Common Ground: The Voices of Modern Irish Music
You know, I’ll be the first to fess up that I’m not exactly a Thistle & Shamrock Listener (not that it’s a bad show, and not that I don’t like the music). And I’m a little wary of the mania for all things Celtic that has pervaded the underbelly of pop culture for the past decade or so, despite the fact that I’m able to trace my own lineage straight back to Ireland. Something about everyone embracing this culture just because it’s “in” bugs me – and many of the supposedly Celtic musical acts out there aren’t peddling the sound of old Eire, but rather of Enya, whose sound I associate with new age music more than I do anything that sounds distinctly Celtic. But I’ll expound on this soapbox more later. With all my griping, you’re probably wondering why in the world I even bothered with this CD.
The answer is the wonderful second track, “Mary Of The South Seas”, written and performed by Tim and Neil Finn. Aside from their dedicating the song to their mother’s Irish origins, your guess is as good as mine as to why two performers born and raised in New Zealand are on a compilation of “modern Irish music,” but it’s a lovely song all the same.
There are other good reasons to dig this one out, however; Sharon Shannon’s “Cavan Potholes” is a nicely traditional (and simultaneously modern) Celtic-flavored instrumental. Adam Clayton and Bono of U2 fame turn in a low-key number, “Won’t You Be Back Tomorrow”, and Sinead O’Connor turns in “On Raglan Road”. Toward the end of the disc, the tunes become more traditional and the readings become more tongue-in-cheek – I’m thinking primarily of Elvis Costello’s rendition of “The Night Before Larry Was Stretched” here – but in fine Irish tradition, the producers of this compilation probably expected us to have downed a couple of pints by this point, so I’m willing to forgive.
Though I originally bought it for one song by a couple of favorite artists, Common Ground quickly opened my eyes to some more good music. And I’m happy – and perhaps just a touch proud – to say that the whole thing smacks more of real Celtic music than a lot of the product that wears that label these days.
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- O Bhean A’ti – Maire Brennan (5:13)
- Mary Of The South Seas – Tim and Neil Finn (5:08)
- Tomorrow – Bono and Adam Clayton (4:36)
- Cavan Potholes – Sharon Shannon (4:10)
- Help Me To Believe – Paul Brady (5:56)
- On Raglan Road – Sinead O’Connor (6:05)
- As I Roved Out – Brian Kennedy (4:32)
- The Night Before Larry Was Stretched – Elvis Costello (5:09)
- Mna Na H-eireann – Kate Bush (2:53)
- Whistling Low Errigal – Davy Spillane with Donal Lunny (4:08)
- My Heart’s Tonight In Ireland – Andy Irvine (3:36)
- Cathain – Liam O’Maonlai (3:27)
- Bogie’s Bonnie Belle – Christy Moore (3:18)
Released by: EMI
Release date: 1996
Total running time: 58:11
This two-disc set of rarities, B-sides, unreleased cuts, soundtrack one-offs and live performances span the whole gamut of the membership of Split Enz over 18 years. From the earliest solo/side projects of former Enzers to recent works, Other Enz is, contrary to what one Amazon.com reviewer says, a very nice find for any Enz fanz or, for that matter, fans of Crowded House or either of the Finn Brothers. Billing it as nothing more than a Split Enz-centric collection almost limits this collection’s appeal too much. Highlights include some early Tim Finn solo tunes, two very hard-to-find Crowded House tunes (a cover of The Zombies’ “She’s Not There” from the soundtrack for The Crossing and a live performance of their well-loved cover of Hunters & Collectors’ “Throw Your Arms Around Me”), and vastly more obscure items such as solo singles by Noel Crombie, ex-bassist Malcolm Green, and founding guitarist Phil Judd. Offshoot bands such as Citizens’ Band, The Makers, and Schnell Fenster are also represented.
One also gets a hint, from skimming through the musician credits for each track, how often the former Enzers reunite to collaborate on their latest projects.
Over the years, any band can accumulate enough B-sides and unreleased tracks to fill an entire CD, but Crowded House is a special case. Not only do they have a catalogue of rarities, but unreleased material which basically comprises a lost, never-released album.
This album’s big question is: can the former frontman of Crowded House, famous for such introspective ballads as “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and “Better Be Home Soon”, rock out on his own? Try Whistling This answers this with a resounding yes – and a few introspective ballads just to keep the diehard fans happy. The first single from the album, “Sinner”, is a gently jazzy ballad with some very cool vocals (Neil harmonizing with his own lead vocals), but my favorites on the album are “Faster Than Light”, a very Crowded House-ish acoustic guitar ballad, and the very unusual “Twisty Bass”, a rocking number with acoustic and electronic elements and a dark, driving sound which begs for a Nine Inch Nails-style video. The title track, “Try Whistling This”, was a much more subdued song than I expected given the challenge inherent in its title, and “Dream Date” has a very retro sound, reminiscent of some of the tracks on the Finn 
This bittersweet final album from the band that was the genesis of my fascination with Split Enz and the Finn Brothers is quite a collection; almost exactly like the Alan Parsons live album, I only got this one on the virtue of its three new tracks (don’t you hate it when they do that, and you’ve got to buy those other sixteen songs you’ve already heard…oh, never mind…), but I thought I’d comment on the selection of past tracks as well as the new songs. The three new tunes, “Not The Girl You Think You Are”, “Instinct” and “Everything Is Good For You”, are excellent, if somewhat atypical of the signature sound of Crowded House that fills out the rest of the album. They sound very much like they came from the Finn Brothers sessions, and a glance at the liner notes revealed that they were recorded in the same studio. All three also have a distinctly Beatlesque sound, especially “Not The Girl You Think You Are”. But that is by no means a fault – they’re still nifty new tunes. The remainder of the album has one of the best lineups of material I have ever seen on a compilation – truly the best of, including the singles “Don’t Dream It’s Over”, “Something So Strong” and “Better Be Home Soon” as well as the mesmerizing “Weather With You”, one of my favorites from 1991’s Woodface. Other personal faves of mine here are 
So, are these guys the band formerly known as Crowded House? Formerly known as Split Enz? Or just two brothers psychoanalyzing one another and their oft-dysfunctional relationship in musical form? The entire album is performed by Tim and Neil Finn, relying mainly on acoustic guitar, piano and whatever percussion they could cobble together, with the exception of other musicians who play on “Kiss The Road Of Raratonga”. The resulting sound is very interesting, and may not be for everyone. If you’re accustomed to the usual slick production of Split Enz, Tim’s early post-Enz solo work, and the first three Crowded House albums, this stuff will surprise you! The production values, if that morsel of overused TV and movie jargon can be applied to music, are almost nonexistent. The percussion instruments, the performances, the vocals, and mix and everything are very garage-band-esque, very low-tech and retro without quite descending into the whole grunge clichè. In many places there is an obvious tape hiss in the recording which almost makes the music sound much older than it really is – an audio aging process, if you will. I’d compare most of this album to the un-Crowded House-like passages of Together Alone. The lyrics are strange, as is common when Tim and Neil write together. Tim’s words are often full of Maori cultural 
The debut album from Neil Finn’s very own post-Split Enz trio was quite a surprise in the synthesizer/drum machine-dominated mid-1980s. Instead of veering to the opposite extreme – thundering hard rock – Crowded House embraced a unique sound of only a few instruments and Finn’s trademark vocals. The biggest hit Crowded House ever had, “Don’t Dream It’s Over”, comes from this album, as do its moderately successful follow-ups, “Something So Strong” and “World Where You Live”, a somewhat less well-known number. Other tracks to listen for are “Hole In The River”, a harsh song inspired by the suicide of Finn’s aunt (this could also be the basis of the later song “Catherine Wheels” from the band’s fourth album), “Mean To Me”, which Neil wrote after a particularly amusing incident with a rabid American fan who crossed the globe to see him, and “I Walk Away”, a cover of a song that originally appeared on the final 
There really aren’t enough words with which to praise this band’s third album. It was really the best of all possible worlds – Tim and Neil Finn, formerly the front men of Split Enz, united again and lavishing their quirky one-of-a-kind vocal harmonies on a number of marvelously concocted (and some decidedly strange) songs. There’s little about this album not to like. Specific cuts to listen to: “Weather With You”, “Whispers and Moans”, “She Goes On”, “As Sure As I Am”, and my favorites, “Fall At Your Feet” and the Tim-tries-to-be-Sinatra tune with the orchestral backing, “All I Ask”. Quite simply a solid and highly enjoyable 
Far surpassing their debut album, this collection went on to be something of an odd failure sales-wise in the States. Most probably remember it as being the album that spawned “Better Be Home Soon”, a bittersweet ballad very much in the style of “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (with a very similar video to match). In actuality – at least from my own perspective – this album was far better, with some wonderfully intricate guitar and vocal work courtesy of Neil Finn. The songs tend to lean in the direction of very sparse, haunting atmosphere that listeners of Together Alone may be a little more familiar with. Highly 
I’ve been singing the praises of this one since November 1993 – don’t miss this one! This one resembles the group’s debut album more than either of the previous two. The rocky sound of the first album can be heard very clearly, and track 4 “Black & White Boy” is the hardest rocking Crowded House tune to date, beating out even “Love You ‘Til The Day I Die” or even any live covers of Split Enz’s History Never Repeats. Neil Finn hasn’t lost his flair for ballads, though – some of the very best are on here: “Nails In My Feet” continues CH’s knack of having just a handful of instruments playing, yet still sounding absolutely majestic, and “Catherine Wheels” – a song which would seem to concern itself