{"id":15283,"date":"2018-10-11T05:30:41","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T09:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=15283"},"modified":"2018-09-28T13:24:13","modified_gmt":"2018-09-28T17:24:13","slug":"a-look-back-at-crowded-houses-temple-of-low-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/11\/a-look-back-at-crowded-houses-temple-of-low-men\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look Back at Crowded House’s ‘Temple of Low Men’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In April 1977, Neil Finn joined Split Enz, a New Zealand\/Australian band co-founded nearly five years earlier by older brother Tim. Though he hadn\u2019t yet reached his 18th<\/sup> birthday, Neil Finn quickly set about developing his skills as a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He wouldn\u2019t write any of the music on 1977\u2019s Dizrhythmia<\/i>, by the time of Frenzy<\/i> (1979) he had written two songs with brother Tim. And when True Colours<\/i> was released in 1980, three of the album\u2019s eleven tracks were solely composed by Neil, and one of them \u201cI Got You,\u201d would earn Split Enz its first international hit single.<\/p>\n

With each successive album \u2013 1981\u2019s Waiata<\/i> (released in the Australasia as Corroborree<\/i>), Time and Tide<\/i> from 1982 and 1983\u2019s Conflicting Emotions<\/i> \u2013 Neil placed more and more of his original songs on the records, shifting (unintentionally or not) the dynamic and creative center of the band. By June 1984 Tim Finn had left the group.<\/p>\n

Suddenly finding himself the leader of a group that now included none of its original members (but most of the musicians responsible for the band\u2019s most successful work), Neil soldiered on, making a final studio album pointedly titled See Ya Round<\/i>. Not even released in the U.S., See Ya Round<\/i> nonetheless contained some excellent songs, most notably a Finn original called \u201cI Walk Away.\u201d Split Enz \u2013 with Tim Finn briefly back in tow \u2013 mounted a farewell tour, documented on the 2LP live set from 1985, The Living Enz<\/i> \u2013 and called it a day (they would subsequently reunite many times for special events, but never worked in the studio again as as Split Enz).<\/p>\n

Neil Finn soon formed a new band, originally called the Mullanes (after his middle name). By the time of making its self-titled debut album (released summer 1986), the band was calling itself Crowded House and included Finn, bassist Nick Seymour and Split Enz\u2019s last drummer, Paul Hester. Crowded House<\/i> was a smash hit worldwide, going to #12 in the U.S. and #3 in New Zealand, and #1 in Australia.<\/p>\n

But it would be a full two years before Crowded House released a follow-up album. When it did, the resulting album, Temple of Low Men<\/i> revealed itself as a much deeper and more mature collection of songs, albeit one rife with melancholy, regret and sadness. Released three decades ago this summer, Temple of Low Men<\/i> spawned six singles (the album only had ten songs on it to begin with) and earned rave reviews from most critics, but in the United States it sold in much lesser numbers than its predecessor.<\/p>\n

The moody, minor-key ambience of Temple Low Men<\/i> is in some ways less immediate than the upbeat aura of Crowded House<\/i> songs like \u201cSomething So Strong\u201d and the superior remake of \u201cI Walk Away\u201d (but not at all out of step with the ballad \u201cDon\u2019t Dream It\u2019s Over\u201d). Working again with producer Mitch Froom, the band delivers another ten songs with superb lyrics and ear-candy hooks and melodies. But there\u2019s a lump-in-the-throat feel to many of the songs, filled as they are with raw emotional content \u2013 that renders the album intimidating on first listen.<\/p>\n

Where Crowded House<\/i> occasionally felt unfinished and slightly rushed, the songwriting, playing and production on Temple of Low Men<\/i> showcases a group that has evolved significantly. The arrangements make full and intelligent use of keyboard textures (by Froom), and the presence of brother Tim Finn on guest harmony vocals brings together the best of the nascent group with the strongest qualities of Split Enz.<\/p>\n

But where Split Enz was quirky, Temple of Low Men<\/i>-era Crowded House is adult and serious, concerned with expressing Finn\u2019s innermost thoughts and feelings. Even if the listener isn\u2019t privy to what personal issues Finn was facing at home, songs like \u201cInto Temptation\u201d positively drip with an unsettling vibe that teeters right on the edge of emotional breakdown. \u201cKill Eye\u201d shows a musically nastier, jagged side of Finn. Never before had Neil written a cache of such deeply personal (yet accessible) songs.<\/p>\n

The dark tone of Temple of Low Men<\/i> lightens only occasionally, on tracks like the live showstopper \u201cSister Madly,\u201d with a gonzo guest lead guitar solo from Richard Thompson. But even on this song, Finn\u2019s inner demons surface lyrically as he sings of finding something dark and sinister buried in his (metaphorical, one hopes) back yard.<\/p>\n

The soaring \u201cNever be the Same\u201d sounds like a hit, but in fact it\u2019s the only one of Temple of Low Men<\/i>\u2019s single releases not to chart. Perhaps that had something to do with Finn\u2019s lyrics, opening with the line, \u201cDon\u2019t stand around \/ like friends at a funeral \/ eyes to the ground \/ it could have been you.\u201d But for those who open themselves to Finn\u2019s emotional honesty, the payoff is a wonderful song, one of Crowded House\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

Eerie sound effects introduce \u201cIn the Lowlands,\u201d another standout tracks on an album with not a single weak song. Finn and his band mates have quickly developed a level of musical communication that results in beautifully nuanced songs that breathe, that provide intricate and textured backing for the words, but that never overwhelm the lyrics. Temple of Low Men<\/i> is a near-perfect balance of music and lyrics.<\/p>\n

Somehow it\u2019s fitting that Crowded House\u2019s second album closes with perhaps the most heartbreaking song in Neil Finn\u2019s catalog. \u201cBetter Be Home Soon.\u201d I recall the first time I heard the tune \u2013 the lead-off single from the album \u2013 as if it was yesterday; it stopped me in my tracks. \u201cBetter Be Home Soon\u201d sad and beautiful at once, filled with regret and just a glimmer of hope; those characteristics make it a sharp distillation of all of the qualities found on Crowded House\u2019s second album.<\/p>\n

Crowded House would go on to record and release four more albums, going on hiatus and resuming operations multiple times. All of the band\u2019s subsequent work \u2013 not to mention Neil Finn\u2019s solo albums and collaborations with brother Tim \u2013 would be critically praised, and the band achieved superstardom most everywhere in the world (save the U.S., where they achieved milder success). But arguably Finn and his group never again dug into such a deep well of emotional honesty as on Temple of Low Men<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In April 1977, Neil Finn joined Split Enz, a New Zealand\/Australian band co-founded nearly five years earlier by older brother Tim. Though he hadn\u2019t yet reached his 18th birthday, Neil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,62,65],"tags":[595,1568,2017],"class_list":["post-15283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","category-rawk","category-review","tag-crowded-house","tag-neil-finn","tag-split-enz","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15285,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15283\/revisions\/15285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}