For a long time this was my favourite Crowded House album, though "Together Alone" is slowly drawing me into its orbit.
Neil Finn's writing towards CH's 3rd album had met with lukewarm response from his record company. He was concurrently working on some material with his brother Tim so invited him to join the band and put their collaborative songs towards Crowded House.
As much as I enjoy most Finn related musical activities, Split Enz has always been my favourite, so the reuniting of the two brothers and the injection of slightly more quirk and humour to the often overly earnest House mix, was welcome.
There's a nice mix of light (Chocolate Cake, Italian Plastic) and sombre (Fall at Your Feet, Four Seasons in One Day). Tim's beautiful"All I ask" is probably my current favourite on the record, but half of these songs have held that position at some point.
The album was a big hit for the band in the UK and back home in the Antipodes, but tanked somewhat in the US after the single "Chocolate Cake" (featuring the line "the excess of fat on your American bones, will cushion the impact as you sink like a stone") failed to make an impression.
Despite the album's success, Tim was fired from the band during the subsequent tour. Though they'd made beautiful music together, it didn't seem as though Tim was the right fit for Crowded House, leading to any number of 'witty' headlines about how crowded the house was yadda yadda yadda.
