What's Next for Neil Finn?

Regarding a “Finn family band,” that’s basically what he’s done for his last 4 albums, isn’t it? Pajama Club, Dizzy Heights, Out of Silence and Lightsleeper all heavily feature the Finns. I have no desire for yet another configuration. In fact this is the one thing I hope he doesn’t do again for a while. I’d love to see a “Try Whistling This” solo album situation where there are several producers and mixers involved, and musicians vary quite a bit from track to track with lots of special guests.

Southern Cross posted:

When Sheryl Crow nearly joined the group about 10 years ago...

I do remember hearing something about that. So Sheryl Crow was definitely asked to join? Was this essentially to perform Christine McVie's songs because Christine wasn't in the bad during that period? Would have been interesting to see what would have come of it.

slowpogo posted:

Regarding a “Finn family band,” that’s basically what he’s done for his last 4 albums, isn’t it? Pajama Club, Dizzy Heights, Out of Silence and Lightsleeper all heavily feature the Finns.

It's a fair point, but with Dizzy Heights and Out of Silence it was Neil making all the decisions and bringing every song and idea to the table himself. Sharon and Elroy only really served as backing musicians in the same way every other drummer or bassist has with Neil in the recent past.

Liam I think did co-produce Out of Silence, so I'll give him that, and Sharon was involved a bit more with Pajama Club, but that was a 'band' album anyway,

My idea of a Finn Family Band album would include songwriting and vocals from many different people. Maybe Tim could write a couple for Elliot and Harper to sing for example. Elroy could contribute songs too. It would be more like an ensemble than just Neil's family backing him on a solo record. We'd have Liam and Tim too. Think along the lines of The Sun Came Out. Completely different to anything we've seen.

Teddy Thompson did something similar a few years ago. The musicians involved on that album span three generations and include his long separated parents Richard Thompson (who wrote Tim Finn's Persuasion) and Linda Thompson, his sister Kami Thompson and her husband James Walbourne (also her band mate in The Rails) as well as nephew Zak Thompson and half-brother Jack Thompson (son of Richard Thompson from his second marriage). The band is completed with assistance from Walbourne's brother Rob on drums and Teddy Thompson's eldest sister Muna Mascalo, who is not a musician, on backing vocals.

Secret God (Stew) posted:

My idea of a Finn Family Band album would include songwriting and vocals from many different people. Maybe Tim could write a couple for Elliot and Harper to sing for example. Elroy could contribute songs too. It would be more like an ensemble than just Neil's family backing him on a solo record. We'd have Liam and Tim too. Think along the lines of The Sun Came Out. Completely different to anything we've seen.

This sounds great.  I would be up for an album like this.

I would also be interested in hearing Neil do a full album-length collaboration with someone else outside his family (but not Fleetwood Mac).  I loved the album with Paul Kelly, but I’m not sure if that would be the most interesting collaboration because I feel they are similar in many ways.  I’m not really familiar with Jimmy Barnes, but get the impression his music is nothing like Neil’s, so that could be interesting.  

Secret God (Stew) posted:

slowpogo posted:

Regarding a “Finn family band,” that’s basically what he’s done for his last 4 albums, isn’t it? Pajama Club, Dizzy Heights, Out of Silence and Lightsleeper all heavily feature the Finns.

It's a fair point, but with Dizzy Heights and Out of Silence it was Neil making all the decisions and bringing every song and idea to the table himself. Sharon and Elroy only really served as backing musicians in the same way every other drummer or bassist has with Neil in the recent past.

Liam I think did co-produce Out of Silence, so I'll give him that, and Sharon was involved a bit more with Pajama Club, but that was a 'band' album anyway,

My idea of a Finn Family Band album would include songwriting and vocals from many different people. Maybe Tim could write a couple for Elliot and Harper to sing for example. Elroy could contribute songs too. It would be more like an ensemble than just Neil's family backing him on a solo record. We'd have Liam and Tim too. Think along the lines of The Sun Came Out. Completely different to anything we've seen.

I guess Neil's is the only songwriting I care about from the Finns, so this wouldn't interest me at all.  And The Sun Came Out, while a nice idea, yielded results that were fine, but not much more than that. I think the role of Neil's family is a little underestimated; I don't think Neil is dictating every single little note for Sharon and Elroy to play.  They're still bringing their personality and playing style to the table, even if Neil is in charge.  And so I feel even though the circumstances are different each album, as it would be with your idea, it's still been the same vibes interacting together in the room for a while now and would be good to change it radically.

As far as what I want, how about all of the above . But a lot of interesting possibilities.

If Neil is going to be in FM, I really want to see new music from them, and see how HE influences the band, what he brings to the table, aside from a hired hand to play and sing the old hits. The Time album, while not their best, at least showed what Dave Mason, Bekka Bramlett, etc, brought to FM.

Finn Brothers - YES. They bring out the best in each other, and if they have much of an album in the works, it would be a shame to let it languish.

Neil and Liam- not next. Maybe some day, but let this one sink in for awhile.

Solo- again, we just got OOS and DH, so hold off awhile on another.

7WC-would love to see this concept applied to a new Split Enz album. Invite all living and willing members in to write and play in various combinations. I think this would provide enough of a twist to pique the creative juices.

Pajama Club- I liked that album, and would love to see another. It definitely had a different vibe, and Neil seemed to enjoy it a lot.

Finn Family Band- yes, yes, yes. With, as noted above, creative input from all, not just backing Neil on HIS songs.

Crowded House- a BIG yes, but losing hope on this. I think Neil has lost interest, and wonder how much the other band members have. If there's anything left in the can that wasn't put on the Intriguer bonus disc, maybe it can be released on some sort of Afterglow II wrap-up release.

Collaboration, soundtrack, musical, anything else that grabs Neil's fancy is fine, just keep putting out wonderful music for us to enjoy!

In response to @Secret God's post, I'd be happy with any of those options. Perhaps, unlike Fleetwood Mac fans, I'm too easily pleased. 

It’s good to be Neil Finn. I suspect family, and to a certain extent, location will play a big role in Neil’s next endeavor beyond touring with FM.  Maybe more LA based adventures are in the cards for Neil, to be closer to his grandchild.  It’s always a surprise, isn’t it though?  

I feel more confident saying that guitar will be front and center for the next recording.  

Above the Kitchen posted:

I feel more confident saying that guitar will be front and center for the next recording.  

I’m not particularly confident saying guitar will be more prominent next time, but I was thinking earlier today that I would definitely like to hear more guitar.  I think I am in the minority here, but I’ve kind of had enough of the minor key meandering piano songs.  That isn’t music I would really ever choose to listen to.  I listen to it when it’s Neil, but then tend to put it away and not often return to it.  I realize there’s a lot of that in Lightsleeper, but there is so much more in addition. 

I'm a complete sucker for piano songs so I adore Silence and Lightsleeper and would welcome more of the same. That being said, I will follow Neil's musical path where it shall lead. Sounds like he'll be playing guitar and not piano with Fleetwood Mac so perhaps more guitar driven songs will be down the road. If Christine leaves the band, I could see Neil taking over keyboards for her and Sheryl Crow playing rhythm guitar as I believe that's her preferred instrument.

The other thing I thought of was that Neil discussed in a recent interview that he has always written songs on piano but he used to transfer most of them to guitar for Split Enz and Crowded House.  Nowadays he simply keeps them on piano for the final product.

Sugar Mouse posted:

That being said, I will follow Neil's musical path where it shall lead.

I’ll do that too, and I don’t believe there will ever come a day when I won’t listen to something that Neil releases.

However, as I said about a year ago regarding how hard I tried to love Out of Silence, you can’t force yourself to like music you don’t like, no matter how much you want to like it.  

I adore Lightsleeper. I truly believe that album is going to make it into my top 5 all time Finn albums.  The meandering piano is but one part of those songs and makes a great contribution to an arrangement that is so much more than that.  But I am already skipping Listen.  I just think it goes nowhere and doesn’t engage me.  I have been listening to Dizzy Heights today after several years of not listening to it. And as I felt at the time of release, there are a handful of incredible songs (Dizzy Heights, Recluse, Pony Ride, maybe one or two more that have awesome moments, like the bridge of Better Than TV), but on the whole it’s a lot of minor key meandering piano songs that don’t engage me the way many, many, many of Neil’s other songs do.

Drive Home is a piano song that is one of my favorite Neil songs.  What’s the difference between that song and his more recent piano songs?  I honestly can’t tell you.

An even more unexpected left turn: Buckingham Finn 

(Also posted this on FB thread)

brownie posted:

Above the Kitchen posted:

I feel more confident saying that guitar will be front and center for the next recording.  

I’m not particularly confident saying guitar will be more prominent next time, but I was thinking earlier today that I would definitely like to hear more guitar.

Didn’t he just say in an interview a couple of days ago that he was planning for his next project to be more electric guitar driven, having been on the piano for a few years now? I’d say that’s reason for confidence.

brownie posted:

I loved the album with Paul Kelly, but I’m not sure if that would be the most interesting collaboration because I feel they are similar in many ways.  I’m not really familiar with Jimmy Barnes, but get the impression his music is nothing like Neil’s, so that could be interesting.  

You just reminded me of one possibility I neglected to mention...

A supergroup in the style of the Travelling Wilburys!

Imagine what a fully-fledged band comprising of the likes of Neil Finn, Mark Seymour, Paul Kelly, Dave Dobbyn, Jimmy Barnes and Bernard Fanning could come up with.

Trust Neil to make a hard left turn and end up doing something like this haha.

For what it's worth I'm not a big Jimmy Barnes fan. I do love Cold Chisel, the band he was in before he went solo. If you haven't heard any of their classic hits you're missing out. I'd say Jimmy was probably the least talented in that band though if I'm being honest. But at least he used to sing well. Now he just screams.

You'd like his solo anthem Working Class Man though.

Steve Shealy posted:

If Neil is going to be in FM, I really want to see new music from them, and see how HE influences the band, what he brings to the table, aside from a hired hand to play and sing the old hits. The Time album, while not their best, at least showed what Dave Mason, Bekka Bramlett, etc, brought to FM.

Great point. I was thinking the same thing. New material would be amazing. It would also be a credit to Neil if he could work that miracle. Not that there was anything wrong with the Buckingham McVie album. Having said that I'm also looking forward to seeing how Neil interprets some of the old Peter Green and Danny Kirwan songs.

Steve Shealy posted:

7WC-would love to see this concept applied to a new Split Enz album. Invite all living and willing members in to write and play in various combinations. I think this would provide enough of a twist to pique the creative juices.

Hell yes. That's exactly what I meant by a future Split Enz album not simply being a Finn Brothers record masquerading as an Enz album with Nigel, Eddie, Noel and Mal (or would it be Michael Barker?) backing them.

Would love to see what an experimental and casual project like that sounded like. Obviously Phil Judd's involvement would be an absolute bonus, and you'd have to imagine many of the early years line-up would be up for it.

I'd take that any day of the week over the True Colours 40th Anniversary Concerts the band definitely don't have planned for mid-2020.

Steve Shealy posted:

Crowded House- a BIG yes, but losing hope on this. I think Neil has lost interest, and wonder how much the other band members have. If there's anything left in the can that wasn't put on the Intriguer bonus disc, maybe it can be released on some sort of Afterglow II wrap-up release.

Collaboration, soundtrack, musical, anything else that grabs Neil's fancy is fine, just keep putting out wonderful music for us to enjoy!

Yeah I just think we need to let Crowded House rest. The fact we got two full-length albums was a bonus and something I'll cherish.

No way would there be anything left in the can from Intriguer.

Although I still maintain that a seventh Crowded House album featuring The Only Way to Go Is Forward, Bound to Rescue, Beautiful Life, God Lives Over the Road, Better Things, The Intriguer, Turn It Around, Eyes Grow Heavy, Two Minutes of Silence and Nonsense of Course would have been interesting. Some of these are, in my opinion, among the greatest songs Neil has ever written.

Would have at least loved an EP just to wrap things up.

Southern Cross posted:

And there could be another chapter. If Christine leaves the band again (she turned 75 not long ago, though in good shape for it) there is buzz that maybe Sheryl might come in to fill for her. But I hope that Christine sticks around a bit longer!

Appreciate all the information you wrote regarding Fleetwood Mac in your post. Couldn't quote it all, but it all make a lot of sense.

A very interesting point about Christine. I guess anything is possible, but still, she's arguably the most important member. If Sheryl Crow does eventually replace Christine would you expect her to sing Christine's songs, her own solo songs, or some of the older pre-Rumours-era tracks. At least with Neil it's not like he's exactly replacing Lindsay.

Sugar Mouse posted:

If Christine leaves the band, I could see Neil taking over keyboards for her and Sheryl Crow playing rhythm guitar as I believe that's her preferred instrument.

Hey good point. As much as I'd hate to see Christine leave, Sheryl joining on guitar and Neil switching to keyboards wouldn't be such a bad thing at all. Could see Message to my Girl getting a decent run.

brownie posted:

I adore Lightsleeper. I truly believe that album is going to make it into my top 5 all time Finn albums.

Big call that! I guess time will tell. I love how everyone has such varying tastes when it comes to Neil's music. No one project is 100% hated or loved. Even us fans can't really agree on too much!

And in response to your Dizzy Heights paragraph, there are some amazing songs on there. I absolutely love Recluse. Divebomber and Dizzy Heights are also epic. There are a couple of misses on there for me though. Not complaining though, as I might end up loving them one of these days.

mikelm posted:

An even more unexpected left turn: Buckingham Finn 

(Also posted this on FB thread)

hahaha I did see that comment pop up on this post that I cross-posted to the Facebook group. Still need to get around to replying to all the comments. I think I managed to respond to the first 10 or so, but it definitely got away from me!

I guess if David Lee Roth and Sammy Hager can collaborate then anything is possible!

Re: the Dizzy Heights songs, that album always struck me as lyrically unfinished. I adore the verses in Recluse but the chorus and bridge seem unpolished to me. Same with some other songs on that album. Flying In The Face of Love, Divebomber, White Lies, and Strangest Friends are my favorites on that album.

In regard to Jimmy Barnes ... see below for his version of Neil's "Blue Hotel" along with Neil's version on solo piano.  Wow ...

And I know that I'm in the minority on this but I LOVE to see Neil release an album of piano/strings versions of older songs such as Possessed, Nails in My Feet, She Goes on, Sunset, etc. along with real rarities such as Blue Hotel, Guiding Star, Ray of Hope, Love Is All That Remains, etc.  Here would my choices for the album ...

 

Steve Shealy posted:

Crowded House- a BIG yes, but losing hope on this. I think Neil has lost interest, and wonder how much the other band members have. If there's anything left in the can that wasn't put on the Intriguer bonus disc, maybe it can be released on some sort of Afterglow II wrap-up release.

Collaboration, soundtrack, musical, anything else that grabs Neil's fancy is fine, just keep putting out wonderful music for us to enjoy!

No way would there be anything left in the can from Intriguer.

Although I still maintain that a seventh Crowded House album featuring The Only Way to Go Is Forward, Bound to Rescue, Beautiful Life, God Lives Over the Road, Better Things, The Intriguer, Turn It Around, Eyes Grow Heavy, Two Minutes of Silence and Nonsense of Course would have been interesting. Some of these are, in my opinion, among the greatest songs Neil has ever written.

Just to clarify, I was referring to the "half an album" that was supposed to be in the can after Intriguer, but then three songs found their way onto the Intriguer bonus disc. If there's anything else from those sessions would still be "out there". 

And YES, the tracks you listed would have made a great seventh album. I pretty much consider it Intriguer Disc 2.

Thanks All for the linked posts on this page. This is the stuff that keeps us going in between the visits abroad.

Southern Cross posted:

Secret God (Stew) posted:

Southern Cross posted:

When Sheryl Crow nearly joined the group about 10 years ago...

I do remember hearing something about that. So Sheryl Crow was definitely asked to join? Was this essentially to perform Christine McVie's songs because Christine wasn't in the bad during that period? Would have been interesting to see what would have come of it.

Lindsey seemed to deny that Sheryl was asked to join, but Stevie Nicks said she was definitely invited. Stevie missed Christine's presence in the band, and felt that it was turning into a 'boy's club'! I also think, she was still having issues with Lindsey - they were still bickering - and she felt like she wanted someone else to hang out with and to help keep the peace. Christine had always played that role.

I went to see the four of them without Christine and it was still a very good show. But when she returned, they definitely felt more complete. I noted when I saw them that Stevie seemed to be hanging close to Christine a lot and seemed more aloof from Lindsey. I thought Stevie looked very relieved to have her back in the band. (People sometimes try to say there's a rivalry between Stevie and Christine - no there's not, they're fine with each other.)

Also, Christine helped lighten the mood of the band - whereas Lindsey tends to be very intense and serious. I think that's another factor that might have driven them apart. Neil seems more laid back, likes to have a joke, do things on the spur of the moment etc. With him there they can probably jam out a bit more and that's something that probably appeals to Mick and John, with their blues based background. That's how they used to perform back in the day - with some improvisation.

And there could be another chapter. If Christine leaves the band again (she turned 75 not long ago, though in good shape for it) there is buzz that maybe Sheryl might come in to fill for her. But I hope that Christine sticks around a bit longer!

I quite like your description of FM band members. They’re mature and concise. I agree with you with Neil being laid back and more open to everyone’s interpretation to what they will bring but never forget Neil’s style is to over polish in some respect. Would be interesting to see how this will affect all members 😉 But more importantly letting go without mulling over a word, key or phrase change. Cannot wait for the Ellen show.