I think the thing with 'Turn It Round' is the fact that it seems to be amongst the top four or five favourites in the new songs amongst fans. People haven't really commented much on the fact that Neil, in interviews, has 'promised' an exotic sounding album and I would hazard a guess that most people would agree that TIR is the most exotic sounding song of the lot, at least in it's raw form, so it is no wonder that a few of us are wondering what the go is. When he said that I immediately thought "Oh - there's a reference to TIR" - curious.

A little more detail about some of the new songs can be found in the Crowded House bio on the web site of Irish promoters MCD.
Don McLashan, Jon Brion, Lisa Germano, Sharon & Liam Finn, James Milne all contribute to the album.

http://www.mcd.ie/home/fn.php?...crowdedhouse&cat=all

Fascinating! A samba version of Either Side of the World? Jon Brion cutting loose on Twice If You're Lucky? Isolation a hybrid of two songs, with lots of tremolo guitar and ethereal vocals from Sharon? Lawrence Arabia guesting on The Intriguer? Liam playing psychedelic guitar in Falling Dove?

The songs we thought we knew are probably going to sound quite different in their final studio incarnations. That might alarm some of us who have got wedded to live versions of them. But it also means we're in for some real surprises ... once again, my excitement and apprehension are growing in equal measure!

Ok, I didn't think that I could be any more excited about this album....until I checked out that link!

Wow, so great to see a word from Neil Finn. I'm so stoked for this album! Hopefully we get an official release date soon; I don't know how much longer I can stand the suspense.

Wow, that link really fans the flames, doesn't it? The part that really got me was...

"Its part of the continuum and it may just be the best thing we’ve done …"

I don't recall ever hearing Neil say something like that, in all the dozens (hundreds?) of interviews I've read. Sure, he is usually positive about things and often describes his work as colorful or "good" in some sense...just never heard him declare "it may be the best" before.

quote:

Originally posted by slowpogo:
Wow, that link really fans the flames, doesn't it? The part that really got me was...

"Its part of the continuum and it may just be the best thing we’ve done …"

I don't recall ever hearing Neil say something like that, in all the dozens (hundreds?) of interviews I've read. Sure, he is usually positive about things and often describes his work as colorful or "good" in some sense...just never heard him declare "it may be the best" before.

Maybe he's been hanging out with Bono.

quote:

Originally posted by J.Buckley:

Maybe he's been hanging out with Bono.

I'm not sure I get it...does Bono say that about pretty much every U2 album or something?

HOLY COW.

I need to read that about 10 MORE TIMES.

Wow, is my mind in the process of being blown!

Oh my goodness, this is just. Just what I didn't know I needed to hear.

SAMBA??? That sounds horrific to me, yet I can tell somehow it's going to be an outstanding and dead-on choice.

I've lost perspective. I've utterly lost perspective and I fear they can (or will) do no wrong, and then when the album comes out I'll end up flying all over blowing all my money and vacation times catching date after date.

Well so be it then!

slowpogo, you actually left off part of the quote that may change its intent (bold for emphasis):

quote:

Its part of the continuum and it may
just be the best thing we’ve done ……till the next one.

I think that he may be talking just a bit facetiously here, implying that whatever is most current is the best they've done.

***edited to add:
In other recent comments that he's made, however, I get the sense that he's quite excited by what they've been able to produce.
***

DUB, thanks for the link to the excellent article, by the way. Perhaps see you this tour?!

quote:

Originally posted by Romer:
slowpogo, you actually left off part of the quote that may change its intent (bold for emphasis):

quote:

Its part of the continuum and it may
just be the best thing we’ve done ……till the next one.

I think that he may be talking just a bit facetiously here, implying that whatever is most current is the best they've done.

DUB, thanks for the link to the excellent article, by the way. Perhaps see you this tour?!

Ah, I misread the last part as meaning "until next time" as in, "see you next time."

quote:

Originally posted by slowpogo:

quote:

Originally posted by J.Buckley:

Maybe he's been hanging out with Bono.

I'm not sure I get it...does Bono say that about pretty much every U2 album or something?

Pretty much. He also has some catch phrases like "The Edge is on fire" and how this new album is different and brave, and sometimes he includes a bit about the band doing something destructive to the Joshua Tree.

Glad to hear from the clip at Bush Hall that Amsterdam is sped up just that little bit that I think it needed. Felt so plodding before, and now it feels just right.

quote:

Originally posted by jiggedyjiggedy:
Glad to hear from the clip at Bush Hall that Amsterdam is sped up just that little bit that I think it needed. Felt so plodding before, and now it feels just right.

au contraire, I would have slowed it down, a little bit, if anything, but made the instrumentation heavier and 'epic'. It sounded disjointed compared to the 'band' versions posted earlier. I'm hoping it's the limitations of the set up.

There was a time, back in the dim and distant past, when Crowded House would issue an album and we'd just lap up everything we got, judging each track on its merits.

This new album isn't going to "just" be judged on its merits, its going to be judged against every possible permutation and combination we've witnessed in the last two years.

No other album I can think of has has its gestation so exposed. I'll be amazed if anyone's happy with it

quote:

Originally posted by Paul H:
No other album I can think of has has its gestation so exposed.

Neil Young did something similar, though there was no "gestation" really - he just did a tour with new songs then immediately recorded them the same way they'd been played the whole tour...I think some of the songs were actually recorded mid-tour.

Many bands will test out new songs on the road (Radiohead always does it), just usually not quite as many songs as CH did. I'd be amazed if they were the first band to do it to this extent, though.

I think that it's partly to do with the volume of new material the band has road tested and partly because, by their own admission, they weren't considering the songs to be finished. Rather, the whole point was to see whether they were finished or whether they needed something extra that the band hadn't thought of during rehearsal.

I think its for that reason that this process is unique, rather than the act of playing unreleased new material.

Quick poll:

Do you think the lag time between the December arrival of the advance copy in Peter Green's letterbox and the ever-receding release date of the new album (now pushed back to May and maybe even later) is due to

a) Crowded House not having a record contract

b) Neil the perfectionist fiddling with the masters and doing yet more overdubs (necessitating yet more visits to LA this spring)

c) Band uncertainty about whether the 11 songs on the advance copy should indeed be the final track line-up

d) All of the above

e) Par for the Crowdies course

I think mostly b), Neil just wants to get the album exactly how he wants it. While I'm a bit frusterated about having to change my calender, I appreciate the push to perfection. I would do the same.

quote:

Originally posted by Watney Sideburns:
the ever-receding release date of the new album (now pushed back to May and maybe even later)

b) Neil the perfectionist fiddling with the masters and doing yet more overdubs (necessitating yet more visits to LA this spring)

Where did you get this information? I'm failing to find anything new about the release date in the CH forum (besides your post)...is the part about Neil doing more overdubs speculation or is it confirmed?