In Brief

Comebacks from the ‘80s are the new old thing this year, what with a forthcoming album from the Bangles and this release from the Go-Go’s, their first since they broke up in 1985. Cynics might decry such projects as a tug at the purse strings of Reagan-era teens, and they’d be right.

In the case of L.A.’s favorite good-time party girls during their successful ‘81-’85 run, a reunion album is a willful return to the pie-eyed exuberance that powered their greatest singles--no easy feat, considering that all the band members are in their 40s. But who says joie de vivre has to fade along with youth? The Go-Go’s still regard the world from the short end of a kaleidoscope; “God Bless� (due Tuesday) effectively conjures an unsullied world of passionate puppy love and back-seat lust, along with backhanded homages to their hometown on such songs as “Stuck in My Car� and “La La Land.�

For a band that has been dormant for so long, the musical pieces all fit together surprisingly snugly. Lead singer Belinda Carlisle’s Kewpie-doll chirp has not lost any of its loopy luster, and guitarists Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin, bassist Kathy Valentine and drummer Gina Schock rock as if riding a cotton-candy buzz. Sure, it’s a time-warp cash-in, but it’s not a craven sellout.

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