091: Crowded House - Crowded House (1986)
“It's a mystery, music, so I can't say I understand why one song is a hit and another one's not. … I have a sense that my body of work is kind of becoming this lovely, living organism that pops out little sweet things every now and then.”
—Neil Finn
Before Neil Finn was the New Lindsay Buckingham in Fleetwood Mac, and after he labored in the shadow of his brother Tim in Split Enz, he was the singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter for the band Crowded House. In 1985, Finn, drummer Paul Hester, and bassist Nick Seymour recorded Crowded House's debut album with producer Mitchell Froom, featuring the hits “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and “Something So Strong.” Ben, Amanda, and Rich talk about this collection of punchy, melodic, and thought-provoking anthems that broke a band of New Zealanders and Australians big in America.
Miscellany
This album was Mitchell Froom’s first collaboration with engineer Tchad Blake, with whom he formed a long-lasting creative partnership, working on albums by Suzanne Vega, Los Lobos, the Bangles, Elvis Costello, The Corrs, Paul McCartney, and Pearl Jam, among many others. The duo receives credit as a single collaborative entity, which is rare and gratifying, especially when you consider that many of the tasks popularly associated with producing are actually engineering.
Rich got a lot of background info for this episode from Crowded House superfans on various forums, including the Frenz Forum, and this mega-thread on the Steve Hoffman music forums, where a group of dedicated fans went through the whole Finn brothers catalog track by track.
Special thanks to Producer Mike for the house mixes of “Tombstone” that open and close the episode. The first is a mash-up with “When a Fire Starts to Burn” by Disclosure, and the second samples Stardust’s “Music Sounds Better with You,” which in turn samples Chaka Khan’s “Fate.”
The glass guitar dude who opened for Joe Satriani was Ned Evett. We’re sure he is a perfectly lovely and talented human being, but his music could not have been less to Amanda’s taste.
Neil Finn, on “Don’t Dream It’s Over”: “The day I did it, I knew I had something quite special. Then the next day we played it with the band and it sounded like a bag of s--t. Mitchell [Froom] made some quite profound suggestions. Like an R&B bassline might be better than a rock or pop approach, or a Hammond organ could sound nice. He filled in quite a few areas that we weren't covering, but maybe it made our individual sound less distinctive.”
Neil Finn, on the death of Paul Hester in 2005: “I am devastated. I have lost one of my best mates.” Nick Seymour: “The last words Paul told me were, 'I love you, mate. See you in town (Melbourne) in a month.'"
Other links
Crowded House's official website (crowdedhouse.com)
Neil Finn’s official website (neilfinn.com)
“What do you want on your tombstone?” (YouTube)
“Don’t Dream It’s Over” on The Americans (YouTube)
“Don’t Dream It’s Over” on The Stand (YouTube)
Casey Kasem loses it in the studio (YouTube)
Discord & Rhyme’s Crowded House playlist (Spotify)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Ben Marlin (host)
Rich Bunnell (moderator)
Amanda Rodgers (n00b)
Mike DeFabio (guest appearance)
Crowded House tracklist
Mean to Me
World Where You Live
Now We’re Getting Somewhere
Don’t Dream It’s Over
Love You ‘Til the Day I Die
Something So Strong
Hole in the River
Can’t Carry On
I Walk Away
Tombstone
That’s What I Call Love
Other clips used
Crowded House/Split Enz/Neil Finn:
I Got You (Split Enz)
It’s Only Natural
History Never Repeats (Split Enz)
World Where You Live (Demo)
Now We’re Getting Somewhere (Demo)
Stranger Underneath Your Skin (Demo)
Love You ‘Til the Day I Die (Demo)
Dirty Creature (Split Enz)
Something So Strong (Demo)
I Walk Away (Split Enz)
Six Months in a Leaky Boat (Split Enz)
Tombstone (Live)
Edible Flowers (The Finn Brothers)
Weather With You
Private Universe
Sinner (Neil Finn)
Others:
Disclosure - When a Fire Starts to Burn
Limp Bizkit - Nookie
Fountains of Wayne - Mexican Wine
Elvis Costello and the Attractions - No Action
ABBA - Super Trouper
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
Gin Blossoms - Cheatin’
Aretha Franklin and George Michael - Knew You Were Waiting
Glee - Don’t Dream It’s Over
Sixpence None the Richer - Don’t Dream It’s Over
Nik Kershaw - Wouldn’t it Be Good
Rush - Roll the Bones
Tears for Fears - Head Over Heels/Broken
Def Leppard - Animal
The Cars - Hello Again
Bryan Adams - Summer of ‘69
Rick Springfield - Jessie’s Girl
Bruce Hornsby and the Range - The Long Race
ABC - Tears are Not Enough
Nik Kershaw - The Riddle
Formyula - Nature
The Bats - I Go Wild
Stardust - Music Sounds Better with You
Band/album personnel
Crowded House:
Neil Finn – lead vocals, acoustic piano, guitars
Nick Seymour – bass
Paul Hester – drums, backing vocals
Additional musicians:
Mitchell Froom – keyboards
Tim Pierce – guitars
Jerry Scheff – bass ("Now We're Getting Somewhere")
Jim Keltner – drums ("Now We're Getting Somewhere")
Jorge Bermudez – percussion
Heart Attack Horns – horns
Noel Crombie – backing vocals
Jim Gilstrap – backing vocals
Andy Milton – backing vocals
Joe Satriani – backing vocals
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Crowded House - Don’t Dream It’s Over (this episode only)
You can buy or stream Crowded House and other albums by Crowded House (but no songs called “Crowded House”) at your local record store or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.