Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express
| Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express | ||||
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| Studio album by The Go-Betweens | ||||
| Released | March 1986 | |||
| Recorded | Berry Street Studio, London WC1, England | |||
| Genre | Rock, alternative rock, indie rock | |||
| Length | 36:53 | |||
| Label | Beggars Banquet Records | |||
| Producer | Richard Preston | |||
| The Go-Betweens chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Robert Christgau | A– |
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).
The band had signed a deal with an English branch of the label Elektra, which closed two weeks into the album's recording. 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 Beggar's Banquet.
Drummer 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 must the stuff – I think we could have got a hit."
The band entered the studio determined to create they album the envisioned. Forster later wrote, "If this was to be our last shot, it had to be on our terms. There's 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 McLennan and Forster praised the contributions on 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."
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