So there is a discussion going in regard to the reformation of Crowded House, but as important as Crowded House is to Neil's career Split Enz and his solo career deserve some discussion too.

This year makes the 30th anniversary of the release of Dizrythmia, the first album Split Enz recorded following Neil joining the band, it has been a remarkable 30 years of music.

His studio albums to date are:

Dizrythmia - Split Enz (1977)
Frenzy - Split Enz (1978)*
True Colors Split Enz (1980)
Waiata/Corroboree[i] - Split Enz (1981)**
[i]Time and Tide - Split Enz (1982)
Conflicting Emotions[i] - Split Enz (1983)
[i]See Ya 'Round - Split Enz (1984)

Crowded House - Crowded House (1986)
Temple Of Low Men - Crowded House (1988)
Woodface - Crowded House (1991)
Together Alone - Crowded House (1993)

Finn - The Finn Brothers (1995)

Try Whistling This - Neil Finn (1998)
One Nil/One All - (2001/2002)***

Everyone Is Here - The Finn Brothers (2004)

Time On Earth - Crowded House (2007)

* Frenzy was released in the US and Canada as what could pretty much count as a separate album, the second side consisted of tracks recorded as part of the legendary Luton demos that do not appear on the Australian edition and the whole album was remixed and remastered before US release.

** Corroboree was the title of the album in Australia, Waiata was it's title in the rest of the world. Waiata is a Maori word and Corroboree is an Aboriginal word, both roughly translate as party.

*** One Nil was released in Australia/NZ in 2001, it was released as One all in the rest of the world a year later featuring three diffrent tracks and a tracklist reordering.

Best of, live and B-side/rarities collections

The Living Enz - Split Enz (1985)
History Never Repeats - Split Enz (1988?)*
Anniversary - Split Enz (1993)****
Spellbound - Split Enz (1996)**
Recurring Dream - The Very Best Of Crowded House - Crowded House (1996)***
Afterglow - Crowded House (1999)
Extragavenza - Split Enz (2005)****
Farewell To The World - Crowded House (2006)

* I'm doing this from memory and I'm unsure of the release date of this collection.
** If you are looking for an introduction to Split Enz, you can't go past this combination of greatest hits, rarities and obscurities spanning the bands entire career.
*** Was for several years the highest selling album by an Australian group in Australia and is about to surpass Savage Garden's debut to reclaim that position. About one in eleven Australians own this album, that isn't households, that is people.
**** These two recordings are of the same 1993 concert series, Anniversary had some recording issues that led to a poor record company decision to place canned audience noise all over the album, the band and the fans weren't particularly happy about this and in 2005 it was remastered, the faux audience removed and it was extended from a single to a double album.

To kick of discussion, I have noticed a pattern, all my favorite Neil albums, with or without a band all have titles that begin with the letter T and infact I love every album he has ever dome that begins with T.

To rank Neil's albums is difficult but this is the list I've been going with for some time, now with Time on Earth slotted in (studio albums only):

01. Temple Of Low Men - Crowded House (1988)
02. Together Alone - Crowded House (1993)
03. Time and Tide - Split Enz (1982)
04. Try Whistling This - Neil Finn (1998)
05. Time On Earth - Crowded House (2007)
06. Everyone Is Here - The Finn Brothers (2004)
07. Dizrythmia - Split Enz (1977)
08. True Colors Split Enz (1980)
09. Crowded House - Crowded House (1986)
10. One Nil/One All - (2001/2002)
11. Woodface - Crowded House (1991)
12. Finn - The Finn Brothers (1995)
13. Waiata/Corroboree[i] - Split Enz (1981)
14. [i]Conflicting Emotions[i] - Split Enz (1983)
15. [i]See Ya 'Round - Split Enz (1984)

16. Frenzy - Split Enz (1978)*

* Frenzy as anyone who is familiar with the album would know had some severe mixing issues that lead to the album being extremely muffled and of general poor sound quality, the album along with the entire Split Enz back catalog was remastered and in the case of both Frenzy and Waiata remixed. I have yet to hear the remixed version and I'm reserving judgement until such time as I have.

Neil Finn's solo stuff was a pretty different animal from his band stuff. I never really understood why artists like Aimee Mann, Ron Sexsmith, Elliott Smith, etc. were so much better-known than Finn was as a solo artist (in America anyway, they get much more coverage). Without downplaying his uniqueness, he occupied a similar spectrum as they do and certainly held his own doing it--and his lead-in group, Crowded House were 10x more successful than any of them.

My top five Finn albums:

1) Together Alone
2) Temple Of Low Men
3) Time On Earth
4) Try Whistling This
5) True Colours

Absolutely agree. Split Enz was a terrific band that is often underappreciated as a whole and how it contributed to Neil's career. That said, I can't tell you how happy I am he's back making Crowded House records. Saw him in NYC a couple weeks ago, and the guy hasn't missed a beat. The new record is pretty solid as well.

Hey, if it wasn't for Crowded House's debut, and MuchMusic(Canada's Video station) playing the hell out of the 'Don't Dream It's Over' video in fall of '86, I might not of fallen in love with them then. Neil Finn is one of my fav all-time songwriter's. I'll rank the one's I have:

1. Crowded House
2. Time On Earth
3. Temple of Low Men
4. Together Alone
5. Try Whistling This
6. Together Alone
7. History Never Repeats
8. One All
9. Conflicting Emotions
1.

Those who know me around here know I'm happy to advance the Finn cause. I saw Crowded House live several weeks ago--fantastic.

Neil Finn has around 17 major releases to his name, and "See Ya' Round" is really the only mediocre disc he's ever made out of those 17. And that was only due to it being the disorganized death throes of a band.

He's a legend in some circles, but I eagerly await the day he breaks out of cult status here in the States. At the very least, he deserves to be "famous cult" status like Tom Waits and David Byrne. At his best he's as good a songwriter as McCartney, Neil Young, Lennon et al, and he's been doing it consistently, and managing to stay relevent, for the last 30 years. He also has a unique, amazing singing voice that sounds as good now as it did decades ago. What's it gonna take?

For anyone reading this thread who's new to Finn's music, don't let the "adult pop" tag you'll inevitably encounter deter you (apart from the Finn Brothers, I suppose). Think of it more as "non-tween pop"...this isn't Michael Bolton we're talking about here.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Commontone,

Hey Commontone, have those early Crowded House albums been reissued in the States? I'm listening to the self-titled debut, and it really sounds pretty shoddy (the fidelity, not the music). I'm pretty sure none of the Split Enz stuff is readily available, save maybe a best of collection or two. I think you should take your case (and I'm being totally serious) to Rhino or Shout! Records. There's little we could do here, but a nice reissue campaign or a box set would do wonders for the legacy of this musical treasure.

Edit: Also, I don't have everything you listed in your initial post, but I do have the "I Feel Possessed" EP. If you haven't heard it, seek it out. It has three tracks by ByrdHouse, which is Crowded House plus Roger McGuinn. They do three Byrds' songs.

For someone who doesn't know them too well, would you recommend their greatest hits cd "recurring dream" as a good way to experience their music as a whole?

The self-titled Crowded House album was reissued in DVD-Audio format, but none of the others have been reissued. There are rumors that it's on the horizon though, as part of, or alongside the comprehensive box set that is being worked on.

The Split Enz albums were all reissued recently. It may be hard to find Finn stuff in an American record store, but it's easily obtainable on Amazon or any variety of British/Australian-based online shops.

hudson -- I'm not a big fan of greatest hits discs in general, but Recurring Dream is a really great compilation. It's definitely a good intro to Crowded House. Be forewarned, though, that it doesn't go in chronological order...and because all four of their albums have a pretty different character, this could make it a confusing listen for a newbie, having them all jumbled together.

It does have 3 "new" songs that were recorded just for the compilation. They're fine, but not as good as the gems that fill the rest of the disc.

Also, it's really a consensus that it takes some time to get into Neil Finn's stuff. Repeated listens, that is. Even die-hard fans don't necessarily love his material right away when it's new. It's the kind of music that sounds merely competent and enjoyable at first, and gradually reveals itself to have much more depth than you originally realized. I've listened to "Distant Sun," what might seem at a glance to be merely a pleasant pop song, about 1000 times by now, and I'm not sick of it, and still find new things to enjoy.

quote:

Originally posted by Commontone:
The Split Enz albums were all reissued recently.

Not domestically.

quote:

Originally posted by Maximum Jack:

quote:

Originally posted by Commontone:
The Split Enz albums were all reissued recently.

Not domestically.

Yeah, but even the Enz stuff that is available here--the old Best-Of, and maybe True Colors--is hard enough to find in stores that you'd might as well order it from Amazon. I guess my point is, given that state of things, the import stuff is no harder to get, really.

*I just checked and most of the Enz reissues are available on Amazon, used, for about $10...not bad. New they're around $20-25.

Sadly, it's now a SoundScan based industry, and short of a mass rally (like what fans did for the Fiona Apple album) I don't think fan input has any effect on record companies.

I have seen a compilation called "Spellbound" at Borders and some other big chains, as an import. That's the best Enz comp available, two discs that contain all the hits and dig deep to the good early stuff and album tracks.

quote:

Originally posted by Commontone:
*I just checked and most of the Enz reissues are available on Amazon, used, for about $10...not bad. New they're around $20-25.

You do have to be careful on the used stuff via the internet or mail order. Yesterday before I posted I checked Half.com, and they too listed used copies of several of those reissues. Problem is that if you looked under the seller's comments they were almost always the old versions. Not really a deal at all.

Neil Finn is a great songwriter who's work I'm still discovering. My favorite album so far is Crowded House' 'Woodface' and favorite song 'Into Temptation' from 'Temple of Low Men'.