Split Enz – Anniversary

Split Enz - AnniversaryYet another live winner from Split Enz, this album consists of recordings from the group’s 20th anniversary reunion tour (which, if I might hazard a guess, probably had a lot to do with inspiring ENZSO). Anniversary’s performances seem to benefit from the fact that, unlike The Living Enz, by this time Tim and Neil Finn had both matured and changed their musical outlooks somewhat. Though the material is still faithful to the original Enz studio renditions, one can catch more than a slight hint of Tim’s solo work when Tim reprises old favorites like “Charlie” and “Time For A Change”, and Neil’s Crowded House sound sneaks into such numbers as “History Never Repeats” and especially “Message To My Girl”. One great inclusion is “Split Ends”, the band’s first single in the early 70s, whose lyric “it’s all the same to me, brother” takes on a new dimension when Tim and Neil sing it (since the song was written years before Neil joined Split Enz in 1977). There’s also a lot of fun on-stage banter when Noel Crombie takes a bow after the end of “Strait Old Line” 4 out of 4(which ends, curiously, with the piano/spoon solo from an earlier song, “The Woman Who Loves You” – an arrangement which was also used in the ENZSO version). One gets a genuine sense of being there from this album. As with The Living Enz, I rate Anniversary a better introduction to Split Enz than the dull History Never Repeats: The Best of Split Enz album which you may have seen.

Order this CD

  1. Shark Attack (3:22)
  2. Poor Boy (3:43)
  3. Hermit McDermitt (4:54)
  4. Years Go By (4:22)
  5. Split Ends (2:27)
  6. Message To My Girl (4:46)
  7. Best Friend (3:19)
  8. What’s The Matter With You (4:28)
  9. I See Red (4:24)
  10. Time For A Change (3:29)
  11. Strait Old Line (7:45)
  12. Charlie (7:28)
  13. History Never Repeats (5:18)

Released by: Fuel
Release date: 1995
Total running time: 59:47

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