Crowded House Photo: supplied
Reissues of seven Crowded House albums were released last Friday (Nov 4th) to celebrate the band's 30th Anniversary.
RNZ studio engineer Jeremy Ansell co-produced the bonus discs with Neil Finn, collecting home demos and studio out-takes from Neil's personal archives.
In part two of their discussion about Crowded House’s debut eponymous album, Jeremy and Neil are joined by co-founder Nick Seymour via Skype to talk about the evolution of the songs, from the Melbourne home demos to the Los Angeles studio sessions with producer Mitchell Froom.
Listen
Mean To Me
Neil: "It's loosely based on this girl who wrote me a letter, and then turned up in Palmerston North. She'd come from America, and just wanted to come and have the New Zealand experience and said she had to meet me, and if she didn't, she'd be devastated. And so she came to the show, but I had the flu. I was really ill and could hardly throw two words together. She ended up with this poet guy in New Zealand, and turned up a couple of years later - she was a bit pissed off about the song, but she later ended up feeling pleased about it."
Don’t Dream It’s Over
Neil: "Joe Satriani and his brother came in to sing backing vocals, and they sang really well - but they sounded American! They had to go."
Nick: "And fair play to you for sticking to your guns on that one. I don't know if I'd have had the balls to call that. But it was really important that that didn't happen. It was giving it a colour that was like Nashville or something."
Neil: "Yeah you've got to hang on to what your instincts are telling you. Mitchell [Froom] also brought in a guitarist called Tim Pearce - because he probably thought we were a bit rough around the edges, and we were, on the demos. And Tim, his greatest moment was on Don't Dream it's Over - there's a big slide that goes 'wooooeeeow' - that was his finest moment on the record."
More stories behind the song at the audio link above, and hear part one of Crowded House 30th Anniversary here.
Music Details
Artist: Crowded House
Song: Mean To Me
Comp: Neil Finn
Album: Crowded House (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Universal
Artist: Crowded House
Song: World Where You Live
Comp: Neil Finn
Album: Crowded House (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Universal
Artist: Crowded House
Song: World Where You Live (Writing Demo)
Comp: Neil Finn
Album: Crowded House (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Universal
Artist: Crowded House
Song: Tombstone
Comp: Neil Finn
Album: Crowded House (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Universal
Artist: Crowded House
Song: That’s What I Call Love
Comp: Neil Finn
Album: Crowded House (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Universal
Artist: Crowded House
Song: I Walk Away
Comp: Neil Finn
Album: Crowded House (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Universal
Artist: Crowded House
Song: Don’t Dream It’s Over
Comp: Neil Finn
Album: Crowded House (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Universal
Artist: Crowded House
Song: Now We’re Getting Somewhere
Comp: Neil Finn
Album: Crowded House (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Universal
Artist: Crowded House
Song: Recurring Dream (Original Version)
Comp: Neil Finn
Album: Crowded House (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Universal
Artist: Crowded House
Song: Can’t Carry On
Comp: Neil Finn
Album: Crowded House (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Universal