"Woodface" was to be Crowded House's return to the top of the pop charts--Neil Finn, I understand, delivered a much darker record to Capitol that they rejected, and that's how Tim came into the band--he and Neil had been collaborating on a Finn Brothers project that pretty much became "Woodface." And while Tim Finn is truly an outstanding songsmith in his own right, he's not the consistently impressive lyricist that Neil is--some of the lyrics don't work as well as one would expect from a Neil Finn composition. Still, much of the material is among the best and catchy Crowded House stuff available--"She Goes On," "Four Seasons in One Day," "Fall at Your Feet," "Fame Is," "Weather With You"--which is why, I think, it's such a popular album in Europe--that, along with the tongue-in-cheek poke at American shallow consumerism: "Chocolate Cake." In a nutshell, they bartered some of the artistic lyricism for pop sensibility when they brought in Tim (and if you want to hear the "Woodface" rejects, pick up "After Glow"). But it works--this may be the most immediately accessible of all Crowded House stuff. The only truly "weak link" is the obligatory Paul Hester comp that shows up on all of their albums--the Ringo effect, I guess. "Italian Plastic" is okay, but it's a bit like serving a platter of corndogs at a wedding reception--sure, they're tasty, but don't belong with the caviar and champagne.

Even above their wonderful debut, this is my favorite Crowded House CD. It's probably because Neil and Tim Finn reunited long enough to work their brotherly chemistry for a batch of melodic, hook laden songs. Unfortunately, the image of goofy nonsense that the first album's hits and videos cultivated remained as one Crowded House couldn't shake, and despite such obvious charmers as "Weather With You" or "Four Seasons in One Day," chart success again eluded them. That's a darn shame, because the band's assimilated influences of Byrds and Beatles were at their peak on "Woodface." There was even a lethal double-dose of humor in the American Vs England "Chocolate Cake" (these guys were New Zealanders, remember), and the thinly disguised swipe at Hollywood in "There Goes God."

Anyone who got to see Crowded House on tour during this period also got a magical show. I was fortunate enough to catch them on a night that Roger McGuinn came out for an encore of "Mr Tambourine Man" and "Eight Miles High." (If you can snatch a copy of the "Byrdhouse" EP, it's worth it.) Tim again left for solo ground after this, and took that little extra sparkle with him. But for the duration of "Woodface," the four cornered Crowded House managed to spin some of the lost magic of their Split Enz days.

This is simply the best melodic pop album recorded since Abbey Road.

The best thing about Woodface is that Neil and Tim Finn collaborated to produce some wonderfully enduring songs. The problem is the album is a mish-mash of edgy Crowded House tunes and slickly produced Finn Brothers tunes. It's not sure what it wants to be, and, therefore lacks the coherence of the other Crowded House albums. Still, it beats most anything else out there, so it's a good buy.

So many of the songs on this album were hugely successful hits and many you'll still hear at least once every couple of weeks on the radio even today. Chocolate Cake would be my favourite Crowded House song and the only reason I can see that it never made their greatest hits album was because so many of the other songs from this album were included and the record company still wanted people to sell lots of copies of Woodface. It's Only Natural, Fall at Your Feet, Weather With You and Four Seasons in One Day would easily be Crowded House's most played songs and they are all on this album. There's nothing wrong with the other not so famous tracks on this album either it's only because so many singles were sold of the other songs that customers figured out they should buy the album that the other songs didn't become hits as well.

Both Australians and New Zealanders claim this band as their own so you know you can't go wrong by buying it.