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

Haha. I've always loved the way Neil sings "baby" here; it's actually my favorite thing about this song, although I never attributed it to any sort of intentional "Hollywood star accent" - I just figured that's how he pronounces it naturally.

Again, I've never picked up on this song (or, actually ANY of the songs on Temple of Low Men other than "Mansion in the Slums") being at all about feelings of guilt over success or the demands of his job. I sort of hope that's not true because it would diminish my appreciation and love for this album quite a bit if it were.

 

I thoroughly enjoy “Sister Madly”. I’m not sure what the lyrics are about, but I always find myself singing along when I hear it. Another great song!

4/5.

 

With its retro jazz-ish feel to it, "Sister Madly" is certainly one of a kind in Crowded House's repertoire. I remember being really surprised when I first heard this on the album. Richard Thompson's guitar solo adds to the unique flavour of the song.

As for the lyrics, I have never thought of them as throwaway nonsense, nor as particularly humourous. The Sister Madly character comes across as a highly unpleasant person who uses people to gain more power. She seems to like to deploy the "divide and conquer" tactic, by spreading malicious gossip and slander ("all the dirt that you're digging up"). I get the feeling that the narrator has been on the receiving end ("systematically stepping on my head") and that the Sister Madly person would be happy to see a conflict between the narrator and his spouse and to see his friends turn against him. Spreading malicious gossip and/or telling lies can be an effective way to "build a wall between us" to quote another well-known song.
I think the narrator finds it exhausting to deal with this but has also realised that he is not the only victim of Sister Madly's scheming, many persons are ("the opposition is coming through / from all the people that you're standing on").

I also get the impression that the Sister Madly person herself thinks she is quite sophisticated and glamorous, but that the narrator finds her shallow and false and thinks she is just trying to copy someone else ("now you're heading down to be someone / someone that you've seen in a magazine").

So, from the lyrics I get that the narrator finds her superficial, manipulative, ruthless and scheming. A true narcissist.

While I don't think it's a funny song, it was always fun in concert, with Paul coming up front and the band always seemed to have a blast performing it.

In Europe, this was the second single off the album and I think it was a curious choice. Record companies don't release singles for the benefit of hardcore fans, they want to get radio and TV exposure to get new persons to discover a band and start buying their records. Given that the first single and the album hadn't done well (commercially, in Europe) this song was a strange choice for a single. If someone who had never heard the band before heard this track as their first ever CH song, would they rush out to buy the single and then the album?

Still, I quite like this song as an album track and for the energy it generated in concert.

3,8/5.

 

From the June 1988 fan club newsletter, here are the comments on "Sister Madly" by the band members.

Paul - "This has turned into a mini production. It's a song that a lot of people would have heard from the last tour as we had this in the bracket for a while. This was done at Platinum Studios, all the tracking was, the rest was completed in L.A. and mixed in New York. We used an old 40s microphone for the backing vocalist to give an Andrew Sisters type feel and the brushes are there so we've gone for that totally overblown, ecstatic sound. Nick coined the phrase Sister Madly, he was talking about an old nun that he used to know."

Neil - "No, it's my phrase. It's actually your [sic] sister, it's not religious at all, it just sounds like it. A mad scramble for ambition."

Nick - "The first time we played that was when Craig Hooper was in the band with The Mullanes. We started playing this jazz feel, he was a good jazz guitarist and it's hung around in the back of our minds. Originally it was called "People That You're Standing On". We used to change it by the night. No, I didn't coin the phrase, I did draw an illustration of a nun, my auntie as a missionary in Papua & New Guinea. That was just one idea I had for that song, putting a clip together with a nun."

 

Regarding Richard Thompson, apart from my real day job I've also been a free-lancing music journalist for many years. In July 2008 I was lucky enough to do a phone interview with Richard Thompson, and mentioned that the first time I saw him in concert was when he was the support act for Crowded House in 1991. Of course, I just had to ask him about Crowded House and that tour. His reply was:
"Well, it was great fun. Crowded House is a very entertaining band to tour with, because they’re very humorous people on the stage and also I’ve always been a big fan of their music. It was a real pleasure to tour with Crowded House. I think I probably opened three or four tours for them while we were both on the same record label. I’m still a big fan today of the band."

At that show in 1991, he played a solo set and towards the end he said that Crowded House would soon follow. He described them as "a bunch of young boys who want to make a break in show business. Personally, I don't give them much of a chance."

In my interview I also asked about the song "Persuasion" and his reply was: "I had the tune from a film score and Tim enthused about the tune and did the lyrics."

Also at the 1991 show, he and Tim performed "Persuasion" together (the first time I heard the song) and Tim was introduced with the words "This is his first time on a stage, so please be gentle with him."

 

Our votes for "Sister Madly"

1-0
2-2
3-3
4-8
5-1
Average: 3.3857

 

Today's song is "In the Lowlands", written by Neil Finn.

Spotify: In The Lowlands

A live version of "In the Lowlands" recorded in 1989 was released as a B-side on a CD single/EP of Instinct in 1996, and that version was also released on the Temple of Low Men deluxe album in 2016.
(link below.)

Another live version was released on the North American Tour Sampler in 2010.

 

Spotify, live version: In The Lowlands - Live

 

"In the Lowlands" brings back the "Now We're Getting Somewhere"shuffle for those who missed it. This song is considerably darker than that one, giving a slightly hallucinatory picture of being on the endless, featureless road. The dawn of a grey, rainy day on the road, with all its ennui, loneliness and vague feeling of menace that never fully materializes. "ghost cars on the freeway, like friends that you thought you had/one by one they are disappearing". The menace that threatens throughout the song ("oh, hell, trouble is coming") manifests itself by the end through the guitar solo bit: an intensification of the rainstorm that engulfs the tourbus at the end? (At least that's what I get from it.)

I guess it's all kind of symbolic of life itself, the Road, and there's a neutral, deadened emotion in the song: the way I felt yesterday morning after going out Saturday night.


I've always liked the song on the record, but I think I prefer the live version linked above, especially the end bit with Neil repeating "ghost cars on the free way" until the music explodes. I also think the guitar solo on the live version is cooler than the studio version. Still, there's a good amount of energy in the studio version, the eerie sound effects add to the atmosphere and I always like the jingle-jangle of a 12-string guitar or three. I think that Nick and Paul rhythm part is quite good: not show offy, but it's definitely a good example of their sound.

4.0/5

 

In The Lowlands has yet another great opening line, "Oh hell, trouble is coming". I can't quite pin down where he's going on his journey (is he the object of road rage?), but home seems to be the destination. I love the music on this one, but it gets docked a few decimal points for the over-production (but not too much, lyrics like these demand some bombast).

4.3/5

 

Live performance:

 

This song, for me, suffers a bit for being later on in the album, and not being a change of feel and career-long standout like the song that follows.

Listening to it alone, it seems to me to be the equal of songs that precede it such as WHC and NBtS. The rocky coda works very well, as does the collection of sounds that form the intro (I guess.) However, I still feel affected by its position on the album, and if I listen to the album my slight impatience to listen to what comes next. The ending is some of CH's most convincing heavy music.

I'm not sure what the lyrics mean, particularly the presumed metaphor of insects swarming in the lowlands. But, I've never found not understanding lyrics to be a barrier to enjoying them. There appears to be some unnamed dread that the song is about. An easy interpretation would be that it describes Neil getting where he finally wanted to get to, and not find it the land of milk and honey that he expected. But, I have no real expectation that is what Neil meant by the song, if he meant anything at all.

I'm not sure that's Eddie's best ever keyboard solo in the live version.

3.6/5

 

Sister Madly - 4/5 my initial fav from the album even if it’s not the best song. I don’t enjoy it as much these days probably due to overexposure. Still, very cool song and unique in their catalog.

In The Lowlands - 4.25/5. My now favourite. Great song, love the arrangement. Lots of twists and turns but it works. Have no idea what it’s about but it’s very foreboding.

 

Neil could obviously come up with hooks at will by this point and this is another catchy track.

I do think that sometimes the lack of musicianship of the other members holds the songs back though.

Also, this one feels a little insubstantial. Not a bad song, but not as memorable as it might have been. In fact, I'd almost forgotten of its existence.

3/5.

 

Adjusted average for "Sister Madly", with @Ryan Lux 's input:

3.4267

 

I love "In The Lowlands", mainly because I'm a sucker for songs that use images from nature. The lyrics here are quite cinematic and remind me of something Midnight Oil might have come up with. Actually, the closing instrumental section is somewhat Oils-esque as well. I'm sure that there is probably a double meaning to the lyrics here, but even if not, I enjoy the song as describing some sort of looming natural threat, sort of like "Bad Moon Rising".

The live version from Los Angeles in April '89 (there's that show again!) is really good and I almost prefer it over the album recording, mainly due to the longer guitar passages and the extended middle section before the instrumental ending. Actually, the ending of this version was edited for its first release as a b-side on the "Instinct" single in 1996. The same recording was issued that same year on a fan club disc in unedited form. Thankfully, when this recording was used again as a bonus track on the Deluxe Edition reissue of TOLM, it was not edited either and Neil's irritated post-song comments about security were left intact.

4.5/5

 

This is a lot like the non-standouts throughout the album... the standouts are SO good that they overshadow the rest of the songs, which are also really good. 4 here, because again, I never really skip it even though I have no idea what it means (other than a general sense of foreboding the song conveys).

 

I sort of assume that the "ghost cars on the freeway / see my friends disappearing" part refers to the night Neil quit Split Enz, when after having car trouble post-meeting, he watched each of his friends / bandmates drive off into the night without seeing him on the side of the road. Might be totes wrong though!

 

Another one of those archetypal CH songs I keep whittering on about. I love In the Lowlands. Again, it has that low, rumbling, loping feel that CH nailed around this time. It is this song that I was alluding to earlier, when discussing Neil editing the song for live performance (for no reason I can fathom, he never sings the "coming down upon me" line), which really detracts from any and every live performance. But that repeated "ghost cars on the freeway" ad lib at the end of the released live version really is sublime.

I give this an unequivocal 5/5.

 

The definition of a Crowded House album track. Some ominous lyrics create an overall sense of foreboding, and musically there are some interesting chord changes. But for me it never takes off. I don't mind listening to it, but it's not a song i've ever sought out. And I do think that by this point of the album the mood has become perhaps a bit tiresome.
3/5

 

Temporary off-topic break: somewhere down thread we were talking about Phil Judd's Private Lives album from 1983 (I believe) and how hard it was to find.
However, for those that are interested, I have just found out that it can be bought digitally via bandcamp and there's a link on his website (philjudd.com) that will take you right there.

I know he's not the most popular songwriter on this thread, and not everyone is keen on digital music on the Steve Hoffman board, but I also know some of y'all are fans and might not mind.

Perhaps this isn't news to you, but it was to me and I'm pretty thrilled about it.

 

In The Lowlands is a really solid album track. Love the instrumental end section.
4/5

 

On the topic of founding Split Enz members, Mike Chunn is releasing his autobiography on October 6. The title is "A Sharp Left Turn" and the NZ publisher is Allen & Unwin. A trailer for the book can be viewed here:


More information about this is on Allen & Unwin's web page:
A Sharp Left Turn - Mike Chunn - 9781988547138 - Allen & Unwin - New Zealand

 

My opinion of "In the Lowlands" changes every few months. The studio version plods somewhat and shows why Mitchell Froom was right when he replaced Nick and Paul with Scheff and Keltner for "Now We're Getting Somewhere". On the other hand when listening more closely I get surprised again and again by what is going on in the background. There is quite a lot happening: a sad trumpet line, some more horns during the instrumental coda, all kinds of percussion in the intro and throughout (percussionist Alex Acuna) and several layers of keyboards (Hammond B3 organ for example; Mitchell Froom). A good album track.

In the Lowlands was also introduced in concert in1987, but only played occasionally until 1989 when it became a set list fixture. Between 1991 and 1994 and 2007-08 "In The Lowlands" would be played only a few times a year (once in 2010). Curiously when Neil Finn played a series of festival shows in 2017 (with Nick Seymour in his backing band) "In the Lowlands" returned and was played five shows in a row, perhaps due to having a keyboard / horn player, Finn Scholes, on stage to play the sad trumpet.

3.3 / 5

 

This album is just full of gems and this one is definitely one of my biggest Crowded House favourites. Unlike say "Sister Madly", where I feel the mood of the music goes against the content of the lyrics, here I think the music and lyrics perfectly match each other. There's quite a lot of layers of instruments here and a lot of complex details in the arrangement, which gives the music the sense of foreboding that the lyrics are full of. Trouble is coming, there is already panic and alarm where the narrator is starting his journey, like he is going home from a war but whatever tough things he's had to face before this, he thinks that next thing that he will have to face will be even tougher, and he will have to do it all on his own, without any supporting comrades. When I listen to "In The Lowlands", I can really imagine the gathering thunderstorm approaching, the narrator's sense of unease and the desolate road he will be travelling, heading for somewhere where he isn't expecting a kind welcome. Neil's singing really gives the song extra urgency. One thing that makes the song special is that even though the narrator has two days of travelling, on his own, through very bad weather and towards possibly something unpleasant, he isn't running away from the situation. He is determined to face it and hoping it can still be resolved.

The instrumental ending has an increasing intensity about it, a musical portrayal of both the thunderstorm in full flight and the turmoil within the narrator. I often hear "Temple of Low Men" as a narrative, very well sequenced, and listening to it that way, this is the last song which is from the narrator's point of view and "Better Be Home Soon" is from the spouse's point of view, the person who is waiting two days away. To me, that "In The Lowlands" is followed by "Better Be Home Soon" gives the album a real cinematic feel.

5/5.