I think Try Whistling This has aged remarkably well. I used to think that One Nil was a vastly superior album but not so much lately. There's a darkness to the songs on TWT that really draws me in and an attention to layering and hasn't been heard much since. It also has some of Neil's best "rock songs" after Together Alone. "Souvenir", "King Tide", and "Loose Tongue" are all much more successful at rocking out than more recent attempts like "All God's Children" or "Even a Child".

I wanted to suggest an alternate tracking for TWT, which I always felt deserved to be a longer (possible double) album. Here's the way I listen to it:

DISC I
1. Identical Twin*
2. Souvenir
3. King Tide
4. Try Whistling This
5. She Will Have Her Way
6. Sinner
7. Family Ties*
8. Faster than Light
9. The Spirit of the Stairs*
10. Last One Standing

DISC II
1. Twisty Bass
2. Loose Tongue
3. Tokyo*
4. Fish Hook*
5. Truth
6. Astro
7. She Comes Scattered*
8. Dream Date
9. 808 Song*
10. Addicted

It may seem strange to end disc one with "Last One Standing" but, to be fair, this set fits nicely on to a single CD and LOS works really well following SotS. I also think that "Identical Twin" does a much better job of setting the right mood as the album begins. The lyrics, "beware late night thinking / before starlight's over," make for an intriguing opening that makes me want to hear more. I really like the way the song kind of unfolds with the various instruments, harmonies, and percussion. It also sets up the gothic-pacific overtone that is carried through much of the album.

Of course, this track list assumes that you have access to all these b-sides. I left off "Log Drums" because, though I think it's a fine song, it is a bit annoying after multiple listens.

So, has anyone else reevaluated this album lately? And, how great is "Tokyo"? How could Neil have left that one off?

Tokyo is really fantastic live!

I have always loved ASTRO too !!!!

I've always preferred Try Whistling This to One Nil/All. And your suggested double album, Painaporo, only underlines how much I like the songs from this period. It really was a purple creative patch for Neil.

Tokyo is a great song. I seem to recall it was originally written for Crowded House; if so, it's high time for the new line-up to resurrect it on tour.

More than anything, though, I love that late-night, slightly lo-fi Pacific-Gothic sound you can hear on a lot of the stuff that didn't make it onto the album. Identical Twin, 808 Song, She Comes Scattered: they may not be Neil's most brilliant songs, but as recordings they have such a distinctively eerie sound. That sound is spare and stripped down, drums and wires without too many frills or overdubs -- apart from a few otherworldly elements like faux-vinyl static and mellotron. It reminds me of some of the Revolver-era Lennon songs, especially Rain and She Said She Said: psychedelia before it got bombastically Sgt. Pepperized.

You can hear that slightly otherworldly sound on Twisty Bass too, one of the most overlooked tracks on TWT (I love its 2000 Light Years From Home-style mellotron), as well as the superbly lacerating Souvenir. Even Truth has a hint of it. I don't know whether to chalk up the slight hint of menace in all these songs, which I'd never heard before in Neil's songs, to post-CH break-up angst. But it certainly made for something much more edgy than what we'd heard from him before.

For me, Neil never rose to this standard again until he recorded People Are Like Suns.

I, for one, don't need to "rediscover" TWT - It has never been out of my CD player for more than a month. I remember first buying it - on a cassette, no less - in the UK during a bleak summer job. I wanted something to cheer me up, and felt really cheated when Neil gave me this

Then I realized this was something completely, utterly, purposefully different than Crowded House. I started to love it for what it was, and that "hint of menace", as Watney said, actually looked good on Neil.

Later I fell in love with Sinner, travelled 19 hours to see my first Neil Finn show and never looked back

I like it a lot. I particularly like the fact that it is reasonably free from Neil's own brand of romance and sentimentality which I don't really relate to. It's more mysterious.

By the way, where do you hear Fish Hook and Family Ties? I know what Spirit of the Stairs sounds like as I have heard the version on the credits of a DVD but I have no idea if it was recorded during the TWT sessions or not.

Family Ties was only available on an (Australian) double CD edition (along with another exclusive track).

Fish Hook only appeared on a fan club CD. It is wonderful.

I'll confess that I didn't always love TWT. When I first bought it I just couldn't get into it. The hooks were far more obscure, the production far more opaque than Mitchell's work with CH and I just missed the unbridled joy that every CH record had previously captured (even the moodier Temple had somehow managed to be melancholy yet uplifting).

I put TWT back on the shelf and resigned myself to my the first NF "failure".

Then, six months later, I just decided to dust it off and give it a spin.

Suddenly, all these beautiful melodies came tumbling out, as if they'd always been there but somehow, mysteriously, I'd never spotted them. And that opaque production had transformed into interesting soundscapes and textures.

I don't like all of it - I find Loose Tongue far more contrived than Even A Child - and Dream Date is a B side if ever I've heard one. But when it soars, boy this album is majestic.

I could wax lyrical for an age but I won't bore you. Suffice to say, I think it is desperately under-rated and undervalued by both Neil and his fans.

I'm gonna give Painaporo's running order a go at some point because it looks stunning.

The TWT version of "Spirit of the Stairs" was only released on the test pressings of TWT which some people have sold on ebay. The MP3 has been floating around the internet for years. I highly recommend it as it feels much more finished than the demo on the FWTTW DVD. It's production is still rather basic and rough when compared to other tracks on TWT but it's totally worth hearing and probably should have been on the album (along with "Tokyo" and "Identical Twin").

The Test Copy of TWT was very interesting. It also included alternate mixes of "Sinner" and "Twisty Bass". Both songs included a lot of strange sounds and noises that were left out of the final mixes. I seem to recall "Sinner" have more emphasis on the acoustic guitar and some other samples that played alongside the piano/string sample that runs throughout the song.

I'm not sure I've heard Family Ties. Hmmm.

Of course I've said things like that before only to listen to the song and exclaim, "Oh.....THAT song!!!"

The idea of a song I haven't heard always gets me excited though. I'm such a geek

quote:

Originally posted by Watney Sideburns:
I've always preferred Try Whistling This to One Nil/All. And your suggested double album, Painaporo, only underlines how much I like the songs from this period. It really was a purple creative patch for Neil.

You're a man after my own heart, sir! Fantastic album. I remember walking from school to town and back to pick this up when it was released, (about half an hours walk each way- with no discman the walk back was torture) and shortly afterwards several of my friends bought themselves a copy too, having heard mine. Something for everyone on that album.

I recently purchased both One Nil and Try whistling this (both new to me) and I definitely like TWT better. Sinner is my favorite. It's an enchanting song, I'm aware that it starts and I'm aware that it ends, but what happens in the middle I don't know , it gets me in a trance-like state. There are more Neil Finn songs that have that effect on me.

TWT is just bliss on a stick, and Paināporo's mix looks twice as sweet

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh to hear that title track live again. Bless

Not that I'm complaining about hearing Sinner and She Will Have Her Way live in the past year, but you know


we all have our favourites

TWT is one of my most favourite albums. It's very calming.
I used to listen to it on repeat while studying in year 12. Listening to the radio was too distracting.

I heard in an interview that Neil thought that the tracks on the bonus disc (Tokyo, Family Ties, She Comes Scattered, Identical Twin, 808 Song, Log Drums) were good songs but just didn't fit sound-wise on the TWT album.

I love the bonus songs but I agree that they don't fit the sound\mood. They're too upbeat, except for 808 song. I can't listen to the bonus songs if I want relaxation.

quote:

Originally posted by Watney Sideburns:
I don't know whether to chalk up the slight hint of menace in all these songs, which I'd never heard before in Neil's songs, to post-CH break-up angst. But it certainly made for something much more edgy than what we'd heard from him before.

Yeah - I can't say enough about TWT. Push comes to shove, this is my favourite album ever released by any artist. Ever. One of the things I enjoy most about it (like you, Watney) is the tension between light and dark that permeates. I would argue, though, that this tension is not unique to TWT, but that it is a strong element in Neil's best work, both lyrically and musically. There is a sinister undercurrent to "Temple Of Low Men", for example, that grounds even volcanically joyous songs like When You Come ("smashing my hull, send me to the bottom of the sea").

TWT is simply the best example of this tension for me. It is fascinating how these songs, after what 12 years just keep simmering and growing.

quote:

For me, Neil never rose to this standard again until he recorded People Are Like Suns.

Amen, brother.

Slight hint of menace - provocative description. TWT is no doubt darker and more minor-chordy than what came before. I think collaborations with Tim yield a cheekier, although not the less cynical, tunes. Neil really dances on the edge of that line of dark and light, as on the moon.

I love, love, love TWT. One of my favorite albums, probably Top 5 of the '90s. I actually haven't heard One Nil/All yet, but I've been jonesing for a Finn fix lately, and I recently ordered a copy of One All to tide me over until the next CH release. I'm looking forward to giving it a spin.

Try Whistling This is great, great - sometimes I hear someone say something negative about it. I never can comprehend what they're trying to say, not enough to

I love every song on there. I LOVE DREAM DATE! "Dream Date" seems to come in for some flack, but I love it. It's the loose funky laid-back enervated lounge romp that "Transit Lounge" aspires to be, although that one's fine too - it's no knock.

EDIT: Whoa! I forgot to finish that first paragraph's thought: ", not enough to make an intelligent response."

TWT is defintely on my desert island discs - so many layers and filled with atmosphere.

It's like jumping into someone's subconscious. It's muddled up and experimental, little snatches of melody, patches of beauty, fragments of poetry.
I love it.


PS I have been trying to get my hands on ltd double disc edition of this but can't seem to find it anywhere. When I was in Tokyo last year I even had a rummage in some record shops for the edition with just Tokyo but didnt see it.
Has anyone any links or know where I can look? Thank you

PPS I also think She Comes Scattered is a fantastic song. Joyful, quirky, upbeat. It's one of my fave Neil songs

I've had my mind changed similarly about Time on Earth. Really is better than I gave credit for.

TWT is and will always be one of my favs albums of all time.

Every song play it's part to creat a finntastic album.

LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!

Well, I finally broke down and threw myself into a project that I've been thinking about for a long time. Inspired by Watney who pointed out that the b-sides have their own unique feel to them I've reconsidered the whole "double album" concept. Instead of considering where to insert the b-sides into Try Whistling This, I've gathered all the pacific gothic sounding Neil songs from the late 90's and early 00's and made an entirely new album.

I didn't just make a new playlist in iTunes, I actually explored and edited and remixed the songs using audio software. With the help of loops, samples, cross fades and I've made my own unique Neil Finn album. I combined elements from Neil's Rain album and samples from optigan keyboards used on songs like "She Comes Scattered" and "Tokyo" to create transitions between some songs and new openings for others. The result sounds a bit like a party mix tape or channel surfing on some bizarre pacific gothic radio station that only plays Neil Finn.

Here are the front and back covers:




I hope to upload some samples up to youtube so you guys can hear what it sounds like. It's not like I've dramatically altered the basic songs or anything, but it does give the album a cohesiveness that these songs lacked on their respective CDs and releases.