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

“Shiver”, not much time for a lot of words. A grower. Middle eight hurts my ears.

3.5 / 5

 

"Shiver" is just OK. I don't much care for the electronic effects, and that middle-8 is jarring. 2.7/5

 

Unpopular opinion ahead! Shiver is a good song that becomes great when the distortion kicks in. I actually wish the middle 8 was longer! 4.5

 

Say It Is So was the first Tim Finn solo album to fail to chart in New Zealand. His previous four had been top ten, as was the duo Finn album. The singles chart was also untroubled by any songs from this album.

It remains my favourite Tim Finn album.

 

Our votes for "Shiver"

1-0
2-1
3-5
4-7
5-3
Average: 3.6125

 

Today's song is "Good Together", written by Tim Finn and Marie Azcona. Produced by Jay Joyce and engineered by Rick Will.

Spotify: Good Together

Lyric is HERE, among other places.

Line up:
Tim Finn: Vocals, acoustic guitar
Jay Joyce: guitars, keyboards, sounds
Chris Feinstein: bass
Ken Coomer Drums
Julie Miller: backing vocals

This, like "Shiver", was often performed in Tim's two-man band tour in 2000 tour with guitarist Greg Hitchcock and, unlike "Shiver" was also released on the live album Together In Concert in 2000, performed with Bic Runga and Dave Dobbyn.

 

Tim Finn hadn't done any real love songs since "Hyacinth" and "Carve You In Marble"in 1986; all of his songs concerning romance since then have been songs of heartbreak, emotional turmoil, bitterness and finally acceptance of its loss.

Starting with "Rock and Roll Girl"from Steel City he returned to the subject, obviously inspired by his still fairly new relationship with Marie Azcona, who he met in 1995.

There's a rather big difference between the self-consciously Romantic, fairly pretentious and ultimately narcissistic stances of "Hyacinth" and "Carve You In Marble" (great songs both in my book, and the former in particular highly rated on this discussion) and these songs from this era: no longer is Tim writing songs of himself as the Great Artist forging effigies of the Great Love, or painting himself as the Romantic Knight going into battle to save his Lovely Damsel; here the lyrics and imagery are consciously down-to-earth, homey, almost country, in a good way. Lying in a bed at night talking; books lying unread; sitting lonely in a hotel room yearning for the faraway lover; a love that sweetly consumes other passions like reading because now, suddenly, art and romantic stances matter far less than real life.

There's a vulnerability and a rawness to the lyric; and a tenderness to the vocal and for me, there's something totally unabashed and bold about the sweetness of the melody and the chiming 12 string guitars and the simple, probably mostly live production; And Julie Miller's lovely (and dare I say sexy) voice, a rather unexpected element for me the first time I heard it, just underscores the mood.

This sounds like some of those Before and After Still Life demos before Langer, Winstanley and Tim tried to force them into R&B songs. This is Tim's basic, folk based pop style coming out again. Another 5/5 for me.

I quite like the performance on Together In Concert, too; mainly Tim's performance is really intense -- I find him hit and miss vocally on that album but he nails this one good and proper.

 

I agree that the lyric is excellent but, unfortunately, I'm more of a lover of melody/chord changes than lyrics (hence, perhaps, my fandom of McCartney!). And this song, again, fails to hit the spot. As others have noted with much of Tim's material, there's just something missing. This might be one of those songs I'd enjoy if it had a warmer, softer sound and more space in the mix/mastering. Whatever. I can't give it more than 2/5.

 

Good Together is a standard Tim song that would fit well on either the Tim Finn or Before and After albums. It's a standard melody/lyric, but a nice one. Like the other songs on the album, the instrumentation/arrangement is suitable and supports the song. As mentioned above, it's a more straightforward love song. The middle 8 sounds a bit undeveloped.

3.8/5

 

“Good Together” screams single in my opinion. It could even have been a minor hit in some places. How Hypertension came to choosing “Twinkle” as the sole commercial single in Europe is weird. Even then they seemed to have had minimal distribution for that single.

Nothing earth shattering, but a pleasant song.

4.0 / 5.0

 

"Good Together" is one of my favourite Tim songs. It has such a catchy melody and the guitar parts really make the song shimmer. Tim sings it with such heartfelt commitment and when I hear it I totally believe that he means every word. Julie Miller's voice complements his very well too.
I agree with Lance's assessment of the lyrics. This is a long way away from grandiose proclaiments of carving the significant other in marble or any other expressions of putting her on a piedestal. In this song the lyrics are very down to earth and real and that makes the song very special (having said that, I love "Carve You In Marble" too but for different reasons).
I have two favourite memories connected to this particular song:
Favourite memory 1: when this album was about to be released, it was possible to pre-order it, autographed, via the fan club. To save on postage, my good friend M and I decided to order our CDs together. I had become friends with M via the CH mailing list of the '90s and she is like the older sister I have never had, a brilliant friend in every way. Our CDs arrived to my address on December 22, 1999, just as I was about to head to Stockholm to do some Christmas shopping. I called M and said the album had arrived and that I would deliver it at her place in the afternoon. At the time, M had recently got together with the love of her life but they were currently having a long-distance relationship. Her new boyfriend would arrive the next day and they were going to spend Christmas and New Year's Eve together and I and some other friends would join them at New Year's Eve too. In the afternoon, my Christmas shopping done, I went to M's place and she suggested we listen to Say It Is So together. I hadn't heard the album myself. We sat down to listen and neither of us said a word during the first two songs, listening intently. Around halfway through "Good Together", I noticed that M was sobbing. "What's the matter?" I asked, concerned. She looked at me and said, "I'm just so incredibly happy that I've met D and that he will be here tomorrow. And Tim's new album is just so good. Do I really deserve all this happiness?" (I'm happy to say that more than 20 years later, M and D are still very much together, a wonderful couple)
Favourite memory 2: a few years later, in June 2003, M and D hosted a party at their place and it was there that I for the first time met the woman who is now my wife, who was and is a friend of D's. During that party, M, my wife-to-be and I started talking about music at one point and upon hearing that my wife-to-be hadn't heard any of Crowded House's music, M and I both enthusiastically talked about CH and how noone's life could possibly be completely happy unless they have heard Together Alone. As it happened, M happened to have a spare copy of that album and promptly gave it to my wife-to-be who immediately loved it (she obviously has great taste in many ways). She has since heard just about every Finn track there is, surprise surprise, and she also loves "Good Together". When we were about to get married in August 2007, we asked a friend of ours to be the DJ at the wedding. He asked if we had any particular favourite songs that we were keen to have included, and we both said we wanted to include "Good Together" (and some other songs too of course). This was pre-Spotify days so he put together a playlist by ripping CD-Rs. Regarding "Good Together" he said, "Yeah, it's a very good song, but you can't dance to it, so I've put some songs ahead of that one on the playlist. My wife and I certainly didn't hear it at the wedding reception before we sneaked away. Some time later, he sent us a 4 CD deluxe edition box set, with cover design and everything, of the wedding music playlist. True to his word, he had included "Good Together" and he certainly put "some songs" ahead of it - "Good Together" is track 86! (In fact, nearly all the songs we requested are on the 4th CD, "Private Universe" is track 81, "Fall At Your Feet" is track 82, "Wherever You Are" is track 90 and "I'll Never Know" is track 91 - presumably because they are all impossible to dance to)

"Good Together" easily gets 5+++/5 from me.

 

Great recollections. I almost chose "Good Together" for my wedding playlist in 2017, (my wedding playlist only had about 7 songs on it and most of them did not get played, I didn't have a traditional reception) but I had also chosen "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea", and the two songs are both sort of similar, acoustic guitar driven, simple folk-pop songs so I left off "Good Together."

I was thinking about Tim's return to acoustic, folk-based music for this album (and the Steel City songs and I guess the Altitude/Teenage albums too.) It really brings out a different, earthier feel to his music and I think he actually writes sweeter melodies to guitar than he does piano.

By the way the "home -give me a minute of your time" middle 8 here: it kind of hearkens back to the chorus of 1985's "Home for My Heart's"; and there's a song on Everyone Is Here that also kind of duplicates it -- I can't remember which one now, (could it just be "Homesick?" but I think it's someting actually more blatant) when we get there I'll call attention to it.

And perhaps weirdly, there's a song from Panda Bear's 2019 Buoys album that really rips off this same musical motif with the word "home" repeated on it similarly. Or, maybe it doesn't rip it off, maybe it's just coincidence. Still.

 

Good Together is simple and uncomplicated, just like new love can be, but often isn't. It's fabulous that Tim had the ability to put it into song, and the self-confidence and generosity to share it with all of us.

4/5

 

I really like the jangly intro to this one and it's a catchy tune.

Lance is right about the one section being similar to something on Everyone Is Here. It's immediately noticeable.

A good track.

4/5.

 

Maybe it says something about the state of my relationship, but "Good Together" just doesn't work for me. If Neil's lyrics can be maddeningly obscure (and they certainly can be), Tim's lyrics can go to the opposite extreme and be too straightforward and mundane. That's what I get here. Beyond that, Tim's voice seems particularly rocky on this track, and Marie's childlike voice is a bit disconcerting. I'm all for happiness in love, and I have no doubt that the sentiments Tim expressed here were genuine. I'm happy for him that he found himself in this place. But for me it doesn't make for an engaging, interesting song. I know I'm swimming against the tide here, but:

2.5/5

 

It’s not Marie singing, it’s Julie Miller.

 

Ah, thanks. Regardless, I don't like the voice.

 

I have to agree with @jcr64 here - the extremes are rather pronounced lyrically in this song, even though I think it's incredibly sweet. I enjoy straightforward, (auto)biographical stuff, but this one feels overly simplistic to me - but at the same time it's so peppy and catchy that I just can't ding it that much.

3.5/5 - which actually feels a little harsh given there's some stuff I gave a 3.5 that I probably didn't enjoy as much. Sorry, Lance... I've been playing so fast and loose with ratings that this whole exercise is probably no longer fit for publication in any of the scientific journals you've been eyeing...

 

AND ANOTHER THING:

When this is all done, I want a thread comprised of nothing but Stefan's stories and recollections. I don't even give a rat's @$$ if they're anything to do with music.

 

. Everytime I turn a batch of these in for analysis and recording I have to deal with these men in the white coats with their moles, pince nez, unplucked nose hairs bitching. There have been many complaints. They've got their their eyes on you -- all three of them.

 

Well, to be fair...
You shouldn't see their nosehairs if everyone's properly masked...

 

These scientists are freedom lovers and proud of it, the only ones of their kind.

 

Thanks, Otis (and long-time no see.) I did not know that "Edible Flowers" dated from 99, for some reason I thought it was yet another 78-79 leftover, nor did I know "Sawdust and Splinters" had its beginnings there.

I was planning on doing Lord Nord with the 99 stuff before Say It Is So but forgot. Now, I am thinking of doing "Lord Nord"and a couple of other Enz leftovers s extra tracks after Feeding the Gods a few months from now.(Mainly the I Like It Rare cuts, though I've also captured a few of those 79 demos off YouTube, but I probably will pass over those. I hope they get released on the True Colours reissue, if that EVER actually comes out.)

Do you happen to have any info as to the writing of it? Because electronic tracks like that I tend to associate with Nigel Griggs or maybe Noel Crombie.

 

"Shiver"--I enjoy the more mysterious quality here, though I agree with those who find the harsh middle 8 to wreck the mood a little. Still, I like this one more than most Tim solo efforts: 4/5

"Good Together"--I feel bad sharing my thoughts on this, because Stefan's recollections about it are so touching and heartfelt. This track is just not for me. I have a somewhat negative visceral reaction to most country music, and this seems to be the beginning of a more pronounced country influence I noticed seeping into Neil's next few albums as well. There's nothing at all wrong with that kind of music, but I personally find it depressing. And I find Tim's sort of purposely awkward vocal delivery, as well as the childlike female vocal, actively annoying. So my score doesn't reflect any objective weaknesses in the song, but only my personal, completely subjective reaction: 2/5.

 

"Good Together" is a highlight of the album for me. Whereas the first two tracks, as good as they are, seem somewhat freighted with lyrical and metaphorical heaviness, "Good Together" soars free and unencumbered. It's like a refreshing gulp of water from a mountain stream. I actually prefer the live version from the subsequently-issued live album as Tim's voice seems to be in better shape. It's a bit nasally here on the studio recording - must've been the Tennessee air and pollen.

Still, this is a great song and one of the best on the album. It begins a folkier musical direction that I would say has produced the best material of Tim's solo career.

4.3/5