Neil Finn - One All
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Free Music Notes for One All
Free Music Review: A very good album becomes outstanding
Hit: 5 Stars
Cynics may be tempted to think that the remixing, resequencing and addition of two new songs on "One All" are little more than a sordid attempt to woo US fans who bought "One Nil" last year into buying what is essentially the same album twice. Fortunately, this proves not to be the case, as the changes are substantial and actually manage to improve upon what was already a very good album. The tinkering merely confirms what a craftsman Neil Finn is, and lucky for us, because this may be the best album of his career.For "One All," his second studio album as a solo artist, Finn does what he's been doing routinely for the past 20 years: he conjures up a sparkling collection of elemental pop melodies and dresses them in earnest, plaintive lyrics that affect the listener in a way rarely experienced with pop songs. Never before, however, has it sounded so effortless. The two duds of "One Nil" have been replaced with two excellent new songs; the soothing arrangement and sing-song melody of "Lullaby Requiem" belie the deeply affecting lyrics, and "Human Kindness" manages to shuffle, shimmer and soar all at once.
Four songs received complete, if sometimes subtle, remixes. The two most affected are "Turn and Run" and "Hole In the Ice." The former has transformed from snappy pop ballad to majestic, atmospheric dirge, while the swirling nightmarish verses of "Hole" have received a healthy dose of clarity, courtesy of Bob Clearmountain.
The production in general is inventive but rarely intrusive. In a much more subtle way than on his debut solo album "Try Whistling This," Finn continues to explore the superimposition of drum samples, Mellotron and treated guitars upon traditional acoustic instrumentation. Some critics might call this an attempt to add a "techno-savvy" quality to the album, but that judgement owes more to Finn's image than his music. A happily married father of two at 43, Finn shouldn't be able to sound as current as he does, but he pulls it off with grace.
One is hard-pressed to single out favorites on this album. Neil Finn has, perhaps for the first time, assembled an album of uniformly excellent songs, ditching the self-indulgence that sometimes bogged down his earlier releases. Lyrically "One All" leans toward self-doubt, mortality and mourning, but the last two songs, "Rest of the Day Off" and "Into the Sunset," introduce an altogether new theme for Finn: hope. Still, the optimism of "Sunset" is laced with doubt: "Faster into the weakness, off the wall into blackness--gifted."
Such refusal to lapse into simple emotional sentiments is what makes Neil Finn so compelling as a songwriter. A line from Crowded House's "Four Seasons In One Day" aptly sums this up: "Sleeping on an unmade bed/finding out wherever there is comfort there is pain." "One All" is Finn's most focused attempt at exploring this yet, and is recommended for his fans or anyone curious about good, thoughtful pop.
Free Music Review: Reworking of a Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
In a perfect world, Neil Finn's _One Nil_ that was released in 2001 everywhere *but* the US would've gotten the international release it deserved. _One Nil_ was simply a brilliant album - twelve excellent songs focused for the most part on Neil Finn's love for his wife and family. _One All_ is the 'American' version of that album, if you will, that replaces two songs and remixes several of the ones that was on _One Nil_. The only gripe I have with _One All_ is that it's unreal to think that an album as wonderful as _One Nil_ had to be tampered with at all. But Finn wanted to change things on the album so more power to him. Gone are the funky "Don't Ask Why" and ambient "Elastic Heart", replaced with the best song John Lennon never wrote, "Lullaby Requiem", and "Human Kindness." In my opinion, Neil Finn is probably the best pop songwriter of the last 25 years. His songs (solo or with Crowded House and Split Enz) range from excellent to very good - he simply doesn't seem to write bad songs. Again and again he writes one gem after another. Not only are the songs great, but the production is immensely enjoyable. _One All_ and _One Nil_ are treats to listen to - interesting instrumentation, songs are given space to breathe, and Finn's voice soars. In addition to being an amazing vocalist with subtly impressive range, there's a vulnerability in Finn's voice that makes his songs incredibly appealing. "Into The Sunset" is one of the best songs ever written about 'being on the road': "And I'm away from home/and it's a way of life/and I'm flying high/and I'm a wheeling gull." Other excellent tracks include "Anytime", where Finn expresses the common fear of never knowing when his time is going to come, and "Turn and Run", a duet with Sheryl Crow. Other guests on the album include Lisa Germano, Wendy Melvoin & Lisa Coleman (from Prince's Revolution), Sebastian Steinberg, and Mitchell Froom.
I recommend _One All_ to music fans who like their pop/rock smart, catchy, and heartfelt. My utmost suggestion would be to buy both _One Nil_ (as an import) as well as _One All_ - the songs on these albums are *that* good.
Free Music Review: Five stars for a the thinking man's popmeister!
Hit: 5 Stars
"One All" is yet another standout effort from one of the greatest popmeisters of the last two decades, Neil Finn.Much admired among his musical peers for his work with brother Tim Finn in Split Enz and Crowded House, this New Zealand rocker demonstrates his unsurpassed ability to combine biting lyrics, gorgeous harmonies and tuneful melodies in one enormously appealing 12-song disc that only gets better after repeated listening. If there's one thing wrong with One All it's this: it's too short.
In the tradition of Elvis Costello, Graham Parker and Nick Lowe, Finn pens literate lyrics that probe the depth of human experience without resorting to the inevitable cliches that mar the work of lesser artists. "Turn and Run" and "Anytime" rank among the standouts here, each one exploring the all-too tenuous grasp all of us have on life and on the people and things that matter most to us.
"I see a dog upon a road/ Running hard to chase a cat/ My car is pulling to a halt/ the truck behind me doesn't know/Everything is the balance/Of a moment I can't control/And your sympathetic strings/Are like the sirrings of my soul/I could go anytime..."
That Mr. Finn is able to cram such depth of feeling into a four-minute pop song is nothing short of a miracle. At a time when thoughtful lyrics are all but absent from contemporary music, this disc will come as welcome surprise to anyone foolish enough to believe that words still matter.
Mr. Finn also gets high marks for his delivery - he has one of the best voices in the business - and for his production. I frankly can't unserstand why Amazon's in-house critic chose to deride the significant and altogether obvious contributions of Sheryl Crowe and Wendy Melvoin to this disc (Mr. Finn's second solo effort). Maybe the guy had a head cold and his ears were stopped up.
If your ears are open and you like intelligent pop music that has something to say - and that says it with style - One All is about as good as it gets.
Free Music Review: electric and eclectic
Hit: 5 Stars
Of all places to be recommended a CD, I was on the Brooklyn G-Train and happened to run into the person from whom I had asked directions not ten minutes earlier, when I found that he went to the (at the time, recent) Flaming Lips show. I told him that I love the Lips and he in turn told me to check out Neil Finn. Although I wasn't a big "Crowded House" fan, the music on "One All" doesn't have only esoteric appeal to his earlier fans, in fact, I would say much to the contrary.Combining elements of modern rock with (not cheesy) pop sensibilities, he has created a rock/pop/folk hybrid that is unlike most everything and defies comparison, in a sense. But I'll try. The overall aesthetic reminds me of the Flaming Lips (see above), Neil Young and other sensible musicians, while others like "Hole In the Ice" are about as close as pretentious music lovers get to "rockin' out" (ok, ok, I'm pretentious, but I still rock out).
Songs like "Anytime" are so gentle and beautiful it stresses my brain, as I must constantly remind myself that the song is supposed to be about death. This serves as a testament to the careful lyricism of Neil Finn, as death can become a cliché very easily, but he successfully avoids all pitfalls. Songs like "Driving me Mad" demonstrate his (electric) folkishness, but never resort to "Turkey in the Straw" or "Dashboard Confessional" type antics: I'm talking good, "emo"less folk here, like Bob Dylan or late-Pavement (sometimes). The fade out on the last song, appropriately titled "Into the Sunset," almost leaves you with a nostalgic feeling for such eclecticity, and begs for another listen.
This album is an adjustment from his earlier (available Import... $$) album "One Nil." Necessary songs that didn't make the cut from Nil to All are "Elastic Heart" and "Don't Ask."
So, I recommend this to those of you intrepid enough to risk the purchase of a great album you may have overlooked, fear not, your bravery will be rewarded...
Free Music Review: Five stars for a thinking man's popmeister!
Hit: 5 Stars
"One All" is yet another standout effort from one of the greatest popmeisters of the last two decades, Neil Finn.Much admired among his musical peers for his work with brother Tim Finn in Split Enz and Crowded House, this New Zealand rocker demonstrates his unsurpassed ability to combine biting lyrics, gorgeous harmonies and tuneful melodies in one enormously appealing 12-song disc that only gets better after repeated listening. If there's one thing wrong with One All it's this: it's too short.
In the tradition of Elvis Costello, Graham Parker and Nick Lowe, Finn pens literate lyrics that probe the depth of human experience without resorting to the inevitable cliches that mar the work of lesser artists. "Turn and Run" and "Anytime" rank among the standouts here, each one exploring the all-too tenuous grasp all of us have on life and on the people and things that matter most to us.
"I see a dog upon a road/ Running hard to chase a cat/ My car is pulling to a halt/ the truck behind me doesn't know/Everything is the balance/Of a moment I can't control/And your sympathetic strings/Are like the sirrings of my soul/I could go anytime..."
That Mr. Finn is able to cram such depth of feeling into a four-minute pop song is nothing short of a miracle. At a time when thoughtful lyrics are all but absent from contemporary music, this disc will come as welcome surprise to anyone foolish enough to believe that words still matter.
Mr. Finn also gets high marks for his delivery - he has one of the best voices in the business - and for his production. How anyone, especially an Amazon critic, could deride the obvious contributions of Sheryl Crowe and Wendy Melvoin to this disc (Mr. Finn's second solo effort) is not only proof of that person being ill informed. It's just dumb.
If you like intelligent pop music that has something to to say - and that says it with style - One All is about as good as it gets.