Old Enough to Forget

Tim Finn, founding father of Split Enz, occasional member of Crowded House and half of The Finn Brothers with little brother Neil and a fairly odd but incredibly cool album by ALT (with Andy White and Liam O Maonlai) back in '95. It's weird, not a bad weird, just weird that I came to Tim Finn's solo work backassward through his association with little brother Neil. Of course I knew of Split Enz, and dang it I loved "Shark Attack" and thought "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" were awesome, but on balance I liked Neil's songs better. Those first two Crowded House records only cemented that opinion for me. When Neil and Tim turned what was to be a Finn Brothers record into Woodface I was still drawn to Neil, but I had to admit Tim was pretty cool ... maybe I was missing out. Me being me, which is to say a borderline compulsive, I started looking for Tim's solo work. I found his debut from '83 which was okay, and I kept going and going. Of his solo wo...

I'm still digging myself out from the pile of records in the basement. Not that I mind, but my goodness there's a lot of stuff to go through, and frankly I don't want to short myself on anything so I'm still trying to spend time with them before putting them away. Oh, some will stay put for a long time I suspect, but there are always hidden gems and treasures among the old things that are new to me, A mixed bag this time of the familiar and not so much. The Who - Face Dances (1981) Rick Springfield - Hard to Hold (1984) Gino Vannelli - Brother to Brother (1978) Red Rider - Breaking Curfew (1984) Doucette - Coming Up Roses (1981) The Who - Face Dances (1981) This would be the band's first album after the death of drummer Keith Moon. Sitting on the throne behind the kit was Kenny Jones, who had been a member of The Small Faces. The album was produced by Bill Szymczyk and yielded the classic, "You Better You Bet" that helped pull the album to platinum s...

I make no apologies for liking Rick Springfield. I had to flip a coin to pick whether to play Working Class Dog , or go with 1983's Living in Oz . Tales you lose, if you want to read about "Jessie's Girl" it'll be another day on a different post. From 1981 through 1984 Rick Springfield put out an album a year, each going platinum in the States. Oddly enough in Canada Living in Oz sold less than Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet and that one sold less than Working Class Dog - he was trending down.  Which was a shame as Living in Oz was pure power pop driven by the guitar wizardry of the incomparable Tim Pierce. Funny if you read the reviews that were out at the time Rick was a bit of a conundrum as he was supposed to be the pretty boy pop star who wasn't supposed to have actual musical chops. He was also an (gasp) actor on a soap opera, the man had no shame. Since I didn't watch daytime TV I never saw him with a stethoscope draped over his white coat. T...