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

The melancholy piano composition that opens and closes this song is a gorgeous piece of music in and of itself, while the pop song in between is as about as perfect as arty synth-pop gets.

The Marble Mix is even better: while the drum machine in the album mix doesn't really detract too much from the song -- I like it, oddly --, with the drums and percussion mixed completely out, the song achives an eerie, arty beauty.

However, the Marble Mix lacks the piano composition, which is essential for me.

Tim Finn notably wrote this song without the help of Jeremy Brock.

I assume that the song is about his then-girlfriend Greta Scacchi. Tim here self-consciously connects himself with a long line of artists who have immortalized their muses in art. It's a very Romantic, idyllic notion. The lyric might be a little too romantic and even pretentious for me if it were not wedded to one of the greatest melodies Tim had ever written, the kind of melody that gives me chills; but it is, and somehow the lyric and melody are perfectly suited to each other.

AS Paul H said above, "the cold, glassy production utterly suits the song" and I agree. The arrangement is uncharacteristically spare (for this album).

Both mixes get a 5/5 from me.

I slightly prefer the album version because I love that piano composition. In an ideal world, we'd get the Marble Mix with the piano composition.

 

I actually quite like the piano intro for this one, but that might be simply because it isn't blighted by any of the production issues that affect the rest of the album.

The song itself sounds like many others from the era (it is very similar to some songs from around around this time by Black/Colin Vearncombe, for example), and that bass really does place it firmly in the mid-80s.

I don't think there is anything particularly interesting about either the music or lyrics and I'm not surprised that it wasn't a big hit.

Another 2.5/5.

 

Song-wise, this is a simpler song than many, with a straightforward romantic lyric. The melody is nice, and if produced in say a 'Tim Finn' (album) style would be a standout.

With the TBC production, and on the album, it gets submerged a bit. Melodically, Tim was running on full cylinders for the album but the lyrics and production let him down. This song is, in my opinion, a victim of that. E.g. why do so many songs on this album have exactly the same synth bass sound?

The quality of the song gets it a:

3/5

The production isn't too bad, but my decision was between a 3/5 or a 4/5, and a better production would easily have got it the higher grade.

 

"Carve You In Marble" was my favourite track on the album when it came out. Might still be. "No Thunder No Fire No Rain" had a lot of airplay in NZ but I can't recall any other tracks getting much.

 

Fun video!

 

Carve a you ain a marble gets a 3/5 from me. It is a fun video. Good to see one going against the fashion of the times. I mean, they are dressed just so normal.

 

I wonder if Tim spent some time working out how to sing along to the song backwards.

 

Carve You In Marble is my favorite song on the album. Fabulous vocal. And I’m a sucker for the lyric.

4/5.

 

“Carve You In Marble” is a solid track with a pretty melody. I love the way it opens with the piano, although the transition to the very period sounding synth bass and drum machine is too sudden. The rest of the song is unfortunately rendered more generic by the aforementioned bass/drum track. I still like the song but think a different, less synth heavy arrangement would have served it better.

I have never heard the “Marble Mix” that was included on the 12” single but it sounds as if it might be more to my liking. I couldn’t find it online anywhere unfortunately.

3.8/5

 

Uhhhh..... 3. It's fine. I just don't know what to say with this tune. I feel like it HAS to be viewed as an artifact of the time it was produced to have a real shot at being appreciated.

 

I agree with HitAndRun and robcar about the arrangement/production spoiling "Carve You In Marble". I think the song melodies on their own (underneath the extraneous Nick Launay bits) are very good, and would have fit nicely onto the "Tim Finn" album in the vein of "Not Even Close" or "Show A Little Mercy".

So it's one of my favourite tracks on the album, 4/5

 

I've now heard the "Marble Mix" and would give it a slightly higher 3.9 rating. I prefer the song without the intrusive rhythm track.

 

I need to go out - to meet a friend from New Zealand no less - so will post before Lance's post.

Water Into Wine

I don't like the lyrics of this one. Which is a pity as the melody deserves more. The spoken word bits don't really work for me. I feel the concept is overdone with the unsuccessful criminal begging his girlfriend not to go.

The best thing about it is the backing vocal for the chorus which is a great hook, in my opinion. But, the song suffers from 80s production overload and a lyric that weighs it down.

A miserly 2/5.

 

Our votes for "Carve You In Marble"
1-0
2-0
3-4
4-3
5-2
Overall average: 3.7111

 

Today's song is "Water Into Wine", written by Tim Finn and Jeremy Brock.

Spotify:

Water Into Wine

"Water Into Wine" features rhythm guitar by Phil Judd.

 

Another song from a member of the "tribe from the simple streets."

This song hearkens back to Tim's goofy "loser" characters that he was fond of writing for in 1979-1981. ("I See Red", "Nobody Takes Me Seriously""Clumsy", etc),

Here the "loser" narrating the story is a down-on-his-luck small-time criminal who is attempting to woo his girlfriend in a train station by telling her of his new position as a smuggler and potential bank robber working for the relative masterminds Billy and "a guy that Billy met". Meanwhile her brother waits outside, threateningly, in his "Escort '85", blaring his horn, convinced that the loser/criminal is just lying, as is apparently typical.

I like the detail of the Escort '85. I googled some photos of it and it's pretty unsexy. The lyric is actually kind of amusing. The opening is unfortunate, as it reminds me a bit of the opening of "Conflicting Emotions", to date the lowest rated song on this thread. Lower than Mr. Catalyst!

The chorus is really catchy, and has a strong hook, and the guitars by Phil and the other guy are nice and oddly (for this album) not too busy. The spoken word bits in the verses don't really work for me, but they don't ruin the song for me, either.

But in the end, the song is definitely fairly slight. I can wring some enjoyment out of it so I'll give it a 2.6. Part of me feels like Finn/Brock were hoping for a slot on Miami_Vice though, and wrote a song to order.

As a side note Finn/Brock have now written songs to both Cathy and Cecilia. Who do they think they are, Paul Simon?

 

This whole tune strikes me as cheezy - from the scream at the beginning, to the talkin' lyric, to the "hahh-hahh-hahh" backing vocals...

The music, like some of the others, reminds me of tunes that play in the background of other videos. Today's tune brings to my mind images of a sizzle reel for a new mall, and imagery rife with "cool" kids just a'hangin' out, probably in Hypercolor shirts.

I'm torn here because while I think it's quite terrible, it's also somehow listenable... but, I have to go 2/5 thanks to my commitment to whole numbers in this exercise.

 

hahahaha! I can see it, acid-washed jeans, Saved By the Bell haircuts...

 

“Water Into Wine” does not work for me at all. Yes, the chorus is catchy but the lyrics are abysmal, which takes away from the music for me. Tim doesn’t really have the right voice for the spoken word segments. The sax only adds to the cheese factor.

2.7/5

 

I really don't like anything about "Water Into Wine" but the only slightly interesting aspect for me is that the chorus reminds me of a Phil Collins song - not any specific song, just in general, in the way Tim half shouts "Cathy don't go" and the instrumentation at that point. A generous 2/5

 

The opening to this one reminds me of Turning Japanese...

I can agree that it is quite catchy, but the lyrics are pretty weak and the production is pure cheese.

2/5.

 

Our votes for "Water Into Wine"

1-0
2-4
3-2
4-0
5-0
Average: 2.2167

 

One thing I realized about "Water Into Wine"is the religious symbolism of the title: like "Searching the Streets", this is another example of Finn/Brock's theme of misplaced spirituality.

 

Today's song is "Hyacinth", written by Tim Finn and Jeremy Brock.


Spotify: Hyacinth

"Hyacinth" features guitar/sitar by Tim's former collaborator Phil Judd , harp by Skaila Kanga - and backing vocals by Mark McGann. (Is this the same as the actor director? Mark McGann)

 

This song is a gentle breath of fresh air amidst the harsh, angular, neon-lit textures of Big Canoe. And it seems to open with what sounds like a sighing breeze. The melody is exquisite, the arrangement, with its gorgeous harp and played-down rhythm section, just about perfect. There's still a digital coldness to the sound, though, I suppose but that's all but unavoidable in the late eighties.

This is basically a love song, of course. In literature the hyacinth usually symbolizes springtime and rebirth. Like "Carve You In Marble", the song is essentially a Romantic one. Finn/Brock cast the narrator as some kind of hero, a sailor, a knight of old fighting "stupid battles" and setting "stupid sails" in order to prove himself worthy of the idealized woman he is singing to.

Brock is not as articulate as he could be, but I feel there's some depth here among some of the clumsier lines; the comparison of the woman to nature, the allusions to insects and wind: the whole package of the song, words wedded to music, is sort of reaching for Shakespearean sonnet territory. Lyrically if falls far short of that, but overall the song succeeds mainly because of the delicacy and sheer loveliness of the music. And the music is what keeps it from being as cloying or cheesy as the similarly-themed "Glory of Love", the Peter Cetera smash that was released at about the same time.

This is my second of my three 5/5s on this record.