Japanese CD of the Day / Crowded House: Weather With You
Crowded House‘s third single from 1991’s Woodface, would hit the UK top ten in February 1992. Alongside the evergreen Don’t Dream It’s Over, it would become something of a signature tune for the band (outside the US) in the years and decades that followed.
This five-track Japanese CD single release (TOCP-7157) features the 4:02 radio edit of Weather With You and includes quite an early live version of Don’t Dream It’s Over (recorded at The Roxy in LA on 7 April 1987).
Another single from the first album, Something So Strong, is also featured – again from 1987 – but this time from a gig at The Trocadero in Philadelphia.
Roger McGuinn joins the band for a performance of Mr. Tambourine Man (recorded in 1989), but perhaps the most interesting bonus track on this single, is live version of Walking On The Spot performed at London’s Town And Country Club in November 1991. At the time unreleased, this track would end up on 1993’s masterpiece Together Alone, with some extra instrumentation (notable an accordion). The live version on this disc is more straightforward, but still charming. Its structure is virtually identical to the studio master recording.
Most, if not all of these tracks ended up dispersed on various CD singles around the world, but this Japanese CD is effectively a ‘highlights’ disc from all the different Weather With You formats.
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Thanks for the info on the single edit Rob. That’s a definite to be on the Woodface deluxe edition!
I’m sure there are other single versions out there that are longer than the original album version. Although, the only ones that spring to mind at this precise moment are all by the Pet Shop Boys: Heart, I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing and Yesterday, When I Was Mad.
Anyway, good to know that I’m not the only one who thinks Neil Finn’s a bit of an underrated genius.
An amazing song from an amazing band. The single edit is a little strange. Or perhaps I should say that the song’s original structure is a little strange and the edit tries to make it a bit more normal. In the original, all the verses come before you hear the first chorus. Then the chorus repeats a couple of times then the song is over. In the single version, a chorus is inserted between the first two verses, presumably to give the song a more typical (verse/chorus/verse/chorus) song structure.
Regarding “Walking on the Spot”, the song had been around even longer than that. I have a bottleg recording of the band performing it in the summer of 1987. It’s amazing to me that Neil Finn could let such a beautiful song sit on the back burned so long before finally putting it on an album. But that just speaks to the high level of song craft that Neil has always achieved. As much as I love “Walking,” I can’t think of a single song on “Woodface” or “Temple of Low Men” that I would have sacrificed for its inclusion.
Such a great single which unfortunately I don’t own! I completely agree when you say that Together Alone is Crowded House’s masterpiece. I’m hopeful that someday soon their first four albums are remastered (although Together Alone already sounds great to these ears) and reissued with these live versions. One question about the unusual length of the single edit – how is it longer than the 3:44 album version?
Together Alone is in my top ten of all time…. such a superb, moving album. In terms of Weather With You, actually, the single ‘edit’ is 4:13 – I’ve just checked. Not sure what the differences are… maybe an extra chorus comes in earlier. Definitely strange to have a longer single version than the album!