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Here's a challenge for the users of this site. Are there songs by other artists that could be Crowded House songs if Neil (or Paul) was to sing them. 

 

Here's a first entry. Days of Rain by Bob Mould. To me, this sounds very CH like, and would fit on Woodhouse given a Neil vocal.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDGH9dBLw-g

 

 

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Both these songs really have a CH vibe, both being (IMHO) Woodface era songs. And are very good songs. (They wouldn't be CH-like if they weren't ).

 

Despite not being sung in English, would this cover of Qururi's "Bara no Hana" by Tamio Okuda be similar to songs such as "Anyone Can Tell" or "Everything is Good For You"? (I think this cover sounds more CH like than the original)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulaOmCQa5Lg

Last edited by OneIssue

@stuartjb I'm not sure that When The River Runs Dry is the most CH-like H&C song. It's a great song, but the intro in particular sounds at least not stereotypically CH like. Something like Mr Bigmouth with a Neil vocal might fit right on ToLM or TA.

 

I have a memory that Mark Seymour released a more poppy solo album after the more H&C like King Without a Clue. Quickly looking him up on Spotify, I see that he's released a whole lot more solo albums that I knew of - I've got even more catching up to do. I can't find the album I was thinking of, but a lot of MS's solo work is somewhere in the CH ballpark. I'd have to listen more to pick out individual songs.

 

I'm not too familiar with Dodgy, though I recognise the song Staying Out for the Summer. I can't find "Sonny" by Welsh Dan on either Spotify or Youtube. 

 

I'm guessing from your choices that you prefer the more upbeat CH Songs, the Locked Outs and Black and White Boys?

 

The thing that makes This Summer by Squeeze really CH like for me is that not only is it similar in genre and style, but also includes those little melodic/harmonic unexpected changes that Neil has said that he likes including in songs. I'm listening to Mark Seymour's "One Eyed Man" right now, and it's in the CH ballpark, but for some reason the songs sound a bit more recent solo Tim Finn than CH Neil Finn to me. Maybe "Ready to Go" could be on a CH album with a Neil vocal. But I'm guessing from your choices that you might go for "Lost in your Illusion"?

 

It's tempting to say that any well written sophisticated melodic song could be a CH song. I'm trying to stick to the smaller number of songs where the arrangement is such that if the vocal was switched, it could be CH. E.g. melodically and lyrically, I think that Lindsay Buckingham's song "I am waiting" could go on Intriguer, but CH would never release anything that sparse and low fi on an album, would they? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FXe86mCv_w

Last edited by OneIssue

I will definitely check out Dodgy more. Spotify is ready and waiting - if only it was this easy to find music when I was a teenager.

 

I reckon that Tarmac Adam's "Bygones" could fit on "Time on Earth" with a Neil vocal. But, Neil's voice is so different from Matt O'Donnell that the song would sound utterly different with just the lead vocal change. The backing vocals would have to be changed as well though. Not in the least CH like. This song isn't on youtube, but it's on Spotify. It helps that Nick is playing bass on this. Edit: I'd just like to say that the Tarmac Adam album "The History Effect" is really growing on me, and I'm going to buy it. However, that's OT for the thread as most of the songs are not very CH like apart from sharing the same sophisticated pop/rock genre. 

Last edited by OneIssue
Originally Posted by Paul H:

I'd put forward Shawn Colvin's Sunny Came Home. It has that trademark Paul Hester loping drum rhythm/sound and the kind of uplifting, soaring chorus that Neil patented. It's maybe a little country for CH but then Better Be Home Soon was a little country too...


It occurred to me that Sunny Came Home also has a reference to kitchens which means that it practically IS a CH song!

Believe it or not, "NY Noodletown" by Yoko Ono.

 

Clearly Yoko Ono's voice couldn't be any more different from Neil's voice. And Neil probably wouldn't write a simple song about a restaurant. But the aforementioned song otherwise sounds shockingly CH. Put a Neil vocal on it, and it would fit right in on TA, but might even fit better on the non-CH "Everyone is Here".

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_dNB4i_4bU

 

 

 

 

Hello all---

 

Years ago, a Finn fan recommended Shane Nicholson and his former band, Pretty Violet Stain, to me.

 

Shane's first solo record, IT'S A MOVIE, is very good.  It leans more toward alt-country than Crowded House, but Shane's vocal phrasing and way with a melody definitely sound like Neil was an influence on him. "Keep It Together" is a simple, beautiful midtempo ballad that Neil would have been proud to call his own. There are certainly other CH-like tunes, too, like "The Best Day of the Year," with it's 6/8 time signature and vocal harmonies.

 

His follow up record, FAITH & SCIENCE, had a bit more polish to it, but it also has some CH-type moments like "Always on Your Side," "Everybody Loves You Now," "Acrobat Ache," and "Set Me Up."

 

Shane began working with Kasey Chambers, eventually marrying her, and they did some country duo records together.  That led to Shane's music taking a much more pronounced turn toward country and folk, so his remaining albums, each of which includes a few good songs, sound very little like his first two.

 

Pretty Violet Stain had a more power-pop vibe, though some of their tunes sound like they bear a strong Nirvana or Silverchair influence. These are some of the more CH-sounding ones:

 

Talk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgrCYU1Kmns

 

Tastes Like a Lemon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnAj1nE1mao

 

Never Come Down

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6ZH6SyqQqo

 

matt

There's also an American power-pop band called Einstein's Sister that released a few records, including HUMBLE CREATURES, which has a strong CH and Squeeze influence.

 

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/einsteinss

 

Have y'all heard the songs on which Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello collaborated in the late '80s? and early '90s?  Word is that they originally considered doing a duo album, but they ended up splitting up the tunes, which was a shame.

 

http://www.elviscostello.info/...cManus_Collaboration

 

Several of the songs received proper studio recordings and were released on McCartney or Costello albums during that period.  It being the late '80s and early '90s, the production occasionally sounds dated, which is unfortunate, but the songs themselves are some of the best examples of classic pop since...well...since The Beatles and Crowded House.  "Tommy's Coming Home" has a tight two-part vocal harmony that reminds me of Tim and Neil singing together on WOODFACE.  "So Like Candy" feels a lot like "Into Temptation."  "My Brave Face" is a fantastic pop song [hook-filled melody, and chord progressions that go in interesting places] that always reminds me of The Beatles and Crowded House, perhaps because Mitchell Froom co-produced it, so it has a similar sound to WOODFACE.

 

matt

Last edited by mattl
Originally Posted by mattl:

There's also an American power-pop band called Einstein's Sister that released a few records, including HUMBLE CREATURES, which has a strong CH and Squeeze influence.

 

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/einsteinss

 

Have y'all heard the songs on which Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello collaborated in the late '80s? and early '90s?  Word is that they originally considered doing a duo album, but they ended up splitting up the tunes, which was a shame.

 

http://www.elviscostello.info/...cManus_Collaboration

 

Several of the songs received proper studio recordings and were released on McCartney or Costello albums during that period.  It being the late '80s and early '90s, the production occasionally sounds dated, which is unfortunate, but the songs themselves are some of the best examples of classic pop since...well...since The Beatles and Crowded House.  "Tommy's Coming Home" has a tight two-part vocal harmony that reminds me of Tim and Neil singing together on WOODFACE.  "So Like Candy" feels a lot like "Into Temptation."  "My Brave Face" is a fantastic pop song [hook-filled melody, and chord progressions that go in interesting places] that always reminds me of The Beatles and Crowded House, perhaps because Mitchell Froom co-produced it, so it has a similar sound to WOODFACE.

 

matt

Good call, Matt. I thought the same thing about "So Like Candy." About a decade later Costello released a song less like CH but shockingly similar to Neil solo. The first words of "Tart" sound like Neil's voice and the song's soulful feel, falsetto, and build to a climax make it seem like a good candidate for Dizzy Heights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYV6aUUDlfo

 

Another CH-esque song is Travis' "Safe." Fran Healy really seems to be emulating Neil's trademark inflections and like Paul H said of "Sunny Came Home", it has both Hester drum sound and soaring chorus of a classic CH song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7zBqdFkeoY

 

"Private Man" by Powderfinger is surprisingly one of the few songs in their catalogue that sounds like CH- especially the guitar solo.

http://grooveshark.com/#!/albu...rnationalist/1177285

Three year old thread. But as soon as I heard Liam Gallagher's song "Bold" the first thing I thought is that if this song was sung by Neil it would sound exactly like a CH song. Instrumentation, arrangement, the lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3y6tLBJ9mQ

Of course, Liam's nasal, whiny, vocals sound very different from Neil. But, I think that's the only difference.

Last edited by OneIssue
OneIssue posted:

Three year old thread. But as soon as I heard Liam Gallagher's song "Bold" the first thing I thought is that if this song was sung by Neil it would sound exactly like a CH song. Instrumentation, arrangement, the lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3y6tLBJ9mQ

Of course, Liam's nasal, whiny, vocals sound very different from Neil. But, I think that's the only difference.

Liam's new album is really good. Very Neil Finn. 

For my "Crowded House-Like Song", I'd propose the new Squeeze song "Innocence in Paradise". Very Neil Finn with fabulous chord changes and introspective lyrics.

I like the Squeeze song. I didn't know they were recording new material.

BTW: I thought that since people were claiming that Liam Gallagher had sold out a bit by writing with 'pop songwriters', that the quite poppy 'Bold' would be one of those. However, Liam wrote it with no outside help. The similarly poppy and similarly CH-like 'I've All I Need' is also a Gallagher sole composition. Though of course Liam Gallagher is nowhere near Neil Finn as a lyricist; I'm mainly talking about the music and performance being CH-like.

Welsh Dan posted:

This could be a CH track, a beautiful offering from Melbourne's Redspencer: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsdDN_BznaA

I dare you not to like it! 

No disrespect intended, but it kinda sounds like the same melodic line repeated over and over and is missing a soaring CH type chorus or interesting chord changes, although it does build to a nice ending section. Thanks for sharing, though. They don't quite sound like CH to me, but I like the vibe.

Last edited by koabac

Hmm! Your point made me go all introspective for a moment there! I think you have a point. Upon reflection, perhaps what I was sub-consciously trying to do, then, was suggest what I would like a CH track to sound like!

Which is not the point of the thread at all!

Not that I don't like what existing CH tracks sound like, I must add (well most of them, anyway).

Either way, I'm glad you liked the track though, was delighted when I stumbled across them

I've just heard the Mark Seymour solo album Embedded for the first time in ages. The whole thing, with Neil's vocal swapped for Mark's could be a CH album. And a good one.  It already has a suitable cover, and I think we can guess who painted it  Paradise downunder is possibly the most CH-like song. Even the guitar solo sounds like Neil could have played it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW6aCwwOvUE

Having returned to this thread after a gap, I'm listening to recommendations (Squeeze currently).  EDIT: The problems of very slow threads, I see above that I've already responded to the Squeeze recommendation. 

I like the Redspencer track. But, it sounds a bit more Flying Nun than Crowded House to me. 

Again, I like the Sufjan Stevens tracks, but to me they're not so CH like. They sound more like something from Lightsleeper. Maybe with Neil's voice, Visions of Gideon could be a closing track on one of the 21st century CH albums. 

EDIT: If anyone sees this thread I'd like their opinion on whether the Mark Seymour track could be a CH track solely with the MS vocal removed and a NF vocal added. To me it sounds as if it could be. But, others may think differently. 

Last edited by OneIssue

Thanks. I was wondering if 'CH-Like' is so subjective that while I might think it CH-like, no-one else would think it even vaguely resembles CH   

I re-listened to it myself, and wondered if it was a bit more like the first Finn Brothers album. A bit more lo-fi than CH. 

EDIT: Embedded album artwork is by Jo Vautier, not Nick. 

EDIT: Lots of CH-y Mark Seymour tracks. This one, You don't have to cry anymore, from his first solo album, is less lo-fi and could fit straight onto a CH album, IMHO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKLvxk5hynw

Last edited by OneIssue
Sugar Mouse posted:

I'm a Mark Seymour newbie.  Which are the prime album(s) to tackle first ...

I'm not too knowledgeable, and am in the process of catching up now. 

They're on Spotify. I would recommend Embedded for a first listen based on song quality. The album One Eyed Man is more CH like, but the songs aren't as good in my opinion. The more recent albums with the Undertow (backing band) are good and consistent, but I think that Embedded is better.

Someone may be along to give a better answer soon.  I'm not too familiar with all of his albums. And, there are quite a few. 

Last edited by OneIssue

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