"Wenn man sich je an 2000 erinnert, dann wegen dieser Platte." (Rolling Stone. 4 1/2 Sterne)

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“Musikalisch bleiben sich die Go-Betweens treu: Sie bevorzugen noch immer die Schönheit eines runden Popsongs und überlassen anderen das wilde Experimentieren. Reifer Gitarrenpop nicht nur für melancholische Stunden.“

(Kulturnews)

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"Die sechs Alben, die die Australier zwischen 1981 und -88 veröffentlichten, erreichten zwar nicht den kommerziellen Erfolg, der ihnen zugestanden wäre, aber die Fans der Gruppe halten nach wie vor diese Schätze in Ehren. Nach all den Jahren ist es äußerst beruhigend zu wissen, daß Forster in seinem unverkennbaren, lakonischen-deklamatorischen Tonfall noch immer Texte singt, wie sie nur von ihm stammen können ('I lived in a seclusion for a couple of years/in a German farmhouse, just drinking beer'). Radikale Abweichungen vom früheren Stil gibt es hier keine, aber die Go-Betweens sagen selbst: 'I don't wann change a thing/when there's magic in here'. Unheilbare Romantiker werden es mit Freude hören."

(MOJO, UK)

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Twelve years after disbanding the Go-Betweens, Melbourne-based singer/songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan reformed the band they began in 1978 for their seventh album. While they haven't quite picked up where they left off (none of the other original members hopped on board), and the violin/viola that was such an integral aspect of their last few albums appears sporadically, this isn't a huge departure from the trademarked Go-Betweens sound. Poetic, languid, spoken/sung vocals similar to Lou Reed weave between lovely melodies whose appeal unfolds with repeated listens. Strummed guitars and sympathetic drums (sadly, the marvelous percussionist Lindy Morrisson, a mainstay of the band, is missing) spar with Forster and McLennan's breathy, often stream of consciousness vocals. But since the singer/songwriters evenly split the ten tracks, this sounds more like a combination of two solo albums rather than one from a cohesive unit. The backing musicians, which include Olympia's similarly hyphenated Sleater-Kinney, are generally faceless except on the riff-rocking "German Farmhouse" where the band sounds even more like the Velvet Underground than usual. Forster's ode to Patti Smith, the album closing "When She Sang About Angels," is occasionally gorgeous, with half-recited lyrics that sometimes flow yet often sound uncomfortably meshed with the beautiful melody. But on the effervescent "Going Blind," the duo returns to the uncluttered, wistful, folk-pop sound of their best work. While it won't garner new fans, or even make newcomers search out their earlier work, The Friends of Rachel Worth is a convincing if inconsistent return to form. Its highlights recall the past glories of this commercially overlooked band and add a handful of keepers to their best work.

(by Hal Horowitz, All Music Guide)

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Like a little art film slipped in among a bunch of Eighties blockbusters, Australia's quirky Go-Betweens have returned from an eleven-year hiatus with a refreshing new album. Founding members Grant McLennan and Robert Forster spent the past decade recording distinctive solo efforts. McLennan's songs tend to be sonic and lyrical equivalents of such early Truffaut films as Jules and Jim, whereas Forster's oeuvre is more akin to Breathless-era Godard: On The Friends of Rachel Worth, McLennan creates briskly melodic soundscapes and richly painted lyrics that dissect disastrous affaires de coeur (the lilting "Heart and Home" and buoyant "Going Blind"); Forster concocts archly written slices of life, on subjects ranging from doppelgangers (the lovely "He Lives My Life") to Patti Smith (the bittersweet "When She Sang About Angels") to "Surfing Magazines." Forster and McLennan enlisted Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss on harmony vocals, guitars and drums, and other guests on strings and keys, resulting in an album that harks back to the Go-Betweens' past while sounding right at home in the alt-rock present.

(HOLLY GEORGE-WARREN , RS 849 )