Crowded House - Time on Earth
Neil Finn and Company Pull Solace from Sorrow on their New CD
After an 11 year hiatus, the painful passing of original drummer Paul Hester brings the Crowdies back together. Let the healing begin.
Born out of loss
In June of 1996, singer/songwriter Neil Finn announced that Crowded House was being put to bed. Neil wanted to explore writing, recording and performing outside of the group dynamic, which he spent the next several years doing. His subsequent releases (2 solo albums and 2 albums recorded with his brother Tim Finn) were not as immediatly accessable as the direct, engaging pop of Crowded House, but repeat plays rewarded the listener with a level of depth that was also lacking from alot of the Crowdies material.
Neil was already planning a new solo project when he received the news, in March of 2005, that Paul Hester, the drummer of Crowded House, had taken his own life. This sudden and surprising death brought Neil and his former bandmates back together, initially to share their grief and give support to one another and to Paul's family. After awhile, Neil decided to re-form Crowded House, both for the fans and also as a tribute to Paul. This new album, released in July of 2007, is the end result.
The Spirit of Paul Hester
The new line-up of Crowded House (consisting of founding members Neil Finn and Nick Seymour, long-time collaborator Mark Hart, and newly recruited drummer Matt Sherrod) has created an album which is haunted by the memory of Paul Hester on nearly every track. Neil Finn is generally an oblique lyricist, tending to approach topics at an angle rather than head-on, which makes it easier for the listener to project his own ideas into the song. Many of these new songs are written that way as well, but one can find a reference to Paul and his passing in virtually every song. "Nobody Wants To" references the event that no-one wants to talk about; "She Called Up" describes the call that informed Neil of Paul's passing; even "Silent House", (which was co-written with all three Dixie Chicks and performed by them on their 2006 release Taking the Long Way) now sounds as if it could have been written expressly for Paul. One of the standout tracks is "Pour le Monde", a breathtaking ballad, which plays as an elegy.
A New Direction?
On the first four Crowded House releases, as the band followed a natural maturing process, one thing that never changed was their very strong group dynamic, especially in concert. When Tim Finn joined the band on Woodface in 1991, when the music began to become more dense and layered on 1993's Together Alone, Crowded House was still a real band, a group of individuals that played as one. That group dynamic is missing for the most part from this new album, which sounds suspiciously like a Neil Finn solo album. The one real exception to that is the first single, "Don't Stop Now" a delicious up-tempo number that may remind the listener of the Crowdies of old. It is interesting to note that Paul Hester left Crowded House before the band was broken up by Neil Finn. He left suddenly during the Together Alone tour, and Neil did actually attempt some sessions with a new drummer before deciding to break up the group. In a sense, then, Paul Hester may be more responsible than Neil for the early demise of Crowded House, just as he is responsible for their reuniting now. And he may have contributed alot to that group dynamic which is now missing, but may be regained as the band spends time on the road.
That being said, a Neil Finn solo album does not disappoint. The album consists almost completely of slow to mid-tempo numbers, with the exception of the aforementioned single and another rocker , "Even a Child", co-written and performed with Johnny Marr of Smiths' fame. Anyone looking for something as infectious and immediately engaging as the Crowdies early hits may be disappointed, for there is no "Don't Dream It's Over" or "Weather with You" to be found here. But a few listens are likely to prove rewarding. The sorrow of Paul's passing is still tinged with hope; Neil's trademark bittersweet songwriting style always leaves a hint of sunlight beyond the clouds. As Neil himself sings in the closing song: "People are like suns, breathing into life all that's good in us".
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