The first three Go-Betweens CDs receive the deluxe reissue treatment, with a second, bonus disc full of b-sides, demos, unreleased recordings, Peel Sessions, and the like. Each title also includes a video on its second disc, each of which is worth viewing at least once (if only to note the progression of video technology in the early eighties, and that bass player Robert Vickers looked about fifteen when he first joined the band). The first album, Send Me a Lullaby, shows the Go-Betweens' nascent but rough-edged songwriting abilities still a bit in thrall to their influences. "I Need Two Heads," the band's first single, grafts an early Beatles-style melody atop spiky rhythm guitar work that recalls Gang of Four, and tracks like "Stop Before You Say It" and "World Weary" are similar to Pink Flag-era Wire in that they end when they're finished regardless of what conventional song structure might have to say. But already, they'd begun developing a characteristic sound: "Sunday Night" features vigorously strummed rhythm guitar and a sharp, pungent bass guitar carrying the melody, and traces of the rhythmic eccentricities that would characterize Before Hollywood are audible in "The Clowns Are in Town" and in "After the Fireworks." The last-mentioned track is the rare and sought-after collaboration between the Go-Betweens and the Birthday Party. Given what each band evolved into, one might think that a collaboration would result in a Frankenstein's monster of mismatched tendencies, but in the early eighties the two bands' styles were surprisingly compatible. The song's lurching opening sounds very Birthday Party - yet the music for the track was written by the Go-Betweens. Nick Cave's vocals are a bit less theatrical than usual, and his tremulous tone is actually rather similar to the approach favored by Robert Forster, the Go-Betweens' primary vocalist at this point. A couple of the better tracks here - the single, "Sunday Night," "Two Heads" - would have improved the original release of Send Me a Lullaby, particularly if they'd replaced the thoroughly obvious and clumsily punning "Eight Pictures." Before Hollywood is the first album on which the Go-Betweens fully achieve their own identity: a sparse yet powerful, somewhat eccentric two-guitar approach, with unusual rhythms and a tunefulness somehow conveyed despite the limitations of Forster's and guitarist/bassist Grant McLennan's voices. (This is the first album on which McLennan sings his own lyrics.) Even the interstitial single "Hammer the Hammer" (showing up on now Before Hollywood's bonus disc and recorded in January of 1982) shows the band's newfound authority and confidence. "A Peaceful Wreck" features McLennan and Forster closely echoing one another's vocal lines in anticipation of the immortal "Five Words" (whose superior Peel Sessions version unfortunately is not included in these reissues). Cognoscenti can compare the early version of "Man O'Sand to Girl O'Sea" with its final version that appears on Spring Hill Fair. The richer textures of "This Girl, Black Girl" are a hint of Spring Hill Fair's generally thicker and more arranged sound. In part that thickened texture can be attributed to the presence on Spring Hill Fair of bassist Vickers. On the first two albums, McLennan had played bass as well as contributing guitar, and his approach to bass seemed very guitar-like. His tone was pointed and aggressive, while Vickers' bass sound is more conventionally rounded. While Vickers also can play more melodic lines, he more often settled into the traditional bass player's role of holding down the low end and anchoring the rhythm along with the kick drum. Spring Hill Fair allowed the Go-Betweens a larger recording budget, and while most of the additional keyboards and occasional string and brass parts work well, some of the synth sounds are unfortunately dated - a rarity in the Go-Betweens' catalog. Their songwriting, though, is still distinctive and somewhat eccentric, making Spring Hill Fair a favorite among many Go-Betweens' fans perhaps alienated by the rough edges of the first two albums but who are less receptive to the more conventional songcraft that would characterize the rest of the band's catalog. Too many people missed the Go-Betweens the first time around. Now's a chance to catch up. One hopes the remaining three Go-Betweens albums receive similarly enlightening reissues.