From: marck@nwu.edu (Jater & Co.)
Subject: Why Tim Finn left Crowded House (was Re: Crowded House)
Followup-To: rec.music.misc
Organization: NU ACNS
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 20:14:13 GMT

In article <2905@nlsun1.oracle.nl>, mcytera@nl.oracle.com (Mark Cytera)
wrote:
> 
> The presentor mentioned that they were already working on their
> next album, due out next summer. Great news!

Well, that's a bit of a stretch.  They just found a *studio* for their next
album.  They haven't really started any work on it yet.
 
> There were only three of them in the band though. My copy
> of Woodface mentions four band members. I figured out that the
> missing member was Tim Finn. My first question is: has he left the band
> or is he on holiday or something? I happened to see once on the
> "Upcoming Releases" that he had a record coming out. Does anyone
> know anything about this?

So, here's the whole story on Tim and Crowded House:

Tim and Neil (they're brothers, for the uninformed) sat down a few years
ago and for the first time in their lives, they wrote songs together. 
(When they'd been together in Split Enz, they wrote their songs separtely.)
 They had a grand time of it and discovered that after 2 weeks they'd
completed no less than 15 songs.  They planned to release these songs on an
acoustic album called The Finn Brothers.

Meanwhile, Crowded House struggled to get their follow-up to the critically
acclaimed but publically ignored _Temple of Low Men_ finished.  They made
and scrapped two albums, and apparently even broke up for awhile.  During
rehearsals with Crowded House, Neil (and Tim) would occasionally show Paul
Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass) what they had been working on.  Paul
and Nick basically said, "Look, why don't you let the band do these songs,
we can do them better as a band than you guys can anyway."  This idea
finally grew to the point that the band agreed to let Tim actually *join*
the band.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.  But, as Shakespeare once said,
"Oops."

The _Woodface_ tour began with a live show in the Capitol Records parking
lot in Hollywood, CA.  It was obvious from that first concert that
*something* was wrong.  If you've never seen CH live, they have one of the
most exciting, dynamic live shows I've ever witnessed.  But with Tim
joining the original three members on stage, the chemical balance was
thrown off.  If you're at all familiar with Split Enz, you remember that
Tim was *clearly* the leader of the group.  In Crowded House, he was
demoted to side man, harmony vocalist, and occasional keyboards and guitar.
 He simply didn't have enough to do.

The band made it through its summer US tour and then began the first leg of
a European tour, but on stage things clearly continued to get worse.  The
band was joking and laughing less and less, and Tim's idea of a live
performance was simply different from Neil's and the rest of the band's
idea.  Before they went on stage for a benifit show in Glasgow, Scotland,
they had a group meeting.  By the end of the meeting, Tim was calling for a
taxi to take him to the airport while the rest of the band got into their
stage clothes.  And ever since, CH has returned to its original form:  a
trio.  And let me tell you:  having seen them as a four-piece and then as a
trio, the band is *much* better with just the three of them.

Tim went immediately to London, where he used to live when he was dating
movie actress Greta Scacchi, and began recording his new solo album.  It
was originally due out in September, but clearly it's been delayed.  He is
definitely not rejoining Crowded House (all people involved now admit that
was a mistake), but Tim and Neil have not ruled out continuing to write
together when the "mood is right," and Tim will continue to supply harmony
vox on CH albums (as he did for several tracks on _Temple of Low Men_).

> Lastly, I'd really appreciate a Crowded House discography, as well
> as some background to the band if possible.

There is tons of info to be had, Mark.  You sound like you need to join the
Crowded House mailing list.  Drop a note to
house-request@casbah.acns.nwu.edu and I'll put you on the list right away. 
Ask me about the CH ftp site, as well.

> I prefer mail as I don't read this newgroup very often.

i'm mailing it to him too, folks.  Just thought that some of you would be
interested to see this info.


mlb

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m l bailey                           || Zorg: "I don't see the connection
flagrant poseur                      ||        between demolition and 
northwestern university              ||        writing."
looking for wide open spaces         || Betty: "I'm not surprised."
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