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

From a chronological point of view, the Manzanera collaborations ought to be discussed before the three collaborations with Phil Judd. The Manzanera tracks were recorded in 1988/89 and released in mid-1990, while "Long Hard Road", "Precious Time" and "Tai Chi" (all from the "The Big Steal" soundtrack) were released in late 1990.

 

I think "Prodigal Son" is an excellent track and its folkishness blend well with the Biblical references in the lyrics. The Finn brothers' harmonies are outstanding. Strange that it never was on an album considering the quality of the song. In my opinion it should have been on album just the way it is on this demo. Perhaps that was a problem if they attempted it later in a proper studio, that any later studio version failed to capture the same feel as the original demo. I've interviewed quite a lot of musicians/songwriters over the years in my role as a free-lancing music journalist and many of them have, independently of each other, talked about "demo angst" - the angst felt when no attempt in a studio can match the demo version. Maybe that was the case with "Prodigal Son" too, I don't know.

It must have been a really special time for Tim and Neil, those weeks in October 1989 when they wrote all those great songs. I'm glad they have let us hear so many of the demos from those sessions and that "Prodigal Son" at least was released on the "Suffer Never" CD single.

4,5/5.

 

Yes. Apparently the house had roads on either side and Murchison Street was the "back" street; and the flat was right there, within walking distance.

Forgive my ignorance: what is "the EPK"?

 

Electronic Press Kit. I'm thinking it was a promo kit featuring some video footage along with the usual press release, quotes from reviews and such stuff. Here is the EPK:

 

OK. I can do the Manzanera stuff first.

 

Prodigal Song is, to me, a very good song. I like the guitar hook, and also the way that Neil and Tm's voices can be heard quite separately (and taking occasional solo lines) but they also merge on some lines. I agree that it stands up against album tracks, and we have to wonder if it was lyrical concerns or demo angst that led to it never being released on an album. Or perhaps they had so many songs that it just got lost somehow.

4.0./5 in its demo form.

 

Yes, they did.

 

GRRRRR.

 

If you've heard it, could you at least give us a verbal review?

 

Oh you should not have deleted that. I laughed out loud.

 

My original reply was: Sure. You're doing very nicely.

Thought it might be read as a flippant comment rather in good humour, so deleted it. Anyway, just had another listen to the 1990 studio version. It's very similar to the home demo. Slightly faster, vocals more up front, sounds like it might be Paul playing drums. No brushes this time. Might be a shakuhachi flute sample in the background. Unfinished production in need of more work.

 

Thanks muchly.

 

Dear Santa,
all I want for Christmas is Deluxe Editions of the two Finn Brothers albums. I've been really good all year, I promise. Also, I'm sure my friends here on the forum have all been really good all year too and they'd love such Deluxe Editions too. I realise that you and your elves are very very busy at this time of year, what with your very specific deadline coming up, so it's OK if such Deluxe Editions will have to wait until next year or so. Next year, incidentally, marks the 25th Anniversary of the first Finn Brothers album, so wouldn't that be nice? If you and your elves collaborate closely with @Jaffaman for these future Deluxe Editions I'm sure they'd make fantastic Christmas gifts next year!

Yours sincerely,
S.W.

 

Dear S.W.
I hear you have indeed been a very good boy all year. I'll see what I can do.
Ho ho ho,
Jaffasanta

 

Prodigal Son is another one I'm glad to have. I'd also be happy to buy it again on a Finn Brothers Deluxe Edition release. 4/5

 

Prodigal Son and In Love With it All are my two favourite tracks from the demo session(s) and, for the life of me, I can't fathom why it was never released in studio form nor even included (in demo form) on the deluxe editions.

It almost doesn't matter as the demo (undamaged by unnecessary limiting) is pretty perfect as it is. I'm always surprised by how good those harmonies are for a demo. They just know how to sing together, those boys.

I give this a 4/5.

 

"Prodigal Son" is an interesting song, with great harmonies (as you'd expect from Neil and Tim) and a surprising amount of urgency and forward drive to such a simple arrangement. I don't think the lyric quite rounds out into a satisfying whole, though. That's not always an impediment if there's enough other fascinating stuff going on ("Private Universe" springs to mind), but in this demo there's not enough to compensate. It's a shame they abandoned the song in studio--a finished version could have been very interesting indeed. As it is, 3/5.

 

"Prodigal Son" is an interesting song, but for whatever reason it just doesn't do too much for me. The sound of the makeshift drums and the shuffly quality they have, though, is so very Paul - I really enjoy that part of it quite a lot.

3/5

I might be a bit quiet for the next little while, to the relief of many I'm sure - I don't know that I have many or any of the Tim collaborations coming up, somehow!

 

I feel "Prodigal Son" would have fitted nicely onto the "Finn" album even though the song would have been 5 years old by then, and perhaps the similarity of style is why it became a b-side to "Suffer Never".
I would have been happy to see it replace "Rarotonga" or "Bullets".

3/5

 

When I discovered the Suffer Never and Angel’s Heap CD singles (a couple years after their initial release) I felt exuberant by the quality of sings like In Love With It All and Prodigal Song.

In reply to someone’s question earlier: Prodigal Son was never performed live as far as I know.

3,7 / 5

 

Our votes for "Prodigal Son"

1-0
2-0
3-3
4-6
5-1
Average: 3.75

 

1990 was a big year for ex-Enzers. Among the releases that year was The Makers, the eponymous debut album from the duo Eddie Rayner had formed with Brian Baker. Three singles were released from that, including "New Kind of Blue" below.

The other non-Finn members of Split Enz (Nigel Griggs, Noel Crombie and Phil Judd) released their second album as Schnell Fenster (also with Michael Den Elzen on guitar.), entitled OK Uh Huh All Right Oh Yeah. (video below)
Meanwhile, Neil and Tim were in LA for the most part, Neil recording the precursor to Woodface with Nick and Paul and Tim just "hanging around", to be close to Greta.

In the middle of the year, Phil Manzanera, the ex-Roxy Music guitarist who had produced Split Enz's Second Thoughts and Tim's "Home for My Heart" released an album called Southern Cross.

While credited to Phil Manzanera, Southern Cross was essentially a duo album with Tim, as Tim co-wrote seven of the ten songs released internationally (and two of the songs that he didn't co-write were instrumentals.) Some versions of the album had twelve songs (and eight of them were written by Tim.) On top of that, Tim same lead vocals on 4 of songs, backing vocal on another and played piano on the sixth.

The album was born out of guitarist Manzanera's wish to capture some of the music of his youth in Latin America and blend it with the post-prog rock that was his forte...and the title Southern Cross reflected those Latin American elements in the music. I suppose the title could also be a nod to Tim's antipodean background, as well.

Phil Manzanera seems to have recorded most of the backing tracks prior to Tim's involvement and then Tim added lyrics (with themes resonant to current Latin American events) and, although it is not clear, presumably helped shape the vocal melodies too -- at least the melodies sound like Tim Finn songs.

I'm not sure much of the story behind this, otherwise: I believe that Tim worked on the project, and then had to abandon it to finish his Tim Finn album once Temple of Low Men came out and Froom's timetable was clear. Manzanera then hired Gary Dyson was hired to finish the album with a few vocals (and a few co-writes, as well.) Otherwise, there might have been more Tim songs and more Tim vocals.

Furthermore, an outtake from the album co-written by Tim, was released in 1995 on a Phil Manzanera collection; and I'll cover that as well.

We are not going to cover every song on the album in this discussion; but just the ones that were co-written with Tim. These 8 songs, along with three songs from The Big Steal film soundtrack, which were co-written with Philip Judd (their first co-write snice the early seventies) constitute a sort of "lost" Tim Finn album from 1990, even though he does not sing lead on four of them.

Below is the freaky "OK All Right Uh Huh Oh Yeah" from Schnell Fenster, for curious people...

 

Today's song is "A Million Reasons Why", written by Tim Finn, Phil Manzanera and Gary Dyson. Lead vocals are by Gary Dyson. Tim Finn sings backing vocals. Pardon the French.

 

I have this album somewhere, but was never impressed by it. I thought this thread would be a chance to revisit it and maybe I would find it better than I remember.

However, this song is as I remember. Both Tim and Phil Manzanera have done stellar work, but this album isn't it. This song sounds like a Mike and the Mechanics song to me, and not one of their best. The production sounds very 80s, so to me it's a bit like a song from The Big Canoe, but the songwriting is less impressive. Gary Dyson sings it well, but his voice just sounds a little generic to me.

The guitar solo is good, but it's too little to save the song.

2.8/5