The Go-Betweens - Fountains Of Youth Live at the Town and Country Club - New 2LP

Recorded professionally in May 1987, this remarkable live set catches The Go-Betweens just before the release of Tallulah. As Robert Forster put it, it was almost certainly the only show in the band’s career captured on 24-track, 2-inch analogue tape, with a mobile truck parked beside the venue.

That rare setup shaped the performance. Rather than a typical Go-Betweens set, the band used the chance to document four sides of vinyl with a more adventurous running order. The result is a genuine one-off show, driven by what Forster called their “wild intent”.

These remastered Beggars Banquet releases are available on vinyl individually for the first time in over 30 years, alongside CD editions. Remastered in 2019 for Domino’s G Stands For Go-Betweens Anthology, Volume 2, they spotlight the London years: Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express (1986), Tallulah (1987) and Fountains Of Youth. Songs for 16 Lovers Lane were written around this time.

From the rattling tension of the title track’s opening moments that then give way to a cacophonous, cathartic climax, Nobody’s Coming To Save You takes this spirit of the sweaty basement venue and turns it stadium-sized. It’s not just loud, but dynamic. ‘Shades’ takes shards of industrial, angular guitar and sends them into a gnarly hardcore chorus, while ‘Drones’ is a true pressure-cranking slow build with a drop destined to decimate every mosh pit they travel through. On ‘Pins’, they explore a looser, more melodic swagger that comes on like a grunge/ trip-hop hybrid, whereas ‘Party Lines’ is pure insatiable dance-punk hedonism. If the band’s MO was to find a way to make the record “slap you in the face”, then consider yourself smacked.

With Nobody’s Coming To Save You, Gurriers have sent their ambitions sky-high and come out swinging.