Split Enz

[CRAZY-HORSE]

SPLIT ENZ "see ya 'round" 1984.

ok, this was the last official album by The Enz before the group disbanded and Neil took drummer Paul Hester with him to form The Mullanes who later got renamed Crowded House.
the album starts of reasonably enough with four or five good Neil Finn compositions but slips off to include several tracks written by whoever wanted to compose a song...sure, these guys were and still are competant musicians but songwriting is another skill all together and the rest of the band just dont cut the mustard!
yet again though, we see Tim returning to the fold to complete another previously half baked song into something special, thus "next exit" is the only great song on here.
Split Enz lost an important ingredient when Tim decided to go solo....no more oomph! and subtleties in the lyrics anymore and little surprise in the make up of the tracks. in fact this album now sounds slightly sterile compared to the other Enz albums.
this is not a putdown of younger brother Neil by any means, it just means that the "enz had gone out of the enz!" and Neil's style was not conducive to stand alone in that band, the same could well be said of McCartney...he struggled for a while without Lennon to bounce things off and add subtleties to his music.
regardless of the criticisms i have of this album it is a good album but not as good as their previous eight albums.
this is not a real good place to start building your Split Enz collection.

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

1. breaking my back**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f39tcbD37Y audio
2. i walk away**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cvZOGzfqWU video
3. doctor love**
4. one mouth is fed**
5. years go by**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9TC2JVpf9U audio
6. voices**
7. the lost cat*
8. adz*
9. this is massive**
10.kia kaha**
11.ninnie knees up*
12.next exit***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vJdXkzjFw0 video

3s=1
2s=8
1s=3

rating: 1.9