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

Here is a very good clip I just found on YouTube, Split Enz (with both Tim and Paul in the line-up) performing "Kia Kaha" at the New Zealand Music Awards in 1984, with the haka performed by a group of Maori dancers:

Split Enz Kia Kaha: 1984 - YouTube

 

Can I address this matter? I wrote about it before back in the day, but I think it bears repeating:

I don't see the Crowded House version of "I Walk Away" as being a mere remake. I see it more as a sequel, even though it's the same song. I believe that one of the themes of Neil's side of See Ya Round is "moving on, with optimism." Even "Breaking My Back" says "a fool aspires to raise himself out of the mire".

I believe that by announcing the end of Split Enz, he was excited about the future, indeed, he may have felt free: the future was wide open. And I think that's what both this song and "Voices" are about: about going into an uncertain future with optimism, hope and energy. Following your muse and trusting that all will be well.

Fast forward two years: Neil's nearly broke. He's blown his savings on recording demos and flying around the world trying to get record companies interested in his new band. He's toured Australia with his band and NOBODY came to see his shows. He's had to resort to joining a cover band that did Monkees and Led Zeppelin covers along with a few originals, sponsored by a whisky brand -- while he was very ill.

He's got a young baby at home, and he's had to spend months and months and months away from his family in LA, where everyone kisses your ass but no one cares.

The only person who might understand his situation is on the other side of the world and dealing with issues of his own.

When I listen to the Crowded House version, I don't hear optimism, or walking into the future with eyes open. I hear fear, desperation, anger. (haha. The Dark Side of the Force.) I see the song on Crowded House as being that optimistic upbeat dream of the See Ya Round version, twisted into fury and fear: I think, in some ways it's the most important song on the album: and the in the climax, elevates the "Just a slave to ambition, tension, your permanent condition" to the heart of the song (it's just another line in the Split Enz version.)

So I see both versions of the song as being absolutely necessary and important expression of Neil's mid-eighties states of mind. I know that this was just a bonus CD-only track in Australia, but I think it's one of the most important songs on the album.

As for preference, I suspect that has to do with which one you've heard first, judging from opinions I've read on this thread, but I think they are both very important tracks.

 

What does this mean? I thought he was saying "bare slacks". Which of course makes no sense.

 

Daks is a slang word for pants, as in trousers.

 

Ah.

 

100% spot on analysis. I think this is why I have such a hard time listening to the Crowded House version. What was once a song that was looking to the future with optimism (and everyone had seemingly come to terms with that path) had become kind of crushed under the weight of expectation (and ambition). Of course, I think there's also a verse change in the CH version so there is that.

I did hear the Enz version first and actually didn't hear the CH version until fairly recently (hence my surprise!). I had the Australian versions (vinyl, cassette) of the debut and I don't think it's on those versions - I could be wrong about that because neither of those made it to the Northern Hemisphere and I can't seem to find my CD version...so I am stuck with the US iTunes version.

 

That whole section probably makes waaaay more sense now....

 

No you’re right. The Aussie vinyl and cassette lacked “I Walk Away” while the American (etc) lacked “Can’t Carry On.”

CDs everywhere had both.

 

Aaack - really? I love Can't Carry On....weird choices.

 

Just note that this is slightly slower than the actual speed of the song. The actual speed is somewhere between 1x and 1.25x (probably like 1.1x, but YouTube doesn’t have an option for that…). It might not sound like it because of the speed, but that is Neil on the first verse and in the chorus.

 

Thanks @drewrclv9. That's a catchy song there. Did Noel really write the music - it sounds very Schnell Fenstery. In a good way.

 

I’m going to add this song to the list of “leftover” tracks that I want to go over. I was never aware of it!

 

Yeah that’s what the credits say at least. It is a really good one, and for how much I payed for it in 2017 ($68 USD), it better be!

@Lance LaSalle yeah it’s a neat little combo of the ‘84 Split Enz lineup and Schnell Fenster! Plus a couple other vocalists too, of course.

 

See Ya 'Round--Not sure whether or not I rated this way back when, but wanted to jump in just in case I hadn't. I'm probably the only one in this thread (and possibly the world) for whom this is my favorite Split Enz album by far. Part of that is I'm just a far bigger fan of Neil's voice and songwriting than Tim's, and on this album we get not only a lot more of Neil, but I also think the quality of his material is more consistent than on other SE albums, where he usually has two great songs and rest are fairly forgettable (aside from Time and Tide, where Tim sings the one standout song for me, though Neil contributed to its composition). I also think "This Is Massive" is fantastic, so basically all the vocal songs are strong for me on this album, and while the instrumentals aren't as good, they don't detract much from the overall experience for me: 4.5/5

 

See Ya Round

This album wasn’t released in this part of the world and as there was zero information about Split Enz in the media here, I didn’t even know it had been released or that the band was breaking up. In March 1986, I visited Paris with my parents and in a record store I found a copy of The Living Enz, which I didn’t know existed until the moment of finding it. On the back cover of that album, it mentioned that three tracks were from See Ya ‘Round. It was exciting to find a double live album by Split Enz and it was exciting to learn that there was a studio album I didn’t have. So I started looking for it, first during the remaining days in Paris and then in Stockholm. First stop was an indie record store dealing with imports who stocked many other records released by Mushroom Records. Clearly they had a channel of communication with Mushroom and I naively thought it would be a matter of just adding a copy of See Ya ‘Round the next time they put in an order with Mushroom. I went up to the counter to enquire about this, but clearly the guy there found my question very offensive: “That band is on a mainstream label (A&M)!! Ask at any bloody mainstream store!” was his answer. Trouble was of course that said mainstream label (originally an indie label started by two musicians) hadn’t released this album in Europe. Credit where credit is due though – while customer service wasn’t his thing, he was at least aware of Split Enz and what labels they were on.

I then found a mail order company called Kangaroo Rocks who according to their own ad specialized in importing all sort of records from Australia. I phoned them and the guy answering was delighted and very surprised to get a phone call. “You want to order records via me? Wow! I’m delighted!” He was truly happy and promised to order it for me. When I hadn’t heard anything back a couple of weeks later I phoned them again and found out they had gone out of business.

The next mail order company I found had an ad saying “We import records from anywhere in the world! Ask us, nothing is impossible!”. I naively believed that, got in touch and put in an order for See Ya ‘Round. I phoned a week or so and was told “Yes, the record is on its way. It’s at my distributor’s, so it should be here soon.” Wow, the record was already at his distributor’s office. Even if that may be in Sydney or London, at least a physical copy was on its way and it might be a matter of days or, at most, a couple of weeks. I phoned again a week later and was again told “It’s at my distributor’s, so it should be here soon”. I phoned again on a weekly basis during the next couple of months and always got the same tiresome answer. After two months of these phone calls, I looked up their address and together with a friend decided to go there and confront the guy. We took the subway far out into the suburbs, walked a long distance and ended up in a rather rough area with ugly high-rise buildings and no shops in sight. We found the address and a sign on the door saying the mail order company’s name. I rang the doorbell and the guy I had spoken with on the phone several times opened. We could see what the office looked like – a basement room with one table, one chair and a couple of empty boxes. The guy himself wore a dressing gown and seemed to have just woken up. There was no sign of any mail order business happening at all at this place. I told him about my order for See Ya ‘Round and enquired what the order status was. The answer was, surprise surprise, “Yes, the record is on its way. It’s at my distributor’s, so it should be here soon”. I was sick of that guy who had wasted so much of my time but told him to call me when the record got in. Unsurprisingly, he still hasn’t called back.

After this, several years went by. I looked for it everywhere I went, contacted other mail order companies, asked friends who went to London to look for it, asked my father’s colleagues who went on business trips to Australia to look for it, but no success. In the meantime, Crowded House was released, Temple of Low Men was released, Tim Finn was released, the first Schnell Fenster album was released, the first The Makers album was released and See Ya ‘Round became like a Holy Grail, seemingly impossible to find. In 1990, my best friend (a keen record collector himself and also a Crowded House fan) went to New Zealand as an exchange student. I asked him to look for it there, he looked for it in every record store he went to and finally – towards the end of the year – he managed to track down a copy of the LP and brought it home. By this time, in early 1991, both Woodface and the second Schnell Fenster were due to be released soon, so See Ya ‘Round was already a very long time ago by the time I got hold of it. And I didn’t know until I got my copy that Tim wasn’t on it – as he was on The Living Enz and had been on Conflicting Emotions I had just assumed that he was on See Ya ‘Round as well.

The unfortunate aspect of having spent such a long time looking for the album everywhere and in every possible way was that the search for it had caused so much disappointments that I wanted the record to be the masterpiece of masterpieces to compensate for all that. It isn’t and it took me quite a long to warm to the record, but when I got past that it became a real grower.

Breakin’ My Back
A very strong track which sounds like a real band effort, with everyone committed and pulling in the same direction. There is real resolve in the music but I’m less enthusiastic about the lyrics. To me they have a mix of resolve and restrained anger, but also self-criticism, self-pity and a level of martyrdom. Perhaps all of those emotions were experienced by Neil during the final year of Split Enz and in particular during the three weeks that went by between Tim leaving the group (June 16, 1984, according to Mike Chunn’s book about Split Enz) and Neil announcing to the others that he would quit too, which would end the group as we know. (Several years later, a friend sent me copies of the fan club newsletters from 1984 and actually the fan club sent out a newsletter during those three weeks, saying that the band would recruit an additional guitarist as replacement for Tim but that they hadn’t yet decided who the new member would be; then in the next newsletter it was announced that the band would end and were now busy recording a farewell album). So in that sense the lyrics might be a true reflection of state of mind, but there’s just something about them that lessens the impact of the song for me.

I Walk Away
I first heard this song on The Living Enz, then Crowded House’s version and then this version much later. A fitting farewell song on a final album. I agree with Lance that the Crowded House version seems like a darker sequel. Both versions are very good but for me the song has much more power and resonance on the Crowded House version. This version is strong and catchy though and the “manic strings” keyboard intro and outro gives the song a lot of character. I think this should have been the first song on the album, it loses some of its punch being the second track and also being followed by “Doctor Love”.

Doctor Love
This is a quite fun track, though it seems out of place after the first two tracks and before the next three. It’s as if this one and “Kia Kaha” accidentally switched places. The lyrics are a bit so-so and the title isn’t that original, but I think the music for this song is better than it first appears to be – when I first heard this track I thought it was somewhere between a typical B side track and a decent filler. To my surprise, it’s better than I remember it. The backing track is very rich in details, in particular the percussion adds a lot to the song. I’ll upgrade my opinion of this song to “solid album track”.

One Mouth Is Fed
This was in fact the second single from the album, but as far as I know it has never been included on any of the compilations. I don’t think I’ve heard any live versions of this song. I’ve just seen the video clip for it, have never seen that one before, nice. As a song it has a lot of restrained intensity in the verses and the chorus is quite catchy. I like the percussion parts and how they add drama to the song. I’m less keen on the backing vocals. To me, they distract rather than improve the song.

Years Go By
Another song I first heard on The Living Enz. It’s a bit of a lost classic I think, the verses in particular have a haunting melancholy and a sense of mystery. In a way I hear this as a kind of sequel to “The Devil You Know”, the life situation for the narrator of that song, wanting to make a change in his life but not yet finding the courage to do so, has here been resolved – “fear and doubt no longer harbour lies” and the narrator is moving on. However, I do think the lyrics here are more vague, and not in a truly interesting way. To me, it seems like Neil was grasping to express something in the lyrics but didn’t quite get there and left it as it was (the song is credited to both Neil and Eddie, but since Eddie is nearly always writing instrumentals I am guessing that he didn’t contribute to the song’s lyrics). The production also sounds very dated now and I can only imagine how it might have sounded if Mitchell Froom had been the producer.

Voices
An excellent song and superb choice as closing track on side A. The instrumentation is exquisite, with the sophisticated drumming and piano playing and the beautiful sax solo by Wilbur Wilde (who also guested on Escapade). I also really like the vocal harmonies which sounds very Finn Brothers-ish even though I know Tim is not on this album. Is it Neil who sings both lead and harmony vocals? Very good lyrics, with the first verse being about wandering through a library, a confined room full of books about history (the past), and in the second verse the narrator is wandering through a forest, unlimited nature, wide open spaces with trees having grown for years (the present and the future). This really should have been the closing track of the whole album, not just side A.

The Lost Cat
A fascinating instrumental. I like the eerie atmosphere and can imagine this would work well as a piece of music in a horror movie. Not sure about the guitar part though, it sounds like something that was added as an afterthought.

Adz
Before hearing this song, the only solo composition by Nigel that I had heard was the truly awful “Livin’ It Up” on the A&M edition of Frenzy, so my expectations were low… but this one is really good and fits in well as a Split Enz song. The intro is rather long though, but once the song gets going it’s a well-written and memorable pop song. On the strength of this song, I later checked out the album Restless Night by Nigel’s pre-Split Enz group Octopus. In that group, Nigel was the main songwriter and vocalist and Malcolm Green was part of that group too. Their one album was first released in 1971, several years before they joined Split Enz, and is an excellent psychedelic Beatles-ish pop album. Highly recommended!

This Is Massive
I had heard many later live versions by Crowded House of this song, but I do think I prefer this original studio version. He really could write great songs too, though he wasn’t as prolific as the Finns, and he sings very well too. Very catchy song with irresistible energy. I’m not sure what the lyrics might be about though.

Kia Kaha
This was the B side of the “Message To My Girl” in both Australia and Europe, but I first heard it on the excellent The Collection 1973-1984 compilation (Split Enz – The Split Enz Collection 1973-1984 (1986, Vinyl) - Discogs). I think this is a very good song, with a unique blend of sounds – the keyboard, the acoustic guitar, the flute (a real flute or a flute-sounding keyboard?) and the chanting in the background during verses and then of course the haka in the middle. A very NZ song and in a way it sounds like a blend of the 1973 acoustic Split Ends and the 1983 technology-interested Split Enz. A real highlight in the Enz catalogue and a song that I think deserved better than first being relegated to B side status and then issued on an album that initially was only released in three countries.

Ninnie Knees Up
I first heard this song on The Living Enz and was totally baffled. It’s very weird and I got a “perhaps you had to be there” feeling. I imagine that at a Split Enz concert, with them in costumes and when the concert has built up some momentum and energy, it must be cool to see Noel coming down front and performing this, but without that visual aspect this is too weird for me. As a trivia note, Noel first released a different version of this song as the B side of his 1983 solo single “My Voice Keeps Changing On Me”. So there are three different versions of this song – the original B side, the See Ya Round version and the live version of The Living Enz – which is quite enough, thank you.


See Ya ‘Round is not the best Split Enz album. I think the production sounds very dated, very 1984, in a way that no other Split Enz album does, and I also think the track sequencing is less than optimal. By having the new Neil tracks on side A and one track by each member on side B it becomes, as Lance put it so well, more of a double EP than an album. I think it would have been better if the tracks on side B had been spread around the album and if the album had started with “I Walk Away” and finished with “Voices”.

Having said that, I think See Ya ‘Round is ultimately a very good album with only one track I find very difficult to listen to. The rest are very well-written and the record is also, along with the Mullanes demos on the Deluxe Edition of Crowded House, very interesting as stepping stones between Conflicting Emotions (the last Enz album to be released in Europe) and Crowded House.

Overall, I rate See Ya ‘Round 3,9/5.

 

Speaking of The Living Enz, let's go ahead and do that today. And then the next album (Big Canoe) will be on Tuesday.

The Living Enz was a double live album recorded mostly on Split Enz's farewell tour (Enz With A Bang) in November and December 1984. Tim returned to the band for this album.

It was released on Mushroom Records in December 1985 in Australasia alone: it reached #9 on the New Zealand album chart and #88 on the Australian.

We did not go through this album song by song originally, but here's the album discussion.

The trackless was:

1. "I Walk Away" (Neil Finn) – 4:43
2. "One Step Ahead" (N. Finn) – 3:34
3. "Bold as Brass" (Tim Finn, Robert Gillies) – 5:34
4. "Ninnie Knees Up" (Noel Crombie) – 3:39
5. "I See Red" (T. Finn) – 4:15
6. "Message to My Girl" (N. Finn) – 4:27
7. "I Hope I Never" (T. Finn) – 4:52
8. "Dirty Creature" (T. Finn, Nigel Griggs, N. Finn) – 5:57
9. "Hard Act to Follow" (T. Finn) – 3:08
10. "Time for a Change" (Phil Judd) – 3:57

Disc 2

1. "Strait Old Line" (N. Finn) – 4:16
2. "Walking Through the Ruins" (T. Finn) – 6:41
3. "Pioneer" (Eddie Rayner) – 2:01
4. "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" (T. Finn, Split Enz) – 5:23
5. "Take a Walk" (N. Finn) – 4:20
6. "Small World" (T. Finn) – 4:57
7. "Lost for Words" (T. Finn, Griggs) – 3:42
8. "Years Go By" (N. Finn, Rayner) – 4:17
9. "Charlie" (T. Finn) – 5:47

 

Our new and old votes for See Ya 'Round:

1-0
2-0
3-2
4-5
5-1
Average: 3.6875

 

Albums ranked.

See Ya 'Round adjusted. The rating score changed from 3.175 to 3.6875. The ranking changed from #45 to #33.

Similar irregularities may exist in the early Betchadupa's albums: Aiming For Your Head, might be an accurate score, but on the earlier albums and EPs, some refrained from voting, thus skewing the scores slightly.

I may give some time for whole album discussions of the early stuff at least, later on in the year.

Green: abums with Tim and Neil
Orange: Neil Finn
Blue: Tim Finn
Purple: Tim Finn/Phil Judd albums
Magenta: Liam Finn albums
Grey: Neil Finn and sons albums
Light blue: elroy
YELLOW!!!! HARPER FINN (RUNNING OUT OF COLORS)

1. Everyone Is Here 4.975
2. Woodface 4.8033
3. Together Alone 4.7333
4. Time And Tide 4.7
5. Temple of Low Men 4.5577
6. Dizrhythmia 4.5333
7. True Colours 4.5125
8. Frenzy 4.4944
9. Before and After 4.4667
10. The Rootin' Tootin' Luton Tapes 4.42
11. Mental Notes 4.3
12. Caught By The Heart 42571
13. Second Thoughts 4.2438
14. Crowded House 4.2142
15. Imaginary Kingdom 4.2042
16. Try Whistling This 4.2
17. The Conversation 4.1727
18. Time On Earth 4.13
19. Say It Is So 4.055
20. I'll Be Lightning 3.9889
21. FOMO 3.9625
22. Tim Finn 3.9429
23. One Nil 3.9
24. The Fiery Maze 3.9
25. Finn 3.889
26. Beginning of the Enz 3.8667
27. Out of Silence 3.85
28. The View Is Worth the Climb 3.84
29. Waiata/Corroboree
30. Feeding the Gods 3.833
31. COLLECTED WORKS OF HARPER FINN 3.8101
32. The Nihilist 3.7778
33. See Ya Round 3.6875
34. Intriguer 3.6615
35. Conflicting Emotions 3.62
    
36. Suzanne Bartsch On Top soundtrack 3.6 (only two votes)
37. The 3d EP 3.5667
38. Aiming For Your Head 3.5333
39. Dreamers Are Waiting 3.5269
40. Escapade 3.495
41. The Alphabetchadupa 3.28
42. Lightsleeper 3.2385
43. Pablo Vazquez 3.1825
44. Big Canoe 3.16
45. Rain 3.083 (song average)
46. Dizzy Heights 3
47. Altitude 2.9714
48. Pajama Club 2.89722
49. Steel City 2.82
50. Betchadupa 2.8
51. Elroy 2.644

 

Wow, that's dedication to the cause

 

I stand by all my statements and ratings about this album I made in 2017, except the too quiet part. I think the old one I had in the US was defective as I'd have to turn my stereo all the way up and then it still was way too quiet. I have an (illegally obtained download, but it's not exactly available) digital copy now that sounds fine, and I prefer the sound to the later overly loud live albums (though loudness doesn't generally bother me too much on live albums, after all they were probably 500 times as loud in concert.) I also sheepishly withdraw my comments on the 2016 Crowded House remasters, which are definitely too compressed (though Temple of Low Men is a little less shrill.)

This is a good live album and maybe it is the best live album they did (there is also Anniversary, it's expanded version Extravagenza, One Out of the Bag, Live Alive Oh (disc 2, as disc 1 is just Anniversary rereleased in original mix (weirdly.) Ridiculous amount of live albums really, but I wouldn't mind having more....from the old days in particular.

I'll go over Anniversary/Extravagenza again in this sub-discussion at the proper time but probably won't hold the others up again as I think most of you were here for that, but I'll end up adding those to the "list" above.

 

I have enough time today to make a rough schedule of how this thread will go in the next few weeks:

first the album re-recaps for the New comesers

October:

• 26th Big Canoe
• 28th Crowded House
• 30thth The Les Patterson Long Player (Tim Finn soundtrack, not rated at all here)
• 31st: Temple of Low Men

November:

• 2nd Tim Finn
• 4th Woodface
• 6th Anniversary/Extravagenza
• 7th Before And After
• 9th: Together Alone
• 11th: Altitude
• 13th: Finn
• 14th: Recurring Dream live album/Farewell To The World
• 16th: Steel City
• 18th: Try Whistling This
• 20th: Afterglow (not rated at all here)
• 21th: Say It Is So
• 23rd: Betchadupa/The 3d EPs
• 25th: One Nil/One All
• 27th: Feeding The Gods
• 28th: Everyone Is Here
• 30th: Imaginary Kingdom

I think at that point all of the "new comers" will have been caught up.

Then starting on December 1st I will go over the following songs on a day-by-day basis:

December 1st:

• Platform 3 (by After Hours)
• St. Teresa (By After Hours)
• Snake Charm Boogie(by The Nineez)
• Judy (by The Nineez)
• Untitled 2 (by The Nineez)
• Snake Charmer (by The Nineez)
• Outa Mongolia (by the Nineez and by Split Enz)
• Bergan Aan See (by Split Enz)
• Sooner The Better --Split Enz
• You and your Long Lost Lover -Split Enz
• How Come -Split Enz
• Family Way - Split Enz
• Nothing Lasts -- Tim Finn demo
• Country Girl (Barry Humphries, Tim Finn) from les Patterson saves the world
• Showgirl (Tim Finn) -- from les Patterson saves the world
• Hacia El Sol (Tim Finn) from les Patterson saves the world

The Les Patterson soundtrack is problematic: it's got 14 songs and Tim is credited on every one at least as co-writer. But I'm frankly suspicious of some of those credits, the other writer on a lot of them is somebody named Michael J. Kenny. I suspect that Kenny wrote most of those. The soundtrack is credited to Tim Finn. But Tim Finn's website (which was gone last time I looked) said that Tim "contributed to the soundtrack of Les Patterson Saves the World." So I don't want to hold up the Michael J. Kenny songs as I am not sure if Tim really had anything to do with them and they are not that good anyway. Or rather, they don't really call for discussion just like, IMO the instrumental tracks on Rain and Suzanne Bartsch: On Top don't call for individual discussion.

But the above three are certainly Tim Finn songs that I skipped during discussion because it was quite negative and dismissive and it was depressing me. "Hacia El Sol" is particularly a good one. They don't all stream, but...you know. ;-)

After that I will start holding up albums as mentioned earlier of Other Enz and fan club records once per week (two per week for the fan club albums). Starting with Restless Night by Octopus (Nigel Griggs and Mal Green's pre-split Enz band) on the 20th.

 

Brainwaves – Brainwaves (1986, Vinyl)
click on more images to look at both sides of the sleeve and the a and b-side labels.

 

See Ya ‘Round –At first I was surprised by the love shown for See Ya ‘Round, especially the admission that it might be @NorthNY Mark's favorite Split Enz album. For me it’s the strongest set of Neil’s songs on a Split Enz album, but the album does suffer a bit from not having any contribution from Tim, unless one takes into account that it is the first step toward Crowded House, and then it works marvelously as an album. Neil’s songs here to me have more in common with the Mullanes demos than with Conflicting Emotions and support the notion that Neil could lead his own band and not just inherit someone else’s abandoned group. Neil worked hard on this record, and I have to admit that some days I prefer it to the other Split Enz albums, I certainly listen to it more and I rarely skip a song. I guess that says it all.

I see I’m too late to rate See Ya ‘Round, I’d have given it a 4.5/5

Breakin' My Back – Great song, I’m just not sure that it’s the best choice for a lead-off track. I like that Neil’s songs on See Ya ‘Round have a coherence of sound throughout the record. There clearly was a vision for the originally envisioned Ep.

I Walk Away – This should have been the lead-off track, but maybe they thought it was too obvious a choice and too strong a statement to start things off. This is among my favorite three Split Enz songs written by Neil, I can’t really choose a favorite. Neil sings it with passion and energy. I really love it. I first it on that Split Enz video compilation not too long after I first heard the Crowded House revision and immediately preferred it. That video shows how Split Enz never lost their visual side mojo. 5/5

Doctor Love – Neil’s weakest song on See Ya ‘Round, but I still like it.

One Mouth Is Fed – I like that Neil is beginning to examine bigger issues, his admission that he leads a privileged life is a nice alternative to the usual rock star complaints about how hard their life is.

Years Go By – Another great song, which had Eddie’s section from Mr. Catalyst grafted seamlessly into it. Another one to love.

Voices – A great side closer, and an excellent song in general. It’s too bad that some of these songs have been “lost” over the years.

The Lost Cat – As a cat person (sorry Neil), I think this works really well to describe how a cat explores. But that’s just me. I don’t think it goes on too long, it has a nice variety of moods and melodies.

Adz – Nigel had been in the business longer than anyone in Split Enz, it must have been very frustrating for him to not place more songs with Split Enz. Not up to the level of Neil’s or Tim’s songs, but still very worthy of having a place on the record. It sounds like it fits, too. Eddie and Neil do nice work in their supporting roles. I wish there were two Nigel songs on the record.

This Is Massive – somewhat disturbing subject matter aside , another song that deserved its place on See Ya ‘Round.

Kia Kaha – I really like this song and listen to it often, I’ll repeat my comment when I said a few words about it for Conflicting Emotions. My younger son took a course in world music and he had to bring in a song that had both western music and traditional music in it, I suggested this song, 20 year-old men think their dads are weird.

Ninnie Knees Up – Well, this is odd and very different from what one usually calls a song. Maybe that’s why it it’s a fitting end to the Split Enz story.​

extra-album tracks/outtakes, demos -

Your Inspiration - it’s good that Neil harvested the different parts of this song for other songs. While there is a lot here I find interesting, it doesn’t hang together very well.

Love And Success - Again, it’s good that Neil deconstructed this and rebuilt other songs from the raw material here. When I first got the Rear Enz set, I tried to take out what went into I Walk Away and Can’t Carry On and edit together what was left into a coherent song. I didn’t have the skills or the time to do it at the time. Maybe I’ll try again sometime in the future.

Big Heart - I wish this had been more fully developed in a studio version during the Enz era, I like it

Mr. Catalyst - I never have been able to get past the strange title/theme of this song when I’m actively listening to it. When I have it on in the background, I like it. I think a more finished version would have fit onto See Ya ‘Round very nicely.


Overdrive - this goes on longer than it needed. As with all Eddie instrumentals with Split Enz, I like it a lot. I think it could have made a good track if someone had been able to write lyrics for it.

Serge - Neil sounding more like Elton he ever would again, and as a heavily-influenced-by-Bernie-lyric, it’s not bad. Neil sings it with conviction, and it’s interesting to hear him with a string quartet (octet?)​

The Coca Cola Kid – for song credits, see here: The Coca-Cola Kid (1985) - Soundtracks - IMDb

Home For My Heart - This is great, and one of my favorite Tim songs. It was nice to see that it was produced by Phil Manzanera. It could have been a huge song had it gone on See Ya ‘Round, instead of being an obscure single track from a rather poor movie. The top British session musicians do a nice job, but the backing lacks the passion Split Enz would have brought to it.

Strange Night - A piece of music made just for the movie, but it does have what Crowded House would have been had Neil chosen Nigel as the bass player in Crowded House.

Coca-Cola Jingle - This is excerpted throughout the whole movie, which I found on VHS back in the late 90s for just a few dollars. I watched it and was not entertained. I found the DVD at a thrift shop not long ago for $2. I still haven’t gotten around to watching it, which says a lot, as there is a studio scene with Tim, Paul and at least a couple of others in the shadows.​

 

I agree that Split Enz would have brought more character to “Home For My Heart” but Manzanera’s guitar at the beginning is so beautiful. We rated this song while I was on vacation in Croatia in 2019 and it seemed to me that the light glinting off the sea there was the perfect sort of visual compliment to that guitar figure in the opening.

 

OK, I just listened to The Living Enz again, and it is very quiet: but only "Message to My Girl" and "I Hope I Never" are "too quiet". They really are quiet, I think the CD is just really lazily mastered, just right off the vinyl. Its not a deal breaker though.

It is a wonderfully dynamic album overall though, and you can tell there are no overdubs or anything. Just editing of between song sections and some songs doubtless cut, of course. A few of the songs seem, inexplicably ,to be from the Time And Tide tour. I guess they just wanted to include those versions. I wonder if they were considering doing a live album after Time And Tide?

I could imagine it having better sound but it's great. The version of "I See Red" here is the best one. It has a guitar freak out at the end (Noel, I think just making noise.)