Time On Earth [CD]

After obtaining an advance copy of this I feel I've now played it enough to offer my reflections on its merits.

It gets off to a great start with the melodic pop of `Nobody Wants To' followed by the lead off single `Don't Stop Now'. The latter is chockfull of lovely hooks and chiming guitars and is propelled by a great Nick Seymour bass line. Absolutely classic stuff!

After hearing the Real World Studio webcast and Thekla live run outs I thought the brooding, folky 'Silent House' (co-written by Neil with the Dixie Chicks) would become my favourite track. However, great though that song is, there are such musical riches on this album that any of four or five others could be.

Up there among the best is the beautiful, Lennonesque `Pour Le Monde' (`For the World'). This piano-led composition features one of Neil's best ever lyrics and promises to become an emotional stage favourite to rival `Don't Dream it's Over'.

Elsewhere `Even a Child', `Walked Her Way Down' and `Transit Lounge' provide further evidence of Neil's gift for writing totally original tunes that you feel you've heard before - but haven't. Instantly likeable, the former two in particular have not left my head all week.

In places the atmospheric production (two producers are at work here) recalls the outstanding job Youth did on `Together Alone'. The remarkable, shimmering beauty of `A Sigh' and the more up-tempo `English Trees' could have slotted on - and enhanced - that fine album.

Being Crowded House, amidst the classic tracks there's one or two that just don't cut it. For me `She Called Up' (part 'The Munsters' theme tune, part Elvis's 'Burning Love') and the dreary, tune-free `Heaven That I'm Making' should have been left off the album. At around 59 minutes/14 tracks long they could have been ditched without short-changing the customer.

That minor quibble aside, Neil is in fantastic voice here - in fact, as good as he's ever sounded. His falsetto on the chorus to the affecting `You Are the One To Made Me Cry' elevates an excellent song to the level of a minor masterpiece. Smokey Robinson eat your heart out!

The album ends with the fantastic, psychedelic `People are Like Suns'. This would have fitted on any Beatles album from `Pepper' to `Abbey Road' with its slowed-down strings and slightly off-kilter piano. It's probably Neil's most obvious ever nod to the Fab Four's musical legacy.

At times `Time on Earth' manages to sound more like a Neil Finn solo album than Crowded House, but given its recording history that is hardly surprising.

Fortunately the standard of Neil's songwriting here easily surpasses that found on his two lacklustre solo efforts, `Try Whistling This' and `One Nil'

I have spoken at length about Neil Finn's contribution to `Time on Earth' (as he wrote the majority of it solo and is lead singer that's hardly surprising!), but this album would be poorer if not for the fine talents of those two Crowded House stalwarts, bassist Nick Seymour and multi-instrumentalist Mark Hart, who also contribute some fine harmony vocals.

Ex-Beck drummer Matt Sherrod (among others) does a fine job with the sticks and the production by Ethan Johns and Steve Lilywhite is never intrusive and perfectly captures the album's many moods and styles. Throw in the typically fluid, ringing guitar of Johnny Marr on two tracks: 'Only A Child' (which he co-wrote) and 'Don't Stop Now' and you have an uplifting listening experience

In summing-up, this album could have been a total mess, but instead it's an absolute triumph. Whisper it, but it may well be the most consistently excellent album of Neil Finn's career.

The only sad thing is that Paul Hester never lived to play on it - that would have made this album perfect.

Many reviewers (with obvious justification) are looking to compare this latest album with CH's and Neil's previous work. At times, the comparisons are, for me, fairly obvious. 'You Are The One To Make Me Cry' is very reminiscent of 'All I Ask', given the slow-paced, mellow string arrangement, but if anything it's better, due to a glorious vocal and somehow sounding even more mellifluous. Then there's the brooding, dark bass line at the end of 'Silent House', with a layer of crunching rock guitar, which has a similar feel to the rock-out ending of 'Suffer Never' from the Finn Brothers album, particularly if you've seen it performed live.

For me, though, the most meaningful comparison to make is to contemporary albums from the likes of, say, Travis or Coldplay. And, quite frankly, this album just blows them away, even though I'm personally a fan of both bands. Chris Martin talks of four-part harmonies on 'Fix You', but Neil, Nick, Mark and Matt just get on and do it, seamlessly and effortlessly, on practically every track. Rarely in recent years has a band managed to produce such a soundscape. Neil Finn is unquestionably one of the best songwriters alive, and his gift is in matching the feel and mood of the sound, sometimes in contrasting ways, to the depth of the lyrics.

After a few plays, all the new hooks fill your head. Even though it's one of the darkest, moodiest and arguably even the most plodding CH song you'll hear, 'Say That Again' is aural magic. 'She Called Up' was a necessity on this album, with its kicking, stomping tomfoolery - it's what Hester would have done had he still been with us, the 'Sister Madly' of the new album. 'Even A Child' rings out in my head several times a day, and 'Silent House' is poignant for me, as one of the kindest, warmest people I ever knew contracted Alzheimer's and became a shadow of his former self - exactly the theme, and mood, of the track.

Listen to this a few times and it all makes sense, and is instantly one of the best albums in years. I'm just delighted to see them back, as I became a fan the moment they were splitting up - and I'll finally get to see them live (albeit without a wonderful missing musician).

Incidentally, I disagree with Adam's review below. I have a very good Arcam hi-fi separates set up, and this album comes across with well separated instruments, rich bass and plenty of musical nuances. I suggest he upgrades his equipment if he thinks this album has been poorly produced or engineered.

To be honest I am terrible at listening to anything and "getting it" on the first listen and I was dangerously close to writing this album off.

When I first put it on in the car it poured fourth to me like a homogenous large dollop of 'Together Alone'-esque gloop. Not a single song stood out and I was greatly disappointed.

But just before I replaced it with my Snow Patrol, Killers and Springsteen discs I put it back on again and became quite fond of Tracks 1, 2 and 3. Then 4. Then 6. And so it went on.

Now I love it. If you are an ex-Crowdie get on board again!

RIP Paul.