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

Our votes for Seven World Collide: Live at the St. James by Neil Finn and Friends.

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Average: 4.1143

 

Today's song is "You Don't Know" written and produced by Neil Finn; engineered by Sam Gibson; mixed by Neil Baldock.
It can be streamed here, on Neil's site; the player is at the bottom of the page. Rain (Music From The Motion Picture) — Neil Finn

You don't know what I want
You don't know what's going on
You can't see what I got
You don't see what I've ...? ? {sounds like I been down}
You can't tell where I am
But it's fright tonight
You can't see what I got
You don't know what I want
You can't see what I got
You don't know what's going on
Inside my mind
You can't tell where I am

 

"You Don't Know" features the return of the Optigan drum loop; and that, and overall atmosphere of the song makes it feel more like his late 90s work than One Nil's folkier nods.

Rather than the usual urge for connection that Neil's songs seek, this one seems to revel in its insularity; and the resentful, guardedness of the lyric chimes perfectly with the claustrophobic, pensive atmosphere of the electric piano-driven music.

The multi-tracked harmonies of the 'inside my mind" part are the best Neil has ever sounded doing that kind of thing.

4.0/5

 

I missed it? Damn time zones. I remembered that I own this CD, though I hadn't listened to it since I bought it. It's playing now, and it's actually quite good. I enjoy Sebastian Steinberg's muscular bass playing, and Lisa Germano's vocals blend nicely with Neil's, who is in great voice. Brother Tim is a bit less so, and Eddie Vedder's singing always reminds me of Leo Kottke's description of his own voice - "like geese farts on a muggy day."

I think the record sounds great, very immediate. The guitars crunch and jangle most enjoyably. The band does an excellent job throughout, and some of these songs come off better than their original album incarnations, particularly "The Climber" and "Turn and Run." But the high point for me is "Take a Walk". 4.6/5

 

You Don't Know is a surprisingly enjoyable track. It wouldn't have been out of place on an album proper. That said, it isn't a classic but better than I expected from an obscure soundtrack. 3/5.

 

I also like You Don't Know. To me, it sounds like Neil updating the darker feel found on ToLM to a more modern age,.

BTW: I've seen the film 'Rain', but I don't really want to refresh my memory by watching it again. It's a good film, but:

Spoiler: Slight plot spoiler

It's a very sad film, and at times it made me feel uncomfortable. Not because the film is bad but because of the subject matter. I don't think that all films should be 'nicey-nice' and avoid uncomfortable topics, but is't something that I don't want to watch frequently.

Returning to YDN, it's an interesting song with a minimal lyric. The production is a bit demo-ish, but with it being a soundtrack song rather than a song for an album aimed at the charts, this is the kind of thing that Neil can get away with in the context. I agree that the vocal harmonies are very nice.

It's a good song, that could have been done up with a more sophisticated arrangement for an album. But, Neil has a lot of good songs, so it doesn't seem like a waste to have this song here in this form.

3.8/5

 

As a soundtrack song, You Don't Know has to support the on-screen action and reinforce the mood the director is creating. It really can't detract from the director's vision and draw too much attention to itself. I don't need to ever see the film, I can only imagine how depressing it is from the plot and the music.

Away from the film, You Don't Know is a pretty good song. If he had put some more work into it and released it on proper Neil Finn album it has the raw materials for what might have become a standout track, but that's not what we got. The minimalist approach is interesting, and I enjoy listening to it together with the rest of Neil's music for Rain and experience it as a musical suite. I like it.

4.2/5

 

I’ve seen the Rain film a couple of times, mainly because I wanted to know how this music fit into the context of the film. I agree with what @HitAndRun said in his spoiler. The music does very much suit the film.

You Don’t Know is a good song that I liked more after I saw the film, although it is not one of the musical highlights of this soundtrack. Its languid feel fits the overall tone of the film.

3/5

 

I love this song! Really enjoy/ attracted to the dark elements that are projected by Neil in certain songs, much more than say attempts at up tempo "Don't Ask Why" esq.

There are a number of songs that seem to fall into a "never made it" / B side to a Solo CD in this kind of dark vibe that I would include here, wrongly perhaps, I still see songs from Rain as in that pile.

That said, my Rain cd is pretty much untouched as this song took on a new perspective for me in the previously spoken about fan made So, Pacific Gothic Radio - which showcases this song much better than the actual Soundtrack album and places it within an atmosphere (Is Lo/Fi the term??) that I don't think anyone else has quite captured for Neil's music, so I am welded to that, just as I will be with the astounding "Drive Home".

So yes, for me a winner 4.3/5

 

Is there more music from Neil that didn't make it onto the soundtrack album?

 

Oh wow, it’s been years and years since I saw it, but I’m pretty sure there was no other music from Neil.

 

"You Don't Know" feels like an unfinished demo / b-side as others have said, but I guess film soundtrack music does not have to consist of full songs (especially true of the incidental instrumental stuff) so it's difficult to judge/rate a piece of music like this as if it were an actual song from an album.

Also, I have never seen the film itself so I have no idea of the context/suitability of any of the music, so purely based on the fact that I quite enjoy the melody....

3/5

 

"You Don't Know" is a nice song that, to me, is most notable for the stacked Neil harmonies, especially when they appear around 2:15. He's rarely done something like that and it works really well here.

3.7/5

 

By the way, I've decided to skip all of the really short instrumental pieces on this set; I just don't think they hold up to discussion. Even if I do them all together, it's just going to be a lot of "perhaps this works in the context of the film" or "this actually works well in the context of the film." It just seems really dreary to me. The four or so awful songs from Steel City made sense to me to hold up, since they were played by a band and were so unpleasant that that was actually something to note. But these piano pieces are clearly just meant to be background music -- they are just inert; and I just can't do it, I dread it, so I'm not going to do it. If anybody wants to chime in, like if "Kids Floating" is your favorite song of all time, or something, please don't hesitate., I'll note the songs I'm skipping as I do it so that will be a time for the hardcore fans of "Shower" to speak up.

Practically it just means one day fewer to discuss these songs before moving on.

 

Sounds good to me.

For what it's worth, my favourite of the instrumentals is "Summer Intro" followed by "Shower" but I don't have anything to say about them other than I like them.

 

I don’t see Summer Intro as a truly standalone piece. It works perfectly as part of Summer of Love and I love the two of them together, as sequenced on the soundtrack. Whether they were together in the film is a good question, however I do not remember the answer.

 

I quite like the "Rain" soundtrack as a whole and "You Don't Know" is a good opener. It has a dark, hypnotic and slightly mysterious feel to it that makes me want to hear it again after it finishes. Very good singing by Neil and the instrumentation is full of details to discover without being too much.
By Neil's usual standards though I would consider this more of a quality B side than regular album track.
3,7/5

 

I missed out on Seven Worlds Collide yesterday, I actually haven't watched the DVD in quite a while, although I remember really enjoying it the times i've seen it. 4/5

"You Don't Know" is good, but I agree, it seems more like a b-side. 3/5

 

"You Don't Know" is a nice song; the harmony parts are very Beatlesque. I wouldn't mind seeing the movie as I prefer sad ones, one of my all time favorites being Barry Lyndon. 3.5/5.

 

"You Don't Know" isn't bad as purpose-written background music for a film. It may be the single most uninteresting lyric Neil has written in his professional career--that's the kind of thing that can work in a film, particularly if there's dialog over the song, but as a standalone song it's unimpressive. As others have noted, the stacked harmonies are nice.

2.5/5

 

This song is by no measure cheerful, but it's good. I almost wonder if I'd like it even more if I'd seen and enjoyed the movie, since I sometimes connect with soundtract tunes through context like that. But, never having seen the movie, it's still a good listen.

3.5/5

 

Our votes for "You Don't Know"

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4-8
Average: 3.4769

 

OK, Today's main song is "Summer of Love", which was written, produced and performed by Neil Finn and Edmund McWilliams; and engineered by Edmund McWilliams; it is preceded by "Summer Intro", written by Edmund McWilliams and performed by Neil Finn; presumably produced by both.

The second and third tracks on the player here.
Rain (Music From The Motion Picture) — Neil Finn

We can talk about both, if you like.
I can't really make out the lyric, but here's my attempt, I'm sure the first line is wrong.

You swing the hound so lengthy
Chariot made for Zion
Look at you, my baby
What did we get so high on?
Maybe after watch the sky
Colors run, I turn my eyes
You will make it turn out right
We can make it turn

You swing the hound so lazy
Chariot made for Zion
Look at you, my baby
What did we get so high on?
Maybe after watch the sky
Colors run, I turn my eyes
You will make it turn out right

Those seeds to rest your eyes on

 

"Summer Intro" is a lovely composition that does hold up to scrutiny on its own beyond being backing music in my opinion, although, as @brownie61 mentioned, it works best as an intro the following Summer of Love. 2.6/5

"Summer Of Love" is actually quite stirring, though I'd say that Edmund McWilliam's shaky falsetto does not deliver the melody as well as I'd like and makes it sound rather sloppier than is good for it. Still there's an undeniably good melody there, and the guitar picking and production is nice, overall. I have no idea what the lyric really means: I see it as a kind of nostalgic reminiscence of a beautiful day spent with a loved one, perhaps someone who is now lost to the narrator, dead or just vanished into the past.

I strongly suspect that this is mostly Edmund McWilliam's handiwork, this song, and I don't know who he is, really, but I think that the song approaches greatness.

3.7/5

 

Yes, Summer of Love is the classic that nearly was. It has a wonderful melody that isn't quite delivered well enough. I'd love to hear Neil sing this. 4/5.