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

I love Lost For Words. Excellent vocal from Tim. The band really cooks on this one. The live version from the concert filmed in Hamilton, Ontario is fantastic.

5/5.

 

Our votes for "Lost for Words":

1-0
2-1
3-1
4-3
5-1
Average score: 3.68

 

Today's song is "Take a Walk," which was written by Neil Finn.


"Take a Walk" was also featured on The Living Enz live album from 1985 and on the 7 World's Collide album from 2001, sung by Eddie Vedder and Neil Finn.

 

Lost for Words is an interesting song, but not a great one. A worthwhile part of the album though so 3/5.

 

'Take A Walk' is great - jaunty art-pop. 5/5.

 

Bouncy pop number with a good beat and some interesting layers 4.5/5

 

"Take A Walk" is a highlight of the album. I'm a little surprised it wasn't picked out for single release. Great energy, nice lyric, and lovely piano work by Eddie. 4.4/5

 

A cool song, but I don't think it would have worked as a single due to the long instrumental sections. A high 3/5.

 

Take A Walk is another fantastic song from a fantastic album. I love the Finn Brothers vocals. Great work from Eddie Rayner, too.

5/5.

 

Another great Neil song. His songs on this album are loads better than Tim's IMHO.

4/5

 

"Take A Walk "strikes me is bit more conventional than most of the songs on Side 1 but it's a fine pop/rock song with an intelligent lyric. I like the lyric quite a bit and identify with it, even and the long middle 8 with intrumental jam is awesome. 4.3/5

 

Take a Walk is stunning. Full of the energy and exuberance the lyric requires. Joyous. 5/5. I only wish they'd found a better way of starting the song: that fade in just doesn't do the song any favours at all.

 

4/5 for this one - part of what makes me like this song so much is the sequencing. You don't feel it as much with digital, but in the age of LP/Cassette, this was a great first track for the second side of the album.

 

Our Votes for "Take a Walk"

1-0
2-0
3-1
4-4
5-4
Average score: 4.35

 

Today's song is "Pioneer", an instrumental by Eddie Rayner.

This song kind of serves as an intro to "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" and on the video of the latter is featured at the beginning. Personally I do see it all as part of the same epic song, but here we will look at it as a separate piece as it is listed as such. "Pioneer" also preceded "Six Months in a Leaky Boat in many live performances including the one recorded for the live albums The Living Enz and Extravagenza

 

"Pioneer" is a beautiful piece: it does feel like it doesn't quite finish as it leads into the next song and sets it up so nicely. Still, I'll give it a 4.5 out of 5 on it's own merits. I think I like Eddie Rayner's stuff more than a lot of other Enz fans here, and this is one of his best: otherworldly and beautiful.
4.5/5

 

5/5 for me. It fits right where it is perfectly and leads into "Leaky Boat" in a very satisfying way for me - I don't even consider them separate songs at this point.

I also really like the video for some reason, even though it feels like the imagery looping on a screen in the background of a display at a history museum exhibit.

 

Pioneer only really works as an intro but it sets Six Months up so brilliantly that the latter song doesn't really open as well without it. Personally, I have Pioneer and Six Months edited together because they seem slightly lost without each other. Given that it achieves it's brief so perfectly, it would be harsh not to award it the full 5/5.

 

This was the apex of Eddie's songwriting in the group. Just a shimmering, gorgeous thing of beauty. And although I agree that it makes an excellent into to "Leaky Boat", I have often wished that there was a longer standalone version somewhere in the can. Miles ahead of "Double Happy" and "The Choral Sea".

 

Yes, same as everyone I've always seen it as the intro to Leaky Boat, and a lovely intro it is too, so 4/5

 

“Pioneer” is pretty and majestic, but doesn’t really do much for me on its own. It does serve as a great link piece in the context of the album.

3.4/5

 

Pioneer is my favorite Eddie instrumental. It’s gorgeous, and is the perfect segue in to 6 Months.

5/5.

 

Perverse though it sounds, its the pause at the end of Pioneer that creates a beautiful tension as the listener awaits the start of Six Months. That tension is joyously broken by Tim's cry of "When I was a young boy...". So, actually, the best bit of Pioneer is, in fact, it's end

 

Yeah, a nice intro for the following song. 3.5/5

 

Weird to give 5/5 to something that functions as a prologue, but it's a dang fine piece of music.

Sewing the Rayner seeds that became ENZo.