This is the section about Crowded House, right now there is only a biography and links...
Biography
Crowded House was formed in 1985 when Neil Finn decided to dissolve New Zealand band Split Enz (1977-84) after his brother, Tim, the groups founding member, left for a solo career. Neil gathered ex-Split Enz members Paul Hester (Enz drummer), Nick Seymour (Enz bassist) and Craig Hooper (Enz guitarist), the group called themselves the Mullanes, after Neils middle name, and started touring Australia and recording demos. Hopper dropped out not long after.
In June 1985 the group headed to Los Angeles to look for a record deal, and eventually signed with Capitol Records. At Capitol they were requested to change the bands name and the group settled on Crowded House, a reflection of their living conditions in L.A. They then began woring on their debut album.
Crowded House's self-titled debut didn't gain much attention upon its release in the summer of 1986, due to insufficient promotion from Capitol Records. The band then decided that rather than setting out on an expensive large-scale tour, they would be playing acoustic sets for industry insiders and for small crowds at ethnic restaurants and in record stores. People started talking about them and in february 1987, the album broke into the American Top 40, eventually peaking at number 12. The album spawned the number two hit single "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Something So Strong," which reached number seven.
In 1988, "Temple Of The Low Men" was released, although the album included some of Neil's finnest songs, the album had disappointing sales, due to the songs, which were a bit darker and somewhat harder to listen too and also because of Capitols lack of promotional support. The album barely broke the U.S. Top 40 and the single, "Better Be Home Soon," stalled at number 42.
Because of the disappointing sales, the band abandoned the plans for a major U.S. tour. By mid-1989 the band had effectively broken up.
Late in 1989, Neil reunited with his brother Tim and the duo began writing songs together for the first time, with the intention of releasing the material on a proposed Finn Brothers album. The collobration was successful and the duo was prolific.
After the initial sessions with Tim, Neil began working on a new set of songs, designed for the next Crowded House album, but he soon found the new material unsatisfactory. Neil decided to combine the better moments of the Finn Brothers project and the scrapped third album, adding his brother as a fourth member of Crowded House.
Crowded House's third album, Woodface, released in the summer of 1991, proved the decision to combine the material from the two scrapped records was sound - the album certainly represents their finest recorded moments. Although the choice of "Chocolate Cake" as a leadoff single was both misleading and off-putting to American audiences, effectively sinking the album's chances of success in the US, England and Europe embraced the band for the first time. After about six months of dormancy, they began charting in the UK and Europe with several singles including the smash "Weather with You." The British success of "Weather with You" helped Woodface achieve platinum status in the UK, and led the group to several headlining concerts at Wembley Arena.
Tim left the band in November 1991, in the middle of their tour. Following the success of Woodface, both Neil and Tim Finn were awarded OBEs from the Queen of England in 1993; the honor was bestowed for their contribution to the arts.
In early 1993, Crowded House regrouped to record their fourth album, adding American guitarist Mark Hart (who had briefly toured with the band around the time of Temple of Low Men) to the band.
Together Alone was released in October 1993 (January 1994 in North America) to unanimously positive reviews and solid sales in every country except the United States. Upon its release, Together Alone entered the English charts at number four; at the time, Woodface was still in the UK charts.
After the album was released, Crowded House embarked on a successful European tour. They were beginning an American tour when Paul Hester decided to leave the band. Hiring a session drumer, the band rounded out the tour, eventually returning to Australia.
By the end of 1994, Neil Finn decided to cut back on the touring to work on side projects which included some production work for Dave Dobbyn and a second try at a Finn Brothers album with Tim. The Finn Brothers finally released their long-awaited duet album in the fall of 1995. In June of 1996, Neil officially broke up Crowded House. That same month, Recurring Dream: The Very Best of Crowded House was released, entering the U.K. and Australian charts at number one. After a handful of "final shows" in various locations, on Sunday November 24, 1996, Crowded House played their official farewell show at the Sydney Opera House to 100,000 fans as a benefit for the Sydney Children's Hospital Fund.
Lyrics
All I Ask
As Sure As I Am
Chocolate Cake
Don't Dream It's Over
Fall At Your Feet
Four Seasons In One Day
How Will You Go
Italian Plastic
It's Only Natural
Nails In My Feet
Tall Trees
There Goes God
Weather With You
Links
C.H. Confidential- This site is, well... intresting... It's an online magazine but from what I did get to read I decided it was more like "Something Unknown Run By Unsane People"... j/k
Crowded House: The Show That We Never Saw- I take that back, I'm starting to have the feeling that all CH fans are insane... (Me included...) j/k!!!!
frenze.com- "The springboard for all that is frenz of enz" as they say... Info on Split Enz, Crowded House, enzso and all related people and bands...
Crowded House / Tongue In The Mail Home Page- Cool site, a lot of info, I think it's official...
Neil Finn- Cool design, nice site, I think it's official too...
Finned- Nice site...
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