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Neil Finn confirms Crowded House reissues for 2016

By Paul Sinclair

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37

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After the hints of last year, in an interview with Dutch newspaper Volkskrant (published yesterday) Crowded House frontman Neil Finn has confirmed reissues are definitely happening in 2016…

Specifically, “all” Crowded House’s albums will be re-released by the end of this year, with bonus tracks.

Obviously there’s still plenty of questions around these. Will we see Phil Collins-style 2CD sets, or more ambitious offerings which include video material? Will these be offering the Crowded House fan demos and unreleased tracks, or will the audio simply gather up commercially released material?

The translation of the article is as follows:

Neil Finn: “Crowded House is on hold for a while. The most important reason to reunite in 2006 was the suicide of our drummer Paul Hester one year earlier. We had to do something with that we thought. It resulted in 2 albums and a couple of successfull tours. Now that is finished there will be reissues of all the albums at the end of 2016, combined with bonus tracks. I also work on new songs, solo and with my son Liam. We will be releasing a record together someday although we don’t know under what name”.

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37 Comments

37 thoughts on “Neil Finn confirms Crowded House reissues for 2016”

  1. I am aware of the, eagerly awaited, Crowded House 2016 remastered albums coming out in October but only in vinyl, no mention thus far of the equivalent cd versions. Are the cd’s definitely on the cards, otherwise a LOT of us are going to be disappointed?

  2. Now I see that amazon.ca has removed all but the first two albums on CD that were posted yesterday and they are listed as 2CD Deluxe editions.

    The vinyl is all still there and of course I have preordered all but the first two which I have good original copies of….

    Let the reissues begin, perhaps Split Enz next?

  3. Noticed that the vinyl is up for sale along with CD versions on Amazon.ca. No details on the CDs yet that I can see but I am very excited to hear more details.

  5. Translation: Crowded House is there for me when I want it. The most important reason to reunite in 2006 was the suicide of our drummer Paul Hester one year earlier which enabled us to cash in on the event. Let’s face it: fans are suckers. They buy with their nostalgia and emotion, so we felt it was a good time to cash in on all of that. Sure, the two albums blew – but it was good while it lasted. We had to do something with that we thought. But what the albums lacked were made up for in millions in touring. Now that is finished (thank god) there will be reissues of all the albums at the end of 2016 for an added cash-in. I also work on new songs, solo and with my son Liam – he needs the career boost. We will be releasing a record together someday although we don’t know under what name but, as with Crowded House, I WILL have the final say.

  6. There are about 35 Frenz of the Enz live CH CDs. All from the sound desk. CH were at their very best live. No two shows the same. They often let the audience choose the songs.

    I personally hope the extra tracks are live. They capture the soul of this wonderful band.

  7. Matthias,

    The live CD you mention is probably the Town & Country gig which was a limited edition 2 CD promo.

    In addition to many bootlegs, there are a host of limited edition ‘Frenz of the Enz’ (fan club) live CDs and the odd studio tracks compilation.

    As noted earlier the first album came out on Capitol DVD Audio with videos for Don’t Dream It’s Over and Something So Strong.

    There is also an unofficial Woodface 5.1 “DTS Upmix”.

    Can’t wait to see what turns up. The Mullanes first album demos would be a great inclusion.

  8. OH YES.

    Really hoping they’ll put the 5.1 mix of the debut album out with the re-release. Also hoping for that wonderful 12″ mix of “Don’t Dream it’s Over”. I’m even hoping they might do 5.1 mixes of the other albums!

    Ah, we can dream. No matter what, this is incredible news and I will definitely buying the re-release of “Woodface”, and check out some of the others as well. This is one band I haven’t explored enough yet, even though I love the few albums of theirs that I have in my collection.

    Their style and songwriting are fantastic, right up there with the criminally underrated and overlooked Danny Wilson.

    By the way, there’s a bootleg of a gig from London 1991 (recorded from soundboard) that has them freestyling, improvising, joking, and putting on an irresistible show.

  9. One of the best songwriters ever. Safe to say he is unlikely to reconvene CH now – probably that is them over. I am not particularly keen on some of Neil’s side projects and man/wife and family combos are in my view rarely long term winners. He gives every writer a run for their money when on song – every one! For me, Temple of Low Men is genius, Together is great but am probably in the minority – I don’t think it was the best.

  11. Here’s my concern: the Split Enz reissues have meager bonus tracks and sound awful. Lately Neil’s history has been mixed on sound quality. I also have, over the years, been collecting “b-sides” on CD singles. A lot of those bus tracks on CD singles were live performances. They would be better served by releasing the entire appropriate concert.

    Demos are a necessity here as are out takes. 5.1 mixes would be nice as well.

  12. Yee Haa! Just the news I’ve been waiting for. I’d be happy with reissues of the original studio albums and no bonus tracks as long as they are remastered the best they can possibly be (at Abbey Road perhaps?) Of course extra tracks would be fab, although the 5.1 thing doesn’t interest me as I don’t have the surround sound option. Either way, bring on those reissues, man!!

  13. Absolutely pointless considering a friend and I have collected a total of 84 Neil Finn songs (demos, b-sides, outtakes, alternative versions, extended versions, live recordings and songs with Eddy Vedder, Tim Finn, and even one or two with Liam) nearly all of which you can find if you look through his site and a few other choice finders/keepers websites.

    Now, if they’d reissued all of the band’s discography as a boxed set, on remastered vinyl, I’d think differently. I always referred to “Time on Earth” as “Guilt Trip After Hester Dies” (such a morose bundle of songs I never play). “Intriguer” I honestly never even gave a chance.

    While I was in college, I was on the committee to select our winter band concert and we selected “Crowded House” just as “Temple of Low Men” was released. When we announced it to my school, students had never heard of the band OR Split Enz, so they tried boycotting the selection. It didn’t work, and in a personalized concert on our small campus, when the band arrived and played… they left the stage with about 1,500 new fans.

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  16. This is awesome news! I hope vinyl versions come out of Woodface and beyond (Still have my original first two on vinyl). Together Alone and Temple of Low Man are in my top 50 albums of all time. Neil is an incredible talent that I think despite his achievements is under rated far too much. In my opinion he is right up there with Paul McCartney and David Bowie.
    Any details you get would be appreciated. I am looking forward to these as much as Flowers in the Dirt Archive.

  17. I’d be happy with 2CD sets to be honest, containing demos and B-sides as well as the occasional remix (please no Phil Collins-esque live bonus CD’s!). Maybe even add a DVD with promo videos and a live concert or two. I have a bad feeling I’m going to be disappointed….

  18. Neil and his team usually stand for outstanding sonic quality, although he seems to have fallen prey to the iTunes/loudness/compression trap. Let’s hope these are remaster with full dynamic range.

    Would love to see 2CD/1 DVD sets, with the first disc of each set to include the original Lp lineups, with the contemporary alternate mixes and studio single b-sides as bonus tracks, the second disc for each could include previously unreleased demos and outtakes. Plenty of TV appearances would make for a great DVD for each set.

    Neil is so careful about what he wants to release, that I fear these sets will be considerably more modest.

    I will buy each set no matter what on day of release.

  20. Great news!

    I’m hoping that these reissues will be released on vinyl as well. It would be nice to have Time in Earth on vinyl (readily available and affordable).

    1. There’s a copy still in its shrink wrap at a local record store here in Portland, OR. Unfortunately, if you want a cover/sleeve in mint condition, the thing has been knocked around a bit, as records do in a retail environment. It’s either $19.99 or $24.95 and we don’t have a sales tax in my city/state. If you are desperate and don’t care about the sleeve condition, let me know and we can take things offline.

  21. I do find Neil Finn very much a creative tour de force. Whether it be with Split Enz, Crowded House, Tim Finn, solo and now his son, he always seems to come up with genius.

    There are very few people who can claim to be of his caliber.

    The album he did with Wendy and Lisa was awesome – particularly as I am a massive W&L fan!

    I’ll be very interested to see how these re-issues are approached. I only hope for the sanity of the fans that they are of the ultra high standard expected.

    Cheers.

  24. It would be interesting indeed if perhaps some surround remixes (a la – or even by – Steven Wilson) were in play. The first CH album was released on DVD-A in 2002 with stereo & surround mixes, although I think “Together Alone” could prove very nice in surround.

  26. Happy to supply you with a translation of this article from Dutch into English:
    ‘Neil Finn: Crowded House is parked in the garage for now. The most important reason to regroup in 2006 was the suïcide of our drummer Paul Hester, the year previously. We thought we had to do something with that. That brought us 2 albums and a couple of successful tours. That has been done with for a while now, although reisues of all our albums with bonustracks will be released at the end of 2016. Furthermore I am working on new songs, solo as well as with my son Liam. We will release an album together, whenever, even of we don not know under which monikker yet.’

  27. Translation

    Crowded house is for the moment on hold.The most important reason to reform in 2006 was the suicide of our drummer Paul Hester a couple of years earlier.We thought we had to do something about that.That resulted in 2 albums and acouple of succesfull tours.Now that’s behind us now for a while but at the end of 2016 all albums will be reissued with bonus tracks.
    Now i’m working on new songs,solo and with my son Liam.We will release an album together someday but no idea yet under what name.

  29. Neil Finn: “Crowded House is on hold for a while. The most important reason to reunite in 2006 was the suicide of our drummer Paul Hester one year earlier. We had to do something with that we thought. It resulted in 2 albums and a couple of succesfull tours. Now that is finished there will be reissues of all the albums at the end of 2016, combined with bonus tracks. I also work on new songs, solo and with my son Liam. We will be releasing a record together someday although we don’t know under what name”.

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