I, for one, did not lament the end of Crowded House too much because I am a Neil Finn fan and there was no doubt he would go on making great music, with or without his Enz or Crowdies bandmates. "Together Alone" is their crowning glory, so it was best that they went out with that. Having said that, however, basking in the afterglow isn't too bad. I already own or have heard these songs on various singles or fanclub CDs . . . but to have them all in one place, they sound better than ever. The three TA outakes are great, as are "Recurring Dream" (version two), "I Love You Dawn," and "Anyone Can Tell." I've never cared for "Dr. Livingston," but this improved version is better . . . If anything, it just makes me more eager for Mr. Finn's second solo CD.

Normally, a rarities cd will offer one or two good tracks along with a ton of experimental or unusual cuts that never made the albums for good reason. So often I'll buy one from a favorite group, and within two weeks, I'll be unloading it at the used CD store, disappointed and sad. Sometimes the Finn Brothers' little experiments can be hit or miss, so I was a little cautious when purchasing, thinking I might get another album of perfectly passable, but unremarkable harmonious ditties with no soul. I need not have worried. This cd is "Woodface" era Crowded House at it's best. Each song is not just what you'd expect from Crowded House in peak form, but much much more, as many of the tracks show an impetuousness and a spirit that sometimes gets crushed in the steep production of the commercial Crowded House albums. Notable standouts are the Harrison-esque "I Love You Dawn," and the wondrously harmonic multi-layered passionate home demo, "Lester." But the whole darn thing is pretty good. It sits on my shelf between "Woodface" and "Together Alone" and it deserves that spot. I eagerly await the album of home demos hinted at in the liner notes, if this is the kind of thing I can expect.

This is that most rarest of rarities collections, one that serves equally well as a salve for fans mourning the demise of the band and as a primer for people new to the band's music. Crowded House made beautiful, haunting pop music with a warm sense of humor and the good fortune to have been fronted by Neil Finn, one of the greatest songwriters of the last 20 years.

The hits compilation *Recurring Dream* is also a good place to start, of course, but for some reason you won't find the *song* "Recurring Dream" there, and you'll encounter a fair amount of overlap when you go on to pick up the other CH albums (as you surely will!).

The songs here (with the exception of the drummer's intolerable "My Telly's Gone Bung") are brilliant. Good mastering and great liner notes round out the project. Fans of *Together Alone* will find particular delight in outtakes from that session ("I Am in Love," "You Can Touch"), as well as in the *TA*-esque "Help is Coming" and a gorgeous acoustic version of "Private Universe."

Not quite a "lost album", but almost. Afterglow collects 13 tracks, the "Odds and Sods" of the group's career, as the Who might say. If it were an actual album, it might have been the group's third best, although by nature, the album is a little disjointed. As far as tone goes, the album leans more towards the brighter aspects of the Crowded House and Woodface albums, as most of the songs were recorded in those periods.

The album is a nice collection that flows pretty well, and there are probably a number of groups that would like a collection of songs this strong to be their greatest hits album. The best songs here are "Recurring Dream", a jangle-pop number that predates the group even being called Crowded House; "I Love You Dawn", a pretty love song penned by Neil Finn for his wife, and "Time Immemorial", a folky ballad that was to have closed the Woodface album. Also look for drummer Paul Hester's vocal spotlight on the silly "My Telly's Gone Bung". He's no Ringo, but on the plus side, he's no Ringo. That makes sense if you think about it.

Don't start with this one, but no fan of Crowded House will dislike this album.

Afterglow, the result of some spring-cleaning by Crowded House, gels like a proper album. It is dominated by the preparation for Woodface and the Together Alone sessions at the New Zealand beach village of Karekare. There are some excellent songs here that were never released, or seemed inconsequential when they came out as B-sides. It reveals a lot not only about Neil Finn's perfectionism, but also about the band itself. With all the acclaim of Finn as a songwriter, it's often overlooked that Crowded House was a true band glued together by its rhythm section and harmonies.
This is instantly apparent from the opening number. `I Am in Love' is compelling; it must have kept all of Karekare awake the night it was recorded. The band's chemistry and rapport is obvious, and it shows what a loosening of the bowels those sessions were. `You Can Tell' is also a rescued B-side; recorded at Karekare one night after Paul Hester took an early shower, Finn's guitar and drumming explore a raw nerve.
A sparse version of `Private Universe', all harmonies and reverb, completes the visit to Karekare, but `Help is Coming' - recorded nearly three years later - has the same atmosphere. It dates from the wet winter of 1995, when Crowded House spent a unsatisfying month recording in Auckland. By then, Peter Jones was on drums; he brought the R&B out in Nick Seymour's bass playing, an Al Jackson to Hester's Keith Moon. Seymour's basslines weren't so much walking as wandering, a melodic counterpoint that added to the musical mood.
In 1989-90 (as described in my book Something So Strong) Crowded House was in limbo. Seymour was briefly out in the cold, and Neil was finding more success writing with Tim than for a follow-up to the rich Temple of Low Men. The absolute gem is `I Love You Dawn', a captivatingly simple romantic acoustic ballad that will enter the canon of great love songs. Similarly heartfelt and charming is `Lester', Neil's serenade to the family dog, written after the dalmatian caught a car.
The songs meant for Woodface show how crucial it was to start over and bring in the Finn brothers' co-writes to give the album its strength. `Sacred Cow' and `Anyone Can Tell' reveal Mitchell Froom's method of patching together unrelated choruses and verses doesn't always lead to a `Fall At Your Feet'. (Froom astutely declared the waltz `Time Immemorial' was "too folky"; he also felt Woodface was too long.) Also from the abandoned Woodface rough mix, `Dr Livingston' never takes off, and while `Left Hand' has a ballsy `Come Together' groove, it's like an after-hours improvised wig-out.
Was that the word "Beatlesque"? There are worse slurs, and Crowded House pulled it off better than most. But `Recurring Dream', the earliest song here - a dated, one-riff relic from 1985 - is not enough to resurrect the Pete Best of the group, original guitarist Craig Hooper, and Hester would be the first to admit his slight `Telly's Gone Bung' was "Ringo's song on the album".
Thanks to its strong opening, variety but consistency, Afterglow can be seen as a worthy fifth album rather than an archaeologist's dusty discoveries.