The Split Enz - Search and Destroy

search also for the live pearl jam cover of "I got you", even better than the original, brooding,menacing almost even if Vedder does screw up a few lines, the songs structure really suits their sound- absolute classic . If you dont know what song that is...

There's no doubt, but when I'm with you. When I'm without, I stay in my room. Where do you go? I get no answer. You're always out, it gets on my nerves... I don't know why sometimes I get frightened. You can see my eyes and tell that I'm not lying. enjoy!

so their later period with neil finn is quite different to the early stuff with phil judd (of "the swingers" in the neil finn role as sometimes _second_ song writer and sometimes partner)

so there are sometimes overlapping yet quite different ideas at the centre of each different split enz phase making it very hard to generalise -- they had at least three distinct phases, plus album by album each was certainly different in the earlier phases

both groups also did sharp punk before the punk everybody knows came along -- punk-ish attitude but more art rock than punk rock or art punk

"De-evolution" is an idea: unfortunately not a very good one

DUD: Killing Joke-fan Neil Finn convincing Youth to rejoin Killing Joke, thus launching their two weakest albums, PANDEMONIUM and DEMOCRACY. The fire goes dishonored.

Has anyone listened to the Enzology documentary of the band that Radio New Zealand produced? This weekend David Tickle basically took all the credit for True Colours.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/enzology

"I see red" = one of the classicest things in existence.

quirky came later -- this album is a psychedelic mid'70s gem -- the songs stack since the live show was built up over some time, making the psychedelia genuinely both spooky and arty

elegant prog ? well no, unclassifiable to my ears, and nothing much like the nifty pop tunes of later -- nothing much like much else, a real gem

You can still occasionally hear One Step Ahead of You played in the background of the coffee shop in Neighbours or in the diner in Home & Away.

As for later Split Enz, definitely search. Most of their albums were great (even the one after Tim had left the band). However, there are two exceptions. "Frenzy" is sort of a transitional album that is more pop oriented than was came before it, but which generally just doesn't hold up with the exception of a couple of tracks.

Then there's "Time And Tide". A lot of weirdos consider it their best moment. That is not the case. Sure, "Six Months In a Leaky Boat" is a great song, but generally the album is a failed attempt to be "experimental" again, with the vocals mixed way to low in the sound, general grainy sound and also not a lot of strong songs.

So: Destroy "Frenzy" and "Time And Tide". Search the rest.
And of course: Search absolutely everything Neil Finn has been involved in after Split Enz broke up.

I've been listening to some of the earlier stuff now. I am loving "Titus," but I have yet to understand why they get labelled as "prog".

I see Neil Finn's Split Enz stuff as educational rather than essential. There's a rote quality to "I Got You" and "History Never Repeats" – a songwriting-by-numbers quality – which prevents me from treasuring them as anything more than solid craftsmanship. Sometimes he transcended this: "Message To My Girl," for which I give more credit to his voice.

He came back from the toilet and Neil Finn was just chugging away on his guitar with that opening rhythm. Tickle said, "Yes, what's that?" Finn says, "Nothing, I'm just strumming." Tickle says, "Modulate up on the second bar," then directs the drummer to lay down a solid beat. "I don't know what that is, but it's a hit," he says.

Finn says, "Well, I've got part of a song that I haven't finished, I guess I could sing that over the top."

Basically they're there, and Eddie Rayner suggests another bit of discarded and almost-forgotten instrumental to use as the zany bridge, and voila! Hit!

There's craftsmanship and there's inspiration. I would actually say that a lot of his later stuff (and many artists' later work) is all about solid craftsmanship, but lacks that spark of magic.

Oh, and does anyone else like "Waiata ?

A couple great songs at least. "Iris" is on that one, isn't it?

Can anyone recommend a good Split Enz compilation or mix that covers their career pretty evenly? I've had Waiata for many years and used to really like it but don't pull it out very often. I'd be interested in hearing some of their stuff from the 70's.

Spellbound is the best Split Enz compilation by a wide margin.

http://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/split_enz/spellbound/

There was one almost exlusively 70s based compilation called "The Best Of Split Enz" released back in the 90s. May be exactly what Bimble is looking for. Probably not available these days though.

So I've been checking out the Split Enz discography over the last couple of days (up until the beginning of this year, I was only really familiar with 'I Got You') and I'm actually finding myself being pleasantly surprised. Not to knock the songwriting craftsmanship of Crowded House, but my god were this band far, far more interesting. Why didn't I check this stuff out sooner!?

"One Step Ahead" is nice. Most of the Tim Finn singles though find him trying too hard to sound kooky.

My partner adores "Poor Boy"; I'm more partial to "The Choral Sea" and tbh probably listen to the Swingers more than anything else Enz-associated.

(wrt/their stature in NZ - like Katherine Mansfield, it's their overseas success that caused revisionist deification & the establishment of (Beatles/Austen-equivalent) cottage industries; they're odd figures to be at the centre of national musical identities)

I love Tim's first solo single , "Persuasion"

Much as I love Crowded House, I prefer Split Enz (and quietly, I love Woodface) because I adore Tim's voice. His high notes are so lovely

It's not his first solo single but it's his first after leaving CH in '92. I agree: Before and After's a good record.

I prefer Crowded House because I prefer Neil's writing, but Split Enz is great, and because so many of Neil's later songs in the band get the attention, Split Enz holds a lot of surprises. I mean, they were weird, like this bizarro world Roxy Music pop-prog act. And when Neil, several years down the line, takes center stage, who can blame him? He's got the goods.

"One Step Ahead" is nice.

That's a Neil song. As are the unimpeachable "Message to My Girl," "I Got You," "History Never Repeats" and a few more later singles.

"Spellbound" is a great place to start, since it's packed with both pop and weird stuff.

Great doc I watched a few months ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggfghkJLm2U

Yeah, that's what I'm saying: the Tim songs sound overwrought ("I See Red," "Hard Act to Follow"). It must suck to recruit your baby brother and watch him write the catchy international hits.

"Six Months In A Leaky Boat"

Yeah, "Six Months" is Tim's perfect pop peak, in Split Enz, at least.

I'm finding True Colours and Time and Tide in particular both very difficult to leave alone at the moment!

DUD: Killing Joke-fan Neil Finn convincing Youth to rejoin Killing Joke, thus launching their two weakest albums, PANDEMONIUM and DEMOCRACY. The fire goes dishonored.

Blithely typed prior to the release of the truly unfortunate HOSANNAS FROM THE BASEMENTS OF HELL.

Regardless, Split Enz made several splendid pop records.

That Enzology thing is insane. I listened to the WHOLE DAMN THING a few years ago & now I own more Splut Inz than anyone outside NZ has any business. And I really only like maybe a dozen of their songs, jesus. But it's a really interesting document: a loving in-depth history of what's essentially a B-list band, the kind of thing that could only happen in a colonial outpost with a public radio channel.

first album best album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T4bHxbR0vk