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

"Newcastle Jam", hmm. I've read in Bourke's book about how they all went swimming together and had a great time, and that the song sprung out of spontaneous energy at the gig in Newcastle that evening. I can understand why the band loves all memories associated with it and the live version has a real spark. I imagine it must have been special too for all those who were at that concert.
As for the studio version, I agree with @Paul H that it sounds a bit forced when they to try to recapture the magic and the band unity of that concert. And I also agree with @Michael Rofkar that the song is their "Helter Skelter" though I am very far from a fan of that track. It also makes me think of Grateful Dead (or, rather, my prejudiced idea of what Grateful Dead sounds like). It sounds a bit like unfocused and unnecessary long hippie jamming and for me, who wasn't there when they went swimming together, wasn't in the band and wasn't at the Newcastle concert, I don't really hear what is so special about this track. Perhaps you had to be there. For me, this is a worthy bonus track and I never skip it when I listen to the Deluxe Edition (possibly my favourite bonus disc on all the Deluxe Editions), but I never seek it out specifically as a stand-alone track either.
2,5/5

 

Newcastle Jam sounds a bit like uk britpop to me; The Charlatans, Oasis, Stone Roses, that kinda thing.

Glad it didn’t make the album. The album is great not just cos of what’s on it, but what isn’t on it.

2.5/5

 

I never liked the live version, and this studio take doesn’t do much for me either.

This is a rambling jam kind of song that meanders and goes nowhere without so much as even really setting a mood.

I’m sure they had fun coming up with it, but I never have the desire to listen to it.

2/5

 

I very much dislike the guitar sound on this one and it is also too repetitive.

It feels entirely like a song made up in short order and it could never really have appeared on a studio album imo.

2/5.

 

20 seconds of exhilarating riffage, then 3 minutes 20 seconds of bland repetition and aimless jamming (broken up by some more cool riffs). As a big fan of britpop, I can hear the influence in the excellent lead guitar tone and it brings my score up a half point. 3/5

 

The comparison to "Helter Skelter" is interesting, and I can see it in the sense that this is the band rocking about as hard as it ever rocked. Neil's vocals here are bland, though (say what you want about McCartney's vocals on "Helter Skelter," they are definitely not bland), and ultimately the whole thing becomes kind of dull.

2/5

 

God help me, I really like this. It's catchy as all get out and has a cool feel to it. I think it could have been something really cool if it had been fully realized.

4/5

 

Newcastle Jam isn't very much more to my ears than what the title labels itself, a jam. The foundation of everything I love about Neil's music is the songs, and while this is an excellent jam, I don't see a song in the attempted studio version. (In contrast, although Zen Roxy isn't a song - no singing, it is more successful because it does take me on a journey.)

Newcastle Jam = 2/5

 

Newcastle Jam, yeah, I like this one a lot also. As a guitar player, this heavier side of the band really appeals to me. Now I need to check out the live version!
4/5

 

Our votes for "Newcastle Jam"

1-0
2-4
3-5
4-3
5-1
Average: 3.0538

 

Today's song is "Convent Girls", written by Neil Finn.

Convent Girls - Studio Version

A live version of "Convent Girls" was originally released on the fan club release Foreplay! The studio version was recorded in KareKare for Together Alone, but did not make the album. Neil jokingly said he didn't want to sing about girls in "pretty white tights at 58", but was being facetious and indicated that there were just too much competition for Together Alone and thus it was cut.

I've transcribed the lyric below, as the lyric widely available on the 'Net is for the much more obscure live fan club version, which also has a markedly different lyric and a even a different bridge and a different ending, , followed by an "Irish end to the song" in which Neil improvises for awhile)

Where once we talked in confidence
We now shall hide in fear
And the future we
Imagined then
Is not quite so perfectly clear

And the convent girls
in their pretty white tights
And the chorus girls
With their names up in lights
And the bridal veils
Will be shimmering white, shimmering white

I'll build a shrine
Within my mind
To their image, I will succumb
Everysingle face that drew my breath
Every look that struck me dumb

And the convent girls
in their pretty white tights
ARe behind me now
All the mothers and wives
And the chances come
Only once in your life
But they'll make you think twice

I say, now who owns that mansion
That you come upon, that you come upon?
And who's your companion
Now the summer's gone, now the summer's gone?
Are we all beaten, stupid, anyone I know?
Are we all beaten, stupid, anyone I know?

And the convent girls
in their pretty white tights
Are beyond me now
All the mothers and wives
And the chances come
Only once in your life
But they'll make you think twice

Make you think twice

 

"Convent Girls" is a simply stunning song to maturity. More conventional than most of the songs on Together Alone arrangement wise, I think it's way better and more affecting than "Distant Sun" and features an unusually cogent, coherent lyric (in the studio version.). It is amusing to me that Neil had this in the can and let this go unreleased for nearly 23 years. Imagine being so full of good songs that you would let this one go unreleased! I can see why it wouldn't fit on Together Alone but to let it just sit there in the vault afterwards....

I think the wistful lyric is actually one of Neil's very best. And the melody goes right to the heart of me, listening to this song is an emotional experience for me. This just sounds like a classic to me.

I also like that this is a sort of mid-tempo ballad and yet there is still a rocking 90s crunch to the guitar and drums, and I like the organ that comes in at the end -- as is often the case with Crowded House, I sort of wish they'd extend the intsturmental bits out a bit like they might have done in concert.

5/5

 

Convent Girls has a very clever set of lyrics, they're obscure enough to give you plenty of room to read between the lines.

It's another one Sharon might have had a conversation about with Neil. "Neil ... I'm glad you've worked out your adolescent issues around being intimidated by girls, and I'm glad you've worked out your madonna/whore female issues, but do you have to put your thoughts into a song and share them with the world? We have two sons, can you at least wait until they've grown up before you release this song?"

I personally have resolved those same issues, and I too have two sons who are now adults, so this song speaks to me. Plus, it rocks along at a nice leisurely pace with a great drum sound. 4.6/5

 

I love the live version of Convent Girls. The waltz-like tempo set by the prominent acoustic guitar suits it perfectly. I like the lyrics.

The studio version doesn’t appeal to me nearly as much. The more conventional rock beat and grungy guitar is less interesting to me, and the different lyrics with expanded details about the singer’s thoughts about the girls are frankly a little creepy.

Live version: 4.5/5
Studio version: 3/5

 

Convent Girls! Oh wow. What absolute jewel of Crowded House's unreleased canon. Boy, has this song been on a journey.

I joined the fan club relatively late: Neil mentioned possibly issuing an Afterglow 2 via the fan club in the interview that came with some copies of A1 and that was enough to have me hurtling a letter (remember those?) off to Peter Green. What came back astounded me: a merch sheet featuring live CDs! LIVE CDs!!!!!

And there in the track listing was this otherwise unknown thing: Convent Girls. Oh the excitement! A "new" Crowded House song so many years after they'd broken up! I was beside myself. The song didn't disappoint. The waltz tempo is genius. Another song I can't sit down to. And that Irish end... I just don't know how Neil does it but even something so throwaway as that just hits a spot. 5/5. The highlight of the fan club CDs. The chorus, in waltz form is joyous.

Imagine my excitement when the studio version finally came to pass...

I remember the morning they were all released. In advance of heading into town, I opened Spotify. Normally, I like to savour a new release, settle into it, let it's treasures avail themselves to me as and when they do. But I really couldn't wait to hear Convent Girls. I found it, cranked up the volume on my pc speakers and hit Play, expecting a waltz to whisk me into another dancing stupor. I wish I could have seen my face when a four-to-the-floor rock out exploded from the speakers. Suddenly, the song goes from being joyous to some higher form of rocking energised joyousness.

I'm stunned that CH can deliver a song so perfectly in two completely different tempos. And they both work. Brilliantly.

Oh how I wish the studio version didn't fade so early. Oh how I wish it was so sodding compressed. But wow. What a recording. How on earth did this get left unreleased? I can understand it missing the album but not even appearing on a single (when we got rubbish like that poor live take of Four Seasons from Capitol's car park???).

I'd love some insight as to how the song came from being a waltz to a straight rocker. Was it originally a waltz or was it just played that way live that once for giggles??

Oh yeah... a score. 5/5 of course.

And how on earth to integrate it into my perfect Together Alone playlist????? Maybe I should dump Black & White Boy? But how do you remove a song you gave 4/5 to??? Or is this just some giant sprawling double album now?

 

This doesn't do as much for me as it clearly does for some.

Not bad, but I think Neil was wise to relegate it to rarity status.

2.5/5.

 

I like it but it doesn't jump out at me as an exceptionally strong track - it could be that it's more of a grower, and maybe if I spent more time with it I'd be a lot more inclined to rank it high, but I really haven't listened to it all that much.

3/5

 

Duh.

 

I was under the impression - either from Chris Bourke's book, or from other interviews about the Together Alone recording sessions that Newcastle Jam was recorded at Platinum Studios in Melbourne during/prior to mixing, where the band had attempted to set up the studio space in such a way (with incense, draping etc) to match the vibe of Karekare.

I may be mis-remembering this (and what a trainspotter comment to make in any case).

 

"Convent Girls" is for me the best of all Neil's 'throwaway' songs that have been left off albums. While I can just about accept that it was left off Together Alone I cannot understand how it was left off Afterglow, I mean other songs from the TA sessions made it - I Am In Love, You Can Touch - so why not Convent Girls ? And not even a b-side either !!

Regarding the 2 versions, I've listened to the live waltzy version for so long now that the studio version still sounds a bit odd - not bad as such, just odd - but I guess that's more of a reflection on my familiarity with it than its quality. So until I hear the studio version a load more times:

live 5/5
studio 4/5

 

i remembered that too! but in the latest edition there is no mention of “Newcastle Jam” being worked on in Melbourne — “Kare kare” and “Together Alone” are mentioned as being worked on in particular. And Bob Clearmountain mixed the album there.

In fact I have the latest addition on my Kindle and this is one of many things that seem to have been changed from the book that I read 20 years ago. But then because it has been 20 years I can’t tell if I really did remember reading those things or if my brain is just misfiring.

The liner notes of Together Alone deluxe also say it was recorded in Karekare.

 

"Convent Girls" is a great song, unjustly consigned to the vault for over 20 years, finally to see release as a bonus track on the Together Alone Deluxe Edition reissue. The lyric flashes tinges of complex feelings of regret, wistfulness, and sadness over the process of maturing (and aging), contrasted to the images of youth and (emotional/sexual) ideals from our younger days. It's no doubt a tricky topic in which to wade and I think Neil does a pretty good job of it (Bruce Springsteen does it even better in "Girls In Their Summer Clothes"). Contrasting the lyrics, the music is a pretty conventional mid-tempo rocker - far more conventional than almost every other track from these sessions, which may have been the biggest reason it was dropped from consideration. To me, "Convent Girls" sounds like it could have come from the Woodface sessions - it has the Froom clarity and brightness that went missing on most of the other Karekare tracks and the Hammond organ makes it of a sonic piece with earlier Crowded House. It lacks the Karekare "mystique" that we've all noticed on most of the other songs recorded for TA.

Was this song only performed live just the one time (in Dublin '94)?

4.3/5

 

‘92, not ‘94. No idea if it was performed at other concerts though.

 

I wrote those notes, so will take the blame if it's incorrect. Will have to check my copy of Chris's book later.

 

"Convent Girls" is not one of Neil's more interesting melodies. I can see why it was left off. 3/5

Who played the Hammond organ?