''Temple of Low Men'' is the second studio album by New Zealand-Australian rock band

Crowded House Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were New Zealander Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Australians Paul Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass). Later ban ...

, released by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

on 5 July 1988. The three band members,

Neil Finn Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician who is known for being a member of Crowded House, Split Enz (which he co-fronted with brother Tim), and Fleetwood Mac. Finn rose to prominence in the late ...

Nick Seymour Nicholas More Seymour (born 9 December 1958) is an Australian musician and record producer. He is the founding bass guitarist and a mainstay of the rock group Crowded House, and is the younger brother of Mark Seymour, singer-songwriter-guitar ...

and

Paul Hester Paul Newell Hester (8 January 1959 – 26 March 2005) was an Australian musician and television personality. He was the drummer for the band Split Enz for a short time in 1984, and co-founding member and drummer of the rock group Crowded House ...

, recorded the album in Melbourne and Los Angeles with

Mitchell Froom Mitchell Froom (born June 29, 1953) is an American musician and record producer. He was a member of the bands Gamma (band), Gamma and Latin Playboys, and is currently the keyboardist for Crowded House. He has produced albums for several artists, ...

as producer. Finn had written all ten tracks during the two years since their self-titled debut. ''Temple of Low Men'' peaked at number one in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, number two in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, number ten in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and number 40 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 1989 The Third Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) was held on 6 March 1989 at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre in Sydney. First Australian host Greedy Smith ...

the group won four categories:

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

and Best Group for ''Temple of Low Men''; Best Cover Art for Seymour's work; and Song of the Year for "Better Be Home Soon".

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

praised ''Temple of Low Men'', but noted a change of tone from the previous album, saying, "The material on ''Temple of Low Men'' demonstrates great leaps in quality over its predecessor, it is a darkly difficult album ... Finn digs into the depths of his emotional psyche with obsessive detail, crafting a set of intense, personal songs ... Through all of this introspective soul-searching, Finn reveals most of all his true mastery of melody.

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' panned the album as being buried in sanctimonious self-pity, and commented that "Finn has neglected the only thing he has to offer the world: perky hooks."

Background

and

, as their main songwriter, were under pressure to create a second album to match their self-titled debut from June 1986; the band joked that one potential title for the new release was ''Mediocre Follow-Up''. Eventually titled ''Temple of Low Men'', their second album was released in July 1988 with strong promotion by

. Crowded House undertook a short tour of Australia and Canada to promote the album, with

Eddie Rayner Anthony Edward Charles Rayner (born 19 November 1952) is a New Zealand musician who spent twelve years as a keyboardist in the band Split Enz. He has also played in the groups Orb, Space Waltz, Crowded House, The Makers, The Angels in 1986-198 ...

(former

Split Enz Split Enz were a New Zealand rock band formed in Auckland in 1972 by Tim Finn and Phil Judd and had a variety of other members during its existence. Originally started as a folk-oriented group with quirky art rock stylings, the band built a ...

bandmate of Hester and Finn) as a touring member on keyboards. Multi-instrumentalist

Mark Hart Mark Hart (born July 2, 1953), is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist best known for being a member of both Supertramp (1986–1988, 1996–2002, 2015–present) and Crowded House (1993–1996, 2007–2019). As well as being a group memb ...

(ex-

Supertramp Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending pro ...

) replaced Rayner in January 1989. After the tour, Finn fired Seymour from the band. Music journalist

Ed Nimmervoll Edward Charles Nimmervoll (21 September 1947 – 10 October 2014) was an Australian music journalist, author and historian. He worked on rock and pop magazines ''Go-Set'' (1966–1974) and ''Juke Magazine'' (1975–92) both as a journalist a ...

claimed that Seymour's temporary departure was because Finn blamed him for causing his

writer's block Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...

, however Finn cited "artistic differences" as the reason. Seymour said that after a month he contacted Finn and they agreed that he would return to the band.

Composition and recording

Neil Finn wrote all ten tracks for ''Temple of Low Men'' during the two years since their first album. It was produced by

, recorded by

Tchad Blake Tchad Blake (born 1955) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixer and musician. A native of Baytown, Texas, he has worked with numerous artists and musicians, including Al Green, American Music Club, Ani DiFranco, Apartment 26, Arct ...

and mixed by

Bob Clearmountain Bob Clearmountain (born January 15, 1953) is an American recording engineer, mixer and record producer. He has worked with many major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Toto, Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams, with whom he has a very ...

. The cover was created by Seymour. The lyric 'Tongue in the Mail' from the track "Love This Life" gave its name to the band's official mailing list. In October 2010, ''Temple of Low Men'' was listed at number 71 in the book, ''

100 Best Australian Albums 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

'', with the band's next album, ''

Woodface ''Woodface'' is the third studio album by New Zealand-Australian band Crowded House. The album was produced by Mitchell Froom and Neil Finn and was released by Capitol in July 1991. It features five singles "Chocolate Cake", "Fall at Your Feet" ...

'' at No. 3.

Track listing

Personnel

Crowded House

– lead vocals, guitar *

– bass, backing vocals *

– drums, backing vocals

Additional musicians

Tim Finn Brian Timothy Finn (born 25 June 1952) is a New Zealand singer and musician. His musical career includes forming 1970s and 1980s New Zealand rock group Split Enz, a number of solo albums, temporary membership in his brother Neil's band Crowde ...

– backing vocals *

– keyboards * Richard Thompson – guitar solo "Sister Madly" *

Alex Acuña Alejandro Neciosup Acuña (born December 12, 1944), known professionally as Alex Acuña, is a Peruvian-American drummer and percussionist. Background Born in Pativilca, Peru, Acuña played in local bands such as La Orquesta de los Hermanos Neci ...

– percussion * Heart Attack Horns – horns

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Official Crowded House website
{{Authority control 1988 albums ARIA Award-winning albums Crowded House albums Albums produced by Mitchell Froom Albums recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders Jangle pop albums