When The Go-Betweens finally split in 1989, it wasn't destined to be the final word on an 11-year career that had been as mercurial as it had been unsuccessful.
Alongside Felt, The Go-Betweens spent the '80s releasing romantic, perfectly realised masterpieces to a largely uninterested public. Over six brilliant albums, they created a songwriting legacy of such emotional power - REM and Belle & Sebastian were obviously devotees - that no-one could quite believe that commercial success proved so elusive.
The intervening period has seen their name kept alive through intermittent gigs and a comprehensive programme of reissues. But it wasn't until last year that the two original songwriters - Robert Forster and Grant McLennan - took the decision to reform properly, backed (in the studio at least) by Sleater-Kinney.
The result is 'The Friends Of Rachel Worth' - a forthcoming album of such excellence that again The Go-Betweens find themselves tottering on the verge of the recognition they deserve.
Tonight, Forster and McLennan offer us a brief acoustic run-through - from the autobiographical 'German Farmhouse' to 'When She Sang About Angels', their tribute to Patti Smith - as well as a reminder of just why they're held in such high esteem. Having glided through the classic 'Bye Bye Pride' and McLennan's 'Haven't I Been A Fool?', they finally reach a conclusion with a bizarre version of 'Danger In The Past' from Forster's first solo album. As Forster hammers away at a stray set of bongos and McLennan sits lost in revelry, you can't help thinking that it's good to have them back. Whatever happens this time around.
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