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

I Pray To Heaven......somewhat cringeworthy title, but the song itself definitely has potential....sounds like it could've been a really good one. 3/5

 

You're The One To Make Me Cry

I like this song a lot. I have a Wurlitzer 200a electric piano in my home studio, and whenever I turn the vibrato up, it's hard not to start playing this song because it's so so good to play/sing. Neil's vocal doesn't quite hit it for me in all the places, but I love the lyric and sentiment. It feels like a "lost at sea" lyric on multiple fronts.

People Are Like Suns
is a 5/5. One of my favourite things that Neil has done. I lived in Toronto when this album came out, and having read an interview with Neil where he talked about this song being influenced by Saturday by Ian McEwan, I have vivid memories of getting that book out from the library and riding the Bloor/Danforth line back and forth for hours reading it and listening to Time On Earth on repeat (on my iPod 5g).

I find it hard to separate Time On Earth from the very strange period of my life that it came out in - but the odd dud track aside (mostly for me, the Steve Lillywhite sessions) it holds up very very well.

 

I Pray To Heaven has the potential to be something special if it ever gets fully developed. It's got a very poppy, pretty melody, the chords and the rhythm are good, and there are enough words there to rewrite the lyrics into something worthy. I doubt it will ever happen, but I can dream. It's astounding that Neil can set something like this aside because he has so much material to choose from. I'll be listening to this one many more times. (I really need to go through all of the Fang radio installments that I've missed.)

4/5

 

"I Pray To Heaven" is nice but Neil sounds a lot like Liam here! Obviously incomplete but certainly promising; would be interesting to find out if this was ever developed further. Perhaps it still might be!

3.1/5

 

Our votes for "I Pray to Heaven"

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Average: 3.3

 

I wish I listened to FangRadio - the playlists looks so interesting. It's probably not helped by the various time zones they come from. Like now it's NZ time (as compared to LA time, which was easier on us in the US). I think I need to make sure an alert pops up or something. Or maybe just remember to pull it up on a boring drive (like the one I'm doing on Tuesday afternoon). I probably need to just download the app on my phone or something to make this happen.

 

Today's song is "Here's A Note", written by Neil Finn and produced by Neil Finn and Nick Seymour; Recorded and Mixed by Ryan Freeland.


This song was recorded during the early "Joey Waronker" stage of the album between December 2005 and February 2006.

It was released on the Time On Earth deluxe set in 2016.
Performer credits are not given but I think it's:

Neil Finn: vocals guitar
Nick Seymour: bass
Joey Waronker: drums

Neil: The song is very much about my dad who keeps notes on everything that happens on any given day. He'll write a little note or he'll cut a bit of newspaper out to remind him of something and then he'll put piles around the house. It's like a filing system for him. He'll read something in the paper and then he'll think "Oh, I remember reading something about that last week" and he'll know where to go and look for it. It's a good way of tidying your mind, writing notes to yourself.

I tried to transcribe the lyric but there are a couple of lines that I just can't make out: slightly sloppy double-tracked, mixed-down vocals and the mastering defeated me.

 

I won't listen in real time unless it just happens that it's playing when I'm sitting at the computer. I have a thing about scheduling my life around broadcasts, my life is scheduled enough by work and other things.

I am just not going to do that. It's why I stopped watching TV. (Netflix and other streaming services actually got me back because I can watch them anytime.)

I do go back and listen to the archival stuff sometimes, it's nice that it's there. There have been definitely been some cool demos aired on Fang Radio that I'm thrilled to have.

 

I like the sound of the guitars and drums and the sound of this three-piece in general; and wish a less compressed master existed.

This is a lesser song but it is enjoyable; reminds me weirdly of REM, late period "third five" REM I guess; and I like it as much as I like late-period REM, i.e., not that much but a little.

There's a couple of good hooks in there but I find it less interesting than the B-sides or anything on the album. Great to have though, makes a nice little "secondary Time On Earth" playlist.

Lyrics, from what I can get from them, are neither bad nor particularly good; they just sound there; I can say similar things about Neil's vocal.



2.7/5

 

Here's a Note

It's interesting to hear a CH/Neil I haven't heard much. I must have heard it because it's on the deluxe version of ToE and I have heard all of that, but not enough to stick in my memory.

The arrangement is simple and straightforward, but the song is upbeat. A better recording/arrangement/performance would have helped this song a lot, and it could be polished more. It's definitely CH'y, so it's interesting that sound was there right from the early sessions.

However, the melody, while good, is not among Neil's best. And, I can see why the song didn't make the cut for the album.

The lyrics sound to be an interesting idea, but I can't hear them clearly enough to have an accurate impression. I do like the link to his Dad however.

3.0/5

 

Here’s a Note - I can’t really make out the lyrics, but I love this music. It’s not the kind of thing I would expect to hear from Neil, but I could listen to this kind of music all day. Musically, it reminds me of something I’d expect to hear from Evan Dando, and reminds me somewhat of a song Jon Brion wrote with Evan called Repeat. Love the guitars.

4/5

 

Just had a message about the site being hacked. Is that genuine?

 

I got the same message...I suppose it is genuine.

 

Neil may not have been thinking in terms of Crowded House when he recorded "Here's a Note," but to my ears it would fit right in on Afterglow. The guitars and harmonies both sound very CH. It's not a top-notch song, and I'm not surprised that Neil dropped it, but it's pleasant, and it has some catchy elements.

3.5/5

 

Here's A Note is one of my favorite Neil studio outtakes from the 2000s. I wish he had stuck with it, Neil, Nick and Joey do a really nice job with this unfinished song.

4/5

 

Here's a Note sounds good but doesn't compete with any of the album tracks, maybe with more work and embellishments it coulda shoulda woulda.
3/5

 

I really should have rated this higher, I listened to it again and again today, and I think it could have been remade by the new Crowded House line-up with Matt Sherrod and it would have turned out really well.

4.4/5

 

Oh I am totally with you on that - I can't possibly plan to actually listen to it in realtime. It's more that if I get an alert that it is on it will act as a reminder to maybe go check the archive...

 

Here's a Note - It's pleasant enough but it does need some more work and oddly, I find it less compelling than yesterday's song that was even less finished. It just sounds a bit generic to me but I can see how it could be a really great song.

3/5

 

"Here's A Note" sounds like it could have been a very good CH song. The verse reminds me a lot of "Distant Sun". Too bad they didn't take it past this stage. 3.5/5

 

"Here's A Note" has some promise but I don't find it all that compelling, either lyrically or musically, in its released form. Good to have courtesy of the Deluxe Edition reissue, but properly left off of Time On Earth.

2.9/5

 

"Here's A Note" sounds unfinished and I get no feeling what the lyric is about, but the music is good. I don't think it would have fitted on the album but with a bit more work it could have been a quality bonus track.
3/5

 

Our votes for "Here's a Note"

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Average: 3.3333

 

Today's song is "Purple Light", written by Neil Finn and produced by Neil Finn & Nick Seymour; recorded and mixed by Ryan Freeland.


This was recorded in the initial "Joey Waronker" phase of the record, betweeen December 2005 and February 2006.

It was released on Time On Earth Deluxe in 2006.

I assume the credits are:
Neil Finn: vocals, guitars, ukulele, vibes
Nick Seymour: bass
Joey Waronker: drums

It's based on a July or August 2001 demo called "Time On Earth", and has an almost identical chorus, melody-wise. That song was discussed here.

IN the purple light
Glass on the tray,
We're Making in plain tonight
The question hangs
With some respect
You can reflect your life
AS they say, it's coming at ya
Day after day after day now

Ah, don't think twice
What's begun
Can't be turned off
Ah, don't think twice
They've become
a perfect sight
In the purple light

For two whole days
Breaking rocks
Breaking up the haze
Slow release
Time to go
Making it show
You know how
As they say it's comin' at ya
Day after day after day now

Ah, won't think twice
Don't confess
Can't be turned off
Well, I will become
a perfect sight
In the purple light

Deep holes in space
Through the centre of the earth
Come up in my backyard
Faces that shine
A sense of calm
The chaos around us now

Ooh, don't think twice
Won't confess
Won't be turned off
Oh, we've become
A perfect sight
In the purple light
In the purple light....

 

Good to see people back, I entered my password and name on this site and then when it didn't work I was scared I got tricked and then I ended up changing my passwords on everything because I didn't remember the password here and wasn't sure if it wasn't the same.