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

Maybe that makes sense from a management point of view but, as a fan, I can't see that it was necessary at all. Perhaps just a press release to make it clear that further dates would be announced in the new year.

 

There are some similarities, yes.

 

Any mix that has the snare and electric rhythm guitar up higher than the lead vocal is going to lose me. I get that it's a demo, but he's done better ones. As to the song, I can relate to the anguish of a doomed relationship here. I feel you! 3/5

 

Our votes for "Making a Mockery"

1-0
2-1
3-3
4-3
5-1
Average: 3.575

 

Today's song is "Persuasion [acoustic]" written by Tim Finn & Richard Thompson and produced and mixed by Dave Bascombe. It is performed by Tim Finn featuring Richard Thompson.

It was released as a B-side on the Persuasion double EP in the UK; it was also released on the Other Enz compilation in 1999.

It doesn't seem to stream publicly.

 

More subdued than the album/A-side version, this has an slight contemplative air and maybe feels more emotional than the Mark Hart-produced version; the Mark Hart version is a better pop song that could have/should have been a radio hit; but this one puts Tim's raw heart front and center and somehow feels more honest and simple. This is the version you actually want to play after the break up when you are sitting alone at home. Anyway I can't choose between the versions; 5/5 for this one too.

 

It's nice to bave both versions of Persuasion. I would have preferred it if all of Before & After had leaned more to this one's sparser sound.

Having these two and Funny Way/Not Made of Stone makes me wonder how many more songs exist in two versions from the Before & After sessions.

4.5/5

 

It’s great that we have this version, which cuts more directly to the song’s emotional core. And Richard Thompson contributes some lovely acoustic solo lines. But there’s an effect on the strummed acoustic (which I assume is Tim) that diminishes this version’s appeal for me. I prefer acoustic guitars to sound like acoustic guitars.

For that reason, and only that reason, 3/5 for me. I do love the song.

 

I'm too used to the other version, which to me is perfect as it is. I just don't go to this one often enough to have a take on it that isn't polluted by my being so much more familiar with the album version. Abstaining from the vote today.

 

I love "Persuasion" in all its guises - the album version, this version, versions I've heard with vocals by Richard Thompson and also the original instrumental version.
Tim's singing is again stunningly good as is Richard Thompson's guitar playing. I wonder if this version was recorded live in the studio, it has that "living room" feel to it. It's very nice to have this version too but the album version is the ultimate one for me.
4,8/5

 

Seconded! 4.5/5

 

The acoustic version of "Persuasion" (released as one of the b-sides on the "Persuasion" single) is almost a full minute longer than the album version and Richard Thompson's distinctive electric guitar gives the song a lovely ambience. This was actually the first version I heard as it received play on my local radio station, mainly due to Thompson's presence I think. There are times I do prefer this version, but I usually come back to the album version as being the definitive one. Tim's vocal on that one is stronger, for one thing.

4.4/5

 

Our votes for "Persuasion [acoustic]"

1-0
2-0
3-1
4-0
5-5
Average: 4.3667

 

Today's song is "Runs in the Family", written by Tim Finn and produced Tim Finn and Alan Jansson , and mixed by Alan Jansson. Performed by Tim Finn and the Record Partnership.



This was a New Zealand-only single written to celebrate the centenary of New Zealand cricket and released in January 1995. (I'm jumping a bit ahead in this thread so that we will start Together Alone after the New Year.) The single was released on cassette and CD and included an alternate mix and an extended mix.

The single reached #9 on the New Zealand singles chart.

It is available now on the various artist compilation Kiwiana Goes Pop, Vol. 2: Another Truckload of Classic Kiwiana.

The song prominently features a sample from "Six Months in a Leaky Boat"by Split Enz.

The line up is:
Tim Finn: Vocals, guitars, keyboards
Manuel Bundy -- Turntables, whistling
Sina Saipaia--vocals
Neil Finn

I'll link to the video below (it's in slightly worse quality than the Youtube stream above.)

 

I've attempted to transcribe the lyric below, but there's a line or two from the rap I don't get, possibly due to cricket lingo that I'm unfamiliar with.

I remember long ago
Playing cricket by the sea
My father's love of grace and skill
Still runs in the family
A leather ball and willow bat
Have seen the generations come
Pay your dues and show respect
Runs i the family

Runs in the family
Runs in the family
Runs in the family
Runs in the family

Don't forget to celebrate
The villains that we love to hate
They all still bear the grace and skill
Runs in the family

Runs in the family
Runs in the family
Runs in the family
Runs in the family

100 years, run in the family
Watch me now, come play Mr Hadlee
Rutherford, GReatbatch, MOrrison, Crowe
Coney, Wright, Patel & Jones
( Ode to the back is the stylee?)
(wickets and a crickets, feelin' iree?)
Googly bouncer YOrker Leg Breaker
From Eden Park to Lords in Jamaica

Runs in the family
Runs in the family
Runs in the family
Runs in the family

 

Another one of Tim Finn's idiosyncratic one-offs, I actually quite like this one a lot. It has a nice relaxed easy going feeling and the 90s hip hop touches are good hooks. .

I do think that the the melody has a rather melancholy air that sinks deeper than the lyric making me wonder if the song was not originally a bit heavier in subject; but the production lightens it up and makes it an enjoyable, if fluffy, pop song. Neil's harmony vocal is quite nice. I'm not a fan of cricket nor am I a New Zealander so the song doesn't resonate with me the way it would with one who was both.

3.6/5

 

I think it's very difficult to record a sports song like this that mentions some famous names and not to make it embarrassing. This is far from the worst that I've heard, but it is a little cringeworthy.

I'm sure it was very well-meant and I'm equally certain that it was recorded on the cheap, but that doesn't really excuse the lack of quality.

As a cricket fan I think it was a cool thing for him to do, but only 2/5.

 

Runs In The Family has the "Maori strum" throughout. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Tim probably had fun doing this, and it's nice to hear Neil on it, too, but I won't need to hear it again anytime soon. Thanks for digging up these clips. 2.5/5

 

God help me, I like this... But I like it while being aware that it's kind of... not something I'd be too loud about liking. This reminds me a lot of the non-Madness solo stuff Suggs did in the mid-90s, actually.

It's better than a 3, but not as good as a 4, so I'm going to compromise the very core of my being here and go with a 3.5/5... I'm really uneasy about this and I feel like this whole exercise is turning me into something I don't like.

EDIT:
My score would be far less kind if I were factoring the video into it.

 

I hate videos in general, no matter what and who, but Tim in particular has some weird ones.

 

Even when it was new, "Runs In The Family" was quite obscure. I remember it being mentioned on the mailing list at the time of its release, but very few had even heard it and for me it probably took 10-15 years before I tracked down a copy. It's nice to have it in my collection, but I don't really listen to it a lot. It's not bad, but it's no masterpiece either even by sports songs measures. If anything it has a surprisingly melancholic feel to it, not the pepping, cheering feel one might expect. I have to say it's better than I remember it. I like the blend of acoustic guitar and ukulele with log drums, rapping, the hip hop-ish beat and the backing vocals. Nice cover on the single too, it looks like the photos on the inner sleeve of the Escapade LP or at least taken roughly at the same time, so I'm guessing it's a young Tim with the cricket bat, his father behind him and perhaps his older sister watching. Actually, I think the lyrics are a bit odd for this song - with the first verse mentioning his father's love for cricket and himself playing cricket by the sea (as a child, I guess) while the last verse name-checks what I presume are well-known NZ cricket players (I know nothing of cricket). It makes me wish he had written a whole lyric about the father-son bond that developed thanks to a mutual interest in cricket.
This song was released in early 1995, so was probably recorded quite close in time to the first Finn Brothers album (recorded in late 1994). One thing I do note on this single is that you can hear how something has started to happen with Tim's voice compared to the vocals on Before & After, you can hear here that he is not that comfortable with the higher tones and seems to try and find ways around that.
To me, this song is a pleasant curiosity but not really more than that.
2,9/5

 

A friendly bit of fluff, "Runs in the Family" gets a 3/5 from me.

 

Agreed. Inevitably this makes me think of Neil's "Can You Hear Us" for the Rugby World Cup 1999 (with Tim on backing vocals and Liam on guitar - the first song to feature the 3 of them) which is a far better sports song in my opinion - uplifting and singalong. Shame it didn't help the All Blacks finish better than 4th.

2/5

 

I’ve never heard “Family” before. It’s a fun song! Thank you for digging this up, Lance!

3/5.

 

What a bizarre way to celebrate a centennial. As Lance says, it's pretty somber; it doesn't feel like a celebration at all. Add the now-cringeworthy scratchy opening (which reappears later in the song) and a rather unimaginative melody, and there's not much to like here apart from the father-son stuff. Thanks to Lance for digging this up, but I can't imagine I'll ever listen to it again.

2/5