The Album Review Club - Week #216 (page 1412) - Together Alone - Crowded House
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threespires
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Only guessers so far me and Bellers ? Piss poor :-)
RobMCFC
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Round #14, here we go!
The picture clues are about some of the people involved and the recording location, which as you will see from the write-up, are significant to the album.
The picture clues are about some of the people involved and the recording location, which as you will see from the write-up, are significant to the album.
threespires
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Crowded House - Together Alone
(Edit: Assuming it is then as much as love Woodface, having Youth produce this created a quite different feel from Mitchell Froom and one I approve of).
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RobMCFC
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Well done @threespires.
The Album Review Club
Together Alone - Crowded House (1993)
Selected by RobMCFC
Introduction
It’s an interesting quirk that two of my favourite three albums of all time were recorded in a house. My favourite was recorded in the artist’s own custom-built studio, but appropriately enough for a Crowded House album, this one was one of the house recordings.
Reading about the production of Together Alone, it seems that the choice of both the producer and recording location influenced the sound of the album significantly.
Karekare Beach
Genius loci (Latin for "spirit of place") is the unique, intangible soul, atmosphere, or essence of a specific location, shaped by its physical features, history, and human, sensory experiences.
If you look on the map, Karekare Beach is not that far from Auckland, but if you read the accounts of the recording sessions, it probably felt like the ends of the earth, with the wind and rain sweeping into the valley, hitting Nigel and Judy Horrocks’ house where the album was recorded. Neil Finn had been looking for somewhere different and his friend’s beach house seemed, to him, to be the ideal place to mix things up a bit.
Nigel Horrocks at his beach house in Karekare.
As an interesting aside, a few months earlier, Harvey Kietel had rented the same house during filming of The Piano, which took place in Karekare in early 1992.
Adding to the unique set-up was the choice of producer. Ditching regular producer, Mitchell Froom, the band decided to go with Youth, aka Martin Glover, bassist with post-punk band, Killing Joke.
When I heard Crowded House’s previous album, Woodface, I thought that it couldn’t be bettered. Neil Finn’s superb songs, with singable choruses and what I would later realise were sublime middle-8s, all beautifully recorded with enough room to breathe between the instruments.
However, on Together Alone, Youth certainly achieved that change in sonic approach that Neil Finn craved. Youth’s vibe-based spiritual techniques and eccentric approach to recording, including his pagan beliefs and the use of new age crystals to heal what he thought were tense relationships between band members, had a heavy influence on the recording process. Carrying a piano up the path to the beach house probably also helped with the team spirit!
Together Alone
The other main change was the addition of a 4th permanent band member, joining the core line-up of Neil Finn, Nick Seymour and Paul Hester. American multi-instrumentalist, Mark Hart, had been a touring member of the band before this album and even played additional keyboards on Woodface. Here, Hart’s use of the lap steel – not the dobro or the dreaded pedal steel – can be heard on tracks like the opener, “Kare Kare”.
In general, the sound on this album is less straightforward than on previous efforts. Yes, there are typical Finn gems such as the Norwegian Wood-inspired “Pineapple Head” or the perfect pop of “Distant Sun”. But then there’s the off-kilter “In My Command”, which features a wilder approach to singing, a Māori choir and a glorious guitar solo at the crescendo. “Private Universe” starts simply but gains layers as the song progresses, including some log drummers. “Catherine Wheels” is a leftover from the Woodface sessions, written by Neil with his brother, Tim; a beautiful piece of songwriting and performance.
Best of all though is “Fingers of Love”, a gorgeous piece of psychodelia inspired by a Jamaican sunset. The chords that start this song set the scene and the guitar solo later in the song is, once again, sublime.
Final Thoughts
On stage, Crowded House were a joy to watch; quite unlike any other band I have ever seen. The casual jokey back-and-forth between Neil Finn, Nick Seymour and Paul Hester was priceless and of course, their performances were just great. Sadly, Hester committed suicide in 2005, and although Crowded House have had at least two line-ups since, and continue to record, they will never beat the classic Finn-Seymour-Hester setup. On Together Alone, Mark Hart adds to the layered sound orchestrated by Youth, and when you throw in that Genius loci, it all adds up to the band’s best album.
The Album Review Club
Together Alone - Crowded House (1993)
Selected by RobMCFC
Introduction
It’s an interesting quirk that two of my favourite three albums of all time were recorded in a house. My favourite was recorded in the artist’s own custom-built studio, but appropriately enough for a Crowded House album, this one was one of the house recordings.
Reading about the production of Together Alone, it seems that the choice of both the producer and recording location influenced the sound of the album significantly.
Karekare Beach
Genius loci (Latin for "spirit of place") is the unique, intangible soul, atmosphere, or essence of a specific location, shaped by its physical features, history, and human, sensory experiences.
If you look on the map, Karekare Beach is not that far from Auckland, but if you read the accounts of the recording sessions, it probably felt like the ends of the earth, with the wind and rain sweeping into the valley, hitting Nigel and Judy Horrocks’ house where the album was recorded. Neil Finn had been looking for somewhere different and his friend’s beach house seemed, to him, to be the ideal place to mix things up a bit.
Nigel Horrocks at his beach house in Karekare.
As an interesting aside, a few months earlier, Harvey Kietel had rented the same house during filming of The Piano, which took place in Karekare in early 1992.
Adding to the unique set-up was the choice of producer. Ditching regular producer, Mitchell Froom, the band decided to go with Youth, aka Martin Glover, bassist with post-punk band, Killing Joke.
When I heard Crowded House’s previous album, Woodface, I thought that it couldn’t be bettered. Neil Finn’s superb songs, with singable choruses and what I would later realise were sublime middle-8s, all beautifully recorded with enough room to breathe between the instruments.
However, on Together Alone, Youth certainly achieved that change in sonic approach that Neil Finn craved. Youth’s vibe-based spiritual techniques and eccentric approach to recording, including his pagan beliefs and the use of new age crystals to heal what he thought were tense relationships between band members, had a heavy influence on the recording process. Carrying a piano up the path to the beach house probably also helped with the team spirit!
Together Alone
The other main change was the addition of a 4th permanent band member, joining the core line-up of Neil Finn, Nick Seymour and Paul Hester. American multi-instrumentalist, Mark Hart, had been a touring member of the band before this album and even played additional keyboards on Woodface. Here, Hart’s use of the lap steel – not the dobro or the dreaded pedal steel – can be heard on tracks like the opener, “Kare Kare”.
In general, the sound on this album is less straightforward than on previous efforts. Yes, there are typical Finn gems such as the Norwegian Wood-inspired “Pineapple Head” or the perfect pop of “Distant Sun”. But then there’s the off-kilter “In My Command”, which features a wilder approach to singing, a Māori choir and a glorious guitar solo at the crescendo. “Private Universe” starts simply but gains layers as the song progresses, including some log drummers. “Catherine Wheels” is a leftover from the Woodface sessions, written by Neil with his brother, Tim; a beautiful piece of songwriting and performance.
Best of all though is “Fingers of Love”, a gorgeous piece of psychodelia inspired by a Jamaican sunset. The chords that start this song set the scene and the guitar solo later in the song is, once again, sublime.
Final Thoughts
On stage, Crowded House were a joy to watch; quite unlike any other band I have ever seen. The casual jokey back-and-forth between Neil Finn, Nick Seymour and Paul Hester was priceless and of course, their performances were just great. Sadly, Hester committed suicide in 2005, and although Crowded House have had at least two line-ups since, and continue to record, they will never beat the classic Finn-Seymour-Hester setup. On Together Alone, Mark Hart adds to the layered sound orchestrated by Youth, and when you throw in that Genius loci, it all adds up to the band’s best album.
Apologies, thought we had till monday for me to do the who is who of the playlist. But to be fair the whole thing was a bit fo a failure anyway.
Will summarise at some point without hopefully distracting from the album at hand.
Will summarise at some point without hopefully distracting from the album at hand.
threespires
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I don't think a single one of the singles from this album got into the UK top 10. Arguably foreshadowing how dense the population of the UK can be if it puts it's mind to it.
threespires
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I'd suggest that how much effort you put into it depends on whether I beat Belfry in our head to head, in which case go for it. If it turns out I came second in a two horse race feel free not to bother :-)
RobMCFC
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I think they did OK with this album but you may be right. Woodface was definitely their peak, but I agree with you about Together Alone being even better because of the sound and Youth forcing them to mix things up a bit.
threespires
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Yeah but to your point Distant Sun is close to a perfect pop song and I'm not even sure if it got in the top 20. I'm sure the album itself did fare better.
The bassist Nick Seymour did the cover art and I don't know if it's true but the story goes that it was Richard Thompson who is a Sufi Muslim told him it would be offensive to portray Muhammed so that's the reason he's in the back of the car with the curtain drawn and Buddha and Jesus are in the front of the vehicle.
mrbelfry
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i got at least one right but as it'll make me appear like the bigger person i will gladly celebrate your victory. well done king
RobMCFC
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Yes, I've heard that story too. Nick Seymour did the artwork for all of the albums, I think.
threespires
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I was going to say I await my chufty badge, but frankly based on past form I'd be surprised if your one wasn't enough for the victory.
journolud
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I don't really like barbeques but my oldest son, the only meat eater in the family loves them. Luckily for him one of his best mates is a butcher and they often invite him round for one. He's recently moved out to his own place and so we don't need to worry about having an annual event that I have to work up some enthusiasm for and although his mum keeps inviting him back for tea it's generally Sunday roasts which we can all enjoy. Unfortunately the rather large barbeque that he insisted we buy last summer is taking up too much room in our shed and he doesn't have room for it.
Anyway, I think I possibly subconsciously approached the playlist with the same enthusiasm as I do for the real thing. Thankfully I don't often get invited to other barbeques but if I did I imagine it might be a bit like this...
Here Comes the Sun- OK, great song and maybe, just maybe it might be OK if so and so are there, they are alright to talk to...
Take a Little Time, Revolution (In the Summertime), The Sun Rising, Take a Little Time- Despite my reservations I'm having a decent time and if it stays like this...
Cheeky Bastard- uh oh, I've been cornered by the aggressively friendly guy who spotted my City hat and started with a general comment about football before launching into an uninformed spiel about the 115 and then segued seamlessly into asylum seekers and PIP claimants. All I can do is nod while waiting for the opportunity to slide away...
Sausage- fucking hell, that woman is getting a bit loud. Who is she? Mustn't make eye contact anyway...
Summer Nights, Chop Suey- and here we go. You just knew that sooner or later some argy bargy would break out. Inevitably it's the cheeky bastard that's involved.
Antigone- and I've drunk too much, I need to sit down for a minute before my head starts spinning..
Evil barbeque- quite. I've met a kindred soul who has the same antipathy to the whole thing as me, we had a bit of a laugh together but really, it's a race to leave first
Sincerely- the morning after the night before, it's a kind of therapy to have a coffee and a croissant to ease myself back to life. Glad it wasn't it at our house and I don't have to do the clearing up.
As to who nominated what, who knows but I'll take the first five I mentioned and explore a little more.
Glad that's out of the way and I think this week's garden party will be much more to my liking. I'm familiar with a lot of the songs from the best of Crowded house that I often play and ironically remind me of beautiful sunny days, Barbeque weather if you like. I'm also very familiar with Woodface but not this album as an entity. I'm looking forward to sitting in the garden with my alcohol free Corona and embracing this.
Anyway, I think I possibly subconsciously approached the playlist with the same enthusiasm as I do for the real thing. Thankfully I don't often get invited to other barbeques but if I did I imagine it might be a bit like this...
Here Comes the Sun- OK, great song and maybe, just maybe it might be OK if so and so are there, they are alright to talk to...
Take a Little Time, Revolution (In the Summertime), The Sun Rising, Take a Little Time- Despite my reservations I'm having a decent time and if it stays like this...
Cheeky Bastard- uh oh, I've been cornered by the aggressively friendly guy who spotted my City hat and started with a general comment about football before launching into an uninformed spiel about the 115 and then segued seamlessly into asylum seekers and PIP claimants. All I can do is nod while waiting for the opportunity to slide away...
Sausage- fucking hell, that woman is getting a bit loud. Who is she? Mustn't make eye contact anyway...
Summer Nights, Chop Suey- and here we go. You just knew that sooner or later some argy bargy would break out. Inevitably it's the cheeky bastard that's involved.
Antigone- and I've drunk too much, I need to sit down for a minute before my head starts spinning..
Evil barbeque- quite. I've met a kindred soul who has the same antipathy to the whole thing as me, we had a bit of a laugh together but really, it's a race to leave first
Sincerely- the morning after the night before, it's a kind of therapy to have a coffee and a croissant to ease myself back to life. Glad it wasn't it at our house and I don't have to do the clearing up.
As to who nominated what, who knows but I'll take the first five I mentioned and explore a little more.
Glad that's out of the way and I think this week's garden party will be much more to my liking. I'm familiar with a lot of the songs from the best of Crowded house that I often play and ironically remind me of beautiful sunny days, Barbeque weather if you like. I'm also very familiar with Woodface but not this album as an entity. I'm looking forward to sitting in the garden with my alcohol free Corona and embracing this.
RobMCFC
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I think it's great that you are familiar with Woodface but not the album under review, although I guess you have heard some of the songs from what you have said.
Saddleworth2
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stick me back on the end of that list Rob. Op on Tuesday next week and I should be good to go by early September.
GornikDaze
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Hope all goes well Sadds
RobMCFC
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No worries. Best of luck and hope all goes well.
OB1
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Well, if you are anywhere near Oxford on your trip, you can buy me that drink you owe me :-)
OB1
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Good luck with the op.