New album by Tim Finn and Phil Manzanera

[Brian]

It's been ten years since Tim Finn released an album of new music. Since 2011, he's written music for the theater and played some concerts in Australia.  During the pandemic lockdown, he linked up with his old friend Phil Manzanera on Zoom. They met when Phil's band Roxy Music first toured Australia in 1975. The next year, Tim's band Split Enz went to London so Phil could produce their first U.S. release. Tim and Phil wound up collaborating with other musicians online on a couple dozen new songs, some of which appear on "Caught by the Heart." Here's the video of the title song:



Like Tim's previous album, "Caught by the Heart" wasn't released in the U.S.  Therefore each CD costs $40 as imports.  Don't tell Anni.  Amoeba Music remains loyal to Tim Finn -- they released a store-only rarities CD and Tim played at the old Hollywood store.  I ordered my copy online, so it's on its way from Kentucky since Ameoba ceased shipping from Hollywood during the pandemic.

[Brian]

Knowing that Tim Finn and Phil Manzanera recorded more than 20 songs over the internet during the pandemic lockdown led me to expect a follow up album to last year's "Caught by the Heart."  But given the annual decline in CD sales, I'm no longer certain of anything.  After all, Tim hasn't had an album released in the U.S. since 2008.  When the follow up album, "The Ghost of Santiago," came out in the U.K. on July 29, I ordered it.  This is my favorite song on the new collection, "Our Love."



I had relied on Amoeba Music's online operation since March 2020 but they're not importing this Finn/Manzanera album despite selling out the first one.  Proper Music is a great outfit in the U.K., I've learned from years of patronage.  Not only did my CD arrive two days earlier than Amoeba's -- just five days from London! -- it also cost $11 less than my import of the first CD from Amoeba, which doesn't charge for shipping.

Tim and Phil have a website for their joint venture: finnmanz.com/homepage/

[Brian]

"The Ghost of Santiago" gets a half-page, four-star review in the September issue of Mojo, one of the great music magazines still being published in the U.K. Here's the beginning and end of David Buckley's review, titled "Stranger Things: Quietly impressive second album from art-rock luminaries," without the song descriptions in the middle:

Despite not having met in person for over a decade now, New Zealand's Tim Finn (ex-Split Enz, Crowded House and accomplished solo artist) and Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music and co-creator of dozens of releases) have produced their second album in just over a year. In many ways, the two musicians are perfectly matched. There is a hesitancy and understatement to both; Manzanera's guitar is never here on maximum volume, while Finn's quiet delivery seldom rises beyond the intimate and conversational.

The LP marks a subtle switch from last year's Caught By The Heart; the emotions more personal, more intense, and the melodies more memorable. The subject matter is a vivid mix of the experienced and the imaginary...

One would think that a musical project conducted via file transference would lack something, and in a way, perhaps The Ghost Of Santiago is just ever-so-slightly too perfect, both in sound and execution. One wishes for more of the musical daring of "Space Cannibal," and on occasion, it does sound formulaic, such as the guitar solo on "Curtain Call," straight from the school of Knopfler and Gilmour. You can't have, or have easily, the accidental and the unpredictable when you're not playing in one space. And you can't easily get a groove, that indefinable sound of musicians organically creating and experiencing the lived joy of music in the moment. That said, Finn/Manzanera collaboration is obviously a good fit musically, and prolific too. The logical next step would be for them to actually create together in person.

The album was actually issued by a U.S. label this month -- Tim's first U.S. release in 14 years. Who knew?  If I had waited three weeks, I could have bought the CD from Amoeba Records and paid $11 less than the price of my import:

www.amoeba.com/the-ghost-of-santiago-cd-tim-finn/albums/4294239/