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

Lucky you!

 

I have seen Liam open for CH before and was very decidedly not impressed. I am trying to keep an open mind. As I said in a previous post, I am approaching this evening with trepidation.

 

My sister was quick off the mark and has a front row (center) seat! As usual I'll live vicariously through her description (and pass it along to you all). She has her priorities straight, she's now planning her long awaited overseas travels to start after this concert...

 

Was going to make the drive to Red Bank and see the boys tonight. Kid issues derailed such plans. Bummed. I haven’t missed a Neil or CH American tour since Woodface, and that includes Pajama Club. Neil live has been a repeated presence in my life since I turned 30, and I’ve watched us both go gray over the years. I’ve been super lucky to live near a concert hub for U.S. tours, come to think of it, so rather than feeling depressed I should be grateful. However…I could be wrong but I get the feeling it will be their last over here, and that is hard to miss.

P.S. The setlist at the Washington D.C. show on May 21 was stunning. Are they making shows available to purchase? I haven’t seen any mentioned anywhere but I certainly could have missed it.

 

A couple of shots from tonight’s show in Red Bank. Thoughts about the show at some point over the weekend, and possibly a video or two if they came out well.

 

In 2005, author Debbie Kruger published her book Songwriters Speak. Conversations about creating music in which she interviewed a huge number of Australian/NZ songwriters about songwriting. Both Tim and Neil are included, each getting an extensive chapter. Other songwriters included in the book are Mark Seymour, Paul Kelly, Kasey Chambers, Martin Plaza & Greedy Smith (Mental As Anything), Iva Davies (Icehouse), James Reyne, Deborah Conway, Colin Hay, Christina Amphlett (Divinyls), Rob Hirst & Jim Moginie (Midnight Oil), Andrew Farriss (INXS), Nick Cave, Harry Vanda & George Young, Archie Roach and many more. It is an incredible book in every way possible, highly recommended!

This book will be re-published worldwide by Bauley Bay Books on June 1 and also available as an eBook. Further details:
Songwriters Speak (debbiekruger.com)

 

awesome. Thank you! I've been wanting that book so bad since you first mentioned it ten years or so ago on this thread.

 

By the way, it's Neil's birthday.

 

We sang Happy Birthday to him at the show tonight!

I really need to go to sleep now.

 

Great photos @brownie61 - thanks for sharing!

Also thanks @StefanWq for the tip off on Songwriters Speak! I've also wanted this book badly!

 

My review of the show in Red Bank last night (where I got to meet up with the very nice @brownie61 and chat during the intermission):

I never saw the original version of Crowded House live, but I did see the first reunited version three times, and Neil solo a bunch. I've never seen a bad show from Neil, and this was no exception, but while this show was really good, it did not reach the heights of some of those other shows.

Liam opened the show with his solo act. He is a very talented musician and a good songwriter, but he was too unfocused to make the most of his 30 minute opening set. He kind of jumps from one thing to another without any noticeable connection (to this listener, anyway) so while I really enjoyed a couple of his songs, and he is a charming performer, the set never built to anything, losing energy whenever he would get distracted by whatever gadget or thought entered his mind or head. He spent five minutes of the set hawking his vinyl from the stage (note to Liam: play a song or two in that time, and sell the vinyl after the set, when the crew is breaking down your equipment.)

Today's Crowded House is, of course, a different band than the one from 2007 - 2011. The last time I saw Neil solo, in 2014, Sharon played bass, and he was joined by Liam and Elroy for the encore; this Crowded House is a continuation of the Finn Family Band, plus Nick Seymour and Mitchell Froom (and some guy on percussion hiding behind scenery.) All of the players are very talented musicians, and Neil was still loose and funny, interpolating portions of, I believe, 3 songs from The Sound of Music at various points during the show, and even attempting an a capella version of "Italian Plastic" (a paper plane suggestion) during the encore. But he mostly played acoustic guitar or rhythm electric, handing most of the leads over to Liam, and while Liam was great, I missed Neil's lead playing a lot.

As for the songs themselves, they played mostly material from the first four albums, three Split Enz songs, and some new songs from the most recent album and, I believe, some newer unrecorded material. I have not listened to the new album, because the first singles did nothing for me, and Neil's last two solo albums were complete snoozers for me (and the two CH reunion albums were no great shakes either), and I was not particularly impressed by the new songs. They were fine, but not memorable in the context of the old CH and SE songs. The catchiest of them was actually sung by Liam. As @brownie61 mentioned to me, Neil has not been particularly interested in writing "Neil Finn songs" for a while, but what he has come up with instead is just not compelling to me.

The audience can make a big difference in how a show goes, and this was very much an older crowd, who were mostly subdued, though they did join in singing along to the hits. The highlight of the evening for me was a gorgeous version of "Distant Sun". I enjoyed the show a lot and was very glad I went, and my criticisms are really quibbles compared to how much I got lost in the music.

 

Which three? “I Got You” “Message to My Girl” and “Missing Person?” Those are the three I know theyve done recently.

 

"I Got You", "Message to My Girl" (the only song Neil played at the piano), and "One Step Ahead" (that was a paper plane request).

 

My thoughts on the Red Bank show are very similar to those of @pocketcalculator , who I am so glad to have finally met in person after years of chatting with on various SHF song-by-song threads.

Liam’s opening act was pretty good compared to how I felt about it in 2007. He has matured a great deal, is definitely a better singer, but I think he is always going to be someone whose personality puts me off. His first song was great, although I can’t tell you what it was. setlist.fm says it was Helena Bonham Carter, but that was not the first song. He is extremely talented, but as @pocketcalculator said, he is not focused. His shtick of putting a box of his vinyl records on the floor at the front of the stage and urging people to come up and pay what they want was a nice gesture in a way, but was incredibly distracting. Liam continued with his set while people were coming and going grabbing records, which made it very hard to pay attention to Liam if you were near the front.

As for CH, as far as I was concerned, it was like Neil Finn and Nick Seymour with 4 sidemen, two of whom happened to be Neil’s sons. Elroy and Mitchell were silent throughout, and most of the banter between Neil and Liam was centered on dad/grand-dad jokes.

Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the show, and Neil still has whatever magic he has that holds me spellbound. They played three songs I did not recognize, and setlist.fm tells me they are called Life’s Imitation, The Howl, and Oh Hi. None of them were memorable. I also did not think any of the Dreamers Are Waiting songs were improved by the live performance. They all kind of plodded along in an okay but unmemorable way.

Having said that, the timeless Crowded House songs are still amazing. My favorites were When You Come, Private Universe, and Better Be Home Soon, but I truly loved them all. Neil’s voice was incredibly good, even on Edelweiss. God bless him for still sounding so great at 65 years old.

It was a truly magical evening and I will be forever grateful to fate for somehow putting me in a front row seat in front of Neil.

 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018891954

Great new interview with Tim!

 

Tim confirming here that the second Forenzic album will not cover the later Split Enz period. Caps off at Frenzy. Eddie putting the final mixes to it.

 

Except for Double Happy where apparently they've added lyrics and melody to the track....

 

I haven’t been able to listen to the radio NZ interview, yet but here is a shortish article with Tim:
Why Tim Finn is finally 'relishing' his new beginning

Ill post this week’s album in a little while.

 

Also an interview in the Australian. It's behind a paywall though. So maybe someone can send me a copy?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.th...ws-story/347e228f360bce206d184d5ac4e477d4?amp

Tim's been busy, obviously.

 

This week's album is Deadstar by Deadstar.


Deadstar was a band formed by Australian alternative rock singer Caroline Kennedy of The Plums on vocals and guitar, Barry Palmer (of Hunters & Collectors) on guitar band bass and Peter Jones (of Crowded House -- The York Street Sessions) on drums. Nick Seymour played bass on two tracks and joined the band for a tour in 1996.

Deadstar was their debut album, released in October 1995. Nick Seymour played bass on two tracks, and later would tour with the band.

The tracklist was:

1. Going Down
2. She Loves She
3. Sister
4. Valentine's Day
5. I Got Your Number
6. Dead Star
7. Put Me Back Together
8. My Best Friend
9. What's Eating You
10. The Dress Looks Better On me
11. Another Sunny Day
12. Wristwatch
13. Apologia

While Deadstar's two subsequent albums do stream in Europe, their debut does not so I can't provide a link.

 

Our votes for Another Life
1-0
2-0
3-1
4-4
5-0
Average: 3.88

 

We'll do the three Deadstar albums -- I have the last two, but not this first one -- and Eddie Rayner's new album with that band he was in in the 70s......name escapes me now...and after that I may do some select songs exclusive to Fangradio -- one song per week.

We know that Forenzics has a new album complete, Crowded House's new album is "almost complete" and Liam will probably do his album after the tour. So there is much to look forward to in Finnworld.

 

One album that might also be worth discussing is "Handheld Torch" by the Australian group Tarmac Adam, released in 2003. Nick Seymour and Paul Hester both play on the entire album (no other bassists or drummers were involved) and Nick was also one of the producers and co-wrote a few songs. I think this album streams on Spotify.

 

ok!

 

can someone help me with the Finn Bros Tabac Shows? I had them but had a computer issue and lost them.....can't find online...it would be much appreciated! ThankS