Has anyone heard anything around the planned re-issue of the Finn record by Needle Mythology?
Theres been talk for a year or two now but it seems to have gone quiet?
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Still on the way.
Thanks Jaff. The Needle Mythology newsletter at the beginning of this year said it'd be out this year. Is this still the case?
I haven’t heard anything more about it for a few months. No release date yet.
Thanks Jaff :-)
Has anyone heard anything more about the long awaited Finn vinyl re-issue? Fingers still crossed 
Hopefully still on the cards for this year
ICYMI, the ALT "Altitude" re-issue is coming from Needle Mythology in May, so hopefully Finn won't be too far behind? https://needlemythology.com/releases/alt-altitude/
There was a nice unboxing video of Tim receiving his copy the other day - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx54qQ6Gitg
I ordered my copy of ALT on vinyl! Very cool as I never thought so a minor release from the mid-90's would ever see vinyl. Looking forward to hearing a bonus track or two that I haven't heard before too.
I also got into w website called freestyle-vinyl.com where you can upload your own songs and cover art they'll create a custom vinyl for you. It's not cheap, but it a fun thing to do for a special occasion.
That sounds really smart! I had a look at the site. Painaporo... what is the quality like?
Keeping on with Finn... has anyone heard anything more about it?
I’ve been back in NZ the past two weeks for my father’s memorial service. While here, I’ve been driving my sister’s elderly car, which doesn’t have a CD player or bluetooth-enabled sound system — but it does have a cassette player. The one tape in the car is Finn.
I’ve had it on constant rotation the past fortnight, and I’ve really enjoyed reacquainting myself with its distinctive sound textures (along with the low-level hiss of a twenty-seven year-old cassette). What a wonderful album it is! Tim’s drumming is, shall we say, rudimentary. But it adds to the raw charm of the record, providing a solid foundation for Neil’s many layers of guitar, piano, mellotron, and tea-box bass. We have all come to know Only Talking Sense, Suffer Never, and Paradise Wherever You from Neil’s and Seven Worlds’ live repertoires. But I’d forgotten how consistently good the songs are — even the lesser-known ones that Neil hasn’t resurrected in subsequent solo and ensemble performances. Eyes of the World now sounds like a classic; Angels Heap and Road to Rarotonga too. I wish Tim snd Neil had carried on making DIY music together like this — musically and lyrically, it’s so much more inventive and less overproduced than Everyone Is Here.
I’d be very keen to hear a reissue with bonus tracks, if there are any kicking about. So please do keep us posted, Jaffaman and anyone else who might be in the know.
I'm sorry about your father.
There is no further news yet about the Finn reissue. Still coming but I don't know when. Not sure if it's licensing issues, a vinyl manufacturing queue or another problem holding it up.
Thanks, Jaffaman. I’ll keep hoping!
PS: Bullets in My Hairdo might be my absolute favourite right now. It feels like a piece of found dream-art. Those eerie wraith-like harmony vocals sound like they were anachronistically channelling Bowie’s Blackstar 20 years before it was recorded.
I am sorry to hear about your father Watney Sideburns.
Hopefully the Finn reissue is getting closer.
I liked your thoughts about the record. Its interesting as there's never been very much about whether there are any songs from the sessions. I have read - somewhere - that supposedly Neil and Tim might have been short on songs and the 11 on the album are the lot.
Hopefully Try Whistling This, One Nil/All and Everyone Is Here may also get an outing on vinyl at some point too.
I’ll just leave this here.
Woohoo! Thanks for that! Exceeds expectations!!
Wow! That looks amazing.
I PMd them to ask if it was getting a CD release too. It's coming a little later but it's coming. Great news.
Good to get another Murchison St song. I went to Murchison St on a windy Autumn afternoon a few years ago. I felt a little like a fanboy stalker at first but it was well worth it. To see the room that overlooked the cemetery where all these classic songs were written and then Neil Finn's house next door with the turret on top where a bunch of other classic songs were written. These songs are part of the culture now so to see where they came into being was genuinely moving.
This re-issue looks very cool but I'm surprised there are no outtakes or demos from the actual Finn album. The Finn album has become my favourite these last few years. Something about how thrown together it all seems. Like that first McCartney album. You feel like you are hearing the actual ideas. Same with that "Out of Silence" album which I feel has stood the test of time better than other Finn albums from the last 15 years.
Maybe they didn't demo anything. I think remember reading they recorded the whole thing in a couple of weeks. Regardless I'll buy it.
@harrytrousers posted:Good to get another Murchison St song.
Yes, but (sigh) still no "Cemetery in the Rain". What is it with that track?
Oh well. I tried ... but at least "Four Stepping" finally made it over the line. That's a way superior song.
@harrytrousers posted:Maybe they didn't demo anything. I think remember reading they recorded the whole thing in a couple of weeks. Regardless I'll buy it.
If I could find my well thumbed copy of the Chris Bourke book I am sure it was mentioned in there that everything they recorded made the album.
That was my first thought when the bonus tracks were from the Murchison St sessions.
@Jaffaman posted:Oh well. I tried
Ok, well, that's good to know! Just goes to show, never judge a song by it's title 
Looks to be an excellent re-release. Pity that "Chocolate Cake" and "All I Ask", both previously released, are missing from the "Finn Demos" disc.
Any news about a US release? I thought I read something about it, but now I can't find it.
Thanks,
matt
UPDATED FAQ FROM NEEDLE MYTHOLOGY:
Q: 'Will it be available in Australia / NZ?'
A: yes , we are shipping to Aus / NZ via Rocket and Southbound.
Q: 'Will it be available in Europe?'
A: yes though best to enquire now via your favourite independent. Needle Mythology is distributed by The Orchard.
Q: 'Will it be available in US/Canada?'
A: yes again it's best to enquire via your favourite independent. Needle Mythology is distributed by The Orchard.
Q: 'Will it be available on CD?'
A: Yes, definitely. We are experiencing some delays with production .
@Jaffaman posted:UPDATED FAQ FROM NEEDLE MYTHOLOGY:
Q: 'Will it be available in Australia / NZ?'
A: yes , we are shipping to Aus / NZ via Rocket and Southbound.Q: 'Will it be available in Europe?'
A: yes though best to enquire now via your favourite independent. Needle Mythology is distributed by The Orchard.Q: 'Will it be available in US/Canada?'
A: yes again it's best to enquire via your favourite independent. Needle Mythology is distributed by The Orchard.Q: 'Will it be available on CD?'
A: Yes, definitely. We are experiencing some delays with production .
Jaffaman, do we know if there's any possibility of a couple of Finn Bros gigs to promote the vinyl release?
Not to my knowledge.
Cemetery in the Rain: the solution is simple. Jeremy just needs to give us 24 hours' warning, then add the song to the Kitchen Sink and take it down 24 hours later before the Finns find out
I'll stick it on a random page at neilfinn.com and give you a day to find it. 
That's mean. You know I now have to spend time searching just in case you actually have
(I have to consider your "like" as being that warning...)
In all seriousness, your link gave me no excuse not to have a wander over to the site and the resource you've set up of all Neil's songs is remarkable and incredibly helpful. I've managed to gather audio from all those Fangradio shows but have never found a moment to wade through them all and pick out the demos and unreleased stuff and you've actually saved me a MAMMOTH task.
Genuinely deep gratitude and thanks for that, Jeremy.
Thanks, Paul. I'm really pleased to know it's been useful for you. Putting those song pages together took me a few more hundred hours than I thought it would but it was a satisfying task.
I'll just leave this here
https://superdeluxeedition.com...d-as-a-2lp-vinyl-set/
Neil Finn and Tim Finn’s 1995 album FINN, the first by The Finn Brothers (although only originally credited to ‘Finn’) will be reissued as a 2LP vinyl set in July.
New Zealand’s most celebrated musical siblings put out this wonderfully quirky album to much acclaim from critics and longtime fans who’d followed the pair’s work since their time together in Split Enz and Crowded House.
Released by Parlophone in the UK, the first single ‘Suffer Never’ actually sneaked into the top 30 singles chart, in all likelihood because if you bought both CD singles at the time (guilty as charged) you got an amazing collection of demos including some Crowded House classics like ‘Four Seasons In One Day’ and ‘Weather With You’ (from Woodface) and ‘Catherine Wheels’ (from Together Alone).
Second single Angels Heap didn’t quite make the top 40 (it got close, peaking at #41) but again delivered a fascinating collection of demos; four this time: ‘It’s Only Natural’, ‘There Goes God’, ‘How Will You Go’ and ‘Chocolate Cake’.
The singles were brilliant collectibles, but the album – co-produced by Neil, Tim and Tchad Blake – stood on its own as an organic, semi-lo-fi masterpiece, with some magical songs like opener ‘Only Taking Sense’, the hypnotic ‘Mood Swinging Man’, the McCartney-esque piano ballad ‘Last Day of June’ and nostalgic ‘Angels Heap’ with its warm acoustics and close harmonies.
Tim Finn: “Making this record felt like freedom. Neil, myself, and Tchad Blake carved out a space that (to quote Nabokov) was pure “aesthetic bliss”. We took a few half-written songs, a T-Chest bass, and an ancient Chamberlin into an Auckland studio and a few weeks later came out with a finished album that was unlike anything we’d done before.
Neil Finn: “From the first day in York St studios with Tim and Tchad we felt free to make any kind of sound we fancied, there was no template to follow for a Finn Bothers record. We just wanted to play everything ourselves. The old Chamberlin keyboard I had just shipped back from LA played sampled loops and orchestra sounds with actual tapes. I really wanted it to be a big feature of the record but the first time I started playing it and before we realised, all the tapes unspooled out off the back and ended up on the floor. It seemed to be a pre-emptive humbling, like a symbolic trial sent by the universe. Tim and I are not renowned at all for our practical Mr Fixit skills, but we spent the best part of the first day on the floor delicately untangling and restoring the tapes into place and voila… it worked (most of the notes anyway) the Chamberlin was back and ready to play a pivotal part in the sound of Finn. Mood Swinging Man, Where Is My Soul, Angels Heap all dressed up with its wonky, exotic textures. That small victory set us on the path to discover other unexpected talents and find new ways of approaching arrangement.”
Remarkably, this album has never been issued on vinyl and so this forthcoming 2LP set – remastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road – is its debut on the format. The bonus LP features ten demos (which also see their commercial debut on vinyl). Nine of them are from the CD singles (no ‘Chocolate Cake’, so draw your own conclusions on that) plus an unreleased song called ‘Four Stepping in 3/4 Time’. It’s worth noting that the late Paul Hester features on the demos.
Ed O’Brien from Radiohead (who worked with Neil on his 7 Worlds Collide project) has contributed sleeve notes for this gatefold 2LP set. The records have been pressed on 180g vinyl at The Vinyl Factory.
FINN is released on 2LP vinyl on 29 July 2022 via Needle Mythology. If you are wondering about a CD edition, the label say that “a vinyl replica CD of the expanded, FINN will be on sale a few months after the vinyl release – for no reason other than, an unforeseen hold-up on the paperwork for this reissue”.
An article (expanded liner notes if you will) on the reissue from Needle Mythology founder Peter Paphides.
@Stuart McPhee posted:An article (expanded liner notes if you will) on the reissue from Needle Mythology founder Peter Paphides.
Another excellent article! Really worth the time!
Hey Jaffa, what does Weather With You (End Piece) sound like? Seems this and Cemetery in the Rain are the only two tracks from the demos unreleased now.
I really have to say, a big thank you to Needle Mythology, Neil and Tim.
It is a beautiful package and it sounds amazing. Certainly worth the wait.
@Camus posted:Hey Jaffa, what does Weather With You (End Piece) sound like? Seems this and Cemetery in the Rain are the only two tracks from the demos unreleased now.
Hi Camus. Where have you seen "End Piece" mentioned? I don't know whether it refers to the demo or the studio recording. Can't recall hearing anything that stands out.
There is another off-the-cuff song that hasn't been released, as well as the original songwriting tapes where they were doodling. They're not as interesting as you might imagine.
It's on a tracklist of an internal Parlophone cassette of the demos from 1995
https://www.discogs.com/releas...Finns-Woodface-Demos
Cheers for the speedy reply 😀