At the tender age of 17 years old, Neil Finn joined his older brother Tim’s band Split Enz. Sporting thickly hornrimmed glasses and an artificially large cowlick, he initially stayed in the background. But within just three years, he finally brought the Enz to the attention of U.S. music fans, as his composition “I Got You” became a big FM radio hit. From that point forward, Neil’s canny pop instincts were a perfect compliment to his brother Tim’s slightly more arty efforts. The Enz were a commercial force through the early ’80s. But no one could have expected that Crowded House, Neil’s next band, would become world wide stars. But Finn’s modern update on classic rock/pop tunesmithing hit elevated him to the ranks of the most respected songwriters around. Finn is still out there, working with everyone from his son and wife to Jeff Tweedy and members of Radiohead. Whatever he does, it is always interesting, intelligent catchy music. Let’s wish Neil a happy birthday by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle, and sharing the first 10 tunes that come up.
Parts & Labor — Prefix Free (Receivers): This song begins with an electronic equivalent of a freight train chug before a melodic keyboard line comes in. The more I listen to these guys, they remind me a lot of the Minneapolis band Arcwelder in how they put their songs together. However, instead of relying on loud guitars and faster tempos, they chug along with copious layers of various keyboards. They have such a big sound. I really need to see them live some time.
Feist — The Water (The Reminder): Leslie Feist deserves so much credit for pursuing her sophisticated, at times jazzy, pop without any consideration of trends, what’s indie or what’s popular. As a result of her focus on what interests her, she found there’s a market for what she does, and thank goodness for her. This is a torchy ballad, with minimal accompaniment and a wonderful vocal.
Billy Joel — Don’t Ask Me Why (Glass Houses): I find Joel to be a true Tin Pan Alley songwriter who happened to blossom during the rock era. While he’s had his share of clunkers, he is a true craftsman. This song finds a midpoint between Paul Simon and Paul McCartney and is simply a wonderful piece of pop songwriting.
The Thought — Tonight Again (The Thought): Every once in a while, I Google this ’80s Dutch band to try to find more info about them, but come up empty. They put out one LP in the U.S., and it’s a nifty foray into psychedelic rock and pop. Mixed in with the punchier numbers, are a couple of atmospheric pieces, of which this is one. This is a dramatic tale, just vocals and keyboards. It reminds me a bit of The Zombies’ “The Butcher’s Tale”.
The Go-Betweens — This Night’s For You (Oceans Apart): Grant McLennan’s untimely death put an end to one of the better comebacks in rock history. After a decent first comeback effort, Oceans Apart was a terrific album, finding McLennan and Robert Forster writing songs as well as ever. This track mixes a simple melancholy melody with some well-deployed guitar crunch, making for a track that musically churns a few conflicting emotions.
The Orange Alabaster Mushroom — Rainbow Man (Space And Time): If The Thought were psychedelic, this band (really just a guy) was ultra psychedelic. The Orange Alabaster Mushroom’s tinny psychedelic pop songs sound like lost transmissions from 1967, touching on everyone from Tommorrow to early Pink Floyd to The Thamesmen. This is twee whimsy and really fun.
Sloan — The Other Man (Pretty Together): This is Sloan at their AM Gold-iest. This sounds like it could have come from Firefall (remember their hit “Strange Way”?). It’s a dramatically rendered first person character study of the guy who is cheating with your woman. The song sets the mood right away, the chorus swells and if you slipped this into an oldies playlist, there would be people who would swear they heard this song before.
Three Dog Night — One (Celebrate: The Three Dog Night Story 1965-1975): Not much to say about this. Harry Nilsson wrote it and Three Dog Night showed their usual impeccable taste in material and amped up the emotions in the song and had a smash. Three Dog Night isn’t really talked about much, because they are considered a singles band rather than an album act, but they really recorded a lot of great sides. Underrated band.
Stories — Brother Louie (Have A Nice Decade): Back -to-back ’70s Top 40 smashes! This is a cover of a song that was a big hit for Hot Chocolate (yes, the “You Sexy Thing” guys) in England. Of course, this is terrific song. The original version is slower, with a more haunting feel and spoken interludes that bring home the sting of the racism that the song indicts. The Stories version is also dramatic, but has a wee bit more of an anthemic feel, with a nifty soulful vocal. The original is better, but this is pretty darned good too.
The Isley Brothers — Make Me Say It Again Girl (It’s Your Thing: The Story of The Isley Brothers): While the Isleys initially made their name with frat party dance numbers and were a fine funk rock act, with a singer as skillful as Ronald Isley, they were made to do sexy ballads. Isley’s tenor and falsetto are in fine form on this lovely tune.