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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Lance LaSalle, Jan 21, 2019.

  1. KangaMom

    KangaMom Queen of the Quokkas

    Escapade

    I haven’t listened to this album in a while. For whatever reason, I thought I had the CD, but when I went looking for it, I apparently didn’t have a copy. I bought the Australian release on vinyl as soon as it was released. It was a very exciting purchase partly because “Fraction too much Friction” was a pretty big hit, but also because my Finn Fandom was pretty much in full swing at this point.

    So, I adored this album when it was released. Much like Time and Tide, this album was played multiple times per day (no idea what my mother thought about this), the music videos were watched intently (and intensely) and I’ve no doubt that I spent a lot of time trying to catch every Tim interview on TV and in newspapers and magazines. My pride and joy was obtaining the very large promo poster for the album (this forced some other smaller posters to be moved to the positions on the ceiling…). In short, I was pretty enthused about this album. I spent a lot of time gazing at Tim’s profile, reading the lyrics and just generally trying to understand the emotions on the album. So, it was intense (like all teenage experiences).

    So, listening to this album again (after a long interval of not hearing it) was like catapulting me back to my teenage years. Perhaps a measure of how much I like the album (or how it is burned into my synapses) is whether I automatically begin singing along. I have to report that this is exactly what happened! My only disappointment is that the US iTunes version has removed Grand Adventure from the album (which was the closer on Side A). Escapade is very much an album of it’s time but it is a pure expression of pop music. Tim’s vocals sound great, and a lot of these songs have just such incredible choruses. Listening to this album is probably the closest I will ever get to time travel…

    Anyway, here’s my short(ish) feelings about each song

    Fraction too Much Friction
    I can’t even tell you how much I loved this song when it was released. It did indeed sound a lot different from Split Enz and it was a joyous type of song (despite the lyrics being about relationships). I love the rolling piano style to this song. You know it was the 80s so having two good saxophonists at your disposal was a huge advantage (and Tim had both Joe Camillieri and Wilbur Wilde) and the sax is very good. I do love that vocal harmonizing right after the sax section. In any case I loved the song, loved the video. It was kind of funky (in a unique Australian type of way) and the vocal was terrific.

    Made My Day
    Terrific song. Just great instrumentation, great rhythm and just catchy as hell. I loved this song the moment I heard it. Venetta Fields did a sterling job on this album (as did Ricky Fataar with his drumming). I like the bridge vocal with the little xylophone addition. One of my favorite songs actually – it’s just so joyous, love the outro.

    Not for Nothing
    I like this very sweet song about falling in love after being hurt before. It’s actually a much more low key song than the preceding songs but so well arranged. Actually, I think it’s got a very pretty melody and I can live with the synth sounds of the 80s. The lyrics are very heartfelt and I like the instrumentation especially the mandolin (Vince Gill – wonder how that came about?). The vocal is very good and I really like the outro.

    In a Minor Key
    This is a more Enz’ish sounding song to me (not just now, at the time I thought that too). It reminds me a lot of “I Hope I Never” which is great because I really like that song. I think it’s an interesting set of lyrics about charting the course of romance. It is a very beautiful song.

    Grand Adventure
    I miss this song not being on the album (and not available for download) but available at
    I really liked this song way back when I was a teenager. It was a great Side A closer. Listening to it now, I can hear the very 80s hyperactive bass and percussion but I still love it. Confession time: I liked it enough to use it for a gym assignment at school. So, as part of our gym class in 9th grade (this is an all-girls high school) we had to do a dance unit. I opted to do a solo dance to “Grand Adventure”. There is no video evidence of this (Thank god) but I do remember working very hard to choreograph this dance because it was quite tribal and in retrospect a punishing tempo. Meanwhile other students in my class were going with safe options like dancing in groups and choosing easy music to dance to like the Jackson 5 and whatnot. In any case, I have a bit of history with wanting to choreograph dances to Finn and Enz songs…for better or worse.

    Staring at the Embers
    Love this song to open Side B. Just super catchy (again) with a real pop-py sound. I like the lyrics “…alligators crawling…”. I like the lyrics and it does have a nice 80s sax solo in it. Just a really infectious song to dance to and sing to. And I guess as a teenager this seemed like a song about having a much healthier perspective on failed relationships – basically keep crashing and burning because love is worth it.

    Wait and See
    Such a yearning song. I remember thinking that I liked the lyrics of this song. It’s a bit mellow as a song, but after the hyperactivity of Staring at the Embers that wasn’t as big of a negative as you’d imagine. It does remind me a little bit of Captain and Tennile (although I’ve definitely had fun times listening to them too). It is a bit yacht rock isn’t it?

    I Only Want to Know
    Then you have this kind of spiky song to follow up all that mellowness. I feel like this is a little attempt at kind of soul/funk but in a very Australian/NZ way. I get the concept and it doesn’t seem that foreign to me but it’s not Motown…I actually quite like the song but it’s definitely one of the weaker tracks on the album but a good contrast to the preceding 2 songs. I like Tim’s vocal on tis song.

    Growing Pains
    This is the one song on the album that I probably don’t particularly care for. It’s just a bit too trite, I guess. There’s nothing super wrong with it, it just doesn’t move me.

    Through the Years
    This is a song that is kind of timeless to me. It’s a bit more acoustic, and I just like the melody and the lyrics of the song. It was the perfect album closer. Love the video with (yet again) the Finn home videos incorporated. It’s actually the song I think that has travelled best over the years and I love listening to it. If I ever learn how to play guitar, this is the song I would learn. (It’s just playing in the background while I was typing this and I immediately started swaying to the song – it’s that good!)

    Below the Belt
    I consider this to be a bonus song because I’ve barely heard it at all.
    Very 80s synths involved here. Strange lyrics – it really doesn’t fit within the framework of Escapade. It’s just a weird song – I kind of feel it could have been sung by anyone and it’s kind of a negative set of lyrics. There are some touches of instrumentation that I like in this song, but in general I wouldn’t have turfed off Grand Adventure for this song….

    Side A is brilliant (if you keep Grand Adventure in place!). Side B not quite as strong. But a very strong opener and closer, in fact "Through the Years" might be the best song on the album (at least looking at it now). The great thing about Escapade is that it’s essentially an optimistic album. Tim had been through a rough patch (which he documented very well on Time and Tide) and I really feel as if this album is his life on the upswing. Ready to love again, ready to embrace life.

    Now for a score – there’s a lot of emotional baggage here and it has a time travelling element when I listen to it. It’s not a perfect album but it’s actually slightly better than I remember it – the high points are higher than I remember and there’s really only one song I would have deleted from the album.

    4.5/5 (I know that is way above the average for this album – I’m singlehandedly trying to make it rise in the rankings!)

    (It was interesting to read Lance's revised comments and to see the original song scores. Maybe you had to be there when this was released but this was a red-hot album at release and I actually think it's aged better than I remember).
     
  2. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    I loved reading this.
     
  3. KangaMom

    KangaMom Queen of the Quokkas

    Thank you Lance! I was worried that I was babbling a little bit (or a lot). Can you tell it's one of my favorite albums???:D

    Even I was ambushed by how many memories came flooding back the moment I started listening to the album. It is the great thing about music - it's so intertwined with our emotional selves and has the power to transport you to those memories in an instant. (Which is probably why they use it for memory therapy especially with elderly people).
     
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  4. KangaMom

    KangaMom Queen of the Quokkas

    I guess I didn't mention in my lengthy post above about the soul/funk dimension to the album. I know that this has been one of the criticisms of the album, that it's a dilute form of soul/funk - but I do think it has to be put in context. At least my memory of that time in Australia was that the majority of stuff on the radio was pretty straightforward rock/pop. In particular it was in a really golden age for Australian popular music (which was awesome) and the dominant form of Australian music was probably pub rock. And the market in Australia was pretty small (less than 20 million people, so not a super developed segmented market like the US where there was room to have country, R&B stations etc.) So, there weren't a lot of chances for teens to really hear a lot of soul or funk (it existed but my parents didn't have any of it in their record collections). And Tim spent a lot of time in his interviews mentioning what had influenced him - which just meant that for teens like me, we started trying to find that music. For me it was the entry to discovering Otis Redding and a lot of soul singers. I didn't see this album as a pale imitation, it was a gateway.
     
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  5. jimbutsu

    jimbutsu WATCH YÖUR STEPPE

    I went back through the Escapade comments from when we did it some two and a half years ago (my God...) - I have gotten a lot kinder with my scores as this has rolled on. A or "3" I gave Escapade is a song I enjoy a lot more than something that gets a "3" now in large part - maybe because I was tethered to trying to score whole numbers for a while, then gave up.

    Anyway, my point is - even if you weren't around for it, check out some of those older parts of the thread - it's a trip to watch the dynamics evolve, or the parts when people figured out they knew each other from elsewhere, etc...

    As for "Grand Adventure" -- it's missing in the US because it wasn't on the A&M release of the album for some reason. I want to say there might have been some other track differences, but I can't recall them if there were.
     
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  6. drewrclv9

    drewrclv9 Forum Resident

    Escapade is a good, though maybe a little watered down first solo effort from Tim. I have a bit of a hard time doing track picks from this album because everything’s about on par with everything else here. There’s no huge standout, but it’s all pretty consistent at least. I don’t loathe anything on this LP. For better or worse, though, literally every song ranges from 3/5 to 4/5 on a scoring scale.

    “Fraction Too Much Friction” is an obvious standout, and then there’s also “Staring at the Embers” and my personal favorite, “Made My Day”. For the extras, "Below the Belt" has a great backing track, but lacks any interesting melodies. "Another Chance" is decent, but there's something about it that doesn't sit right with me; the throwback style or something. Every other song on the album sort of just evokes an “oh yeah, that’s a pretty alright song” reaction out of me. That said, everything here is alright, but nothing moves me to write much more about the album.

    Overall a nice collection of Tim songs that certainly do fit a proverbial Tim solo album from this time. Nothing here really sounds like Split Enz to me, so I think the album does its’ job in separating the two entities well. I wish there were maybe one or two tracks that really floored me, but alas, we mostly end up with a collection of ‘pretty okay’ Tim songs.

    3.4/5

    Track Picks: “Fraction Too Much Friction” (3.8/5), “Made My Day” (4/5), “Staring at the Embers” (3.8/5).

    Low Points: “Wait and See” (3.2/5), “Growing Pains” (3/5).
     
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  7. KangaMom

    KangaMom Queen of the Quokkas

    I think that piano feel in "Fraction Too Much Friction" is really key to setting the feel of this song. I can definitely hear it as a Tim piano line, but I'm guessing Richard Tees and Ricky Fataar are really a big part of getting that feel. As you say, it's not really a song style of the Enz.
     
  8. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Below the belt was included on the American version but it was a B-side in Australia. Also the track listing is very different.
     
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  9. jimbutsu

    jimbutsu WATCH YÖUR STEPPE

    Yeah, see?
     
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  10. KangaMom

    KangaMom Queen of the Quokkas

    Yeah, I totally can only listen to it in the Australian/NZ track listing. Anything else just messes with me...

    I didn't comment on "Another Chance" because I remember it as a stand-alone single. Was it?
     
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  11. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    It was a B side.
     
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  12. KangaMom

    KangaMom Queen of the Quokkas

    Another Chance - it's not bad as a B-side. I must have had the single that it was the B-side for because I remember listening to it quite a bit. It's quite yacht-rock and not something that would be appropriate on Escapade as a whole but a perfectly good Tim song.
     
  13. KangaMom

    KangaMom Queen of the Quokkas

    In my opinion a huge mistake to drop it. It is a very interesting song and added a different style to the album. I see, though, that it wasn't very highly thought of during the first iteration of looking at this album (but then neither was Fraction Too Much Friction).

    (I like that little section at the end of the song during the fade-out where it seems like there is a little piano sing-a-long going on at the end...)
     
  14. ToneM

    ToneM Forum Resident

    Location:
    Birmingham, UK
    Today was my first listen to Escapade in many a year, and distance does indeed make the heart grow fonder. Or to put it more bluntly, it's not quite as bad as I remembered.

    Although I can see the appeal of Fraction Too Much Friction, I've always found its jauntiness grating. The histrionic Made My Day is a little less grating, strident and catchy to an extent. Not For Nothing is probably the album highlight, a sweet and simple ballad with a pretty melody that shines through. I'm less enamoured with In A Minor Key, although it has its moments.

    After this reasonably strong start, the album begins to slides downhill. The annoyingly clattering Grand Adventure sounds like someone throwing a kitchen cabinet out the window. Staring At The Embers and Wait And See both plod along simplistically in the verse and pick up a little by the chorus. I Only Want To Know would be a decent song without the sqeuaky keys and over-instrumentation. Growing Pains is a real low point, pure nursery rhyme stuff. The album ends on a joyous high though, with bouncy catchy throwback Through The Years.

    I might be barking up the wrong tree here, but under the 80's production I hear a big early 60's vibe in the songwriting. It's as if Tim, free of the pressures of his band, began harking back to the simpler songs of his youth. Coincidentally Billy Joel's retro An Innocent Man album came out the same year to great success. Maybe it's the 20 year repeating circle of musical influences at work, or perhaps I'm just reading too much into it.

    Escapade is an accomplished, slick, polished pop record containing some strong melodies. It's just a shame they're often obscured by too much cheesy instrumentation and unnecessary flourishes. I first heard this around 10 years after its release, and even then the production struck me as woefully dated, unlike the Enz albums from the same era. Beyond that gripe, it's tricky to put my finger on why this album's always fell flat with me. Maybe it's just too safe and middle of the road. Interesting to hear it again, but it's likely to be quite a few more years before I next dig it out.

    2.75/5
     
  15. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    One word: conflictingemotions. :)
     
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  16. ToneM

    ToneM Forum Resident

    Location:
    Birmingham, UK
    I hadn't really considered Conflicting Emotions production as dated (until now). A mess, definitely. There's your Thursday preview :)
     
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  17. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    It’s an interesting question.

    I’ve said before that I think “Love You Till the Day I Die” has a lot in common with “Dirty Creature.” Not as it was written (on mandolin) but the way it turned out in the studio. It’s got that same kind of blues structure and rock funkiness, even similar staccato piano.
     
  18. KangaMom

    KangaMom Queen of the Quokkas

    That's super interesting.. I love "Love you Till the Day I Die" but hadn't appreciated the similarities to "Dirty Creature" until your post which now seem quite obvious.

    (Conflicting Emotions - hmmm, yeah, I guess that will be an interesting discussion in a couple of days...)
     
  19. HitAndRun

    HitAndRun Forum Resident

    Escapade

    I see that I commented on this album but didn't vote. I suppose it's reasonable to give it more coverage now. I only skim read what I wrote before, so this is from a new listening.

    I bought this album on vinyl when it came out. I was a bit disappointed. I'm at work and Escapade is not on Spotify that I can find. So, I'm listening to out of order YouTube videos.

    Fraction Too Much Friction

    This is a catchy song and a deserved hit. Both in terms of the song and the video this was definitely a different Tim Finn from the one we knew up until then. It was a bit worrying that he was coming out with a solo album, and for me this song explained why he was doing it. I did still prefer Split Enz to even thing single.

    Made My Day

    This is another conventional but catchy song. Tim has always been a first rate pop melodist, and this is yet another great songs among hundreds of catchy pop songs in his oeuvre. But, I'm not sure that I can think of something very interesting to say about it. The middle 8 is nice, and contrasts well with the rest of the song. The marimba (?) solo is good. Xylophone? Synth? This song would make it onto an EP I might make of the songs I like best on the album.

    After all the listening to gruff Tim recently, listening to his pure and soaring voice here is great.

    Not for Nothing

    I haven't played the album much over the decades, and I couldn't remember this song at all from the title. Playing the song helps me understand that a bit. It's a ... song. But, I hear nothing very much that's all that distinctive. I think that there might be a half-decent song under the production, but the production is ... to be honest a bit boring. I was a bit relieved when it finished. I'm sorry, but I don't really want to listen to this the many times that might be required for me to like it.

    In a Minor Key

    This is very much as the title suggests. There is a nice melody here, but I find that it doesn't engage me that much. But, it's a much more natural sounding piano ballad than 'I Hope I Never'. Listening to it now, I appreciate it more than I did when I was a teenager. But, I think this song needs a more interesting arrangement to shine. Like it might have received if Split Enz had recorded it. But, I guess that was something Tim didn't want for it.

    Grand Adventure

    This starts off sounding rather interesting - but it does sound rather dated with the slap bass. It's an attempt for Tim to become more funky. But, I don't think it really works. I suppose Tim doing a solo album allows him to try different things. And, at least it's more adventurous (no pun intended) than something like Not for Nothing. I find it interesting and different, but it's not something I want to listen to a lot.

    Staring at the Embers

    This is probably my favourite song on the album. And apart from some production touches is maybe the most Split Enz song on the album. Great melody, and a nice if unadventurous production.

    Wait and See

    This is again a little middle of the road for me. But, at least it has a good and catchy melody. And, the rather middle of the road production doesn't lose the song. I wouldn't put this on an EP of my favourite songs on the album, but at least it's a good and enjoyable song. Again good to hear Tim's young voice on this. Perhaps his voice could have been more prominent. I'm trying to imagine how this would have sounded as an Enz song, and I can't really.

    I Only Want To Know

    I see that my back in the day review of this said it was a bit cheesy, which it is. However, I have always liked this track. It's cheesy, but at least melodic with it and the synth itself gives the song a bit of character. I can imagine a Split Enz version of this, which would be more distinctive. However, I think the quality of the song would mean that it would be on Frenzy or a b-side of a later album.

    Growing Pains

    Another song I couldn't remember from the title. On playing it, I remember the song. It again as a catchy melody, but is a bit simple and unsophisticated. The arrangement sounds a bit cheap and doesn't really help the song. The middle 8 of this is the best part of the song, but that isn't saying too much.

    Through the Years

    A nice song to finish the album with. I'm listening to a YouTube playlist that has FTMF, MMD, SatE, and TtY as the first four songs. Those are all my favourite songs from the album and I would be tempted to make an EP of just those songs. It's a pity that there weren't more songs of this melodic quality. Again a great middle 8. The saxophone solo is perhaps a bit normal but it's nice. The slap bass dates the song a bit. But, it has a great melody and the backing vocals are good.

    Below the Belt

    I'm not sure if I've heard this song before or not. I haven't played the album much even though I have the CD so it could be on my copy and I've forgotten it. The arrangement is perhaps slightly more Enzy than other songs here. But this, for me, has 'b-side' written all over it. The sax solo is very 80s.

    Overall

    Overall this album isn't really adventurous, as I said before. There are some good catchy songs, and good melodies abound. (It is a Tim album.) However, I think the production lets the album down from my point of view. It was a success, so perhaps the production succeeded in that way, but this is not really for me.

    I feel that this album is a bit less than the sum of its parts. And, its parts aren't all that wonderful overall. Perhaps this album is aimed at a different audience than me. It doesn't help that I was playing isolated songs on YouTube and when they finished YouTube would often play much better Tim songs.

    It's not terrible, but this album for me in in the lower regions of 'good'.

    3.3/5

    After reading a bit more above, I find out about 'Another Chance'. A Tim song I've never heard. It has a reasonable melody there I suppose, but I find the production way too tame for my tastes.

    Yes, the thread has been a bit of a grand adventure in itself! :) :) :)
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2021
  20. BeSteVenn

    BeSteVenn FOMO Resident

    I had seen copies of Escapade on Lp in the used bins for years and ignored it until I became a Crowded House fan and decided to take a chance on it. I really liked it on first listen and wished I'd bought it sooner. I have the Australian CD, bought for me by my father-in-law when he was there for a conference. I was surprised by the changed track listing, but not terribly disappointed, and actually pleased when I realized that it was stronger than the American record.The pop music on Escapade was lighter than Crowded House, but it has a nice poppy sound overall that would fit nicely alongside Something So Strong, Can't Carry On (US release) or Love You 'Til The Day I Die. Was Neil thinking about the success Tim had with this album when he was deciding about what direction he wanted to go to after Split Enz?

    01 - Fraction Too Much Friction - if this is one of the songs that the Split Enz voted down, I can understand why if it was presented to them in this arrangement. If it was drastically reworked, Tim, Fataar and Moffatt did a nice job of establishing a totally different sound, and while it's not my favorite on Escapade, it's a good starting song, really establishing a different identity for his first solo album.

    02 - Made My Day - It's not the greatest piece of songwriting from Tim, but it's a nice performance, and by no means as dire as some have said. It has a very nice melody and the chord progressions are simple but appropriate for this song. I like it just fine.

    03 - Not For Nothing - My favorite on Escapade, I love the mandolin so much that I started picking up Vince Gill albums when I've found them cheap. This is still my favorite Vince Gill moment. And even without that nice mandolin solo, I think it's a great piece of joyous songwriting. It might have made a good album closer, summing up his journey to a better place.

    04 - In A Minor Key - it's okay, it seems more like a songwriting exercise than a song inspired by something he'd gone through. But I do like it.

    05 - Grand Adventure - This sounds more like Split Enz to me than anything else on the record, and I think it sounds like very good Split Enz. If there is a recording of Split Enz doing it, I'd love to hear it someday.

    06 - Staring At The Embers - Tim doesn't get much poppier than this. I would rather hear this with some guitars with the keyboards, but the arrangement is part of the story, so I can enjoy it as is.

    07 - Wait And See - As others have said, it's pretty slight, but it's more than slightly pretty, I like it a lot. The piano solo might have been better on a real piano, Richard Tee was in town as mentioned elsewhere on tour with Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. It really has the Richard Tee sound. Simon & Garfunkel Setlist at Sydney Sports Ground, Sydney

    08 - I Only Want To Know - This sound to me like it could have been a big, big hit in 1983, it checks all the 1983 boxes as far as I can see. I mean that as a good thing.

    09 - Growing Pains - Yeah, it's trite-ish and the intro sounds more like Gilbert O'Sullivan than Tim, but I have a soft spot for some of Gilbert O'Sullivan's songs. Tim's voice is a little worn, I imagine this was done towards the end of the sessions and they might have been grasping for how to arrange it. And I definitely hear more than a tiny bit of With A Little Luck.

    10 - Through The Years - This sounds to me like it could have been a highlight of the album if it hadn't been added at the end, almost like an afterthought. It might have worked better at the end of side one, and put Not For Nothing or Grand Adventure last as the big finale.​

    Escapade is another record that I would give almost every song between a 4 and a 4.5, and a couple even higher. Tim's young voice is in good shape and his phrasing is very good throughout. I hadn't listened to it straight through for years, but when I did today, I enjoyed it, early 80s production and all. (I'm also a big fan of Press To Play, 80s sound doesn't bother me.) I think the sequencing is problematic, I can imagine they really struggled to come up with something that worked.

    4.5/5

    11 - Below The Belt - Because I heard the US record first, I never knew it "didn't belong" on Escapade. It's okay, but certainly not better than Grand Adventure. It doesn't really fit with the positive songs that made the original cut. As a piece of pop music, I like it quite a bit. As a piece of soul baring, it doesn't convince me. Somewhere along the way, I picked up a very nice sounding live mp3 of this, it doesn't add anything to the studio version except a couple of dire sax solos.

    12 - Another Chance - I have to say I don't really enjoy hearing Tim beg. Aside from that, I think the verse is quite nice. It's certainly for me the weakest song from the Escapade sessions and rightfully left off the album. A rewrite of the lyrics would have been a good decision, musically the song is okay.​
     
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  21. StefanWq

    StefanWq Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vallentuna, Sweden
    Escapade

    This was in fact the very first Finn studio album that I bought. I had bought the Chrysalis “best of” album Beginning of the Enz LP (with songs from 1976 and 1977) in August 1983 but was only a semi-fan until Escapade was released in Europe in circa March 1984. In Europe, the record label was CBS-affiliated Epic Records rather than A&M, I’m guessing this means A&M Europe actually rejected the album. Anyway, it was released in Europe in March 1984 and I remember finding out about it by reading the weekly record reviews in the newspaper that my family subscribed to. The record reviews were published on Saturdays and at that point in time I only read the newspaper on Saturdays and Sundays. On week days, my parents would pick up the newspaper in the mailbox when they departed for work, but during the weekends we’d have long breakfasts with each family member reading the various sections of the newspaper. I would always pick the entertainment section in order to read the record reviews. The paper reviewed Escapade very favourably, ending with the witty words “Finn Tim!” which translated from Swedish means “Find (discover) Tim!” Based on this review, I decided to buy Escapade (and in those days I had limited pocket allowance so I had to consider very carefully which albums I’d splash out my cash on, I could only afford about one album and a couple of singles per month). After I bought it, I played it non-stop for weeks and thought it was the best album I had heard. Conflicting Emotions was released in Europe a few months later (June 1984), I checked out that one as well and got it for my birthday in 1984 and then spent a few months listening to Escapade and Conflicting Emotions only, loving them both to bits.

    Escapade was highly successful in many European countries, at a time when A&M had rejected Conflicting Emotions (the release in Europe and North America in June 1984 was a good seven months after its Australian/NZ release, and after the success of Escapade in Europe), so it’s easy to see how that European success was a contributing factor to Tim leaving Split Enz in June 1984.

    Tim has done many albums better both earlier and later, but for me, Escapade was the true gateway into the Finn musical world so for that reason too the album is very special to me.

    I do prefer the European track order, partly because I think it flows together much better than the original Australian track listing, partly of course because that’s how I first heard the album and am used to hearing the album.

    Fraction Too Much Friction
    A great album opener, sounding very different to anything Split Enz had done and showing a new side of Tim’s music. The song keeps building, with wonderful piano playing, drumming and the subtle synthesizer and brass parts blending well with that. It really swings with its reggae-ish vibe. The overall sound of the song sounds very natural and organic and as a whole it doesn’t sound like any other song I can think of.
    I’ve read that Split Enz tried this song during the True Colours sessions, but I can well understand why it didn’t fit onto that album (or Waiata or Time and Tide for that matter).

    Staring At The Embers
    To my ears, this is the most Split Enz sounding song of the album. A very immediate song that still sounds great from start to finish. Super catchy. The synthesizers are prominent here and they have a slight sense of wackiness, making the song sound unique. I imagine this would also sound special if done by a string quartet. The sax parts are surprisingly good too (or, not so surprising that the very talented Joe Camilleri and/or Wilbur Wilde give their sax playing a lot of character, but compared to sax solos on other early ‘80s albums they are surprisingly good). I also like how the song builds in intensity towards the end of the song.
    The extended mix of this song, released in Australia and Canada, is very good too.

    Through The Years
    A fabulous song. Nice to hear some acoustic guitar on the album. The song has a 50s/early 60s retro vibe done in early 80s style, suiting the lyrics. Even though the sax solo sound typical of a lot song from the early 80s I think it fits in well here. The whole song is irresistibly catchy and backing vocals are top notch.
    This was the second single off the album in Europe, the only territory where the single had a picture sleeve I believe. The B side was “Grand Adventure”, so us Europeans got the chance to hear that song too even though it wasn’t on the LP here.

    Not For Nothing
    One of the album highlights in my opinion. Tim’s soulful singing is top notch. I like the optimism and joy in the lyrics and musically the blend of the restrained synthesizer and the more expressive mandolin works a treat. The mandolin solo is the icing on the cake. I also think the song works very well following “Through The Years”.

    In A Minor Key
    A classic Tim piano ballad, with his voice in top form. At the time of when I bought the album in 1984, I had not heard any of his other piano ballads so had nothing to compare it with. I thought this one was stunningly good. He put so much passion and commitment to his vocals and the song is really intense. Even now, many years later, after having heard his other piano ballads I rate this very highly, in that category of songs I rate it higher than “I Hope I Never” for sure and it’s up there among the very best (“Semi Detached”, “Bon Voyage”, “Carve You In Marble”), in the top group right after the masterpiece “Stuff and Nonsense”. One detail about “In A Minor Key” is that just when you think the song has finished, there is a second of pause before the final few instrumental seconds are played. Wonderful!
    In Europe, “In A Minor Key” was released both as a standard 7” single (backed with “Not For Nothing”) as well as a double 7” single also featuring two live tracks, “Fraction Too Much Friction” and “Below The Belt” (there was also a 12” single with the same four tracks). Very nice!

    Made My Day
    This was the first track on side B on the European edition of the album. I think that works very well, following the contemplative mood that closed side A, to then have a few moments to let that song sink in and then have this song give the album a new energy boost as you continue with side B. A very catchy and immediate song an obvious choice for a single. Great backing vocals by Venetta Fields. The song itself is rather ordinary by Tim’s own high standards, but it has such a sense of euphoria that it is enjoyable anyway.

    Wait And See
    As a stand-alone track, this doesn’t work that well for me, sounding way too much like background music. Lyrically I think it’s full of clunkers. The only saving grace is Tim’s singing really. However, having said that, I think this song works quite well as a bridge between the euphoric “Made My Day” and the intense “Below The Belt”.

    Below The Belt
    Musically this is a pleasant, laid-back track, close to sounding harmless, but with a good melody and very sophisticated musicianship. Tim really put a lot of empathy and commitment to his vocals here, with a lot of raw emotions, and that makes the song a special.

    I Only Want To Know
    This used to be my favourite track on side B and possibly it still is. While it borders on being a bit vanilla, I think it is playful enough to stay on the right side of that. I also like how Tim’s singing starts off sounding polite and conversational and then gets more passionate later in the song. When I listened to the album again today, after not having heard it for quite a long time, this track sounds really fresh.

    Growing Pains
    This is a song I used to like, finding it very catchy and immediate and a great album closer. Unfortunately for me, I no longer hear what I once thought was so good about it. It is still very catchy, but once you’ve heard it a few times it doesn’t reveal any new layers, it’s kind of like a fluffy chewing gum that loses its flavour rather quickly.

    plus

    Grand Adventure
    As has been mentioned upthread, this song was removed from the European edition of the album, though musicians Phil Scorgie and Doug Lacey who play on it are still credited as playing on this very track. I remember going through all the lyrics to see if any of them might feature the words “Grand adventure” and it was just a typo in the credits. The song was issued as a B side on the European “Through The Years” 7” single though.
    I think this is a quite interesting track with an experimental feel to it. It is very different to all the other tracks on the album and perhaps not an immediate track, but it is certainly a grower, a song that keeps fascinating. The rhythmic patterns give the song a sense of enigma. I can imagine this was a real treat if it was played during the brief Escapade tour. I can also imagine that it could have been a stand-out track in dance clubs. Still, if the record companies outside Australia and New Zealand had to throw one song out to accommodate “Below The Belt”, I think they should have dropped “Growing Pains” instead of this one – “Grand Adventure” would have been an excellent album closer.

    Another Chance
    I saw that this song got a poor response when Escapade was first discussed here on the forum thread, getting a 1,9/5 rating. That seems overly harsh in my opinion. While it certainly is no masterpiece, I think it’s definitely a quality B side. The instrumentation in the verses, with piano, the prominent bass and the percussion, is very classy, but the synthesizer in the chorus sounds very much of its time. Very nice piano solo in the middle and great singing by Tim. If Escapade is ever re-issued on CD, I hope the record company find it in their hearts to make sure this song is given… another chance. I’d give the song at least 3,5/5.

    Before today and yesterday, I hadn’t listened to Escapade in a long long while. I remembered how strong side A was but thought side B was a bit weaker, slightly vanilla-ish. Hearing it again I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the album as a whole. I have a feeling it benefits from having had that time off from my stereo and perhaps if I was to listen to the album five times a week it would quickly lose its flavour, but I reckon if an album sounds this good, at least if you let some time pass between listening sessions, it does have a lot of quality.

    I rate the album (with the European track order) 4/5.
     
  22. KangaMom

    KangaMom Queen of the Quokkas

    It's interesting that even though the sequencing for the Australian and International/European versions is so different, the net result is that Side A is the stronger side! I personally think that both track lists, kind of front load the album no matter what. On the Australian version it's having Fraction and Made My Day together, whereas the Euro version has a pretty stacked Side A.

    Since I never heard Below the Belt until recently I can never consider it a true Escapade song, but I guess from an international perspective the same could be said for Grand Adventure (well, and y'all know how I feel about Grand Adventure!)
     
  23. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Definitely. I think the reason I prefer the international version is that by putting "Made My Day" on Side 2 it strengthens the side a bit -- it's a great opener after "In A Minor Key."

    I'm totally with you on "Grand Adventure", it's one of my favorite tracks on the album and I think it deserved to be there: I think I like it more than "Below The Belt", personally.
     
  24. KangaMom

    KangaMom Queen of the Quokkas

    Yeah, I think I agree with the fact that Made My Day is a really good opener. I don't mind it being where it is on the Australian version (and it's really the only tracklist I've ever known), but there's no doubt that it's a stronger/catchier song than even Staring at the Embers which did open Side B on the version I know.

    Last night I went back and re-read the initial run-through of Escapade on this thread. It was interesting reading. I was going to say that you could draw some conclusions from it but, nah, you really can't. My own affection for the album is based on being on the spot when it was released (and perhaps being the target demographic in that I was young). I like it's slick pop sensibility - but it probably did erase some of the Enz quirks (although perhaps not notably Tim's phrasing and theatrical tendencies). Time and Tide was a real high water mark and Escapade sounds nothing like it. Maybe that's the source of the disappointment...

    I actually think if they had left Grand Adventure on the album, more Enz fans may have liked it (but maybe not - it seems a lot of people didn't like it's busyness). To me it sounds a little like it could have developed out of the Waiata sessions. Of course, that may be why they left it off the international versions - to do a complete break with that.
     
  25. KangaMom

    KangaMom Queen of the Quokkas

    I guess I mentioned earlier that Below the Belt has some really negative lyrics (I think) which kind of don't fit in with the sunny optimism on Escapade. That's probably my other prejudice against it (not just that I haven't heard it as much). Grand Adventure is full of optimism - that lyric "Nothing gained if nothing ventured" is kind of symbolic (or at least it seemed that way to me when I was a teen. The solo album was a bit of a risk for Tim).

    (Yes, I'm aware that this is a cliche lyric, but it really did speak to what this whole album was).
     
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