Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express, the fourth album by the Go-Betweens, was released in March 1986 in the UK on Beggars Banquet Records, the record label that would release the remainder of the original group's LPs through their break-up in 1989. The album was recorded at Berry Street Studios in London, England. The original release consisted of ten songs. The UK CD release in 1986 (BEGA 72) had the original ten tracks, plus two bonus tracks: "The Life At Hand" and "Little Joe". In 2004, LO-MAX Records released an expanded CD which included a second disc of eleven bonus tracks and music videos for the songs "Spring Rain" and "Head Full of Steam" (Single Version).Mueller, Andrew, from the liner notes for the 2004 LO-MAX Compact Disc reissue of Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express. All track listing/production history/song writing credit information in this article is taken from these liner notes.
Details The band had signed a deal with an English branch of the label Elektra, which closed two weeks into the album's recording. The Go-Betweens' co-founder Robert Forster said, "Elektra pays for the record and doesn't even know it. We've got an album that's ours, we can sell it to anyone. Free album." Soon after, they signed with Beggars Banquet.
Drummer Lindy Morrison later said, "This is my favourite album. This is a really, really fabulous album. We produced this ourselves and it's got the best songs, and I think every single song is a classic. And if we had produced those songs the way radio demands – like, if we'd used drum machines and just had synthesisers do most of the stuff – I think we could have got a hit."
The band entered the studio determined to create the album they envisioned. Forster later wrote, "If this was to be our last shot, it had to be on our terms. There'd be no drum machines, no piecemeal recording, no acquiescence to higher authority. Our intention was to expand on the crisp, woody sound of Before Hollywood, to include a grander, more exotic range of instrumentation."
Both Grant McLennan and Forster praised the contributions of Dean B. Speedwell. McLennan said, "We used another person on that record, like we had on Before Hollywood, a kind of keyboard-y dude called Dean B. Speedwell, and he was such a musician that we could say 'Well, we want vibes like Lionel Hampton' and he could do it, or we wanted a bassoon part and he could play it."
Later McLennan said, "There was quite a fundamental musical change in the band towards simplification. Something we've been accused of in the past, of being almost a pop band, almost an art band, you know, now we're simplifying. Thinking more of 4/4." Similarly. Forster claimed to have had a revelation in the wake of Spring Hill Fair. He said, "I'm writing a lot less complicated music, and it's giving me space to put myself in it."
Reception
In his review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau wrote that "there are no popsters writing stronger personal love songs. I doubt there are any page poets envisioning more plangently, either." BBC Music said, "If you like lyrics, and rambling imagery, you'll love these songs. There are ten of them in thirty six minutes. Only the flat production lets them down; something they often had trouble with. But alongside Spring Hill Fair this is their best album."
AllMusic noted, "Robert Forster's endearingly fey persona, equal parts Bryan Ferry and gangly bookstore clerk, reaches full flower on the Go-Betweens' fourth album, which tempers the angularity and occasional claustrophobia of the band's previous work with a new airiness and nervous romanticism. The lighter sound can be partly attributed to the growing influence of co-leader Grant McLennan." Mojo said the album was "organic, homespun, with echoes of Australian country in its classicist rock novellas".
Track listing
Release history Year Country Label Format Catalogue No.1986UKBeggars BanquetLPBEGA 72CassetteBEGC 72CDBEGA 72 CDAUSTrue ToneLP826 714-1Cassette826 714-4USBig TimeLP10030-1GERRebel Rec.RE 0024CAVertigoVOG-1-3369JPJapan25JAL-30591988UKBeggars BanquetBBL 721996CDBBL 2004 CDAUSSilk SheenSILK 0052004UKLO-MAXLO-MAX CD002AUSEMI Australia3696022USJetsetTWA70CD
Personnel The Go-Betweens Robert Forster — vocals, rhythm guitar Grant McLennan — vocals, lead guitar, loops, treatments Lindy Morrison — drums Robert Vickers — bass guitar Additional musicians Dean B. Speedwell — organ, piano, accordion, vibes, bassoon Audrey Riley — cello, string arrangements Chris Tomlin — 1st violin Sally Herbert — 2nd violin Sue Dench — viola Tracey Thorn — backing vocals on "Head Full of Steam" and "Apology Accepted" Richard Preston — loops, treatments on "Reunion Dinner"
References