Calling all Finn fans

[Lunch Money]

Fricking weird.

I wanted to get back "into" the "What are you listening to now?" thread, so I posted without reading the rest, more or less as a jumping-off point and as a "view new posts" reference for next time.

Well, the pointers for new posts are funny here, so "view new" brought me to the previous page, where I saw Bluedad responding to Havran regarding the Finn Brothers CD. And I thought he was responding to ME, because I had just posted... but I thought, "That's weird that this thread would have grown a page already." Then I saw the next post regarding the Finn Brothers, and was thinking, "I guess I struck a chord!" And then I saw my own post. It was very disorienting because my perceptions had been wrong. As it turns out, we're all listening to the CD at more or less the same time.

Anyhow, sorry for the long ramble, but I didn't want to add that to the "What are you..." thread, and besides that, there's more--

I saw the Finn Brothers live in Toronto last month. Phenomenal show. Tim was up to his usual wacky Split Enz-type antics, while Neil was being the sane one. Tim is a bit spotty in my opinion... flashes of brilliance, but ultimately a lesser talent than Neil in some ways (as a live vocalist and as a lyricist as well, though the latter is strictly opinion). However, at the show I was amazed to discover that he was doing a great job, and contributed GREATLY to the overall energy of the show. That was before the CD was out, but we got to hear some tracks and I was well impressed. Now the CD's come out, and in most cases I can't tell which songs were Tim, which were Neil, and which were true collaborations.

My respect for Tim has grown a bit more, and I'm finding that opening my mind up a bit has made me enjoy Split Enz songs more, as well as the songs that he wrote for Woodface.

Anyhow, I guess I'm a huge Neil Finn solo fan, and the first Finn Brothers album wasn't as good (though it certainly had great songs). I was praying that the latest Finn Brothers would be better, and it has certainly delivered. Great songs, both lyrically and musically. Right up there with One Nil.

Greg

[laborde]

Supported Split Enz on their farewell Enz of an Era tour ( way back when ) and i have to say they were
the most generous act i have worked with. Use all
the mixing desk, have a sound check . And they sounded beautiful live.

[morelia]

Wow I did not realise they were appreciated outside of NZ and Australia. Neil Finn is an awsome song writer. I like Split Enz but prefer Neil's music. Crowded House were my favourite. Have been thinking of checking out the Finn Bros stuff and you may just have inspired me to do so.

[Lunch Money]

Canada really embraced Crowded House, so they were relatively big here. They rarely toured, though, so they never got to that "arena" level of popularity.

You can't get much better than Crowded House, but Neil Finn's solo stuff has something really special to it. It might just be that I've heard CH stuff a million times (and still loving it!) while I've only heard Neil Finn several hundred thousand.

Greg

[Zoing]

I got to play with Neil a few years ago at gigs he was doing around New Zealand playing with unknown muso's as his backing band. He met us during the day, had a practice, played that night. It was great!

He was a really nice guy. I got to play piano while he sang, we did '4 seasons in one day', 'try whistling this' (which I love), 'shark attack' (impromptu, after someone in the audience yelled it out), that was just the 2 of us. Another keyboardist played some other songs, then I played 'dont dream its over' with other in a made up band.

Everyone who passed the audition got ot do something, he even did a punky grungy version of '4 seasons' that a local band had played on student radio. He played guitar while this relatively tone deaf singer snarled through it. It was great!

I still have my 'access all areas' pass, signed by him, and a couple of pics looking down from my wall. And got to be on TV news and in a documentary. He called me a really good keyboard player on national TV (which, technically I'm not!) That was my 15 minutes fame, and I guess a highlight of my life, the musical part of it anyway...

Apologies if you've read this before, I did tell this story when I first joined KVR on another Neil Finn thread... And you probably know that squids on the Sonic Reality forum did a lot of work with Crowded House on a couple of their albums??

I haven't heard the new Finn brothers stuff yet but I must check it out. They haven't toured it here yet, though they have been on TV and in magazines a bit. Apparently they recorded the whole album with Tony Visconti producing, all mixed and mastered, then decidied they didn't like it and re-recorded it with Mitchell Froom.

I'll look forward to hearing/seeing them soon. I should take a sign to the concert with a big 'REMEMBER ME???' written on it

[Lunch Money]

Excellent story!

My sister would be envious-- she's the biggest Finn fan I can possibly think of, and the reason I got into Crowded House and subsequently other Finn-related music in the first place.

I can see why those experiences would have been a highlight! And I can just imagine the garage-sounding tune on the college rock show!

Greg