The Go-Betweens - Bellavista Terrace: Best of The Go-Betweens (1999)

"French rock & roll" is generally considered a contradiction in terms, so it's not surprising that it took an Australian band to fully bring a Gallic sensibility to the music. Led by singer/songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, the Go-Betweens spent the '80s making powerful, lithe, occasionally mournful music. Filled with wit and literary and film references that never succumbed to their winking pretensions, the group's classic songs number in the dozens. Bellavista Terrace collects 14 in a starter kit that fans of Dylan, Costello, and Belle and Sebastian should investigate. --Rickey Wright