{"id":53,"date":"2007-04-20T01:30:14","date_gmt":"2007-04-20T05:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=53"},"modified":"2018-08-18T22:50:34","modified_gmt":"2018-08-19T02:50:34","slug":"crowded-house-split-enz-neil-finn-tim-finn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=53","title":{"rendered":"Crowded House, Split Enz, Neil Finn, Tim Finn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"07-04-20<\/a>Crowd\u00aded House has a tremen\u00addous per\u00adsonal sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcance for me. I have not had many days of undi\u00adluted hap\u00adpi\u00adness, but per\u00adhaps the best of them end\u00aded with putting on Tem\u00adple of Low Men <\/em>for the first time. For some strange rea\u00adson, I had nev\u00ader heard it, though I had been famil\u00adiar with oth\u00ader Crowd\u00aded House albums for years. So I can\u2019t be objec\u00adtive about the song \u201cInto Temp\u00adta\u00adtion\u201d. But I think that even with\u00adout the per\u00adsonal asso\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtions, I would rec\u00adog\u00adnize it as a superbly craft\u00aded song. And that about sums up Neil Finn\u2019s song\u00adwrit\u00ading: superb crafts\u00adman\u00adship and intel\u00adli\u00adgence applied to intense\u00adly emo\u00adtional sub\u00adjects. I am not a sen\u00adti\u00admen\u00adtal per\u00adson, and musi\u00adcal treat\u00adments of the joys and dis\u00adap\u00adpoint\u00adments of love don\u2019t usu\u00adally tug at my heart. But noth\u00ading seems arti\u00adfi\u00adcial or child\u00adish when Neil Finn writes it.<\/span><\/p>\n

For this Focus, I\u2019m lis\u00adten\u00ading to the entire cor\u00adpus of Crowd\u00aded House, and and much it\u2019s pre\u00adde\u00adces\u00adsor Split Enz, as well as the solo work of broth\u00aders Tim and Neil Finn. My col\u00adlec\u00adtion is fair\u00adly com\u00adplete. I have all of the orig\u00adi\u00adnal Crowd\u00aded House stu\u00addio albums [ Crowd\u00aded House <\/em>(1986); Tem\u00adple of Low Men <\/em>(1988); Wood\u00adface <\/em>(1990); Togeth\u00ader Alone <\/em>(1993)], as well as the post-breakup sin\u00adgles col\u00adlec\u00adtion After\u00adglow <\/em>(1999) and the com\u00adpi\u00adla\u00adtion album Recur\u00adring Dream <\/em>(1996), which also includ\u00aded three unre\u00adleased songs. In addi\u00adtion, I have the Bonus Live <\/em>album which had a lim\u00adited release as a pro\u00admo\u00adtion for Recur\u00adring Dream <\/em>. This con\u00adtains some unusu\u00adal live per\u00adfor\u00admances, some of which eclipse the stu\u00addio ver\u00adsions. The ten minute rework\u00ading of \u201cHole in the Riv\u00ader\u201d is a com\u00adplete meta\u00admor\u00adpho\u00adsis. In addi\u00adtion, I have a per\u00adsonal anthol\u00adogy of down\u00adloads of mis\u00adcel\u00adla\u00adneous live per\u00adfor\u00admances, includ\u00ading odd-ball col\u00adlab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtions with Sinead O\u2019Connor and Cheryl Crow. The only thing I\u2019m miss\u00ading is Farewell to the World <\/em>(1996), their last live con\u00adcert in Sid\u00adney. This is not even list\u00aded on Amazon.com, so I pre\u00adsume it can be found only in Aus\u00adtralia or New Zealand.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rela\u00adtion\u00adship with Split Enz is com\u00adpli\u00adcated. Split was found\u00aded in 1971 by Tim Finn and some col\u00adlege friends at Auck\u00adland Uni\u00adver\u00adsity. It rapid\u00adly became New Zealand\u2019s best-known band. It com\u00adbined a fusion of what was then called \u201cpro\u00adgres\u00adsive rock\u201d with pop vital\u00adity, and ele\u00adments of swing and honky-tonk. Their stage shows, by all accounts, were visu\u00adally spec\u00adtac\u00adu\u00adlar and pre\u00adsaged much of the video sen\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adity that was to lat\u00ader evolve in the indus\u00adtry. The band migrat\u00aded to the UK<\/span>, where it was a sol\u00adid suc\u00adcess, com\u00adpet\u00ading with Gen\u00ade\u00adsis for the \u201cprog-rock\u201d audi\u00adence. Tim\u2019s younger broth\u00ader (by six years) had been a grade-school boy when the band first became suc\u00adcess\u00adful, but in 1977, he was old enough to join the band. Split Enz only record\u00aded orig\u00adi\u00adnal mate\u00adr\u00adial; every song on every Enz album and sin\u00adgle was writ\u00adten by mem\u00adbers of the group. Grad\u00adu\u00adally, Neil con\u00adtributed more and more songs to the group, and by the time the band reached a new style and new suc\u00adcess with three excel\u00adlent albums [ True Colours <\/em>(1980); Waia\u00adta <\/em>(1981); Time and Tide <\/em>(1982)] the band had become a cre\u00adative dia\u00adlog between the two broth\u00aders. I have vinyls of these three, as well as a cd com\u00adpi\u00adla\u00adtion of cov\u00ader\u00ading their entire evo\u00adlu\u00adtion, Liv\u00ading Enz <\/em>(1991). The band final\u00adly broke up in 1984 so that Tim could pur\u00adsue a solo career. I have some of his solo albums [ Escapade <\/em>(1983); Tim Finn <\/em>(1989); Before and After <\/em>(1993), though there are sev\u00aderal oth\u00aders I haven\u2019t heard].<\/span><\/p>\n

With the breakup of Split Enz, Neil Finn went to Aus\u00adtralia and put togeth\u00ader a line\u00adup includ\u00ading Paul Hes\u00adter (Aussie mem\u00adber of Split Enz), Nick Sey\u00admour (anoth\u00ader younger broth\u00ader of a suc\u00adcess\u00adful Aus\u00adtralian band front man), and gui\u00adtarist Craig Hoop\u00ader. They were ini\u00adtially called the Mulanes, and were effec\u00adtively an Aus\u00adtralian band with an Aus\u00adtralian fol\u00adlow\u00ading. The intri\u00adcate love-and-hate, vis\u00adi\u00adble-and-invis\u00adi\u00adble, envy-and-rebel\u00adlion inter\u00adac\u00adtions of New Zealand and Aus\u00adtralian musi\u00adcians par\u00adal\u00adlel those between Cana\u00addian and Amer\u00adi\u00adcan musi\u00adcians. Think of the Mulanes as being The Band. Old\u00ader broth\u00ader Tim was to join the band half way through its career, and the inter\u00adplay of tones and approach\u00ades that char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adized the fra\u00adter\u00adnal col\u00adlab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtion in Split Enz ensured that the band remained cre\u00adatively vital.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1985, they won a con\u00adtract with Capi\u00adtol and moved to Los Ange\u00adles, at which time Hoop\u00ader left the band. Capi\u00adtol didn\u2019t think much of the Ozzy-sound\u00ading name, so they re-dubbed them\u00adselves \u201cCrowd\u00aded House\u201d, in hon\u00adour of their cramped hous\u00ading at 1902 N. Sycamore St. in Los Ange\u00adles dur\u00ading the record\u00ading of their first album. Capi\u00adtol was not enthu\u00adsi\u00adas\u00adtic, and failed to pro\u00admote the album. Des\u00adper\u00adate, the band played every small-time venue they could to build up a word-of-mouth fol\u00adlow\u00ading, and on the strength of this, suc\u00adceeded in re-releas\u00ading one song from the album, the auto\u00adbi\u00ado\u00adgraph\u00adi\u00adcal \u201cDon\u2019t Dream It\u2019s Over\u201d, as a sin\u00adgle. It imme\u00addi\u00adately became a mas\u00adsive inter\u00adna\u00adtional hit, reach\u00ading #2 on the US<\/span> charts. Anoth\u00ader sin\u00adgle re-release, \u201cSome\u00adthing So Strong\u201d, did almost as well. But in the U.S., their suc\u00adcess was short lived. Playlist-dom\u00adi\u00adnat\u00aded radio and MTV<\/span> con\u00adsid\u00adered their songs \u201ctoo brainy\u201d for the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan mar\u00adket, and they soon dis\u00adap\u00adpeared from view. Most Amer\u00adi\u00adcans, sad\u00adly, have had almost no expo\u00adsure to their large out\u00adput of mas\u00adter\u00adfully writ\u00adten, per\u00adformed and pro\u00adduced songs. In Cana\u00adda, it seems to have been a dif\u00adfer\u00adent sto\u00adry. They clicked with the Cana\u00addian audi\u00adence and indus\u00adtry, their sub\u00adse\u00adquent albums were wide\u00adly avail\u00adable, and they were reg\u00adu\u00adlar faces on Much\u00adMu\u00adsic and MusiquePlus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, I real\u00adly doubt that this has any\u00adthing to do with any inad\u00ade\u00adquacy of Amer\u00adi\u00adcan lis\u00adten\u00aders. Capi\u00adtol, even when faced with a hit first album, pan\u00adicked at the sur\u00adprises and com\u00adplex\u00adi\u00adties in the sec\u00adond, Tem\u00adple of Low Men <\/em>, and buried its pro\u00admo\u00adtion. Though Neil\u2019s lyrics can be odd and enig\u00admatic at times, the songs gen\u00ader\u00adally tell a sto\u00adry which you can sort out, the melodies are strong and catchy, the arrange\u00adments full of sur\u00adprises and strik\u00ading effects. There\u2019s no rea\u00adson that half the songs on this album, such as the sar\u00addonic \u201cBet\u00adter Be Home Soon\u201d, the aching\u00adly beau\u00adti\u00adful \u201cInto Temp\u00adta\u00adtion\u201d, \u201cI Feel Pos\u00adsessed\u201d and \u201cSis\u00adter Mad\u00adly\u201d, could eas\u00adily have been chart hits if peo\u00adple had been exposed to them. The same is true of \u201cWeath\u00ader With You\u201d, \u201cThere Goes God\u201d and \u201cFall At Your Feet\u201d from Wood\u00adface <\/em>, and \u201cDis\u00adtant Sun\u201d and \u201cLocked Out\u201d from Togeth\u00ader Alone <\/em>, not to men\u00adtion \u201cPri\u00advate Uni\u00adverse\u201d, which is a uni\u00adver\u00adsally appeal\u00ading as any Bea\u00adt\u00adles anthem, com\u00adbin\u00ading high art with acces\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adity to any\u00adone \u201cLocked Out did man\u00adage to sneak to the bot\u00adtom of some U.S. charts because it appeared on a film soundtrack.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are Cana\u00addian or Euro\u00adpean, or from Down Under, you hard\u00adly need this lec\u00adture, but if you are Amer\u00adi\u00adcan, you are in a for a lot of plea\u00adsure when you explore Crowd\u00aded House. Not to men\u00adtion a bit of resent\u00adment for a music indus\u00adtry that is not serv\u00ading you well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last\u00adly, I must men\u00adtion the weak\u00adest part of my \u201cfocus\u201d. I only have one of Neil\u2019s two solo albums, Try Whistling This <\/em>(1998), and I don\u2019t have the album the broth\u00aders did togeth\u00ader, 7 Words Col\u00adlide <\/em>(2002), which is appar\u00adently avail\u00adable only in Aus\u00adtralia. If any\u00adone out there can send me some tracks from 7 Words Col\u00adlide <\/em>, or from One Nil <\/em>(or its vari\u00adant One All <\/em>), they will be reward\u00aded in the after\u00adlife with kar\u00adma coupons. If Try Whistling This <\/em>is a sam\u00adple, Neil has not fad\u00aded strength as a songwriter.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crowd\u00aded House has a tremen\u00addous per\u00adsonal sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcance for me. I have not had many days of undi\u00adluted hap\u00adpi\u00adness, but per\u00adhaps the best of them end\u00aded with putting on Tem\u00adple of Low Men for the first time. For some strange reason, \u2026<\/p>\n

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