Produced by Mitchell Froom, who also worked with Elvis Costello, Suzanne Vega and Randy Newman, the Crowded House Woodface album is to many of the band's followers their zenith as a recording unit. Released in July 1991, many of the songs included on it were originally intended for a Finn Brothers solo venture, until Neil asked Tim if he could use their co writes on the upcoming Crowded House project. Tim responded, allegedly with tongue in cheek, that he would agree only if he could join the band. Neil took him at his word and Tim became a fully paid up CH member, only to leave during the UK leg of the Woodface tour.
I hold great affection for this record unlike any other Crowded House LP, as I think it has a seamless flow to it, without any overriding link or concept to knit the individual tracks together. Like the best Beatles albums, one is drawn in to the whole package and encouraged to listen from start to finish, instead of cherry picking favourite cuts. It helps that the standard of songwriting throughout is maintained at a consistently high level, perhaps aided by the Finns' collaborations, albeit with a different end result in mind. Three of these efforts were interestingly co written with ex Beach Boys drummer and former Rutles guitarist Stig O'Hara (he of no fixed hairstyle), the South African Ricky Fataar.
Many may not agree but I feel the album's weakest track is the opener, Chocolate Cake, where the marriage of slightly obvious lyrics and plodding, monotonous melody (especially the chorus, which fails to deviate much from one note) leaves me a little cold.
Things take off substantially from then on. It's Only Natural is a wonderfully crafted piece of pop, with the Finns harmonising to perfection above its cultured rhythm section and reverberated surf guitars. The tracks Fall At Your Feet and the haunting Four Seasons In One Day have now seeped into the pop public's consciousness, whilst the universal splendour of Weather With You gave the band top fifty chart entries in as many as six countries, peaking at number 7 in the UK. Expatriate Antipodeans regularly seem to be emotionally stirred by this song, in similar fashion upon hearing that other Aussie classic from Men At Work, Down Under.
Even drummer Paul Hester hits the mark with Italian Plastic and the overt romanticism of the strings on All I Ask does not detract overall. Woodface is a great record and one that I cannot ever set to shuffle on my iPod.
I hold great affection for this record unlike any other Crowded House LP, as I think it has a seamless flow to it, without any overriding link or concept to knit the individual tracks together. Like the best Beatles albums, one is drawn in to the whole package and encouraged to listen from start to finish, instead of cherry picking favourite cuts. It helps that the standard of songwriting throughout is maintained at a consistently high level, perhaps aided by the Finns' collaborations, albeit with a different end result in mind. Three of these efforts were interestingly co written with ex Beach Boys drummer and former Rutles guitarist Stig O'Hara (he of no fixed hairstyle), the South African Ricky Fataar.
Many may not agree but I feel the album's weakest track is the opener, Chocolate Cake, where the marriage of slightly obvious lyrics and plodding, monotonous melody (especially the chorus, which fails to deviate much from one note) leaves me a little cold.
Things take off substantially from then on. It's Only Natural is a wonderfully crafted piece of pop, with the Finns harmonising to perfection above its cultured rhythm section and reverberated surf guitars. The tracks Fall At Your Feet and the haunting Four Seasons In One Day have now seeped into the pop public's consciousness, whilst the universal splendour of Weather With You gave the band top fifty chart entries in as many as six countries, peaking at number 7 in the UK. Expatriate Antipodeans regularly seem to be emotionally stirred by this song, in similar fashion upon hearing that other Aussie classic from Men At Work, Down Under.
Even drummer Paul Hester hits the mark with Italian Plastic and the overt romanticism of the strings on All I Ask does not detract overall. Woodface is a great record and one that I cannot ever set to shuffle on my iPod.
Should you be a fan of any of the Crowded House songs above, I am convinced you will also like a new UK artist by the name of James Henry. You can click below for a free download of a great James Henry song, Saturday Morning, a recording strongly influenced by the stellar works of Crowded House.
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