Beautiful songs, engaging and intelligent lyrics, and melodies you'll find yourself humming hours after hearing the songs. As "greatest hits" collections go, this is one of the best - packed from start to finish with great music.

My wife and I spent two weeks driving through Crowded House's home country of New Zealand a few years back, and for most of the trip, this was THE album we listened to. It just kept finding its way back into the player.

Besides the well known hit songs ("Don't Dream It's Over," "Somthing So Strong), some of the tracks which stand out as brilliant include "Weather With You," "World Where You Live," "Fall at Your Feet," "Private Universe," and "Mean to Me." These just happen to be my favorites. Sure, some of the 19 songs on this CD are "better" than others - but none are sub-par. There are no fillers.

If you're debating whether or not to spend your hard earned $$ on this CD, think of all the albums you've paid ... for - just to get one or maybe two decent songs. With "Recurring Dream," you'll get 19 songs that you'll actually want to listen to again! Not a bad deal.

`Best-of' compilations are really attempts by record companies to get a few more bucks out of a waning or defunct music act. These albums should be called "the singles of (insert name here) to attract people who enjoyed their songs on radio with some new ones so that diehard fans will buy it too"-a title to rival Fiona Apple's last album.

There are times (albeit few) when a best-of compilation is worth the price. Take Crowded House, for example. They had a huge hit back in the eighties with "Don't Dream It's Over", then were doomed into one-hit wonder land. It's a real shame, considering that Recurring Dream: The Very Best of Crowded House is full of nineteen well-crafted (even classic) songs.

The band took an unique approach to Recurring Dream. The song which gave the album its title is no where to be found. The obligatory filler songs ("Not The Girl You Think You Are", "Instinct" and "Everything Is Good For You") are mixed around with sixteen other singles that span the band's career. The album starts out with "Weather With You", a feel-good pop tune featuring the impeccable harmonies of Neil and Tim Finn. Tim Finn, formerly of Split Enz, also contributes his songwriting and harmonizing skills to "Four Seasons In One Day" and "It's Only Natural".

The remainder of the album shows off Neil Finn's incredibly underrated talent as a singer/songwriter. He sings ballads ("Better Be Home Soon"), rocks out ("Mean To Me") and creates songs that will stay in your head for days ("World Where You Live"), just like any other good songwriter would.

For the majority of their career, Crowded House recorded in Los Angeles with producer Mitchell Froom. However, the highlight of Recurring Dream, "Distant Sun", comes from the band's New Zealand sessions with Youth (one producer of The Verve's "Urban Hymns"). The instrumentation, singing and lyrics blend smoothly together to create a perfect pop song.

When you can listen to every song on an album and can't tell when it was made, you know it's a good one. That's what Recurring Dream is like.

After repeated listenings, the album lingered hauntingly in my mind, like any great film or book...in fact if I were to take only three CD's to a desert island, this would be one...the other two would be Harrison's Best of Dark Horse and Exitos de Juan Luis Guerra...however, on this exquisite collection, we have "Weather With You" which winds along with great harmonies....another beautiful track is "Fall At Your Feet"...and then there is the hit song"Don't Dream It's Over"...I personaly love "Pineapple Head" which sounds Beatlesque with a Pacific Tropic feel..."Distant Sun" deserves repeated play to apppreciate.....as do many other tunes...there are three tunes here not found on the other Crowded House LP's and also available for fans is the import edition which carries a bonus disc of live materiel well worth the extra bucks....highly recommmended....

This is a great album to own if you're not a huge fan but want the big Crowded House songs. Most of their big hits are on here but not all. Chocolate Cake is one I would have liked to have seen but you can't have everything.

With both Australia and New Zealand claiming this band as their own, you know they're pretty good. Some songs do sound similar to others but there are 19 of them so even if you don't like them all, there will still be more that you do, than on most albums. If you can find the bonus edition of this album there are another 15 live songs as well although most are the same songs on the non live disc.

My only disappointment was that there are no written lyrics in the CD cover. For those who have never heard of Crowded House their music is basically smooth, slow non heavy rock. You could even go so far as to say it's sort of relaxing music. Excellent CD to have playing in the background while working or to concentrate on and really listen to the music. Either way you'll enjoy this.

I bought this album mainly for the song "Don't dream it's over", as that's all I thought I knew of Crowded House, and I love that song. Imagine my suprise as I started to listen...it was 'Wow, I know that song!' and 'Crowded House did that song?', all the way through. I couldn't believe it that I had heard almost all of the songs...how come I never knew they were by Crowded House? Were they that elusive? They are one of the greatest bands I have ever heard...right up there with U2 and The Beatles, why were'nt they more well known? And now, just as I have 'discovered' them, I find out they are no longer together. Typical! But as least we have this album and their others to live on.