a little while ago i got all excited. positively giddy, look you see. why, or why in particular? because no less than Split Enz featured on the most popular section of the most widely listened to radio station in the country, no less. true, this was back in late May or at some stage of June, but it is only now i have gotten around to writing something about it.
the broadcast happened between rounds of "Popmaster" or "Pop Master", the music quiz (as the name suggests) on Radio 2 at 10:30am, Monday - Friday. it was on a Friday edition that Ken "Scotland (i think)" Bruce excitedly announced that, after one contestant had a go and the next was getting ready, the song to be played was I Got You by Split Enz. yes, the volume went up.
indeed, there is a great deal of controversy around why Pop Master is on at 10:30am every day, but we will get to that as we go. for now, and to start, i just thought this was all a most splendid excuse to celebrate a band (Split Enz) that, to me, for me, does not get celebrated anywhere near as much as they should.
oh, yes, all the images here will be in Commodore 64 mode, for fun. no, i am not going to give a history or similar of Split Enz, at least not in any detail. that's covered on other, better, dedicated sites. here is just me, a fan, happy that they came on the radio and that others got to hear this magnificent band.
with no disrespect to the rest of the band (far from it) a general association with Split Enz is for it to be called "the band Neil Finn was in before he went massive with Crowded House". technically correct. Neil Finn is now of course, bizarrely, a temporary or touring if you like member of Fleetwood Mac, a move what must be the biggest shock musical transfer since Mani joined Primal Scream.
as a new member of the band, and a male, no doubt Neil Finn will have to face trial by Stevie Nicks, which will involve (text removed on legal advice), as happened with (name removed on legal advice) and, of course (name removed on legal advice). best of luck going forward, Neil, but now let us look back.
that there above is True Colours. no, it is not my personal favourite Split Enz album, but only the foolish would say anything but this is their best, most celebrated, most successful and the best place to start off with introducing the band.
why? I Got You is on it. and the rest of the album is of the same high, exceptionally high, standard as that song. it is one of those "once in a lifetime" albums what bands produce; ones where every single track (or just about close enough) is so good and so strong the whole thing sounds like you are listening to a greatest hits set. so, yes, if you have heard I Got You and want more, then this is perhaps the best starting place.
of the controversy around Pop Master being on at 10:30am, well, that's back to the great betrayal that was the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, created by the EU and bizarrely agreed to by all concerned. a lesser known clause, or if you will concession, in it was that the workers of England had to move their traditional mid-morning break from 11am to 10:30am. why? the French. other than the fact that the time suited their frankly ridiculous obsession with the metric system, it was the time they wanted their people to stop (by French standards) working and remember the greatest French military victory for many hundreds of years, if not ever. as you probably don't need me to remind you, that "victory" was when a group of valiant, brave and noble French (by French standards) farmers waged war on a bunch of part time employees of McDonald's in protest of McDonald's using proper potatoes to make chips with, rather than inferior French ones.
more on that in a bit, but back to Split Enz.
there are several "Greatest Hits" things available for the band. one of the better ones is History Never Repeats, but just to show off here above is a different one, a magnificent double disc set called Spellbound. as far as i am aware every single such "greatest" or "best of" set for Split Enz features I Got You, so tuck in. no matter what variation you get, they all have good songs on.
frustratingly, however, no one such set features all of my favourites. this Spellbound one just misses the one i would want to have out, but again we will get there.
the biggest problem, or most heartbreaking betrayal, of the French thing where we now have to have our worker breaks at the metric 10:30am? the loss of the word "elevensies". we English, as point of fact as far as i am aware all British, used to have a formal break at the more agreeable hour of 11am. it was called "elevensies", and was celebrated with tea. it is seldom that one hears someone use the word "elevensies". my memory may let me down, but i think the last time i heard it was in the late 80s, obviously pre-Maastricht Treaty nonsense, spoken by Vim Fuego out of Bad News.
above is probably my favourite Split Enz alum, the magnificent Time And Tide. it's just loaded with amazing songs that i connect to. chief among them is Dirty Creature, a song nearly as much of a hit as I Got You was. the masterpiece, however, is Six Months In A Leaky Boat. Tim "not Neil" Finn delivers an astonishing lyric, using the press gangs of years gone by and the discovery of his homeland as a striking metaphor for a torrid, turbulent relationship which had just ended. a masterpiece of any form of music, and yet seldom heard due to a controversial ban. between them the BBC and The Sun "newspaper" decided the song was about the Falklands conflict of 1982, and so arranged for it to be banned. let not the fact that it was written months before such a skirmish get in the way of that.
why, despite the controversy around the timing of the show (so everyone can have a go on break) (due to French interference) is it the most popular thing on the radio? well, it's fun to play along. also, lack of choice. just as MTV eventually stopped playing music so has Radio 1. Radio 3 is all classical, Radio 4 is a lot of talking and Radio 5 is not on FM. thus, Radio 2 is your only chance at decent music during the day. well, except for provincial radio stations, but there are only so many adverts for carpets, invariably followed by a selection of Phil Collins songs, one can be expected to have the patience for.
right, that there is Frenzy, which was a bugger to find. and expensive. well, i paid somewhere south of £10 for it, but most second hand copies seem to go for north of that.
i was particularly keen to get this one as it has another superb Tim "that one" Finn song on it, She Got Body, She Got Soul. this was eventually reworked as Body & Soul for the magnificent 1982 Australian film Starstruck. alas, inexplicably, the reworked version is not available on CD, so this original will have to do. which is mighty fine in itself.
so far as i am aware Neil Finn never went back and did any Split Enz numbers when he was with Crowded House. well, why would he? i mean, it is a shame not to have, but there was a wealth of just as excellent music he created with the next band.
and there you have it, although i am not sure what it is i have said here. basically, if you are tired of "new" "music" being awful, then there was a lot of stuff in the past what got overlooked by the larger audience. so, go seek out Split Enz and enjoy.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment