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Neil & Tim Finn - Printable Version

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Neil & Tim Finn - CRAZY-HORSE - 05-07-2011

NEIL & TIM FINN

this dissection of the works of The Finn brothers will include all of their solo albums, the
albums they have made together as a duo, Neil's charity albums with his all-star band
"7 worlds collide" with Eddie Vedder,Johnny Marr,Jeff Tweedy(of Wilco) amongst others,
and the works of Neil's son Liam who is a respected musician in his own right,
especially amongst the members and fans of London's new folk movement.
do not expect their material to be similar and 'poppy' like Crowded House, or as
eclectic as that of Split Enz, as these guys change styles and sounds with every different
change in their careers.
some of their material is very good, some good and other tracks/albums downright
aweful IMO!

a couple of tasters to show what is to come:


[video=youtube;d3T4kyPI0Ac]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3T4kyPI0Ac[/video]

[video=youtube;3naSMLjjhEE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3naSMLjjhEE[/video]

[video=youtube;cHfU48ARFmE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHfU48ARFmE[/video]

[video=youtube;NSDig28w56k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSDig28w56k&feature=fvst[/video]

[video=youtube;LeozOgS8t7E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeozOgS8t7E[/video]


Neil & Tim Finn - CRAZY-HORSE - 05-07-2011

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TIM FINN "escapade" 1983.

this one is the first solo record Tim Finn released, it came at a time when Split Enz had released Time And Tide and seemed to be going places in Europe and starting to really break in the US, however TF had other plans and they didnt include his bandmates.
i have always found it hard to explain this one to myself...as there are some genuinely nice pop moments on here and also some downright horrible tracks also, which are made worse by the use of those cold,hard 80s synths.
the lyrics are for the most part simplistic for Tim's usual intelligent,cryptic songs and lack substance even on the best songs here.
some of these tracks date back several years and obviously werent good enough for The Enz and/or didnt fit the Enz formula.
five singles were spawned from the album(tracks: 1,2,4,6,10) which are the best ones on here, and they show a more 'positive' sounding Finn than his dark Enz songs.
overall it is very patchy work and only worth purchasing for a discount price and only for the linked songs.

I ONLY JUST LIKE THIS ALBUM!

tracks:

1. fraction too much friction**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAqmHgL8lmM video
2. made my day**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aetg9T-I_Q video
3. not for nothing**
4. in a minor key**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HToipvOiqIQ live
5. grand adventures*
6. staring at the embers**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkPdqNoNAPM video
7. wait and see*
8. i only want to know*
9. growing pains**
10.through the years**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRV-BTqgFLo video

3s=0
2s=7
1s=3

rating: 1.7

Neil & Tim Finn - CRAZY-HORSE - 06-07-2011

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TIM FINN "big canoe" 1985.

like all truly great artists there are bound to be very average albums...and the Finn Brothers are no exception to the rule.
although this is a stronger album lyrically to the previous one and Tim's vocals are very good as usual, what lets this one down nowadays are those horrible electronic 1980s drum sounds, it let the last album down by several points and does the same here...probably due to the fact that Tim had relocated to London at this stage and was absorbing the UK sounds of the day.
and although it lacks the several catchy tunes of the first album it is a more mature effort, especially the lovely ballad "so deep", which unfortunately there is no link for...and again there are several fillers on this one by Finn's standards.

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

tracks:

1. spiritual hunger*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a0us5_yTLs video
2. dont bury my heart**
3. timmy**
4. so deep***
5. no thunder no fire no rain**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfBi17Ow5Cs video
6. searching for the streets**
7. carve you in marble*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_oOZz--Xfg video
8. water into wine*
9. hyacinth**
10.big canoe**
11.hole in my heart**
12.are we one or are we two*

3s=1
2s=7
1s=4

rating: 1.9

Neil & Tim Finn - CRAZY-HORSE - 06-07-2011

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TIM FINN "tim finn" 1989.

Tim Finn's third, and only two years away from creating the glorious "woodface" with brother Neil in Crowded House.
this one is Tim bearing his soul from a lost marraige,feelings of betrayal and distrust and generally feeling down within himself.
there's lots of nice melodies on this one and his vocals are getting more confident with this fairly sparse sounding record.
"how'm i gonna sleep" is the pick of the bunch on this one...but at least there are no dud tracks on it,just a nice consistant album.
unfortunatley fans had all but deserted his solo records at this stage as they started to swing towards the classy pop sounds of Crowded House, his live performances were still gaining crowds though on the back of his past outings.
ive just noticed in the ratings though that with each release they are gradually getting better.

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

tracks:

1. young mountain**
2. not even close**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXbzf9xayro video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojozsqR8lPQ&feature=related live with Crowded House
3. how'm i gonna sleep**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdqD0eV2TmE video
4. parihaka**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omiKJ_eDAMU audio
5. tears inside**
6. birds swim fish fly**
7. suicide on downing street**
8. show a little mercy**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDQOO-vK0PQ live with Crowded House
9. crescendo**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjwKB2oKlgg audio
10.been there done that**

3s=0
2s=10
1s=0

rating: 2.0

Neil & Tim Finn - CRAZY-HORSE - 06-07-2011

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TIM FINN "before and after" 1993.

inbetween this one and the previous effort, Tim reunited with Neil to work on a duo album, which eventually became Crowded House's "Woodface" album, he completed a tour with the House and again went back into the studio to record this one.
...and its quite a good album,several great Finn tracks here, the best is the lovely lornful ballad Persuasion and the upbeat Funny Way.
Neil Finn co-wrote two of the tracks here in #'s 3+9 and provided backing vocals on both.
not much wrong with this one except that there are about seven different producers at work on various tracks which does make the album sound like a collection of good songs rather than a concise album, other than that little hiccup the tracks are well written and performed, his best solo tracks up to this point...i guess working with Neil again helped him excel once again.
when i rated this one i thought that the mark might be a touch on the high side so i checked allmusic and they rate it 4/5 which equates to 2.4 which is even higher than my mark....so i'll stick with my original score.

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

tracks:

1. hit the ground running**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtW9rosjJlI video
2. protected**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X4d_FIHJAk live
3. in love with it all**
4. persuasion***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4MR4I5jsBo video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QkNE4qMUkw live
5. many's the time (in dublin)**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPyI49ldPl0 live
6. funny way***
7. cant do both**
8. in your sway***
9. strangeness and charm**
10.always never now**
11.walk you home**
12.i found it**

3s=3
2s=9
1s=0

rating: 2.2

Neil & Tim Finn - CRAZY-HORSE - 06-07-2011

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FINN BROTHERS "finn" 1995.

i guess it was almost inevitable that Neil and Tim would eventually do something together after reuniting for Woodface and Neil co-writing a couple of tracks for Tim's previous release, but i also guess that no-one would have predicted it would happen so soon, especially after Crowded House were doing amazing things worldwide just the previous year and a bit ago.
its amazing how these guys bring out the best in eachother...like John and Paul i guess. and this album with the pair working together is no exception.
its not exactly a commercial pop album as you would expect but is is full of great melodies and the harmonies that they achieve together work fantastically.
there's the heavy compressed deep bass sound of 'Niwhai', the tropical island sounding 'Paradise', the story of Tim felling off a pushbike on a gravel road whilst on holiday in 'Road To Raratonga' and of course the very McCartney-esque "last day of june"....Neil Finn actually does Macca better than Macca does sometimes(and im a big fan of him also!)
elsewhere its full of some of the best acoustic harmonising tracks you are likely to hear on one album,certainly up there with S&G IMO.
go get this one, you wont be dissapointed!!

footnote:i saw the Finn Brothers play live back in '95 at an ampitheatre that holds about 1000 people,the stage was set up like it would be for a band,but it was only Neil and Tim on stage,they switched instruments for every track ie: one on drums the other on paino, next song, one on acoustic guitar the other with marraccas or tamborine...or one on piano,the other electric guitar etc...it was great seeing these multi instrumentalists do that as they rework their songs...and all in 40C/103F heat with no shade for 2hrs, simply awesome performance!

I LOVE THIS ALBUM

1. only talking sense***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWXfdXMb-uU live
2. eyes of the world**
3. mood swinging man**
4. last day of june***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHfU48ARFmE audio
5. suffer never**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vK-fLPrPSM live
6. angels heap***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exm4MixX4Vw&playnext=1&list=PLBF00B40031A2700F live
7. niwhai***
8. where is my soul**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfjS0T4iQ9E audio
9. bullets in my hairdo**
10.paradise**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGzKoxMIzTY audio above two tracks
11.road to rarotonga***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s7QZOwFbEY audio

3s=5
2s=6
1s=0

rating: 2.4

Neil & Tim Finn - CRAZY-HORSE - 07-07-2011

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NEIL FINN"try whistling this" 1998.

five years after the last CH album and three years on from the critically acclaimed Finn Brothers album Neil Finn finally releases his first solo record.
this one is about as far from the catchy tunes of Crowded House as is possible and takes a few listens to sink in fully...and yes it was a deliberate strategy in order to not be compared to his previous bands.
the music is atmospheric and the lyrics stirring,requiring thought and intense listening.
only the single "she will have her way" is really radio friendly here, and it is very Beatle-ish in its overall sound. elsewhere we have "twisty bass" which is unlike anything Finn has done before...full of feedback and distorted vocals!!, then there is "loose tongue" a genuine rock track with great guitar work. perhaps the most outstanding track here though is one for which sadly there is no link...the sublime "dream date" which owes a lot to the sound Lennon was getting on tracks like "isolation" in the early 1970s, Finns song is not forced or un-natural in order to achieve that particular sound,its all genuine.
"sinner" is a semi-autobiographical look at his strict Catholic upbringing....something both he and brother Tim comment on in songs more as the years pass.
all in all its a very unusual album for a master of three minute pop songs to release and well worth seeking out.
strangely though, i checked allmusic for their opinion on this one and they rate it 4.5/5, which equates to 2.7 on the MHRS(music head rating system) which is actually a bit higher than my mark...so i guess im not being biased with my rating.
amazing!! the two tracks that i really wanted a link for havent got them!!!!

I LOVE THIS ALBUM

tracks:

1. last one standing***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qdgeuTUW58 live
2. souvenir**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYnAyk0iLhc audio
3. king tide**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q3tfcFNg4g&feature=related live
4. try whistling this***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xWYPES7wgc&feature=related live
5. she will have her way***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKw1ZZ3I5I8&feature=related live
6. sinner**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2gFAZSz6N8&feature=related live
7. twisty bass***
8. loose tongue***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89vqJJ8REY0&feature=related live
9. truth*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFj34u7eICs audio
10.astro***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHNM8rvFSOo&feature=related audio
11.dream date***
12.faster than light**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IYN7injwQA&feature=related live
13.addicted**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI7aQ-CqXJg&feature=related live

3s=7
2s=5
1s=1

rating: 2.5

Neil & Tim Finn - CRAZY-HORSE - 07-07-2011

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TIM FINN "say it is so" 2000.

seven years since his last solo effort and big brother Finn has no recording contract so he funds the album himself and one of Sony's smaller independant labels puts this out for him.
this is a mature TF looking back for his most personal effort to date and he has finally stopped trying to write hit singles and just concentrate on making a good honest album, it succeeds in some respects as with the music and lyrics but Tim Finn is still trying to not sound like Tim Finn but rather trying to be something he isnt, gone are the odd double meaning lines and subtle humour that has been a mainstay of his style for almost twenty years and in comes someone who looks like Tim Finn.
that said, this is not a polished-produced effort, rather a slightly under produced album that benefits from his increasingly mature hoarse vocals, and gone are the several dud tracks that usually make up his albums(there's only one dud here),there are orchestral,string arrangements on this one...but as with all his material, including most of Split Enz back catalogue it still takes several listens to appreciate this album fully.
oh yeh, almost forgot..the video for "death of a popular song" was banned here in Oz back in the day as it shows Finn being killed in a drive-by shooting,,,pathetic really what with all the violence on tv and in the movies????

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

tracks:

1. underwater mountain**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kVl2zqHUgI video
2. shiver**
3. good together**
4. road trip**
5. currents**
6. need to be right*
7. twinkle**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWmrhc_Q4D0 video
8. big wave rider**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICoW-J4uTvo&feature=related video
9. death of a popular song**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LntbQ43OCw0 video
10.some dumb reason**
11.rest**

3s=0
2s=10
1s=1

rating: 1.9

Neil & Tim Finn - CRAZY-HORSE - 07-07-2011

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NEIL FINN "one nil" 2001.

the correct title of this one is actually "one-neil", a play on the one-nil sporting score, but someone stuffed up the plates in the print department and left out the "e",thus one-nil, by time the mistake was realised tens of thousands of the cd booklets had been printed as was the cd's and vinyl albums... but Neil Finn being the generally easygoing guy that he is expessed his dissapointment but accepted the wrong title as being a good omen!....no mistake with the US title though of "one all".
this one tends to stay to the laid back nature of the slower Crowded House moments...a lot more folky sounding in style, than his previous solo album and includes seveal guest appearances by Sheryl Crow who supplies vocals on tracks 8 and 11, and various instruments on a couple of other tracks. the Dixie Chicks co-wrote track four with Finn in what is a lovely little ballad.
this album once again shows the quality of Finn's writing skills that have earned him praise from the "who's who" of rock royalty and in almost twenty five years since first joining Split Enz has yet to be involved in the making of a bad album!!!...also this album failed in the Oz charts reaching a paltry #10 in the album charts...the lowest album placing since 1978.
again to check whether i was overrating the album i checked allmusic and they rated it slightly higher than my score when converted back to the MHRS.

I LOVE THIS ALBUM

tracks:

1. the climber**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krc1Y8OXDos live
2. rest of the day off***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiOj5m51Xxc live
3. hole in the ice**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo-KQJc9A0I live
4. wherever you are**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9ZrfQ5VlqQ audio
5. last to know***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbLMUROZ0WM live
6. dont ask why***
7. secret god**
8. turn and run**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bceT_mXlTjM live
9. elastic heart*
10.anytime***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpUcz8xhqvI live
11.driving me mad**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkIjcmEKYqw live
12.into the sunset***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46q5CzBnXdc audio with lyrics

3s=5
2s=6
1s=1

rating: 2.3

Neil & Tim Finn - CRAZY-HORSE - 07-07-2011

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TIM FINN "feeding the gods" 2001.

gotta feel sorry for the older brother in some ways...he started Split enz, gave them their ecclectic early sounds and defined their career path. knows how to write good songs but is always in little brother's shadow...probably feels the same way George Harrison did in and after the Beatles in that respect.
anyway, this album...the sixth solo release by Tim is better than his previous five efforts IMO as he is finally beginning to just be himself, be content with his past band and not care if he gets "oh, he's just trying to rehash split enz" comments....but it works and thats who he is and when he does what he does best he is very good.
unlike previous albums Tim rocks out here with electric guitars,catchy chorus structures and more than a few similarities to his early material with the Enz, yeh, his vocals arent as high as they used to be and he does hit the odd bum-note every now and then, im not sure if it is deliberate or not as it does add to the quirkyness of who he is.
ive got a feeling that the feel and sound of this one has something to do with the fact that co-founder and occasional vocalist of Split Enz (phil judd) ,prior to Neil joining the band, helped Tim write a couple of tracks here and was involved in the production side of things.
sorry about the lack of links...there never seems to much of Tim on youtube.
if you like the early Split Enz sound then this album could definately be for you!

I LOVE THIS ALBUM

tracks:

1. songline**
2. i'll never know**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7dFKBgQsk audio
3. subway dreaming**
4. say it is so***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bLmsnn9Bf4 video
5. what you've done***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF_PUCWolJA video
6. sawdust and splinters**
7. dead man**
8. commonplace**
9. waiting for your moment***
10.party was you***
11.incognito in california***

3s=5
2s=6
1s=0

rating: 2.4