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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Lance LaSalle, Jan 21, 2019.

  1. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Our votes for "Burning Water"

    1-0
    2-0
    3-1
    4-3
    5-0
    Average: 3.775
     
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  2. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Today's song is "Exquisite Stereo" by Deborah Conway featuring Neil Finn. It was written by Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier. There is no producer listed ; the album was engineered by Mark Ingram and this song was mixed by Daniel Denholm.


    The song was released on Deborah Conway's album Exquisite Stereo release in 2000 -- I've included here mainly because, well, no good reason other than I thought it sounded like it belonged here rather than with Neil's mellower 2000 work.

    Deborah Conway: vocals, guitar
    Neil Finn: vocals
    Willy Zygier: guitar
    Cameron Reynolds: keyboards
    Edmondo Ammendola: bass
    David Williams: drums

    The song has also been released on Deborah Conway compilations.
     
    Last edited: May 21, 2020
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  3. Michael Rofkar

    Michael Rofkar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Santa Rosa, CA
    "Cameron Reynolds: Neil Finn" - ??
     
  4. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Haha, I fixed that. Weird. Early morning, first sip of coffee...
     
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  5. Paul H

    Paul H The fool on the hill

    Location:
    Nottingham, UK
    I was disappointed when I first heard this song at how limited Neil's involvement was (basically, harmony vocals). However, I really like this song. It creates a really wonderful mood, and I think Neil brings a lot to the performance. 4/5.
     
  6. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    I would say he was rather "co-lead vocalist." However, his billing on Jonatha Brooke's song as featured artist is disappointing: that is a harmony vocal, hardly more prominent or distinctive than his vocal on "Everyday Is a Winding Road," where he (rightly) did not receive billing.

    Driving for my life on a mountain in a rainstorm
    I got your voice on my tapedeck
    I don't even remember what I did yesterday
    Seems I've always been

    All alone with you
    I'm all alone with you
    In exquisite stereo
    Singing in the dark and in your heart

    Driving for my life from mountain in a rainstorm
    I got your voice on my tapedeck
    I don't even remember what I did yesterday
    Seems I've always been

    All Alone with you
    I'm all alone with you
    In exquisite stereo
    Singing in the dark
    and in your heart, Your head,
    I'm glistening, listening
    Whispering your sorrow

    Driving for my life from mountain in a rainstorm
    I got your voice on my tapedeck
    I don't even remember what I did yesterday
    Seems I've always been

    All alone with you
    I'm all alone with you
    In exquisite stereo
    Singing in the dark
    and in your heart, your head
    I'm glistening, listening,
    Whispering your sorrow
    In exquisite stereo,
    Exquisite stereo


     
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  7. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    AS for "Exquisite Stereo" to me it's utterly brilliant. I love this kind of weirdness and the modular "some velvet morning" style production really works for me on this song: a snapshot the angst ridden woman driving madly in the rainstorm intercut with the voice of her lover on the tape-deck bringing her moments of calm in the midst of her madness. Not really a Finn song, but something Neil should be proud of participating in.

    5/5
     
    Last edited: May 21, 2020
  8. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    Holy hell, this is a great song! Great lyrical concept and I love the vocal contrast between Neil and Deborah Conway's treated voice on the verse. The sonics here are great and extremely visual as a complement to the lyrics.

    I love discovering gems like this - thank you Lance for tipping us off to this! (I had no idea it existed until now.)

    4.4/5
     
  9. therunner

    therunner Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    I love the contrast from Deborah Conway's vocals to Neil's when she sings "I've always been" and he sings "all alone with you". To hear that part is almost worth putting up with her vocals, which I can't stand, and if there were no Neil vocals I would have turned this song off after one verse and vowed never to listen to it again. So it's very difficult to score with that dichotomy of views...

    3/5
     
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  10. jimbutsu

    jimbutsu WATCH YÖUR STEPPE

    Dang. I like this a hell of a lot more than I thought I would. Initially I thought the fuzzy vocals were rather annoying, but then all of a sudden when Neil's voice cuts through clear as a bell I appreciated that they were exactly how they needed to be and thought "This is brilliant!"

    4/5 at least.
     
  11. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    That was exactly my reaction as well!
     
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  12. brownie61

    brownie61 Forum Resident

    These are my feelings exactly. I never heard this song before today. I very nearly did turn it off after the first verse! It's an interesting song, and Neil's parts, along with the part where her voice is toned down, are quite lovely. But wow, that verse vocal is harsh.
     
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  13. BeSteVenn

    BeSteVenn FOMO Resident

    I really like Exquisite Stereo, it's got an interesting lyrical concept and the production fits the mood nicely. The vocal performances really work, and it's a shame it didn't get more exposure 20 years ago. It's nice how instead of having the voice coming out of the radio sound like a cheap radio, it's the narrator whose voice is treated. And the tempo of the song is perfect for the subject matter.

    I'll add my thanks to Lance for tipping us off to this song and providing the YouTube link.

    4/5
     
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  14. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Thank @Jaffaman, who included the information on Neil's site. The whole album is good and I think that Deborah Conway is one of those relative cult artists who would be a lot better known if she lived on our side of the world.
     
  15. brownie61

    brownie61 Forum Resident

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  16. StefanWq

    StefanWq Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vallentuna, Sweden
    I've been a big Deborah Conway fan since her first solo album String of Pearls was released in 1991. She is incredibly talented as a singer and songwriter and, like the Finns, seem to like to challenge herself musically and keep re-inventing her music. I highly recommend all of her albums (including the two albums as member of the group Do-Re-Mi in the '80s; they're briefly mentioned on page 45 in Chris Bourke's book).

    In 2006, working as a freelancing music journalist (possibly I still am though it's hard to tell right now as no concerts are taking place) I did a quite long email interview with Deborah Conway, for an article about female Australian artists. Of course, for my own sake, I asked her about the both the album Exquisite Stereo and the song "Exquisite Stereo" and Neil's involvement in it. This part of the interview didn't make it to the article and has in fact never been published before, so these extracts from the interview are thus having their world premiere right here right now on this forum:

    "Q: The "Exquisite Stereo" album was to my ears a radical department, sonically. How was it received by critics and by your fans?

    The critics received the album very enthusiastically and the fans had by this stage gotten used to my ever shifting musical restlessness and I think enjoyed the album also. Unfortunately radio being the conservative beast it is, chose to ignore it and consequently I think a lot of people who would have loved this album missed out on hearing it. I have recently made it available through iTunes and hopefully those people will get around to discovering it eventually.

    Q: On the title track of this album, Neil Finn sings guest vocals. How did this collaboration come about?

    It became obvious to me as I was writing this song that I was writing a duet without intending to. The other voice, to my mind, needed to be exquisitely beautiful and Neil Finn sprang to mind. Luckily for me he said yes and recorded his part in his Auckland studio while I recorded mine in our home studio in Melbourne. And what a gorgeous job he did, it still sends shivers down my spine."

    I also asked her about the 1995 one-off (rather experimental) group Ultrasound, which featured Paul Hester on drums. I believe that was the first record he did after Crowded House. Here is the extract from the interview about that:

    "Q: In 1995, you released an album as a member of the one-off group Ultrasound, which also featured Willy Zygier, Bill MacDonald and Paul Hester. How did this group form and what was the goal with this album?

    In 1994 I was pregnant with my first child and we came out of the ultrasound and Willy said we should form a band called Ultrasound. I loved this idea and we ran with it, partly because we had a bunch of songs that didn’t sound like a Deborah Conway record, partly because it seemed like a fun, low pressure thing to do when you’re heavily pregnant and partly because I wanted to play with Paul, Bill and Willy. The baby came out a week before the record."


    (If anyone wants to read the full interview, please PM me)

     
  17. StefanWq

    StefanWq Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vallentuna, Sweden
    The first two Deborah Conway tracks I heard (on a tape with various Australian groups, compiled by a penpal and fellow Finn devotee in Melbourne) were "Warnings Moving Clockwise" (by her '80s group Do-Re-Mi) and "Release Me" (from her debut solo album). I thought both were just incredible and have since bought all her records when they were released. By 2000, when the "Exquisite Stereo" album was released I was well aware that you should expect the unexpected from a new Deborah Conway, but even so the song "Exquisite Stereo" really caught me off guard the first time I heard it. I really disliked the fuzzy sound effects of her voice but after having heard the song a few more times I began to like it more and more. The contrast between the angst-ridden verses and the serenity of the parts that Neil sings gives the song a unique atmosphere and the instrumentation adds perfectly to the dark, dreamish feel.
    4,8/5
     
  18. Dept. 99

    Dept. 99 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Columbus OH
    Exquisite Stereo is a great song that this forum reintroduced me to. I was never able to find it because I didn’t know the name. I love the TWT meets Garbage feel and consider this to possibly be one of Neil’s best collaborations (here’s hoping we discuss his appearances on Dave Dobbyn’s later albums). 4.5/5
     
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  19. Michael Rofkar

    Michael Rofkar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Santa Rosa, CA
    Neil's vocal part sounds good, but that bullhorn effect (which sounds like what Neil himself used on "Saturday Sun") on Deborah Conway's bit ruins it for me. 2/5
     
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  20. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Our votes for "Exquisite Stereo"

    1-0
    2-1
    2-1
    4-3
    5-3
    Average: 3.9625
     
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  21. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Today's song is "Melon-Cauli Baby" by the Bend; it was written by Fane Flaws and Peter Dasent; lead vocals are by Tim Finn.


    Line up:
    Tim Finn: vocals
    PIano: Peter Dasent
    Fane Flaws: voice acting
    Shaan Flaws: Voice acting

    Mr Wally Watermelon
    And Miss Olly Cauliflower
    Took shelter in the toolshed
    From a sudden summer shower

    They tasted love's sweet blessings
    'Neath the barrel dry and shady
    And scandalized the garden
    with their Melon-cauli Baby




    This was apparently a soundtrack which came from a short animated film directed by Fane Flaws (who had directed the "Can You Hear Us" video, as well):

    ‘The Underwatermelon Man and Other Unreasonable Rhymes’...had a long and interesting metamorphosis.

    It began as drawing of a surreal character ‘The Underwatermelon Man’, that I made in the mid seventies whilst on the road with Blerta. This later became an image silk screened onto a series of children’s mirrors.

    In the early eighties, pestered by one of my young children. I made up a rhyme for it, which was soon joined by a couple of pieces of throwaway nonsense from the brilliant Arthur Baysting.

    Over the next fifteen years we developed a collection of about 50 rhymes, which Peter Dasent and I set to music and I later illustrated.

    In 1998, as ‘BEND’ Peter and I recorded the first 25 songs as an album and engaged a ‘who’s who’ of NZ popstars to sing on it. We had the pleasure of working with (amongst others); Neil & Tim Finn, Don McGlashan, Bic & Boh Runga, The Topp Twins, Dave Dobbyn, Jenny Morris, Renée Geyer, John Clarke, Ché Fu, King Kapisi and Chris Knox.

    Then with the help of Type Director Len Cheeseman we designed an accompanying sixty page hardback book, held our breath, borrowed a large sum of money and published the package as Monkey Biz Ltd’s first ‘singing book’.

    It proved hugely popular with parents and children alike selling 16,000 copies in NZ. Two years later Neil Gladwin and I had developed it into a pantomime, which with a cast and crew of 35 and a live band under the musical direction of Peter Dasent in the orchestra pit, became one of the hits of the 2001 Wellington Arts Festival and finalist in the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for best original score.

    By this stage ‘The Underwatermelon Man’ had developed it’s own momentum and the animated film which followed, seemed inevitable. This has been a six year labour of love for myself and producer Jane Byrne, involving Monkey Biz, Monkey Biz Music, BEND, Pearl Productions, Karactaz Animation, Bonfire Audio, The NZ Film Commission and NZOA, and is now ready for the world as a Book/CD/DVD package.
     
    Last edited: May 21, 2020
  22. Paul H

    Paul H The fool on the hill

    Location:
    Nottingham, UK
    It's hard to give songs like this a rating because, by definition, they're silly and childish. That said, there are actually a few good tunes in amongst all this, but this isn't one of 'em. 2/5.
     
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  23. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Oh, I like the melody on this (and on all of the songs on this project.) It's kind of hits unexpected notes.

    I think it's a cute song -- of course, divorced of the animated video (which I love), it loses some of its charm I suppose: but I'd say the video was somewhat obligato, if you will: it's not a music project with a video to accompany it, but a video project with music to accompany it.

    And thus it is kind of hard to rate as a song -- I think the melody is fine, the lyric is cute and the piano playing is good. I can't give it a full five for the song alone but I give the song-and-video a 5.

    For the song itself, I guess I'll give it a round 3/5.
     
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  24. Jaffaman

    Jaffaman Senior Member

    I had to do a quick search of the site in case my memory was worse than I thought, but no... there’s no mention of “Exquiste Stereo” on there yet. Knew of it but hadn’t even heard the song until today.
     
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  25. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    What the heck? I could have sworn...and I also don't see the Jonatha Brooke song...OK, then I'll take credit. (pats self on back.) I know @StefanWq mentioned it to me too but I had already bought it; I probably just did a search on iTunes for Neil Finn and it turned up.
     
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