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Intellectual House o' Pancakes Webdiary

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2006-10-06 - 10:49 a.m.

And then there�s the matter of Neil Finn.

Like everyone, I bought Split Enz�s True Colours, mostly for the laser-etching, but fell in love with �I Got You,� and �Shark Attack,� etc. But I was young and angry and got side-tracked by punk and stopped caring about the pretty stuff.

Years later, �Don�t Dream it�s Over� and the entire Crowded House era eluded me. That was a great song, but overplayed and just part of the cultural zeitgeist wallpaper so I didn�t pay attention.

Then Neil Finn seemed to have had a third act as a respected singer/songwriter, embraced by exactly the kind of people (and bloggers and magazines) whose taste I share.

But when so many people recommend something to me, something happens that I call the Motherless Brooklyn Phenomenon: I just don�t feel like I need to hear/read/see said work of art, because I already know I�ll like it, and it�ll always be there, like the Statue of Liberty, or the Empire State Building or the World Trade Cen�oops. See? Not good.

So lately I�ve finally been giving Neil Finn a chance, one download at a time, and have been rewarded with some really lovely songs. If any Finn-heads can expound on how to approach his catalog, please do!

Here�s a good�un: �Hole in the Ice.� I love that he�s singing this intense and kind of angry song while wearing a dorky suburban dad shirt:



Two other things I�m appreciating today:

  • The British label Ace Records, their passion and aesthetic. They are archivists of great, early r&r and jump blues and garage rock, most of it American.

  • From Wales: the proggy/psych Man.

    thoughts? (12 comments so far)

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