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 references, and both of them together weave references into their music that are known only to them, a common practice dating back to the earliest Split Enz songs on record. These guys are the beginning and end of two of the best and most undeservedly obscure bands on the planet…don’t expect straightforward textbook rock ‘n’ roll from them!
- Only Talking Sense (3:04)
- Eyes of the World (2:52)
- Mood Swinging Man (4:07)
- Last Day of June (3:18)
- Suffer Never (4:00)
- Angel’s Heap (2:53)
- Niwhai (3:37)
- Where Is My Soul (4:10)
- Bullets In My Hairdo (3:01)
- Paradise (Wherever You Are) (3:59)
- Kiss the Road of Raratonga (3:26)
Released by: Parlophone
Release date: 1995
Total running time: 38:29