Let's face it, a lot of people have likely heard of The Go- Betweens. But how many people actually know them? An English pop band that had its major run at stardom throughout the 80's, a time when bands like theirs couldn't help but thrive, The Go-Betweens will quite probably go down in history as one of the "close but no cigars," or "almost but not quites" of the pop community.

The songs contained on their "Best of" compilation, paint a telling picture of this band, forced to lead an underground existence. and let's kill them for not making front page news for all the wrong reasons, and ultimately being done in because they were committed to nothing else but creating memorable melodies. The hits that never were, are not hard to find here and as most compilations, serve to tell a story from a historical perspective. "Bellavista Terrace" is no different. Actually beginning toward the end, "Was There Anything I Could Do?" gets us moving and I can't help but immediately think of The Church. In fact if there's an obvious comparison that could be drawn between The Go-Betweens and any of the more prominent pop novelties of their time, The Church would be a good place to look. Scan down to track 10, "The House that Jack Kerouac Built" and wait for the chorus.

The unlikely song-writing duo of Grant McLennan and Robert Forster who both shared vocal responsibilities wrote music that was both easy to listen to, yet deep enough to stir your current mood at the slightest moment-depending on who was doing the writing and or singing at that particular moment. Divergent though they were, rockin' yet romantic, they possessed a quality of uniqueness in so doing that you'd have to look back toward maybe a Lennon/McCartney team to really understand. Far-fetched when looking back upon all The Beatles were-I'm not drawing comparisons here, but the idea was ultimately the same. Unfortunately, the differences that surfaced after their ten-plus years together were enough to earn them the same fate.

There's a certain degree of charm I believe, that bands like The Go-Betweens possess that can't be accurately measured in album sales or top 40 hits. Look at The Replacements. They were one of the greatest underground bands that no one ever knew about, yet those few that did will tell you they were brilliant. Are The Go-Betweens brilliant? In a sense maybe they were. Never anything flashy or even against the grain while everything else was hitting big around them, they still managed to write and perform the way they'd always envisioned and their resiliency always showed up in the music, proudly to never be mistook for disappointment.

They most certainly deserved a better fate as some of the other major hits of the 80's because they simply didn't do anything.or more like did just about everything right but for an unbelievable string of bad luck. talk about being snake-bitten. There is one song in particular toward the end of this album that many may well remember. Not surprisingly it was their closest foray into an actual hit, "Streets of your Town" which received quite a few spins on commercial radio and in an ironic twist, spawned from what would be their last recording, "16 Lovers Lane" before calling it a day nearly ten years ago. The band today, however, in light of the re-issuance of their past recordings and the subsequent reunion of McLennan and Forster might actually pull away from the reigns of obscurity that held them down all too often in the past. It's funny but now that their music's had a chance to just sit and get old a while, they'll probably become that much more appreciated. But there's another way for them to look at it. At least they can take pride in the fact that they'll never be known as one-hit wonders!