Woodface [CD]

Ah, Woodface, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

1. For your wonderful guitar sounds.
2. For your sumptuous harmonies.
3. For your memorable lyrics.
4. For your superb production.
5. But most of all, for your unforgettable songs.

Neil Finn, ladies and genteleman. The Antipodean Lennon AND McCartney rolled into one who, in this finest of albums, presents to the world a collection of pop songs that will delight your aural senses time after time after time.

Twelve years or more have passed since this album was recorded, but it still sounds fresh and joyous to this day. Mitchell Froom, long time collaborator and producer of Crowded House took his final bow with the band on this album and left a legacy of one of the finest pop albums ever recorded. Most people will be familiar with "Weather with you" and many with the likes of "It's only natural", but the album, from the opening bars of "Chocolate Cake", right though to the closing bars of "How will you go" hardly ever lets up from utter perfection.

Not only are the melodies memorable, but the lyrics evocative and they nag at your subconscious. Finn has a clever line or two to sing that sinks into your brain, but never manages to be irritating.

Buy it. You'll love it. It's only natural.

Crowded House were at the peak of their powers when they made this beautifully understated album. It's studded with their most timeless hits and those tracks inbetween reinforce the mood of rainy day introspection. The Finns hark to the Beatles, Nick Drake, Difford and Tillbrook with solid straight down the middle songwriting and simple unfussy arrangements. Lyrics resound with meaning without being over clever. As pop LPs go this is close to perfection. Why we don't see it in all-time polls I'll never know.

Neil Finn's song writing has often been compared to even the highlights of the Lennon/McCartney partnership. Actually, Paul could/should have learned a thing or two from Finn in the early 90s. Never were the similarities more obvious than on Woodface, an album packed with great melodies, straight driven arrangements and a gorgeous production. Neil's brother, Tim, joined Crowded House on this album and not only does their partnership shine on the song writing level but even more in the harmonizing on many songs, Tim complementing Neil very successfully on many tracks.

The one track that seems at odds with the album was interestingly the first track and incredibly chosen as the first single. Chocolate Cake is a rocking song but the weakest track on the album, with the brothers seeming to salvage a song that just isn't good enough, radio wise at least. I admit having grown to the song in a strange way but yet always have mixed feelings towards it. This odd single selection must certainly have insured a commercial disaster in the States and could have done the same thing internationally.

After Chocolate Cake it's a bonanza of great solid tunes like the joyful It's Only Natural and Weather With You (a huge hit everywhere in the world, including my 3 year old son's world, except the States) and slower tunes such as Fall At Your Feet and Four Seasons In One Day (my son loves that one too and its corny video). The later part of the album is much slower but no less fulfilling. As Sure As I Am showcases an atmosphere of togetherness whilst How Will You Go reminds me of the plight someone close to me deals with daily due to alcoholism.

This album deserves 5 stars despite not being from my standpoint the masterpiece many people regard it to be, maybe simply because their crowning achievement in my view is Together Alone. I have heard few albums with so many solid songs in my lifetime and is of Crowded House's two lighter sounding albums, their first self titled album being the other one, much better, despite of the inclusion of Don't Dream It's Over on the first one (which is available on their Recurring Dream compilation).