority of the price / size / & weight – how can this be described as either a good deal financially or aesthetically?!

    Even the contents of the rarities CD’s themselves seem rather haphazard, eg why isn’t there a complete Radio Sessions set from the ’78-’84 era? Each album should have been repackaged as a superior ‘deluxe’ version of the 2CD sets from 10-15 years ago, incorporating all the singles / b-sides / contemporaneous radio sessions / unreleased tracks / demos / album session outtakes / a full live show from each LP era. (Even DVD’s for videos / TV / live appearances where available.)

    The Beggars Banquet Box Sets for The Fall (‘The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall’ / ‘This Nations Saving Grace’) or the 2CD+DVD sets for The Jesus And Mary Chain and Suede – would have made a good template. Then add in the quality ‘feel’ and ‘build quality’ of Dylan’s ‘Basement Tapes’, or the Beatles ‘Mono’ Box or Numero Group’s Bedhead box and you’d really have something befitting the group. And this could even accommodate (a smaller version) of what’s included in the book you rave about. (& separate vinyl standalone reissues for those who CHOOSE!).

    Actually, the GB’s Beggars era is up next – maybe there’s hope if they take on the project rather than licence to Domino to compile another HUGE white elephant of a box!

  19. Agree with Charles – if you don’t want a load of vinyl you won’t play, this isn’t appealing. CDs on their own and I’d buy it.
    Vinyl/CD combos don’t appeal to me, for a start they take up too much space!

  20. Rob C – you’re right. I won’t be buying this box set in it’s present form. I’m a long time fan (jeez, since hearing Cattle & Cane on the radio when it was the new single. And going out THAT DAY to buy it.) Therefore I already have all the vinyl they ever released (short of the Lee Remick and People Say original 7″-s – they were rare even then!) and I don’t want another big ugly heavy box set to sit useslessly on the shelf. And two more to follow! A GB’s box should be like some exquisite Faberge egg…
    I just want those rarities CD’s (and maybe one for the ‘First Five Singles’ would be handy too). Looks like long term fans are getting screwed again. Wish this had been put together before the vinyl revival…
    (Anyhow, I find it hard to listen to them since Grant’s death. Still can’t get over that. No other musician’s death has affected me like that, but they were such an intrinsic part of my life growing up. They were THE band for my circle of friends, believe it or not, and we all kinda idolised them. Even Vickers leaving was hard to get over. He was so perfect for the GB’s. And they were decidedly not ‘just another band’ who could just replace members. Not to me anyway. As LP Hartley said in the opening line of a novel (whose title I don’t need to mention); “the past is a foreign country. They do things differently there”.

    1. How exactly are long-term fans “getting screwed”?

      4 LPs (with download cards by the way)
      4 CDs of rarities
      An amazing, AMAZING 112-page book that any “long term” fan will simply drool over
      Poster and Press Kit
      A gorgeous looking box

      This is exactly the kind of release that a hard core “long term” fan would adore (I love mine).

      I fail to see how anyone is getting “screwed” here.

      1. I do share Chucky’s view here. Seems to tick most, if not all, the boxes. Don’t think doing separate CD and vinyl boxes is economical for smaller labels and small-ish print runs, hence why this has both vinyl and CDs.

        1. Hi Paul,

          I recently emailed Domino and they confirmed to that effect: there will be no separate stand-alone reissue of the rarities CDs, nor CDs of the three studio LPs, since Domino don’t own the license for these. So it’s the box set or nowt right now…

      3. I own all of Robert’s and Grant’s solo albums (including Far-Out Corporation and Jack Frost albums), all of the GB 2-disc reissues, so I would consider myself a hardcore fan. I do not own a turntable, and already have ripped the previous remasters. Booklets hold no appeal to me (I listen to music with no interest in any commentary on it or – gasp! – unreleased photos). Ditto posters/press kits. So essentially this “hard core long term” fan would be paying $160 for a smattering of unreleased track and a bunch of other padding that I could care less about.

  21. Beautiful set, and much needed. But why not release the Cds as a box set in their own right? It seems very unfair for those who don’t buy vinyl. You would think with the various ways music can reach the fan that there would be a way to appease those of us who are only interested in buying what we don’t have and not be put in a position to buy what we already have to get what we don’t have.

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