It should have been easy to predict last year, when both a "lost recordings" and a "best of" disc surfaced: The Go-Betweens were getting back together. After calling it quits in 1989, Australia’s answer to Felt have gradually grown in posthumous popularity and influence. With The Friends of Rachel Worth, they’re back with a bang, accompanied by luminaries Janet Weiss and Sam Coombes, not to mention guest appearances from Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker and Steve Malkmus.

The five names listed in the last paragraph guarantee a certain level of sales -- though as we all sadly know, big names don’t necessarily equal big quality. The big names on The Friends of Rachel Worth are where big names should be when appearing on other people’s records, however –- overshadowed by the band they're playing with.

It’s hard to hear much on this record other than ten lovingly crafted songs by Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, both similar and different from past work (which is natural, given the large expanse of time since Forster and McLennan last wrote together). If someone played this record for me without showing me any credits, neither Sleater-Kinney nor Quasi would spring to my mind. Nor would the dreaded words "lame comeback album", which can fall from music writers’ lips (or fingers?) all too often when a band returns to the world after a lengthy hiatus.

The songs on The Friends of Rachel Worth fit into two basic camps. There are strummy, pensive numbers which could give Belle and Sebastian and run for their money. Among these, "Going Blind" is a standout, with subtle harmonies and layered guitarwork. Then there are more surfy, aggressive songs, like the apparently autobiographical "German Farmhouse" -- "I had one contact to the outside world/A phone in London and a seasick girl". Both types of song show the band to be at the top of their form. Maybe the time off was just what they needed.