Apologies if this has been discussed before (a quick forum search didn't yield any results):

In 1983, Karen Ansell (presumably from The Reels), released a single on Mushroom called "No Commotion b/w Casa". Written by Ms. Ansell, produced by some guy called Neil Finn. No details on musicians involved are given.

I was lucky to get the 7" on Ebay a few years back, but never managed to find any information about it on the net. IIRC the song is pretty new wave-ish with quirky beats, the B-side consisting of something like an instrumental of the A-side. Unfortunately, I'm in no capacity to verify my memories, my record player having broken down recently (yay, finally an excuse to get a USB one).

Anyone got the story on this?

Michael

Never heard the song either but what I recall about it is that Neil said he was offered to produce the whole album and that he would have said yes if he'd known the Enz's break before Conflicting Emotions was going to be so long (due to Escapade and its success).

I believe it's where he first encountered Nicolas Seymour too. IIRC Neil wasn't too impressed with his bass contributions - "funk merchant" I think was the term he used to describe Nick's playing...

Sorry I can't review the record and apologies if that's not the kind of info you were chasin...

Thank you, John, that's exactly the kind of information I'm after!

What intrigues me is the fact that it seems Karen Ansell never released a solo album. Maybe the track was recorded with (and for) the Reels but released as a solo single because Karen was on lead vocals? (Did Karen ever take over vocal duties with the Reels?) That would mean Neil was offered the producer's seat for The Reels.

Or it was just a bunch of studio musicians (no offence, Nick) and the intended album was scrapped.

You had me laughing at "funk merchant".

Michael

No worries Michael.

Yeah, now I think about it, I don't recall him actually saying it was HER ALBUM he was offered to produce, but I clearly recall him saying the phrase "I would have said yes if I'd known how long our break was going to be" (paraphrasing). So maybe it was an EP he was offered? Or yeah, a Reels album. Or maybe she did record an album and either it's long forgotten or it wasn't released due to disappointing sales of the single. The sands of time...