Spins: Split Enz • ENZyclopedia Volumes One and Two 3xLP box
Split Enz
ENZyclopedia Volumes One and Two 3xLP box
(Chrysalis/Mushroom)
Can the music of Split Enz really be 50 years old? ENZyclopedia Volumes One and Two offers a crash course in the influential and off-the-wall group’s music for 21st century listeners who might only know the Neil Finn single “I Got You” from 1980’s True Colours. Make no mistake, that’s a great alt-pop/new wave single, but there’s much more to the band that bears little resemblance. The set is also ideal for people (like me, admittedly) who were introduced to Tim Finn by his work with brother Neil for 1989 Crowded House album Woodface, loved what he brought to the table with the tailored pop of songs like “Weather With You” and “Four Seasons in One Day,” but didn’t work backward into Tim Finn’s idiosyncratic earlier work. ENZyclopedia and its three LPs show how Split Enz made its mark in its native New Zealand with 1975 debut Mental Notes and moved abroad with the overlapping sophomore set Second Thoughts from 1976. Also included is The Beginning of the Enz, a release that collects early singles and demos.
Mental Notes will resonate with fans of crafty art-pop by early Genesis, Fish-era Marillion, Supertramp, Sparks, glam-era Bowie, Captain Beefheart, Barrett-era Pink Floyd, Yes, and Frank Zappa. In other words, the amalgamation is deliberately clever and possibly too much for meat-and-potatoes rock-and-rollers, but the music is hooky and sufficiently dazzling to attract and hold studious fans. The band’s bizarre blend of progressive pop on Mental Notes springs from the minds of frontman Tim Finn and guitarist Philip Judd, with kaleidoscopic color added by the entire septet comprising keyboard wizard Eddie Rayner, lead guitarist Wally Wilkinson, bassist Jonathn Michael Chunn, drummer Emlyn Crowther, and percussionist Noel Crombie. The sprawling lineup enabled the band to pull off live performances of layered and dizzying arrangements to songs like the non-linear “Walking Down a Road” and Foxtrot-styled “Under the Wheel” with Judd’s bleating-sheep vocalizations.
With Wilkinson’s rootsy twang and Crowther’s upbeat rhythm, Finn’s starry-eyed and devoted “Amy (Darling)” is the closest thing on Mental Notes to conventional pop songwriting, but even it strays boldly from the straight and narrow. Finn’s impressionistic lyrics (influenced by British artist and Gormenghast trilogy author Mervyn Peake) provide anchor points in expansive songs like epic “Stranger Than Fiction” and “Time for a Change,” which unfold with guitar solos that intertwine with deft piano and warm mellotron passages. Crowther’s martial drumming alternates with Chunn’s melodic bass passages and Rayner’s funky clavinet during the schizophrenic “So Long for Now.” Chunn’s bass and Rayner’s piano give rocker “Maybe” a Beatle-esque “Penny Lane” bounce as the song unfolds with a portrait of a character who longs both for hot-blooded romance and a lifetime soulmate. Don’t we all? Still, “hoping is not enough to live upon,” sings Finn wistfully before the song descends into loopy madness. Judd leads “Titus” with shades of “Maggie May” on mandolin, but the colors shift toward baroque pop with mellotron strings. Finn’s melodic voice spars with Judd’s tremulous vocalizations, which then give a disquieted texture to the otherwise soothing “Spellbound.” The vinyl album plays into infinity with a locked groove as Judd repeats the line “make a mental note.”
Second Thoughts reimagines “Walking Down” a Road,” “Titus,” “Stranger than Fiction,” and “Time for a Change” with more sophisticated production overseen by champion Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music. The set adds Judds’ single “Late Last Night,” with its admission of weakness for women and wine. Also present are the vaudevillian prog-pop of “Lovey Dovey” and the catchy “Sweet Dreams.” The latter features Judd’s nimble acoustic guitar and layered saxophones by new member Robert Gillies. These elements give some movements of the song a latin pop flare to contrast with a beaming pop chorus carried by Rayner’s sparkling piano and gospel organ. Gillies’ reeds bring new textures to the reworked “Stranger than Fiction.” Despite Wilkinson’s departure from the lineup, Judd’s muscular guitar riff, Rayner’s piano, and Finn’s expressive vocal give “Time for a Change” Queen-styled pomp. With a lush string arrangement, “Matinee Idyll (129)” moves from challenging prog flexes toward catchy pop-rock a la the Move. The musical smorgasbord “The Woman Who Loves You” even includes a spoons solo.
Among the nine tracks on The Beginning of the Enz are the early formations of “Spellbound,” “Matinee Idyll (129),” and “Lovey Dovey.” Also present are 1973 debut single A-side “For You” and the caffeinated acoustic pop of B-side “Split Ends.”
A fresh remaster gives Mental Notes more body than the original pressing. Second Thoughts and The Beginning of the Enz feature entirely new mixes by Rayner, with positive results despite some reservations. “Remixing something that didn’t need fixing was daunting,” says Rayner in his liner notes. He allows that it was nice to bring forward Crombie’s reliable percussion in spots where it had been buried. The three albums are housed in a sturdy slipcase featuring Judd’s painted and fractured Mental Notes artwork. A 40-page book reveals concert photos, publicity stills with the band at the shore dressed in two-tone Klaus Nomi-styled attire, lyrics, concert posters, memorabilia, and essays. Band members Finn, Rayner, Wilkinson, Chunn and producer Manzanera provide testimonials about Split Enz’ early days. Finn notes the limitations of disinterested studio support, minimal budget, and inexperience that left Mental Notes a somewhat undercooked experience in his estimation. He says the real intention for the young band’s ambitious dreams rests somewhere between Mental Notes and Second Thoughts, “never to be fully realized.” “However, nowadays I can hear beauty in the flaws,” he says.
A 5xCD set and Blu-ray offer even more early Enz to love, with concert recordings, videos, high-definition audio, and surround and Atmos mixes.
– Jeff Elbel
7 of 10
Category: Columns, Stage Buzz
