I became aware of Split Enz around 1979/80, first hearing songs such as ‘I See Red’, ‘One Step Ahead’, ‘Six Months In A Leaky Boat’, ‘Message To My Girl’ & ‘I Got You’ and some of the Split Enz songs stand alongside Neil & Tim’s best work elsewhere… My pick up on Crowded House was slow, not taking any real notice until the release of ‘Woodface’ in ’91, my opinion being that they were a little lightweight … To this day Neil Finn remains the artist I have seen the most times ‘live’, mainly due to my wife also being a fan… The ‘Together Alone’ concert still remains one of my most memorable live experiences as does the Finn brothers concert around 04/05 (they covered everything: - Split Enz, CH, Neil & Tim solo and of course the two brothers albums that you would want to hear) … My love affair with all things Neil Finn would come to an end after the release of ‘Time On Earth’, nothing released since 2007 has gelled with me… So from the late seventies after joining Tim’s band Split Enz until 2007’s ‘Time On Earth’ Neil could do little wrong in my eye’s, whilst his output since then has done little for me, it is not bad, it just no longer grabs me in the same way… 07… Dreamers Are Waiting (2021) … Sweet Tooth, Show Me The Way, Too Good For This World … Neil would have been 63 so I have to keep that in mind but even still I have pretty much the same opinion of this than of the previous release, I really like ‘Sweet Tooth though…. 2.75* just… 06… Intriguer (2010) … Falling Dove, Isolation, Twice If You're Lucky, Even If… Could never get into it but it is pleasant enough… 3* just… 05… Time On Earth (2007) … She Called Up, Transit Lounge, English Trees, Don't Stop Now… A decent album made in the wake of ex drummer Paul Hester’s sad demise… 3.5*… 04… Crowded House (1986) … Mean To Me, World Where You Live, Something So Strong… A strong first release but not the greatest sound … 3.5*… 03… Temple Of Low Men (1988) … Into Temptation, When You Come, Love This Life, Sister Madly, Better Be Home Soon… Never been a favourite but the high spots speak for themselves… 3.5*… 02… Woodface (1991) … It's Only Natural, Fall At Your Feet, Whispers And Moans, Four Seasons In One Day, All I Ask, Chocolate Cake, Italian Plastic, She Goes On, There Goes God… The only CH album with Tim as a full member and considered by many as their best, for me there are one or two tracks that I am not that keen on (Tall Trees is one), after listening to the demo’s & the ‘Afterglow’ compilation IMHO they had better songs that were omitted (some ended up on Tim’s solo work though)… Way too long... 4.25* 01… Together Alone (1993)… Kare Kare, Fingers Of Love, Private Universe, Catherine Wheels, Black & White Boy, Together Alone… I think this is their best album but again it could have been better, replacing ‘Skin Feeling’ with ‘You Can Touch’ would have made me happy… 5*… Songs… 10… You Can Touch… Should not have been a B.side… 09… English Trees… Think this is in memory of Paul Hester my fav from T.o.E… 08… Fall At Your Feet… Simply beautiful… 07… Mean To Me… Another fav from the first album 06… Italian Plastic… One of many favourites from WF, would love to have put this higher… 05… Fingers Of Love… Caught them live on this tour, the rendition of this song topped everything else they did on the night… 04… Private Universe… Especially love the stripped down version that Neil wanted on the ‘Together Alone’ album (to be found on the compilation album ‘Afterglow’ (1999) 03… Better Be Home Soon… Funnily enough I have never been mad on the album version but when Neil does it as a solo acoustic, I love it 02… Kare Kare… Always my favourite from TA… 01… Four Seasons In One Day… The first CH song that caught my ear… Just as a side list, after a long career I feel that only ranking CH albums does not seem right, so I’m adding my ranking of my top ten NF project albums not including Split Enz (all these years and I’m still mostly oblivious in my knowledge of their album output)… 10… Intriguer (2010) … Falling Dove, Isolation, Twice If You're Lucky, Even If… 3*… 09… Time On Earth (2007) … She Called Up, Transit Lounge, English Trees, Don't Stop Now… 3.5*… 08… Crowded House - Crowded House (1986) … Mean To Me, World Where You Live, Something So Strong… 3.5*… 07… Neil Finn - One Nil (2001)… The Climber, Last To Know, Turn & Run, Anytime, Into The Sunset… Not quite as good as his first solo effort… 3.5*… 06… Crowded House - Temple Of Low Men (1988) … Into Temptation, When You Come, Love This Life, Sister Madly, Better Be Home Soon… 3.5*… 05… Finn Brothers - Everyone Is Here… (2004)… Won't Give In, Nothing Wrong With You, Disembodied Voices, Edible Flowers, Gentle Hum… Made in the aftermath of their mother’s death, a very reflective album, I love it… Unlike everything else in Finns catalogue, the two brother’s albums don’t have any songs that I dislike or feel I have to skip, though some are obviously weaker hence the rating…4*… 04… Neil Finn - Try Whistling This (1998)… Sinner, Last One Standing, Try Whistling This, She Will Have Her Way, Twisty Bass, Truth, Addicted… Before buying it, I read a review that wasn’t too kind, I took the plunge, it is not perfect and given that he had a few spare songs in his back catalogue it could have been better, really wish Neil had recorded ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’ originally by Hunters & Collectors, still at least there are several good live versions… I still like this album quite a bit though… 4.25*… 03… Crowded House - Woodface (1991) … It's Only Natural, Fall At Your Feet, Whispers And Moans, Four Seasons In One Day, All I Ask, As Sure As I Am, Italian Plastic, She Goes On… Woodface drops to third due to a couple of tracks I will skip when not in the mood (Tall Trees & Fame Is)… 4.25*… 02… Finn Brothers - Finn (1995)… Only Talking Sense, Eyes Of The World, Suffer Never, Angel's Heap, Where Is My Soul, Paradise (Wherever You Are)… Love this first release by Neil & Tim (I believe they also play all the instruments), wish they had done more than two albums as a duo, they appear very strong when pooling and sharing their efforts… It may be in second place on this list but I listen to this album more than any other Finn album, I think it may be because there has never had any outside saturation, if you catch me on a certain day this may be at #1... It’s also the closest in feel to ‘Together Alone’…5*… 01… Crowded House - Together Alone (1993)… Kare Kare, Fingers Of Love, Private Universe, Catherine Wheels, Black & White Boy, Together Alone… ‘Skin Feeling’ in my opinion is not good but when all is said and done this is a NF’s strongest album overall… 5*… Top ten songs:- solo & the Finn Brothers…. 10… Try Whistling This (NF)… A beautiful piano ballad… The final minute is Neil Finn perfection, IMHO… 09… Last To Know (NF)… I like the album version but love the acoustic version on the disk two of the ‘Wherever You Are’ single… 08… Sinner (NF)… A little different from Neil, it’s grown on me a lot over the years… 06… Paradise (Wherever You Are) (Finns)… The South Pacific beautifully captured in a song… 05… Where Is My Soul (Finns), I love the emotion when Neil pushes His higher register… 04… Nothing Wrong With You (Finns)… I believe this is an ode to their mother… 03… Only Talking Sense (Finns)… A little touch of sinister… 02… Edible Flowers (Finns)… beautiful and reflective… 01… Suffer Never (Finns) A heavier sound, brilliant live…
Sorry about the delay to publish your wonderful comment! Your comment got bizarrely held up as 'probable spam' by UA-cam, which is the first time that has ever happened. I wasn't even aware that that was a thing. Maybe UA-cam secretly hates Crowded House and considers them spam.😅
@@tokyochuchu Took a look today whilst doings some work on my other channel and noticed that the comment had not shown up, this may have been because I included a link to a YT clip of NF with Marr performing 'Suffer Never' from 2001... I edited several times as I always do, sometimes it's like I never went to school, basic spelling and grammar errors all over the place... 🙂 ... My proof reading is as bad as my taste in music...😀
I also became aware of Split Enz in 1980. That was my first year studying music and I was in a rock band and we played it, I sang thel ead, still love that song. Can't believe it's been 43 years ago. I had never heard that flavor of music until they came out, and then MTV came out. Amazing stuff.
I think I likely undersold the impact of the song 'Better Be Home Soon.' That song wakes me up in the middle of the night sometimes. It should have been on my top ten list for sure. 😅
I'd say you nailed my Top 3, especially TOGETHER ALONE. I have a sentimental affection for the debut (though I rarely play it anymore... and now I know why) but the later stuff is a mystery. Humorously, after watching your ranking, I went to my CD rack and discovered, with the first four albums, something called THE VERY BEST OF CROWDED HOUSE with a "Special Bonus 15-track Live Album". Don't know how it got there but I'll certainly be giving both disks a spin on my commute this week. Thanks!
Included Afterglow as new tracks (except 1) and strong album for leftovers. #2 was #1 until this ranking. #8 Dreamers are Waiting #7 Woodface #6 Intriguer #5 Afterglow #4 Crowded House #3 Together Alone #2 Temple of Low Men #1 Time on Earth See details in my video. Have a great day!
Imo the 1st 3 albums were leading up to TOGETHER ALONE... thereafter the subsequent albums wished they could be together alone but fail miserably, and imo even fail to match the 1st 3 albums . ❤ crowded house lost something so strong when paul hester died. ❤😢
Yeah Together alone is a magnificent Crowded House album not only among their best but also among the best of albums that was ever made in the history of rock period.
Agreed. "Together Alone" is their best for me too. "Woodface" would be close to the bottom of my list. There's only 4 songs that I like: the 3 huge hits along with 'Whispers and Moans'.
Here is my worst to best Crowded House albums: - Intriguer - Time on Earth - *Afterglow - Dreamers are waiting - Crowded House - Woodface - Temple of Low Men - Together Alone *Afterglow was not included in your list, but it has great songs that IMHO cannot be discounted from this great band’s catalogue. Looking forward to “Gravity Stairs” May 2024 release!
"Together Alone" is the winner by a distance, all the others have good to great songs but sadly all have weak or so-so songs too, that does not make them all bad just unmemorable but one mans "meh" may to be another's great deep cut. Good that you did Crowded House, CHEERS!.
your top 10 is a joke, do you actually listen to the tracks. 10 The Howl 9 She goes on 8 Goodnight everyone 7 fall at your feet 6 twice if your lucky 5 tombstone 4 recurring dream 3 some greater plan 2 Distant sun 1 Fingers of Love
Yeah..I hear too much about this band and a ton of people RAVE about Crowded House and how they’re so amazing, and I honestly just think they’re really bland and vanilla and boring. Even Don’t Believe it’s Over is just really generic to me. I honestly, genuinely just don’t think there’s anything extraordinary or special about them..my condolences, Chuchu hehe 😜
I became aware of Split Enz around 1979/80, first hearing songs such as ‘I See Red’, ‘One Step Ahead’, ‘Six Months In A Leaky Boat’, ‘Message To My Girl’ & ‘I Got You’ and some of the Split Enz songs stand alongside Neil & Tim’s best work elsewhere… My pick up on Crowded House was slow, not taking any real notice until the release of ‘Woodface’ in ’91, my opinion being that they were a little lightweight … To this day Neil Finn remains the artist I have seen the most times ‘live’, mainly due to my wife also being a fan… The ‘Together Alone’ concert still remains one of my most memorable live experiences as does the Finn brothers concert around 04/05 (they covered everything: - Split Enz, CH, Neil & Tim solo and of course the two brothers albums that you would want to hear) … My love affair with all things Neil Finn would come to an end after the release of ‘Time On Earth’, nothing released since 2007 has gelled with me… So from the late seventies after joining Tim’s band Split Enz until 2007’s ‘Time On Earth’ Neil could do little wrong in my eye’s, whilst his output since then has done little for me, it is not bad, it just no longer grabs me in the same way…
07… Dreamers Are Waiting (2021) … Sweet Tooth, Show Me The Way, Too Good For This World … Neil would have been 63 so I have to keep that in mind but even still I have pretty much the same opinion of this than of the previous release, I really like ‘Sweet Tooth though…. 2.75* just…
06… Intriguer (2010) … Falling Dove, Isolation, Twice If You're Lucky, Even If… Could never get into it but it is pleasant enough… 3* just…
05… Time On Earth (2007) … She Called Up, Transit Lounge, English Trees, Don't Stop Now… A decent album made in the wake of ex drummer Paul Hester’s sad demise… 3.5*…
04… Crowded House (1986) … Mean To Me, World Where You Live, Something So Strong… A strong first release but not the greatest sound … 3.5*…
03… Temple Of Low Men (1988) … Into Temptation, When You Come, Love This Life, Sister Madly, Better Be Home Soon… Never been a favourite but the high spots speak for themselves… 3.5*…
02… Woodface (1991) … It's Only Natural, Fall At Your Feet, Whispers And Moans, Four Seasons In One Day, All I Ask, Chocolate Cake, Italian Plastic, She Goes On, There Goes God… The only CH album with Tim as a full member and considered by many as their best, for me there are one or two tracks that I am not that keen on (Tall Trees is one), after listening to the demo’s & the ‘Afterglow’ compilation IMHO they had better songs that were omitted (some ended up on Tim’s solo work though)… Way too long... 4.25*
01… Together Alone (1993)… Kare Kare, Fingers Of Love, Private Universe, Catherine Wheels, Black & White Boy, Together Alone… I think this is their best album but again it could have been better, replacing ‘Skin Feeling’ with ‘You Can Touch’ would have made me happy… 5*…
Songs…
10… You Can Touch… Should not have been a B.side…
09… English Trees… Think this is in memory of Paul Hester my fav from T.o.E…
08… Fall At Your Feet… Simply beautiful…
07… Mean To Me… Another fav from the first album
06… Italian Plastic… One of many favourites from WF, would love to have put this higher…
05… Fingers Of Love… Caught them live on this tour, the rendition of this song topped everything else they did on the night…
04… Private Universe… Especially love the stripped down version that Neil wanted on the ‘Together Alone’ album (to be found on the compilation album ‘Afterglow’ (1999)
03… Better Be Home Soon… Funnily enough I have never been mad on the album version but when Neil does it as a solo acoustic, I love it
02… Kare Kare… Always my favourite from TA…
01… Four Seasons In One Day… The first CH song that caught my ear…
Just as a side list, after a long career I feel that only ranking CH albums does not seem right, so I’m adding my ranking of my top ten NF project albums not including Split Enz (all these years and I’m still mostly oblivious in my knowledge of their album output)…
10… Intriguer (2010) … Falling Dove, Isolation, Twice If You're Lucky, Even If… 3*…
09… Time On Earth (2007) … She Called Up, Transit Lounge, English Trees, Don't Stop Now… 3.5*…
08… Crowded House - Crowded House (1986) … Mean To Me, World Where You Live, Something So Strong… 3.5*…
07… Neil Finn - One Nil (2001)… The Climber, Last To Know, Turn & Run, Anytime, Into The Sunset… Not quite as good as his first solo effort… 3.5*…
06… Crowded House - Temple Of Low Men (1988) … Into Temptation, When You Come, Love This Life, Sister Madly, Better Be Home Soon… 3.5*…
05… Finn Brothers - Everyone Is Here… (2004)… Won't Give In, Nothing Wrong With You, Disembodied Voices, Edible Flowers, Gentle Hum… Made in the aftermath of their mother’s death, a very reflective album, I love it… Unlike everything else in Finns catalogue, the two brother’s albums don’t have any songs that I dislike or feel I have to skip, though some are obviously weaker hence the rating…4*…
04… Neil Finn - Try Whistling This (1998)… Sinner, Last One Standing, Try Whistling This, She Will Have Her Way, Twisty Bass, Truth, Addicted… Before buying it, I read a review that wasn’t too kind, I took the plunge, it is not perfect and given that he had a few spare songs in his back catalogue it could have been better, really wish Neil had recorded ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’ originally by Hunters & Collectors, still at least there are several good live versions… I still like this album quite a bit though… 4.25*…
03… Crowded House - Woodface (1991) … It's Only Natural, Fall At Your Feet, Whispers And Moans, Four Seasons In One Day, All I Ask, As Sure As I Am, Italian Plastic, She Goes On… Woodface drops to third due to a couple of tracks I will skip when not in the mood (Tall Trees & Fame Is)… 4.25*…
02… Finn Brothers - Finn (1995)… Only Talking Sense, Eyes Of The World, Suffer Never, Angel's Heap, Where Is My Soul, Paradise (Wherever You Are)… Love this first release by Neil & Tim (I believe they also play all the instruments), wish they had done more than two albums as a duo, they appear very strong when pooling and sharing their efforts… It may be in second place on this list but I listen to this album more than any other Finn album, I think it may be because there has never had any outside saturation, if you catch me on a certain day this may be at #1... It’s also the closest in feel to ‘Together Alone’…5*…
01… Crowded House - Together Alone (1993)… Kare Kare, Fingers Of Love, Private Universe, Catherine Wheels, Black & White Boy, Together Alone… ‘Skin Feeling’ in my opinion is not good but when all is said and done this is a NF’s strongest album overall… 5*…
Top ten songs:- solo & the Finn Brothers….
10… Try Whistling This (NF)… A beautiful piano ballad… The final minute is Neil Finn perfection, IMHO…
09… Last To Know (NF)… I like the album version but love the acoustic version on the disk two of the ‘Wherever You Are’ single…
08… Sinner (NF)… A little different from Neil, it’s grown on me a lot over the years…
06… Paradise (Wherever You Are) (Finns)… The South Pacific beautifully captured in a song…
05… Where Is My Soul (Finns), I love the emotion when Neil pushes His higher register…
04… Nothing Wrong With You (Finns)… I believe this is an ode to their mother…
03… Only Talking Sense (Finns)… A little touch of sinister…
02… Edible Flowers (Finns)… beautiful and reflective…
01… Suffer Never (Finns) A heavier sound, brilliant live…
Sorry about the delay to publish your wonderful comment! Your comment got bizarrely held up as 'probable spam' by UA-cam, which is the first time that has ever happened. I wasn't even aware that that was a thing. Maybe UA-cam secretly hates Crowded House and considers them spam.😅
@@tokyochuchu Took a look today whilst doings some work on my other channel and noticed that the comment had not shown up, this may have been because I included a link to a YT clip of NF with Marr performing 'Suffer Never' from 2001... I edited several times as I always do, sometimes it's like I never went to school, basic spelling and grammar errors all over the place... 🙂 ... My proof reading is as bad as my taste in music...😀
@@ste.6026 Your comments are always a joy, Ste. 🤩
@@tokyochuchu Thank you, it's a joy to take part... 😀
I also became aware of Split Enz in 1980. That was my first year studying music and I was in a rock band and we played it, I sang thel ead, still love that song. Can't believe it's been 43 years ago. I had never heard that flavor of music until they came out, and then MTV came out. Amazing stuff.
I think I likely undersold the impact of the song 'Better Be Home Soon.' That song wakes me up in the middle of the night sometimes. It should have been on my top ten list for sure. 😅
My take, it's very easy to take cheap shots. It don't make you, big, smart, or funny.
I'd say you nailed my Top 3, especially TOGETHER ALONE. I have a sentimental affection for the debut (though I rarely play it anymore... and now I know why) but the later stuff is a mystery. Humorously, after watching your ranking, I went to my CD rack and discovered, with the first four albums, something called THE VERY BEST OF CROWDED HOUSE with a "Special Bonus 15-track Live Album". Don't know how it got there but I'll certainly be giving both disks a spin on my commute this week. Thanks!
Included Afterglow as new tracks (except 1) and strong album for leftovers. #2 was #1 until this ranking.
#8 Dreamers are Waiting
#7 Woodface
#6 Intriguer
#5 Afterglow
#4 Crowded House
#3 Together Alone
#2 Temple of Low Men
#1 Time on Earth
See details in my video. Have a great day!
1st is my favourite without question , the next 3 fight it out
Imo the 1st 3 albums were leading up to TOGETHER ALONE... thereafter the subsequent albums wished they could be together alone but fail miserably, and imo even fail to match the 1st 3 albums . ❤ crowded house lost something so strong when paul hester died. ❤😢
This band is one of those rare bands who don't have a outright turkey.
In their collection.
Yeah Together alone is a magnificent Crowded House album not only among their best but also among the best of albums that was ever made in the history of rock period.
Agreed. "Together Alone" is their best for me too.
"Woodface" would be close to the bottom of my list. There's only 4 songs that I like: the 3 huge hits along with 'Whispers and Moans'.
Here is my worst to best Crowded House albums:
- Intriguer
- Time on Earth
- *Afterglow
- Dreamers are waiting
- Crowded House
- Woodface
- Temple of Low Men
- Together Alone
*Afterglow was not included in your list, but it has great songs that IMHO cannot be discounted from this great band’s catalogue.
Looking forward to “Gravity Stairs” May 2024 release!
I'm also looking forward to Gravity Stairs too
"Together Alone" is the winner by a distance, all the others have good to great songs but sadly all have weak or so-so songs too, that does not make them all bad just unmemorable but one mans "meh" may to be another's great deep cut. Good that you did Crowded House, CHEERS!.
your top 10 is a joke, do you actually listen to the tracks.
10 The Howl
9 She goes on
8 Goodnight everyone
7 fall at your feet
6 twice if your lucky
5 tombstone
4 recurring dream
3 some greater plan
2 Distant sun
1 Fingers of Love
you kidding me 7 first album ,get gone
Yeah..I hear too much about this band and a ton of people RAVE about Crowded House and how they’re so amazing, and I honestly just think they’re really bland and vanilla and boring. Even Don’t Believe it’s Over is just really generic to me. I honestly, genuinely just don’t think there’s anything extraordinary or special about them..my condolences, Chuchu hehe 😜