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.
… Read more
- 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 hard-to-track-down title (at least as far as listeners in the U.S. are concerned) is the studio recording of an Aussie stage musical of the same name. And like the Alan Parsons Project’s studio recording from Freudiana, this version of the music from Steel City – which is often described as a Tap Dogs-style dance-heavy slice of theater – probably differs wildly from what the same material sounds like on stage.
Overall, Steel City is a curiosity for die-hard Finnatics, but for those of you who, like myself, like to hear the feet hit the floor, it comes up a bit short on the tap dancing side. A great pity – I rather relished the thought of one of my favorite voices alongside a really good dance troupe.
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.
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 
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 
I admit, it took a long, long time for this one to grow on me, but it finally caught up with me and I like it a lot. It’s nowhere near as good as Tim’s 1989 album, but it’s better than Big Canoe and shows a lot of maturity. Mostly somber, the album does have its more energetic moments though even these are sometimes deceptive, including “In Love With It All”, with its allusions to Tim’s (rocky?) relationship with brother Neil of Split Enz/Crowded House fame, and “Hit The Ground Running”. Incidentally, Neil Finn himself duets with Tim on the former (which sounds suspiciously like a Woodface outtake) and on “Strangeness And Charm”. By far the best pieces here are “Persuasion” (a very Bruce-Hornsby-esque ballad), “Many’s The Time (In Dublin)”, In Your Sway, and “Walk You Home”, all of them songs with an adult 
This is Tim Finn’s first foray into the solo arena, and though it’s not bad, it shares signs of age with its successor, 1986’s Big Canoe, in that the year of its release can be guessed on most of the songs by listening to the synths. As a fan of a lot of ’80s pop music, I find “synth aging” as I call it to be somewhat charming myself, but some don’t. Too bad. This album opens up with a nifty mock-reggae number, “Fraction Too Much Friction”, which reminds me a lot of “Parihaka” from his self-titled third album six years later. Much of Escapade could probably go unnoticed by anyone who places no 