Brian
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Post by Brian on Feb 27, 2011 0:52:40 GMT -8
Because I didn't check the Tim Finn zone on Frenz Forum or his My Space page more often, I missed the first few weeks of the party. Tim's been posting short, slick featurettes on You Tube of his new album being recorded at Roundhead Studios in New Zealand with the guy who's produced both Tom Waits and Kings of Leon, among others. The latest addition delivers 84 seconds of the final mix of a new song: As a serious fan of Tim's work since 1977, I'm blessed with scads of videos showing songs being created in the studio along with interviews with the creators, centrally located on his You Tube channel: www.youtube.com/user/TimFinnMusic
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Mar 6, 2011 0:49:45 GMT -8
Tim Finn has never been an artful self-promoter. He's put everything he has into his songwriting, records, performances and, for the last decade, his family. This recently posted You Tube video of a song from the 2006 album "Imaginary Kingdom" was a family project involving Tim's father Richard and daughter Harper, growing up rapidly since her last video appearance: Anni left her cookies all over my computer, but because she's not his Facebook friend, the pages that I can see are moribund. The few dozen Tim Finn fans worldwide who still visit Frenz Forum say that he's got his new videos hooked up there. Tim's My Space site has been entirely refurbished with Twitter feeds, video embeds and an audio playlist that includes one genuine rarity, "They Won't Let My Girlfriend Talk to Me." www.myspace.com/timfinnmusic
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Dec 2, 2011 0:01:15 GMT -8
Tim Finn's last L.A. show was in August 2010.He's doing it again, at another intimate local venue. The news came out Tuesday: Like last year, Tim has booked a three-city tour, also starting in Los Angeles and going to New York, but this time winding up in Cambridge, Mass. instead of London, England. I love the Troubadour, but the atmosphere and the acoustics at the world famous Largo are even better. Tickets aren't on sale yet, but I'll be checking this link, advancing to March 21 on the calendar and clicking on Tim's name as soon as it appears: www.largo-la.com/ticketinfo/
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Dec 11, 2011 2:26:48 GMT -8
As of this posting, tickets for March 21 have yet to go on sale on the Largo website.
"People Like Us" is my favorite song from Tim's new album of those few that I've been able to hear in their entirety through the Internet. Since "The View Is Worth the Climb" was released on CD in Australia in late August, I've been looking for it at Amoeba, where Tim gave an interview upstairs that Amoeba put on its website in 2008. Now the store only stocks the "Rarities" CD he was there to promote. I checked last time, and the nice dude behind the computer said that Amoeba could only buy the new album online, just like me.
Tim Finn forced me to get a CD player in 1999 so I could hear his new album, unavailable on cassette or LP. Now my choice is pay $40 to secure an import CD, to download and burn my own or to purchase a license on somebody's cloud. Which climb shall I make?
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Post by Sharon W on Dec 11, 2011 11:42:33 GMT -8
You just brought back lots of memories. My sister was hanging around with Denny Doherty when this other 'People Like Us' came out:
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Dec 14, 2011 0:00:10 GMT -8
You just brought back lots of memories. My sister was hanging around with Denny Doherty when this other 'People Like Us' came out: What a blast from the past. I had forgotten about that song and the album it came from and had to look it up: "People Like Us" was their last record, and if the Mamas and the Papas hadn't made the album, ABC Dunhill would have sued them for $250,000 each. And what a trip that your sister knew Denny then! The Largo quietly put Tim Finn tickets on sale on Tuesday -- they have yet to send an e-mail blast. I had been checking the March calendar at least once day since the word got out two weeks ago. This is the direct link to the order page -- remember, you saw it first on the Montrose Peace Vigil message board: largo.laughstub.com/show.cfm?id=124823&cartTo celebrate, I reached back ten years for "What You've Done" and danced along with Tim:
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Dec 25, 2011 2:10:52 GMT -8
Tale of two imports from Australia: Tim's new album and his first greatest hits package.Keeping up with Tim Finn's music has always been an adventure. Two of his earliest records with Split Enz in the 1970's could only be heard as British imports. His wonderful 2006 album "Imaginary Kingdom" wasn't released in North America until the next year, and 2008's "The Conversation" never came out on this continent, but at least Amoeba stocked it. Since then, Tim has put out an anthology in 2009 on Capitol Records and a new CD last August on ABC Music, only in Australia. I could have ordered them overseas cheaper and waited even longer, but I caved in to convenience and paid $75 to Amazon for both. The two-disc anthology covers his entire career, with key album tracks supplemented by five remakes -- such as "Weather With You" with brother Neil and nephew Liam Finn -- and three new songs alone worth the price of the set. The overall effect is bracing. No other songwriter and performer has distilled and updated 35 years of timeless melodies and knock out lyrics better than Tim. If the view was worth the climb, the vision may be lacking on the latest CD. Certainly, the first-listen WOW! factor was missing, something I've come to expect from Tim since his early solo career stumbles. I like the album already -- "People Like Us" is an instant classic -- but I need some time to suss the whole thing out.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Dec 27, 2011 1:03:53 GMT -8
Let's start with "North, South, East, West," the 34-song anthology released in the autumn of 2009. I conned myself that I didn't really need it, even as I looked for the set at Ameoba every time I visited. I couldn't quibble too much with Tim's selection from his entire career, but I had most of the tracks already on record, cassette or CD, very often all three. From what I heard on the Internet, the five remakes were brave and the three new songs stellar. Why hadn't somebody turned in his import copy for the used bin? I got my answer when I played both discs for the first time. They're indispensable. As Tim wrote in the liner notes, "It's a strange and evocative thing listening back to these recordings. The life from which they sprang is becoming ever more dreamlike." I cannot think of another artist who so masterfully addresses his past while grounding himself in the present and flying headlong into the future. Speaking of alternate versions, here's a You Tube clip of one of my favorite all time Tim Finn songs preserved from the olden days of television -- in 1990, when Jules Shear, a brilliant songwriter in his own right, hosted MTV's "Unplugged" -- Tim's "Not Even Close" with Neil Finn, Paul Hester and Mitchell Froom: When I came running to you/I was following the light from a dead starThe official "Not Even Close" video:
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Jan 2, 2012 1:22:22 GMT -8
Tim's "Spiritual Hunger" video in 1986 featuring an appearance by original Split Enz bandmate Phil Judd.
Although the two songs in the You Tube embeds bracketing this post were left off of Tim Finn's two-disc anthology, they help to frame his career and his life.
Of course, Tim does the job better himself with two new songs on the set. "Into the water I am born/With a smile on my face," he sings with brother Neil. Then he sums up his journey on "Nothing Unusual," one of the greatest melodies he ever wrote fused with some his best lyrics. "There's still such a long way to go."
I would pay $40 American for a piece of plastic containing that song alone.
The Finn Brothers' 2004 "Part of Me, Part of You" video includes a cameo by their Dad and family movies.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Jan 15, 2012 0:34:10 GMT -8
Although I have a lot to say about Tim Finn's new album, I still can't figure out how to distill the 1000-word rant in my head into my usual 250 positive words. Instead, let's begin 2012 with two songs from 1978.
How many beautiful versions of "Stuff and Nonsense" have I heard in the past three decades? That embed simply conveying the 2009 audio track on Tim's anthology has 14,258 views, no doubt because of Missy Higgins' fans. (His own You Tube videos rack up hits in the low thousands.) A brave and wise remake.
This audience video recorded at a festival in Busselton, Western Australia last week only has 10 views:
Dancing Tim is alive and well! Less than two months remain before we see him at the Largo in L.A.
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