Stranger than Fiction, Larger Than Life: the Finn Brothers song-by-song discussion thread

Falling Asleep

I don’t like the effects used on Tim’s voice on the first part of the song here. The song wakes up (ironically) at the 1:00 mark, when everything (including Tim’s voice) becomes much clearer. This is a pretty song. I love the sound of someone turning the radio dial at the end.

3.5/5

 

Email from Peter Green to the VIP list today.

-----

Hi Frenz

The club may be gone, and VIP emails pretty much non existent but every so often when there is something cool that we might be working on I could well appear in your IN box. Hopefully that's still ok.

At times I do work on special projects that I find enjoyable. So here is one that I'm happy to announce-the Andy White & Tim Finn album. (and a few other bits and pieces).

Andy White & Tim Finn - Album.

As briefly mentioned on Andy Whites You Tube Interview ("Andy White 2021-A Little Chat") Andy and Tim combined forces to record an album together. It looks like it will have a January 2023. Digital, CD and Vinyl.

Latest news as of today. The CD will have 11 tracks, the LP 10 tracks.

The guys look like having 300 AUTOGRAPHED copies of the CD available via Bandcamp website around the release date.

The artwork is well and truly underway. Andy caught up with Tim while he was in Melbourne recently for some spontaneous photo shoots around the city.

Yesterday I also suggested a 7 inch single. Front cover image close to being decided on today. 7 inch take awhile to press so we are giving the powers that be plenty of lead up time, it's still in the "possible" stage but looking very very good as a reality. The fan side of me still loves 7 inch singles. If it happens a great one to add to our collections.

Live dates, still too early on that but we will try and keep everyone updated. More on the Andy White & Tim Finn album down the track.

ALT ("Altitude").

The reissue of the ALT album has sold out worldwide -both CD/Double LP. So many emails and messages on how much you loved it, so thank you. These boutique releases are at times complicated and costly to put together so when fans give the thumbs up it make it all worthwhile.

The ALT Bandcamp page has around 12 copies of each left and that is it. All gone. I'm not aware of any re-pressings so the few remaining copies are mostly likely it.

So if you have left it till the last second, please do not delay any longer, as you will miss out.

The Deluxe Double Vinyl- 5 additional bonus tracks. Remastered. Pressed on 180g vinyl at the vinyl factory London. Gatefold sleeve and DOUBLE LP.

The CD- 18 tracks on the cd of this deluxe reissue. So loads of bonus material too.

Grab your copy NOW via ALT bandcamp: altitude (2022 reissue), by ALT

Meanwhile Andy White is just about to announce a 3 week Ireland-UK tour. First date will be January 8th- Belfast- "Black Box". London date should be around January 27th 2023. A limited edition vinyl release of his latest album "This Garden Is Only Temporary" will be out in time for the shows. Lets hope ALT's Liam jumps up at one of the Irish shows that would be cool.


Split Enz

December 10th 1972 marks the 50th Anniversary since Split Enz played their first show. I know there has been some chatter between band members but at this stage honestly I have not heard if there is a confirmed show or performance. Time will tell I guess. Lets hope something happens to celebrate this landmark moment.


Crowded House

Some new Australian dates for Crowded House (October-November).

The new shows include: Darwin- Convention Centre (29th Oct.), Cairns -Convention Centre (Nov 1st), Townsville-Entertainment Centre-(Nov 3rd), A Day On The Green- Sirromet Wines, Mt Cotton (Nov 5th), Wollongong- Win Sports & Ent. Centre (Nov 8th), Sydney- Aware Super Theatre (Nov 9th), Tamworth -Ent. Centre (Nov 15th). Enjoy!

Michael Gudinski-Mushroom Records.

A Michael Gudinski Documentary is now being put together covering his life & obviously the record company he started- Mushroom. We've been going through our Archives around Split Enz material for that, & hopefully some of the band members will be interviewed for that. So keep an eye open for that down the track.

September 1st we finally start going through our archives for video footage that we have filmed on tours. A lot of work to do around these, even basic things like tracking down cassette adapters so we can transfer the original tapes. Who knows what gems we will find. Mark will be fixing them up as much as he can, especially the audio which will be average on some. It's a huge task so it will take time.

There are a LOT of video material already up on my YouTube page so please enjoy that. We've had around 3.5 million views so far. The upcoming video material will go up on that page.

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQr5Or7-ffQhiLShd67bHyg

That's it for the moment. I really just wanted to let you in on the updated news on the Andy White Tim Finn release.

Hope you are all happy & stay safe.

Love
Peter

www.frenz.com/16min/ (Famous For 16 Minutes just updated).


P.S.- A tiny P.S. from me too. I know a lot of you have been following the disaster work that I've been doing via my mate Deans "Deans Disaster Relief" organisation. Tonga, Lismore Floods, recent NSW floods, Afghanistan earthquake etc. It's been rather amazing helping people during these disasters, the reward is being able to do something positive for those in need. I do have a small request from myself. If you have a a Facebook account could you PLEASE give "Deans Disaster Relief" a "like". No donations nothing like that, just a simple like. It's such a worthy organisation and he heads off to the disaster conference this week in Adelaide. We need 320 people to "like" the page to hit 1000, so if you only show support for 1 thing this year please make it the DDR by giving the Facebook page a "like". Think of it as an early christmas present for me *grin*. Seriously though-thanks everyone and this is really appreciated. I'm trying to get the 1000 "likes" before the Conference.

Deans Disaster Relief facebook page located here: Deans Disaster Relief

If you go to the July 22nd post on the DDR page you will spot a photo of yours truly in the Disaster Zone at Wisemans Ferry a few weeks ago.

 

I wonder if Peter read my comments about GDPR and took me off his VIP list

 

Fantastic. Thank you. Peter is such a lovely guy.

 

You're welcome Lance. I didn't want to just post it if everyone already knew the information. But good to know that you don't receive these emails, then I can remember to pass on any additional info as it becomes available.

 

Another Tim album, in just a few months. We can't complain that we aren't getting a supply of new Finn (and friends) product. And, given Tim's current quality of work and Andy White's continued consistently excellent albums, this is something to really look forward to.

 

"Falling Asleep" is a bit of a grower for me. At first I felt it was a song which just goes on and on with no real structure or direction, quite repetitive. But the more I've listened to it the more I'm drawn into its character. There is something about the instrumentation and the chugging melody and the way Tim sings it that fascinates me. At the very least, it's a great interlude song before the album's final track. As a stand-alone song it is a bit anonymous but is fine within its context on the album.
3,9/5

 

Our votes for "Falling Asleep"
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Average: 3.4857

 

Today's song is "Curtain Call", written and produced by Tim Finn & Phil Manzanera; additional production and engineering by Mike Boddy.


Line Up:
Tim Finn: vocals, keyboards
Phil Manzanera: guitar, keyboards
with
Javier Weyler: drums

Lyric:
You hurt me some
I came back for more
Now I'm more lonesome
Than I was before

I should have stayed away
I should have locked my door
Now I'm more lonesome
Than I was before

Day breaks
Night falls
We ache
For the old rituals

Reach Out
Take another chance
Retreat
Then advance
You hurt me some
I came back for more
Now I'm more lonesome
Than I was before

I should stay way
I should lock the door
Than a soldier in a war
A sailor out at sea
Far from home
Your all he's known
All He's known

Day breaks
Night falls
Soon enough
We're gonna take
Our final curtain call

 

"How'm I Gonna Sleep?" [Septuagenarian Mix]. "

It's a very gloomy way to end the album, but I guess on an album that seems to be largely about loss of a loved one and impending death, it is appropriate. It's hard to judge this as a song -- it's actually very uncommercial, and I can't imagine just playing this out of the blue. More a mood than a song.

Having said that, it does convey a certain mood very strongly and does feel like a proper ending to this double set of albums from this pair, which largely explored themes of mortality juxtoposed with nostalgic memories of dance and youth. Written in a time of pestilence, and also not long after Tim's father had died, and I wonder if that inspired some of these lyrics.

Tim's voice is dramatic, and so close-miked so that we can hear the rush of his breath; it's a good performance and Tim gives it his quiet all; and Phil's guitar solo at the end is great: it's always welcome and this album has seen kind of lack of guitar solos, hasn't it?

Anyway, ....3/5.

 

Curtain Call

For me this is just OK. Nothing special. I think the instrumental track itself is fine, and the guitar lines have more melody than Tim's vocal. I said before that for some tracks Tim's voice sounds like an integral part of the track and not 'tacked on'. Here, it does sound tacked on to me, and perhaps a bit of an intrusion on the song.

That may sound very critical. I don't think it's an awful song. But, I think that Tim needed to do something a bit more

Style wise it's a good way to end the album. But, I don't think enough has been done with the vocal line here.

2.9/5

 

Tomorrow, I'll hold up the entire album The Ghost of Santiago.

Then, weekly again, starting from the 27th of August.

1. 
   
   
   1. Ghost Cars 1994
      Acoustically Live 1994
   2. Enzso - 1996, Eddie Rayner project, with contributions from Neil & Tim
   3. Belvoir February 19th, 1996 Finn Brothers
      Eyes Of The World, 1996, Finn Brothers
   4. Largest Living Things II - Largest Living Things 1997
   5. Mood Swinging Men 1996 Finn Brothers
      Kiwi Charms 1996 Finn Brothers
   6. Enzso II -1999
   7. Worst Kept Secret November 20th, 1996/LIVE AT THE CORNER DVD
      Exit STage Left November 21st
   8. I LIke It Rare VA from all members of Split Enz
   9. Spooky Vibrations, released1996
      Live TV 2 (Crowded House DVD)
   10. Sleeper -Nigel Griggs 2001
   11. Live In America 1998 Neil Finn
       Encore! 1998 Neil Finn
   12. Nada Sonata -Mark Hart
   13. Live in the UK 2001 Neil Finn
       One ON One 2001 Neil Finn
   14. Play It STraight -- Eddie Rayner 2002
   15. 9.30 Club Washington July 18th 2002 Neil Finn
   16. I LIke It Rare 2 (VA) 2003
   17. I LIke It Rare 3 Paul Hester 2005
   18. Novelty Act - Phil Judd 2006
   19. I like It Rare 4
   20. Love Is A ***** -- Phil Judd 2009
   21. Unthinkables -- kind of an art dance studio duo featuring Phil Judd
   22. Chaos And Triviality 2010 -- "Supergroup"of Eddie Rayner, Michael Barker and Brian Ritchie(of Violent Femmes) sort of jazz/rock spontaneous jams
   23. Still Hot! The Conrays (Eddie Rayner cover band)
   24. Play It STrange - Phil Judd 2014
   25. Sediment - Eddie Rayner 2014
   26. Enzso Stranger Than Fiction -- live 2014
   27. The Backroom - Mark Hart
   28. UniQue -- Phil Judd 2016
   29. Alluvium -- Eddie Rayner 2016
   30. Flightless Bird - Phil Judd
   31. Planet Sublime Phil Judd
   
   
   I think both Edder Rayner and Phil Judd have albums that are set to come out in the next few months, and of course there is also that upcoming Tim Finn/Andy White album, so this list will be adjusted.
   
   I really expect a LIam Finn album in 2023 and will be quite disappinted if it doesn't happen!

 

Curtain Call for those in the US:

 

Curtain Call

This definitely sounds like a rumination about a final affair with an old flame in the twilight of life. It doesn’t sound at all happy, and the slow, meandering music makes the whole thing depressing overall, but not depressing enough to really move me. It sounds filled with regret and sadness, but yet somehow lacking deep emotion. I don’t understand how the lines about the soldier fit in.

2.5/5

 

Curtain Call
As a closer to the album this is excellent - and I tend to hear it as an atmospheric coda to the album more than really as a stand-alone song. The lyrics seem to be fundamentally about mortality but more specifically it seems to be the idea that to experience love you also experience loss, that loneliness is the price you pay for loving people (whether it be your partner or your family).
I love the guitar on this song - this is a song where Phil is the featured artist. Tim's vocal is quite intimate, I really feel like I am being confided in. And I do think that the guitar and vocal phrasing are done in such a way to almost make me feel like they are two souls breathing in unison. It is quite an ambient style piece. I will say, that in some ways it is very similar to a calming, meditative exercise. I do kind of calm down, and it's almost the same effect as a lullaby in that the song lets me gently let go of the album.

I don't quite know how to rate it as a song - as a song, it's not substantial and I'd never listen to it alone, but it's a great closer to what has essentially been a double album experience. Because I can't imagine the album without this song...

3.7/5

 

I hold the same sentiment with this as I do with yesterday’s song. Nothing of value for me personally. Boring from start to finish. Phil's guitar is nice, but that's about it. Gosh do I really dislike ambient music. I more consider it “noise” than music. I think I've said that before, and I'm not trying to be profound or anything, just a matter of personal taste. It's weird because I love when a song has an ethereal atmosphere, but when it's literally on the verge of putting me to sleep, something isn't clicking. There's nothing here to keep my interest at any single point.

1.5/5

 

"Curtain Call" has a fitting sound to end The Ghost Of Santiago, for that I'll give it points. The sound of Tim's vocal, the seemingly hesitation in his voice adds to the mood, as does the guitar and rest of the backing. Somehow it fails to come together for me, especially the wide open spaces between words in the chorus (bridge?). I think looking at this song under a microscope makes it harder to like than it will be when we discuss the record as a whole.

I'll rate it a little higher than I otherwise would because it does sound good to me, and it sounds better in the context of the entire album. 3.75/5

 

As a piece of mood and ambience, "Curtain Call" is an excellent album closer. Phil's guitar playing is exquisite and Tim's vocals have a very personal, genuine feel to them. I also like the restrained drum parts that add a lot of atmosphere. The whole song has a foggy autumn's dawn feel to it which draws me in as a listener and makes me wonder about the relationship between the narrator and the "you" person. The narrator seems to feel both grief and a sense of relief. It's always good with lyrics that can be interpreted in many ways and this song is a fitting album closer, though I don't think it would work as well outside it.
4/5

 

Our votes for "Curtain Call"
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5-0
Average: 3.05

 

Today, The Ghost of Santiago, the album.

 

The Ghost of Santiago (album)

This album did not catch my heart (ha!) the way the previous one did. The songs are very good, but there is something that makes them fall short of greatness for me in almost every one of them. The shortfalls mostly seem to come more from production and arrangement choices rather than the songwriting. Or maybe I just find some of the songs too depressing. Esperanda La Caida is the one track here that soars above the others for me, and that I truly love.

3.5/5

 

The Ghost of Santiago (album)
This is a much more eclectic album than its predecessor, Caught by the Heart. Last night I listened through Ghost of Santiago and then listened to both Caught by the Heart followed by Ghost. It's an interesting suite of songs - as @Lance LaSalle has observed previously, Caught by the Heart is much more commercial album (although by no means mainstream).
In any case, I think Ghost of Santiago is in a category all of its own. It's not pop music or even world music, it is definitely its own thing, with a lot of different styles to the songs. Full of atmosphere and meditations on the closing chapters of life. I don't find it depressing at all, it sounds like a life well lived in with scores of memories and yes, a few regrets.

I love that section of songs starting at Ghost of Santiago through to Mal Sueno. It's not so much a narrative flow as much as kind of a contextual flow to those songs which is like capturing snapshots of a life.

Now that I've had more listens of the album, I want to say that I underrated Space Cannibal (ha! after I upgraded it to 4.5!). I was listening to it last night and thought what a great song! It sounds nothing like I would have expected from Tim and Phil - and to be fair I'm not sure either of them have ever done a song that sounds like this. I'm really thrilled that they are still reaching out to different influences and creating very different music. The other thing I noticed since I had the album on loop, is how well Curtain Call segues into Space Cannibal. It caught me a bit by surprise since they are very different songs, but the coda of Curtain Call seems to have something (tonally) in common with the intro of Space Cannibal.

I gave out a lot of 5s to this album. I think it has to be listened to as an album to get the full benefit of the atmosphere. While Caught by the Heart seems to be about the here and now, Ghost of Santiago is about reflection and I like that they fit together like that as a suite.

4.5/5

(consistent with Caught by the Heart - I double checked my scoring!)

 

I also think i underrated “Space Cannibal.”

 

I actually think Space Cannibal would make a great single or extended mix....but maybe that's just me.

 

Just popping my head 'round the door to say that I'm really enjoying reading these reviews. Unfortunately, both Finn/Manzanera albums have left me cold (so far) and I currently lack the time and emotional energy to put more of an effort in to them. However, I'm really buoyed by the positivity coming from others, a result of which is that I don't intend to abandon either album. I was in two minds as to whether or not to engage in the discussion. On the one hand, a balanced view of any work can only be arrived at by hearing both positive and negative comments. I fear that the relatively small number of people who like these albums enough to comment on them will result in these albums having an overly inflated score that doesn't really reflect how they sit in the overall pantheon of Finn albums. On the other hand, there's no point anyone offering negative reviews of a genre they just don't like and, given my utter ambivalence to everything on both albums, I felt it would be unfair to everyone else if I just kept popping in with "nope, don't like this one either" comments.

However, I will offer my overall scores for each album. I don't usually score albums but here I feel that such scores well represent my response to each song without the need for 20 of those "nope..." reviews as well as providing some of that balance. So yeah, 2/5 for both albums, I'm afraid.

Carry on