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

Our votes for "Mr. Catalyst":

1-1
2-8
3-0
4-0
5-0
Average score: 1.8

 

Today we'll start talking about Split Enz's last album, See Ya Round.

After Conflicting Emotions came out at the end of 1983, there was a flurry of activity in Enz-world. The band decided they really needed a drummer for the tour, consigning Noel Crombie back to percussion. After trying out many drummers they settled on Australian Paul Hester because playing with Paul "felt so good", according to Jaffaman's interview excerpt with Eddie Rayner from above. Paul Hester had been in the Sydney pop group Deckchairs Overboard before joining Split Enz. Hester was a bit younger than most of the band, more of an age with the younger Neil; and I imagine that he brought a freshness to the band that might have put them back on good behaviour.

As Robcar has noted, they did not really formally hire Paul, they just kept asking him to play with him, until he pressed the point. Paul would contrast this culture of non-communication in Split Enz with the culture of Crowded House, in which everything was discussed, every emotion was bared, aired and hashed over. Split Enz, by contrast, was more of a macho entity.

Sometime in this, Tim was cast in a small role as a musician in the film The_Coca-Cola_Kid, where me met Italian actress Greta_Scacchi and fell in love.

There was a short tour made by the band, and those demos we've just listened to were recorded in April. The tension in the band was great at this time, though details are hard to come by. One presumes that Tim's lack of interest in Conflicting Emotions had something to do with it, and the Split Enz's sagging commercial fortunes probably exaggerated it. Tim Finn realizing that he was in love with Scaachi, announced that he was leaving the band to move to London where he would continue his relationship with her and promote his solo album Escapade.

Work on the album eventually commenced, but Neil realized fairly quickly that the Enz' time was over. . I'm not sure if there was ongoing tension as there had been during Conflicting Emotions or not. Personally, I believe that Neil needs to be in control of his music, and the rest of this band of very talented musicians may have bristled under his leadership. Finally he decided to stick a fork in it: this next release, with Paul Hester but Tim-free would be Split Enz's last.

This decision made, Split Enz was originally going to release an EP of Neil songs, but finally it ended up being an album: one side of new Neil Finn songs, and the second side a hodge-podge of tracks from other members of the band (and a Conflicting Emotions-era B-side.) .
The album was titled See Ya 'Round. It was released in November 1984 in New Zealand and Australia, where it hit #5 and #29 resspectively. Eventually, it was also released in Canada. It was produced by Jim Barton and Split Enz. (I don't know much about Jim Barton. Was he just an engineer? Or has he produced other records?)

This was one of the last albums by Split Enz that I acquired. Chris Bourke's autobiography had led me to believe that it was a real piece of crap so I almost did not pay the exhorbitant import price when I ran across it at Twist and Shout records in Denver circa 2000. I'm glad I did buy it, though. A flawed record, it contains some real gems nonetheless, as we'll see in the coming days.

The track list was as follows:

1. Breakin' My Back" (Neil Finn)
2. "I Walk Away"(N.Finn)
3. "Doctor Love" (N. Finn)
4. "One Mouth Is Fed" (N.Finn)
5. "Years Go By" (N.Finn, E.Rayner)
6. "Voices" (N. Finn)
   
   
7. "The Lost Cat" (E.Rayner)
8. "Adz" (N.Griggs)
9. "This Is Massive" (P.Hester)
10. "Kia Kaha (Ever Be Strong)"
11. "Ninnie Knees Up" (N.Crombie)

In addition to these songs we will discuss the following bonus tracks:

• Overdrive (Rayner)
• Serge (N. Finn)

As always I welcome corrections or additions to officially released obscurities I may have missed.

After discussion of the bonus tracks is finished, we'll spend a day discussing The Living Enz, a live album, then a couple of Tim solo tracks from The Coca-Cola Kid before moving onto some of the Mullane demos, the Mullanes being, of course, an early incarnation of Crowded House.

 

Today's song is "Breakin' My Back", written by Neil Finn.

 

Crowded House also did this song live, here's one from 1986 with Eddie Rayner guesting on keyboards (as he did during the early CH years.)

 

"Breakin' My Back" is framed as a plea to a "girl" to succour the narrator, who has been "breakin' his back with the weight of it all." I think these themes are quite common to Neil's mid-80s work: the nervous burden of being a "slave to ambition". Like much of his work at this time the vocals have a screaming quality to them, as if Neil was trying to work out his native tension and the stresses of his life as a father and bandleader of a group whose commercial fortunes were on the wane through his singing.

I note that the sound is quite a bit different than Conflicting Emotions. Gone are the cold grey, robotic totalitarian textures of that record.

This one, while still firmly within mid-80s idiom rocks a lot more organically, with Paul's drumming really making a difference to the sound. This album is one-half Crowded House, really, and it feels like it. Eddie Rayner's keyboards are mainly restrained in much of the song, though the synth-horn blasts is something that I'm not able to get into. Still too soon for me to enjoy that kind of thing.

The middle 8 is hardly seamlessly integrated into the overall song, but it's gorgeous, featuring a multi-tracked harmonies that almost recall Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys....is that just Neil tracking himself, or are Nigel, Paul and Eddie singing as well? It certainly sounds different than Finn Brothers harmonies, but the only voice I can really identify in any part is Neil's. While perhaps not as jaw-droppingly beautiful as Neil and Tim's gorgeous harmonies, it is well-done nonetheless.

Overall, this is better than almost any song on Conflicting Emotions save "Devil You Know" for me, and I like the tone of this new incarnation of Split Enz.

I'll give it a 4.3/5

 

Nice shout-out to my local record store! Was just there a few days ago. They’re in a different location than they were in 2000, but still a great shop!

The only other officially released rarity I can think of for the SYR period is the extended 12” mix of “I Walk Away”.

 

I've always liked this one. It isn't a standout single, but it has many nice elements. It's good to hear a guitar-focussed track after so much keyboards. To me it sounds as if they have learned lessons from the unreleased tracks from the previous albums. The song has various bits including the middle 8 and coda that work very well together. The lyrics are one of the best 'writing block - so I'll write about it' lyrics I've heard

4/5

 

"Breakin' My Back" gets the album off to a roaring start. I like this one a lot, and particularly the rhythm section. Paul brings the energy and Nigel's bass, while very 80s funk sounding, helps drive this one. Already it sounds better to my ears than most of the songs on Conflicting Emotions. The lyrics aren't so hot, and Neil was still finding his way in that area at the time, I think. The middle section of the song provides a preview of some of the textures we would hear more frequently in Neil's Crowded House material. All in all, a very solid start and an impressive first track from the "final" version of Split Enz (at least in the studio).

It's odd that See Ya 'Round (terrible album title, by the way) wasn't released anywhere outside of Australia and New Zealand, except for Canada. Given the band's success in the UK and, to a lesser extent, the US, I'm surprised that some label didn't license it for release in those countries after A&M dropped them. Actually, I now notice that A&M did release the Canadian version. Odd that they didn't issue it in the US, at least.

Anyway, 3.9/5 for "Breakin' My Back".

 

I imagine that the band themselves didn't bother peddling it around to record companies, seeing as how they knew it was the last album they'd do. Neil was probably looking towards the future. Agree that the album title is terrible, though I guess it makes a pretty clear statement.

 

It used to be a tiny store near that park just north of Alameda (can't remember the name of the park), then it moved to Alameda and Lincoln or something. I lived at 17 S. Lincoln back in the day so it was only two or three blocks away then. I got all but two of my Split Enz records there. I went back and visited in 2016 and the whole place was completely gentrified; it looked great, but I feel like I wouldn't be able to afford to live in that neighbourhood if I lived there now.

 

I'm looking forward to that. I love that album, but it does sag a bit in the middle.

 

It's pricey, no doubt. We used to rent in that neighborhood, but when it was time to buy, we looked in a different area. We definitely bought at the right time. The current Twist & Shout location is about 8 blocks away from me up on Colfax, right next to a great bookstore, The Tattered Cover. Nice to be able to walk up there.

 

Tattered Cover on Colfax! IN my time there was one in LoDo and Cherry Creek. I spent insane amount of hours in the LoDo one as I did St Mark's coffee shop which was on 16th and Larimer. I'm getting nostalgic! Oh, to be young, poor, with poor personal hygiene and totally depressed again.

I think that hookers were the main item on Colfax back then, and crack was sold on Pearl Street. So in theory, nowadays, one could go to Colfax and get it all nowadays: books, hookers, crack and music. Paradise. One stop shop.

(sorry for the off-topic bit)

 

Here's an interview for See Ya Round. It's one of those ones that only has the answers, not the questions, so that people can add the questions in their own voices. So, it's a bit hard to follow in places.

 

GREAT LINK. some notes.

1. First bit seems to be about "This Is Massive"--Paul Hester. Says the song was recorded using equipment and studio time booked by another band after they had left the studio for the band.
2. Second is about "Adz."--Nigel Griggs -- song was written backwards, which accounts for the odd melody.
3. Third part is Eddie Rayner, "The Lost Cat". He played all the instruments himself except the guitar (and I guess the flugelhorn). Nigel, Noel and Eddie's songs were all two years old.
4. Noel Crombie: "Ninnee Knees Up". Talks about the recording of it. More or less improvised the lyric.
5.Neil: "Breakin' My Back". Written on the road. He is apparently the sole vocalist on the middle 8.

"I Walk Away": a little about Tim, but mainly about the band in general.
"Doctor Love": written on tour.
"One Mouth Is Fed"-- vocals in chorus sung by all five members.
"Years Go By" -- guitar solo influenced by George Harrison.
"Voices" -- no guitar, Neil plays piano. Dates from early 83.
"Kia Kaha"-- talks about the lyrics, which are fairly self-explanatory. Written on acoustic guitar. Outtake from Conflicting Emotions. He, Nigel and Noel wanted it released on Conflicting Emotions.

Album was completed in a total of 4 and a half weeks, including stuff recorded in 1983 or earlier.

 

@Lance LaSalle - The interview is 19 minutes long and you posted your summary 22 minutes after I posted. Did you have that prepared already?

 

Nope, it's all new information for me. Just happened to have sat down after you posted. (distraction from work.)

 

As I have implied earlier, I think this is a better album than Conflicting Emotions, despite its haphazard assembly. Neil's songs are maturing in terms of quality and composition and the first half of this album can really be seen as a sneak preview of what was to come with Crowded House, albeit in more adventurous form here. And some of what the other guys contribute is not bad at all. Eddie's instrumental is good, as usual, but the real surprise to me is Nigel's "Adz", an intelligent, well-written and futuristic number. But more about that later.

 

Due to rarity in the US, this is the first I've heard Breaking My Back. This definitely doesn't sound or feel like old school Enz. It also doesn't sound like a band on its last legs either!

Great punchiness here and really lets you get a taste of what is to come from Neal and Paul. That Crowded House cover is where it's at. Me likely.
4/5.

 

I really enjoy this album a lot for the most part. I'll be much kinder to this one than I will be/have been to some others. Breakin My Back was a good choice to kick the album off - after the last couple records, it's kind of a jarring slap - something very straight ahead, poppy but not so moody or ornate as Dirty Creature or Strait Old Line... kind of a declaration that this new album would be different (for better or worse). I do like this tune quite a bit - 4/5

Split Enz was DOA in the US by 1984, so I can totally see why there was no appetite to release See Ya Round here. Apparently, they did quite a bit better sales wise in Canada than the states for some reason, though. That said, I have it in my head that the Canadian release of SYR didn't come out until a couple years after the Mushroom release (maybe 86-87?), but all the copyright dates on the album say 1984, so I could be completely wrong. Assuming it did come out a bit after 1984, it would make sense to see the last album get release after the fact in a country that they did really well in if the plan were for A&M to try and cash in on the Crowded House wave.

 

I agree with the general consensus on "Breakin My Back" in that it sounds more Crowded House than Split Enz, which I think is a very good thing as I'm not a great fan of the 'Enz sound' that Tim in particular seemed to try to stick to. Maybe without Tim there, this album will sound much less Enz-y.

I was going to give this a 4 but having heard the Crowded House version I would give that one a 4 and the Enz one drops to 3/5.

 

Breaking My Back doesn't really "do" it for me. It has all the ingredients but seems to be trying too hard. That said, I welcome Hessie's arrival. He makes an immediate impact and, yes, this sounds like a proto-CH recording. I don't think Neil's shouty deliver suits the song at all and would love to hear a more "sung" take which, I think, would help bring out the melody a little. 3/5

 

A good solid rocker and a decent start to the album. The keyboards date it a little though.

3/5.

 

BMB is a great way to kick off the album. I like hearing Neil songs produced this way (by Barton or Neil or Eddie, whomever it truly was). I love Crowded House, but I think Mitchell Froom smoothed Neil’s sound out a bit too much. I know it made Neil more commercial and accessible to the masses, but something was lost on the self titled CH album (my least favorite Crowdies album). That album is a little too slick sounding to my ears. But, BMB has the edginess that the lyrics point towards and needs. Excellent all the way ‘round.

4/5.

 

I lived in New Zealand during 1982 and got most of my initial exposure to Neil, Tim and company during that stay. I got an import copy of See Ya Round (I seem to recall) soon after it came out, and thought much of it was brilliant (Side 1). Side 2 didn't do much for me. As for Breaking My Back, a great, great song.
4.5/5