My Greatest 100 (or so) Albums...

Woodface (1991) Crowded House. Back when I wrote up some Squeeze albums, I mentioned that another "Beatlesesque" band would be coming up. Well here it is. Crowded House was sort of descended from Split Enz, with New Zealander Neil Finn and another member of SE joining with the younger brother of yet another member of SE. Anyway, they immediately started crafting seamless pop songs. By `91 Neil Finn's brother Tim Finn, the founder of Split Enz, joined the band as they produced their greatest album, the aptly named Woodface. This one kicks off with a pretty rocking assault on American culture, Chocolate Cake, then segues into a really tuneful and often breathtaking cycle of songs including Italian Plastic, Weather With You, Fall at Your Feet, Whispers and Moans, All I Ask, It's Only Natural, and Four Seasons in One Day. This disc is simply loaded and might have been an even bigger hit had they not vented their spleens on the first song. But it's a great song, they were a great band. Dig it!