Until the emergence of Lorde, song-smith Neil Finn was New Zealand’s most recognisable pop export. Born in Te Awamutu, Finn was enamoured by the tuneful pop of The Beatles and Elton John. Still a teenager, he joined his brother Tim Finn in Split Enz in 1977, originally as a guitarist. He soon became a key writer, penning their 1980 breakthrough hit ‘I Got You’.
When Tim Finn lost interest in Split Enz, Neil formed Crowded House and enjoyed international success with songs like ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ and ‘Weather With You’. After Crowded House wound down in the mid-1990s, Finn recorded as a solo artist, with the collective Seven Worlds Collide, and in combination with other family members. He’s also reformed Crowded House for two further albums, and substituted for Lindsey Buckingham with Fleetwood Mac.
Neil Mullane Finn has recorded music under many different entities, and I’ve listed the five best studio albums from his forty-year career. Finn’s also recorded some excellent concert albums; there was a great live disc included with some editions of the 1996 Crowded House collection Recurring Dream, and there’s a lovely joint live album with Paul Kelly from 2013.
Neil Finn’s Five Best Albums
#5 Finn – The Finn Brothers
1995
Neil and Tim Finn’s previous attempts at writing together had been folded into Crowded House 1991 album Woodface. Their first album together is low key, the two brothers playing most of the instruments themselves; Tim handles drums and Neil is on bass. There’s fun garage rock material like ‘Kiss The Road of Rarotonga’, but it’s the pretty ballads like ‘Last Day of June’, ‘Angels Heap’, and ‘Suffer Never’ that make this album a standout in Finn’s career.
#4 Out of Silence – Neil Finn
2017
Most of my favourite Neil Finn material comes from the 20th century. 21st century albums like The Finn Brothers’ Everyone Is Here and Crowded House’s Time on Earth are too subdued and too close in tone to past triumphs to register. But Neil Finn’s recent work has been more inventive, and Out of Silence purposefully stakes out new ground. Finn recorded these songs live in-studio while broadcasting to the world. He showcases his gorgeous piano work and is backed by strings and a choir of notable New Zealand musicians. There’s an underused falsetto on ‘Chameleon Days’ and the strings shimmer on ‘Love Is Emotional’.
#3 Temple of Low Men – Crowded House
1988
Crowded House’s second home stalled their momentum in the USA, after ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ had achieved number two on the US charts. Temple of Low Men is a darker album than its predecessor, and there’s nothing that sounds like a hit single, so the lack of commercial success is understandable. But Temple of Low Men is one of Finn’s most consistent efforts – it features beloved tracks like ‘Into Temptation’, one of many songs where Finn draws on his Catholic upbringing, and ‘Kill Eye’, which could pass for a John Lennon song from The White Album. The politely funky ‘Never Be The Same’ is one of my favourite Finn deep cuts.
#2 Time and Tide – Split Enz
1982
When Neil Finn joined Split Enz in 1977, they were in a state of flux. Finn replaced Phil Judd who, together with Tim Finn, wrote the band’s early art-rock material. The band struggled along before stripping down their sound to new wave pop for 1980’s True Colours, and their most successful period was in the early 1980s. Their best record from this period is 1982’s Time and Tide; while most of Neil Finn’s Split Enz material is very good, it’s Tim Finn’s writing that elevates Time and Tide, as he drew on his failed marriage and mental health struggles. The anxiety of ‘Dirty Creature’, the isolation of ‘Six Months in a Leaky Boat’, and the autobiographical sea shanty ‘Haul Away’ overshadow Neil Finn’s songs, but he contributes typically excellent work like the jaunty ‘Take A Walk’ and the sci-fi tinged ‘Giant Heartbeat’.
#1 Together Alone – Crowded House
1993
Neil Finn’s work is often a little too polite and mannered. Together Alone remedies this by pairing Finn with wildcard producer Youth, and recording on the isolated New Zealand beach of Karekare. Together Alone features Crowded House at their most beautiful, like the atmospheric ‘Private Universe’ and ‘Catherine Wheels’, but also at their rawest on songs like ‘In My Command’ and ‘Black and White Boy’. Together Alone is also significant in marking Finn’s return to New Zealand after years living in Australia, as marked in the Polynesian flavour of the title track.
There is a tendency for Finn’s best-loved songs to feature on less accomplished albums:
- Finn’s best-known song, US #2 single, ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’, appears on Crowded House’s eponymous 1986 debut. Overall the album’s writing is less mature than Finn’s later Crowded House efforts, and the bright 1980s production is distracting.
- Crowded House’s 1991 album Woodface features some of Finn’s best-loved songs, including ‘Weather With You’, co-written with Tim. But the album suffers from CD-era bloat – cut the 14 songs down to 10 or so, and it would be one of Finn’s best.
- Finn’s 1998 solo debut Try Whistling This is another record that could have used a trim – losing the last four songs would have worked. ‘She Will Have Her Way’ is a fun singalong, and ‘Sinner’ is Finn at his most brooding.
Are you a fan of Neil Finn’s work? Do you have a favourite album?
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I had Woodface and Together Alone on CD, but I didn’t listen to them an awfy lot. A pal of mine was really into Try Whistling This and while I could appreciate that Finn knows how to craft a tune, I just never felt all that excited or moved by what I heard. It’s nice enough, but I guess that’s the problem.
If you don’t like The Beatles, it probably stands to reason that you wouldn’t enjoy Neil Finn too much either. The first Split Enz album, Mental Notes, might be worth trying sometime, if you like creepy art rock. It’s from before Neil Finn’s time.
I’ll give it a shot!
Try ‘Frenzy’ too!
Quality song writer with a gift for melody. Great voice too. Some of his lyric writing makes me wince but he gets the job done for the most part! Liked the story n sound of together alone…a doco on the album being recorded would have been great…do you know if there was one? Beautiful part of the world up there
Look at you, you’re a pageant
You’re everything I’ve imagined
??
That’s one of his clunkier lines, from the Split Enz Song I got you.
I’ve never actually been to Karekare, or any of those west Auckland beaches. Would be nice to sometime. Karekare was featured in The Piano at a similar time too – my sister was in the same school and year as Anna Paquin when she won her Oscar.
Karekare is great. There’s a wildness to those beaches up there…I think that album captured some of it. Anna Paquin…what a dream start to her acting career…what a pity to discover that she couldn’t really act later on lol
lol classic…thought you’d lost it haha
I’m looking forward to checking out that album you mentioned – ‘out of silence’. Never heard it, or heard of it. His voice has aged well so I’ll give it a spin
It’s quite different from anything else he’s done. I felt like a lot of the 21st century stuff he’d done had run its course, like Crowded House and the Finn Brothers, so I liked him trying something different.
Absolutely. Interested to hear it.
I think we had this chat before. I don’t listen to Neil enough but when i do I always say “I should listen to this more”. I always felt Neil (CH) should have busted out a rockabilly album.
On a related note. A while ago when we first started swapping music I told you about an artist i liked, Andy White. Andy and Tim Finn cut and album, ALT. I have been on the search for it for a long time.
Have you heard the song ‘Many’s The Time’ on Tim Finn’s Before and After? That’s connected to Alt, I think – it pretty much sounds like an Irish folk song.
I haven’t heard that but it makes sense with the Andy White connection. I will check that out. Thanks.
Just listened to ‘Many’s The Time’. Very good. Is the whole album in the same vein? I like the cut a lot.
Album is all over the place – there’s like a Woodface outtake, a dance pop song, a song that Richard Thompson wrote the music for.
Just from what I heard and the other things you mentioned plus that I like CH I will give it a listen for sure.
It’s more like an album with some really good stuff and some OK stuff. Persuasion is the Richard Thompson written song – Finn wrote the lyrics.
I’m just listening to it now. The opening cut reminded me of Paul Carrack. ‘Persuasion’ is playing now. Feels like an album that will grow on me. Definitely has some CH feel. I’m liking it. I’ll put it on my spin cycle. It’s good for me to throw stuff like this into the mix.
Wow. Big call… five from forty years.
Very happy to celebrate the No.1 spot with you. “Together Alone” is an outstanding achievement by any popular music measure.
If I can make the time, I’d love to offer my 2,3, 4 and 5. I’m pretty confident “True Colours” will figure, probably at #2. And I love the first Crowded House album, finding no difficulty hearing through the production to the freedom and exuberance of the LP. Probably #4.
So just a couple to go…
Holding out for #3 and #5. So far it feels like you (the art-rock guy) are going for the poppy ones, and I (the pop guy) are going for the art ones.
LOL. You may be spot on, there!
(I reserve the right to totally re-do my list after a browse of the library)
(Which will not change #1)
🙂
I’m too new to Mr Finn’s songography. I’m deep into Crowded House’s original run at the moment and agree that Together Alone is the strongest – though it’s a bloody strong catalogue full stop.
Anytime – I think it’s from Try Whistling this – is a favourite from the little of his solo work I know
Anytime is from his second album, One Nil – good solid album, but a little too much playing it safe.
Most of my knowledge of Neil solo comes from Seven Worlds Collide