First, there's the following sentence on the back of the album: "The lost album is live two-track recordings from Robert's bedroom plus the first two Go-Betweens singles."

Inside the liner notes, Robert Forster-- yes, the same, aforementioned Robert-- writes "...this record is the record that we would have made if someone had given us the money... to make an album."

Even Sherlock could put two and two together and come up with the answer that this isn't a lost album and, in fact, isn't even an album. What we have here is an attempt to cash in. It worked for the Beatles, right?

"Uh, who are the Go-Betweens?"

Yeah, I guess the kids at Jetset didn't really think that one through, but luckily they kept the pressing to a minimum. The Australia- based Go-Betweens had a good run of it in the '80s-- they were critically acclaimed in the US but never racked up the sales. The Lost Album is more like eavesdropping than listening to an actual album-– the songs recorded here predate the first "official" (Robert's word) Go-Betweens album by at least four years. It's interesting to hear future songwriting greats Forster and Grant McClennan making a go of it before they honed their chops, but that doesn't make it worth repeat listens. The studio recordings fare the best; the bedroom music sounds like much brow furrowing.

Some may get off on this one. They might find it charming that Forster manages to rhyme "gems" with "gems" on the opening track, "Lee Remick." (I didn't.) But judging by the pictures in the liner notes and Forster's essay, I wouldn't be surprised if these kids knew they were going to be famous, thus hamming it up in many pictures. The story had a happy ending: the Go-Betweens became Australia's most overlooked pop band. But in equal prequel terms, this one's pretty Jar Jar.

-Jason Josephes