One of Eddie's strengths is his devotion to the Enz catalogue. He has been involved with remastering, remixing and in the case of ENZO, reinterpretating the extraordinary career of Split Enz. I doubt if we would have the Luton Tapes in the catalogue if it was up to the other members of the band!

For that alone Eddie could be the most important member of the band. However we shouldn't forget his excellent keyboard contributions as well.

quote:

Originally posted by aFINNity:
Does anybody know whether or not Eddie reads music? I'm curious is all. I seem to vaguely recall him using sheet music, when Tim called him up to play keys on "I Hope I Never" in Auckland. I clearly remember Tim telling him, "Original key" but that could have meant no transposing the keyboard.

He certainly couldn't prior to ENZSO but he may have learnt something then, I can't quite recall. I'd say anything he was reading at the show was more likely just a sheet of paper with the chords on it, as Tim usually does for anyone guesting on piano.

Telling Eddie to put something in the original key isn't necessarily an indication of his ability to read music. You'll have noticed through the Finns' careers that they do tend to transpose the songs so that they are not always performed in the same keys as the recordings. It's something that happens to accommodate changing or tired voices.

For example, the human voice enters its final maturity around age 28, though there is leeway to mature earlier for a higher voice and later for a lower voice, and a song that Tim or Neil may have song before that age may no longer fit right after maturation. So... of course Eddie would have had to have gotten used to performing it in a transposed key, except when told to go back to the original key.

Anyhow, it's really not that difficult to read music, but I think when a musician gets to an advanced level without it (Can't comment on Eddie; I don't know), there is probably little incentive to learn.

Split Enz although dominated by the Finn Brothers (subsequent to Phil's departure) was very much a band and Eddie was a large part of that mix. He gave their work a lot of colour. I think Noel and Eddie kept a certain level of quirkiness in the band and is one of the reasons I love them so well.

I guess because I always write stuff down, the old fashioned way, I know it is an effective way of knowing exactly what the composer wants. If it's your own material, you want others to play it the way you wrote it -or I would hope so, personaly. I'm a control freak from way back.

quote:

Originally posted by Borris:
I think Noel and Eddie kept a certain level of quirkiness in the band and is one of the reasons I love them so well.

A prime example being Eddie's piano accompaniment to Noel's spoons...how fun is that?!

Can you tell I've been watching and listening to live Enz stuff today?

I don't know about Eddie being the most important member of the band. That would probably fall to Tim, Phil, Neil. However, Eddie certainly did have a lot of input, especially when you consider all of the remastering etc that he did for the box set.

Here's a nice little excerpt from the Australian Penthouse interview in 1981 by Phil Jarratt. His last quote regarding his sense of his contribution to the band always stayed in my head...

Two floors below the Finns, in another sleazy wing of the St Kilda flophouse they call home in Melbourne, I find keyboards player Eddie Rayner hunched over a 17-inch wingspan Porterfield Collegiate biplane ("Rec. children 8 yrs an over").

Rayner grins. "The band is so old now that it's been through the senile stage and we're all returning to our childhoods. I find building models a relaxing thing to do after a gig, a good way to wind down." Rayner, allegedly the quiet man of the band, also winds down with a water pistol backstage. "It's just the mental state you find yourself in after so long on the road."

Rayner, with Split Enz since 1974, seems to have been pushed a little into the background since Neil Finn started serving as an alternative frontman. His contribution, however, is widely recognized in the music world and he is much in demand for session work. It was his elaborate work behind the electronic keyboards which gave Split Enz its distinctive early sound. Rayner now regards that stuff as waffle. "Just a phase. I was listening to the English progressive bands like Yes and Genesis. I hate them now. I had a pile of equipment - synthesisers and things - all rubbish. I like the simple basic arrangements we're playing now."

The girls don't wait backstage for Eddie Rayner, which is strange because on the Clark Gable / Gary Cooper scale he's the best looking guy in the band. In fact he's rarely recognized and yet his off-stage appearance is not a radical departure from on-stage. He simply washes off the mascara and rouge and trades the juggler's suit for a pair of jeans.

Rayner plays his music and goes home with his old lady, who does the lighting for the band. He's not into being a rock star. "The music is really what interests me, inside Split Enz and in the projects I'm working on alone. I want to do a solo keyboards album this year and I'd like to put another band together on the side, a three-piece with keyboards, a bass player who can sing, and a drummer. The idea is that the bass player could also play guitar and I'd play bass keyboards with my left hand and something else with my right. When he was playing bass, I could play all four keyboards."

Quite excited by his own plans, Rayner seems almost disappointed when the conversation is dragged back to Split Enz. "Tim writes a lot of the songs so people tend to think that it's his band. They even think he writes my parts. Well, he doesn't. We all write our own parts. I feel my contribution is equal, and if I ever stopped feeling like that I'd leave the band. We have a fairly democratic set-up within the band but we're realistic enough to know that as the money rolls in the more greed takes over, unless you sort things out early in the piece. We used to have unspoken rules about things like that. Now they're spoken. That's the only difference fame has made to me."

Thanks for that, John - a nice bit of insight into Eddie's thoughts and motivations!

I don't think the band would have been anything like they were without Eddie's keyboard skills - especially in the early albums. He's brilliant!

Hi Eddie - its been a very long time since i have seen you. I am Mallory Earl's Widow - Mallerina, however u knew me as Diane Earl and i read something that upset me. It was not on ur posting site but another posting site for this forum with regard to why the Frenzy album did badly in sales and did not have the success that all of you were hoping for. I forgot the name of the person who posted something unkind about my deceased husband. It said "why was he the late great Mallory Earl" and did "he die of shame". First of all you and i both know there were huge ego problems during the making of that album. If you remember i did background parts on that album and i clearly remember that my background parts were not only played back with the music but without the music as well. What was funny was that Tim and Neil and the drummer who i cant remember his name said to me "ok here u go now we get to hear how good u really are" lol, i had a terrible cold when i arrived from LA to England and could hardly hear out of my right ear and was quite worried that my background parts would be less then perfect and when it was played back in The Manor studios without the music they were spot on perfect lol and Tim got so uptight when he heard my background parts that he would not allow me to come into the Studio when he was doing vocals lmao. My husband was one of the best Producers and Recording Engineers out there in the States and worked with many wonderful artists in Europe. It was not his fault that there were personal issues going on with that Frenzy album with regard to the Band and it upset me to read such negative remarks. He was truly dedicated to his craft and spent years in the music business before his death working with some of the most successful artists in the business during that era. He had many Gold and Platnium Albums awarded to him. Since he is not here to defend himself i took it upon myself to step up and express what i felt since i was there during part of the making of that album. Everyone has a right to their opinion as do i and i wanted to set the record straight. I am not here to get into all the details of the problems that went on during the making of that record. I am only here to defend my late husband's position when it came to making that record since i was there. I also want to let u know that as far as i was concerned, yourself and Neil Finn were truly the talents of that Band and no one else. Both my late husband and i felt the same way. The proof is that Neil went on to have a huge one time hit in the States with "Hey Now The Dream Is Over" and nobody ever heard of Tim Finn nor did he ever reach the success in the United States as his brother Neil did. I am still currently a very active musician and background singer in the music business and have yet to hear any hit that Tim Finn has had here. The person that posted those negative comments also had no clue when Mallory died so i am here to set the record straight on that as well. It was in July, 1989. He was out on the road with Chuck Mangione when he passed away. As a final note, i enjoyed working with you and you were a giant talent as a musician and arranger went. Take care and God Bless and Peace Out. Much Love - Mallerina

Nice Diane. Very dignified and honorable. Good luck with everything.

Ok then Diane.....

I'm very tempted to bite at a few of your points but I think I'll leave it thanks

Please accept my apologies. While it was made in jest, making light of someone's death was very poor taste and i shouldn't have said it.

quote:

Originally posted by Suffer Never:
Ok then Diane.....

I'm very tempted to bite at a few of your points but I think I'll leave it thanks

As will I. I'm sorry but this post shouldn't be here.

Hi, really sorry if that was insensitive, was just a spur of the moment thing due to some contentious points. A youthful and hotheaded error, sorry

quote:

Originally posted by Suffer Never:
Hi, really sorry if that was insensitive, was just a spur of the moment thing due to some contentious points. A youthful and hotheaded error, sorry

I wasn't referring to your post Suffer Never, I'm sorry that I didn't make that clear. Your post was fine.
It is Mallerina's post that is inappropriate for this forum. It appears to be a private note to Eddie, a complaint about an insensitive post by another and a personal bitch about Tim Finn. All of which belong in other forums. And she should have taken the offence up with the other poster privately.
I used to enjoy reading this forum. I'm done here.

Sorry Kazzie,

I did not mean to offend anyone on this site and the only reason I posted it here was because i am new to this forum and only stumbled upon it last week and couldnt remember which posting site i was in since there are many in this forum. It was not a personal bitch at all and i was just making a point and setting the record straight. I had no clue that you could even post something privately to anyone. In my opinion that is what posting is all about. A place to speak your mind. I am sorry Kazzie that you viewed it as a personal bitch about Tim Finn. That was not my intention.

Had i had known that there was another forum to set the record straight i would have done so and i also couldnt remember the name of the person that posted those insensitive remarks. When i saw Eddie's name in the list in this forum i just clicked on it. You are entitled to your opinion as far as that goes Kazzie. It is impossible for a dead man to defend himself -and if you could point me to the proper forum for the future that would be great. Peace Out -Mallerina.

Just a note here:

Please remember mutual respect. Let's not poop on anybody.

Also, if anybody wants to communicate directly with Eddie or any member of the Enz, you need to email that to Peter at the fan club (peter AT frenz DOT com). He passes everything along. Just because something is written here doesn't mean that the person you were hoping would read it, reads it.

Thanks.

To: DebAsWas

I wasnt really looking to get in touch with Eddie personally. I am new to this forum and when i saw his name on the list i just clicked on it. I wasnt really sure where to post anything and i got a wee bit confused by this site. Lot of information on this site, so again i apologize if i offended anyone with my post with regard to my late husband. Im still trying to figure out how to quote a post and then reply lol. And for the record, Eddie was a totally brillant musician and i spent countless times listening to him play this ole upright piano that sat in the middle of this huge type of hallway at The Manor Studios and it was just brill!!! He had a tremendous ear and it was a joy working with him. I am glad i had that opportunity. Much Love and Peace Out