Crowded House Album: “Farewell to the World”

Yes, the Crowdies were one of the few truly great bands to come out of the '80's. I first read about them in a rave review of their 1st album in the pages of Musician magazine (circa '86), bought the c.d., and have followed their brilliant but less than prolific output ever since.

Those who are reading this review are probably somewhat familiar with the band's history (Split Enz, etc.), but one fact bears repeating for U.S. listeners: Only here were they known as one hit wonders; the rest of the world quickly figured out how good they were and the band's star rose accordingly. In fact, the Very Best of Crowded House (from '96) entered the charts at number one in both England and Australia.

This live c.d. is a welcome addition to their catalogue capturing the band in 1996 in front of 100,000+ in a perfect display of the dual professionalism and looseness of their live shows.

I can't help but recommend the DVD too. In fact if you can only plunk down for one, then get the DVD. I recommend both.

Just so everyone knows, they officially are back together (minus Paul Hester obviously).

Neil and Nick recorded a new album and it should be out later this year with a world tour as well!

They better get the respect they deserve over here in the U.S. finally!!!!

i miss their music. they dont get enough playtime on american radio. it doesnt get better than this live performance. its especially sad to know that at the end of the show they not only said goodbye for the last time to the audience but also to one of their members.

I know quite a number of music fans who avoid "live" albums in favor of studio recordings. They perceive that the live albums sometimes do not add much over the studio recordings, and in some cases even detract from the band's overall quality of output if the performance is too sloppy or the recording is not well-produced. Well, here we have a live recording that is well worth anyone's time, and adds something significant to the band's already sterling catalog of recordings.

Crowded House wasn't the most prolific of bands, but what they recorded was some of the best music of the 80s and 90s. Their albums were filled with incredibly well-written songs that betrayed a depth of insight into the human condition that is rare in popular music. Here, the songs shine in a live setting. The band approaches the material with reverance and looseness, never sounding like they are just going through the motions. An enthusiastic crowd adds a vibrant energy to the performance, and Neil Finn seems to easily establish a real rapport with his fans. The song choices are smart, balancing more lively numbers with introspective ones to vary the mood enough to hold the listener's interest. With two CDs, there is plenty of material covered. This was the perfect way to exit the public stage (temporarily as it turned out), and the band seems legitimately appreciative of this opportunity to leave on such a high note.

This is one of the best live CD sets available and I recommend it for anyone.

Ok true confessions first--I'm a huge Neil Finn fan and also had this when it was released 10 years ago as part of the Crowded House Fanclub live releases. This release improves on the original in one way--we get two discs instead of one. I really haven't compared this to my fanclub CD (hey, it's the only fanclub I belonged to and I did**honest**for the CDs)but this does seem a bit louder with less dynamic range. Nevertheless, I'm going with the five stars here for the performances.

I can't say I've done a head-to-head of late between this and the previous single disc edition so I don't know if any overdubbing was done. If it was, they did a masterful job of hiding it--the band sounds terrific (and yes, on a great night they sounded this good--heck even on a bad night they outclassed the competition). The only new material here is a cover of the Hunter & Collector's tune "Throw Your Arms Around Me" but it's one of the few places to also get a stunning live version of "Everything Is Good For You" (which appeared on their last release as a band the "Recurring Dream" Best of set). It's also one of the few CDs in print where you can hear live versions (many of them stunning)of the tracks for their albums "Woodface" and "Together Alone". The band DID release a live EP with some of the material here but that's long out of print and probably fetching high prices on Ebay and here as well.

Even my LEAST favorite track the humorous "Italian Plastic" by the late Paul Hester is enjoyable to listen to here. Luckily for fans, the Dream isn't over as the band has since released a new album and is touring the world. Let's hope that they get back in the studio quickly as Neil's indicated that he'd like to put together another album of new material ASAP.