One of Australia's most illustrious musical exports, Crowded House is far more acclaimed south of the equator and in Europe than in the U.S. … which is one of the great mysteries of pop musicdom. When the quirky Tim and Neil Finn-centered Split Enz collapsed in the mid-'80s, Neil formed The Mullanes with Enz drummer Paul Hester and Nick Seymour. The group changed its name to Crowded House, whose eponymous Mitchell Froom-produced 1986 debut sputtered before gaining maximum speed with the help of endless touring and a startup cable TV channel called MTV. "Don't Dream It’s Over" and "Something So Strong" remain the group's biggest stateside hits.
After flirting with mainstream stardom, Crowded House released a series of darkly wrought minor-chord pop albums with lyrics, penned primarily by Neil Finn, which painted intense palettes few songwriters achieve once, much less repeatedly. By 1989, despite a rabid fan base Down Under, the group took a break with Neil spinning off modest-selling solo records and Finn Brothers discs with Tim. In 1996, the group hosted a farewell performance at the Sydney Opera House to an audience estimated at 150,000.
Following years of struggling with mental illness, Hester committed suicide in a park in Melbourne in 2005. With Seymour, frequent collaborator Mark Hart and veteran session drummer Matt Sherrod, Neil officially re-launched Crowded House in 2007 and recorded Time On Earth, one of the group's more complex and haunting collections, steeped in political and environmental comment, and echoes of sadness in the wake of Hester's death.
Provenance: Neil Finn hails from Te Awamutu, New Zealand, while the group was formed in Melbourne, Australia.
Latest Release: Time On Earth (2007)
© 2007 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
Crowded House
