|
Author
|
Topic: Finnaticism (March 2002)
|
Earl Green
True Believer
|
posted 03-14-2002 02:26 AM
   
The March 2002 Music update is now online, and the sound of Te Awamutu has a truly sacred ring. Your whispers and groans on this topic are eagerly awaited! |
Kevin Ott
True Believer
|
posted 03-14-2002 02:31 AM
Wow, it’s like Behind the Music in text form! Offstage, trouble was brewing.Here’s my thing: quote:
Born of Neil's desire to more accurately reproduce band's recorded sound when playing live (and, perhaps, vice versa), Crowded House was intended to have a much less ornate sound both on record and on stage.
I’m not sure I like this idea. One of the things I like about seeing a band or an artist live is the unpredictability of what I’m going to hear. To some extent, I go to shows knowing that I want to hear certain songs performed, and I don’t want the band to completely veer off from my expectations of what they’ll sound like, of course. But R.E.M has a great version of “Drive” that they only perform live, and Glen Phillips included an upbeat live version of “Train Wreck,” the original recording of which is pretty maudlin, and I really enjoyed hearing the variation. I love seeing live music, but if I’m going to hear replicas of what’s on the album, I may as well save my money. All in all, this was a great read. Earl, I may need to start giving you lists of bands I like, so you can write historical synopses of them.
|
Dave Thomer
Guardian of Peace and Justice in the Galaxy
|
posted 03-14-2002 02:33 AM
Back in the fall of 1993, there was a modern rock station in Philadelphia. I liked this station because it played the type of music I like, it didn’t overplay songs, and it still kept a number of songs in a heavy enough rotation that you could expect to hear them a few times a week if you listened often enough. This station, sadly, no longer exists, but when it did it played “Locked Out” by Crowded House, and I grew to love the song. It was catchy, it was pleasant to listen to, and it had some nifty guitar work. Already being dimly aware that Earl liked the group, I decided to splurge over Christmas break and buy Together, Alone. What a wonderful album, although rockers like “Locked Out” are in the minority. I love the moody atmosphere of “Kare Kare,” the gentle guitar work on “Distant Sun,” and the choral voices on the title track. I confess, I don’t get a lot of Finn’s lyrics, but I don’t really try to. The music communicates perfectly well.I’ve sampled other Crowded House and Finn Brothers stuff since then, and while I haven’t yet found an album as top-to-bottom excellent as Together, Alone, if Neil Finn gets just one or two songs right on a disc, you get your money’s worth. I’ve mentioned it here before, but I caught the end of a Sports Night episode that featured “She Will Have Her Way” from Try Whistling This. That scene is why people try to match music to drama – they’re all trying to create something that good. The song has an almost march-like feel to it. When I listen to it, the pace of my walking actually changes, and becomes a little quicker, a little more assertive. The song lent that energy to the end of the episode, to the point where it felt like the studio was crackling with optimism and potential. Great stuff. I managed to catch Neil play the last 30 seconds or so of “Driving Me Mad” from One Nil/All. I wish I could find a copy of the live performance, because the acoustic guitar was outstanding. You’ll note I haven’t mentioned Tim too much here. Despite Earl’s attempts, I just haven’t gotten into him as much as I have Neil. But I’m going to give him another listen soon, just to be sure I know what I’m missing.
|
Earl Green
True Believer
|
posted 03-14-2002 02:52 AM
Actually, Neil's lyrics became a lot less literal after "Temple Of Low Men," and specifically after the song "Into Temptation," which is a heartfelt little story which seems to be intimating something about the speaker/singer engaging in some kind of infidelity. Neil has always insisted that the song is pure fiction, just a story set to music, but at the time of the album's release the New Zealand press really latched onto that one song and speculated extensively, to the point that Neil consciously decided to avoid anything that straightforward. Incidentally, Neil has been married to the same woman since the Enz days, and the "theme" of "One Nil" is fidelity and going through this life with the same person at your side at all times, which is a theme I find very appealing about that album, but naturally, no one seems to have made as much of a ruckus about that as they did about "Into Temptation." |
Dave Thomer
Guardian of Peace and Justice in the Galaxy
|
posted 04-03-2002 10:28 AM
Glad to know I'm not necessarily missing anything. The less-than-literal nature of pop/rock lyrics has interested me for a while -- given my fondness for R.E.M., this should be no surprise, of course. It does create the interesting situation of singing along to a song (such as the aforementioned 'Locked Out' or 'She Will Have Her Way') and not quite knowing what you're saying -- but saying it with conviction, whatever it is. |
Earl Green
True Believer
|
posted 04-03-2002 05:02 PM
I actually like the Finns' lyrical ambiguity - even on stuff like the Split Enz song "Message To My Girl," which could so easily fall into a ton of cliches with a title like that, they don't take the obvious route with it. They can't all be R.E.M.s or Finns, so it's kind of refreshing. |
Earl Green
True Believer
|
posted 04-18-2002 06:18 PM
Oh, and by the way, Amazon.com is now taking preorders for Neil Finn's One All, which has two new tracks that One Nil didn't (but also loses two of One Nil's tracks for the U.S. release). It's due May 23rd.[This message has been edited by Earl Green (edited 04-18-2002).] |
Earl Green
True Believer
|
posted 06-17-2002 05:21 PM
Also wanted to mention, a few months later, that I finally picked up Neil's "7 Worlds Collide" concert DVD, and it's outstanding. One of the more interesting things about it is that the star-studded live band - including Lis Germano, Sebastian Steinberg, Eddie Vedder, Johnny Marr, and a couple of guys from Radiohead whose names I've forgotten - doesn't just play Neil's stuff; he also turns around and helps them play some gems from their own repertoire. It's also beyond bizarre to have Neil and Tim both on stage...and yet Vedder takes lead vocals on a couple of Split Enz songs.If you want to give it a try, it's worth it even if only for the lovely brand new Finn Brothers song "Edible Flowers." Here's the link. |
Dave Thomer
Guardian of Peace and Justice in the Galaxy
|
posted 07-22-2002 03:21 AM
So I'm flipping through stations tonight and I catch Neil Finn on MTV2's 120 Minutes; spend the next two hours watching the odd sometimes-painful interview clips and a handful of Finn videos ('Into Temptation,' 'Don't Dream It's Over,' 'Weather with You' from Seven Worlds Collide, 'Sinner' and 'She Will Have Her Way); then decide I haven't had enough of a Finn fix, so I dig out a few tapes Earl has sent me over the years. This posting run has been brought to you by Crowded House's Farewell to the World concert, which I'm digging so far. I had no idea the band had gotten a British award as best live act in '94, beating out Pearl Jam, Nirvana, U2 and R.E.M. Pretty exclusive company. |
Earl Green
True Believer
|
posted 07-22-2002 06:22 PM
I should point out at this juncture that I really, really like the version of "Hole In The River" from the Farewell To The World concert. Another thing I like about that concert is how it gets the intro and interviews out of the way in one moderately-sized chunk at the beginning of the tape, and then lets the concert get on with it. |
Dave Thomer
Guardian of Peace and Justice in the Galaxy
|
posted 08-22-2002 10:49 PM
I just heard Tim Finn's "Persuasion" for the first time on WXPN today. Now that's a fine little number that goes a long way to improving my opinion of Tim's work. |
Earl Green
True Believer
|
posted 08-23-2002 01:51 PM
The Tim fans seem to be split into pre-"Before And After" and post-"Before And After" camps these days (B&A being the album whence "Persuasion" came). It's an uneven album with some moody, largely acoustic numbers on a par with "Persuasion" (i.e. "Many's The Time (In Dublin)", "In Your Sway") as well as synth-heavy, dance-ready tracks like "I Finally Found It", "Protected" (which, to be honest, I like just as much as the low-key stuff). There are also a couple of honest-to-God duets with Neil on there, including the infamous "brothers come to blows" lyric that both now regret writing because their more vocal fans have simply read too much into it.Incidentally, B&A was recently reprinted, "Persuasion" and all, for those interested. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000006YO5/thisisnotnews
[This message has been edited by Earl Green (edited 08-23-2002).] |
Earl Green
True Believer
|
posted 09-30-2002 10:15 PM
Just found this out last night: a new Region 1 DVD containing every Crowded House video recorded is coming out tomorrow (10-1-02). Here's ye olde ordering link. Finally - a replacement for my well-worn copy of the I Like To Watch VHS compilation, which only ran up to their 1991 stuff anyway.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006JDR7/thisisnotnews/
|
Earl Green
True Believer
|
posted 06-18-2003 05:32 PM
This just in: Tim and Neil are back in the studio, working somewhere in upstate New York with producer Tony Visconti on Finn Brothers II.Good thing, too. I'm used to hearing something new from one or the other about once a year, and was about to go through withdrawals. |
Dave Thomer
Guardian of Peace and Justice in the Galaxy
|
posted 07-01-2003 03:39 AM
What, One Nil followed by One All wasn't enough for you? (I just got One All last Christmas, so it feels fairly new to me.) | |
This Is Not News Forums
UBBFriend: Email This Page to Someone! 
