Woodface
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''Woodface'' is the third
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by New Zealand-Australian 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 ...
. The album was produced by
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, ...
and
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 ...
and was released by
Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...
in July 1991. It features five singles "
Chocolate Cake Chocolate cake or chocolate gâteau (from ) is a cake flavored with melted chocolate, cocoa powder, or both. History Chocolate cake is made with chocolate. It can also include other ingredients. These include fudge, vanilla creme, and other ...
", "
Fall at Your Feet "Fall at Your Feet" is a 1991 song by Crowded House, from their 1991 album, ''Woodface''. It is the only single from ''Woodface'' to be written solely by the group's leader Neil Finn, who co-wrote all other singles from the album with his brothe ...
", " It's Only Natural", "
Weather with You "Weather with You" is a song by Australian-New Zealand rock band Crowded House. It was the third and most successful single released from the group's third studio album '' Woodface'' (1991), reaching top 50 in 10 countries, including the United ...
", and "
Four Seasons in One Day "Four Seasons in One Day" is a song by rock group Crowded House, released as a single in June 1992. It was co-written by Neil Finn and brother Tim Finn, originally intended for their debut ''Finn Brothers'' album; however, it was moved onto the ...
". ''Woodface'' was a major hit in Australia"Crowded House Discography"
''australian-charts.com''
and New Zealand"Crowded House Discography"
''charts.org.nz''
as well as giving the band their first top ten hit album in the UK."Crowded House"
''Chart Stats''
It was listed at No. 3 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 ...
'' in October 2010. It was voted number 80 in the third edition of
Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...
's ''
All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...
'' (2000).


Background

During a break from Crowded House following the Canadian leg of the tour in support of their second album, ''
Temple of Low Men ''Temple of Low Men'' is the second studio album by New Zealand-Australian rock band Crowded House, released by Capitol Records on 5 July 1988. The three band members, Neil Finn, Nick Seymour and Paul Hester, recorded the album in Melbourne and ...
'', band-leader
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 ...
began recording songs with his older brother and 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
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 ...
. These songs were originally intended for a
Finn Brothers The Finn Brothers are a New Zealand musical duo consisting of brothers Neil and Tim Finn. In June 1993 both members were awarded the OBE for their contribution to music. The two brothers began making music together at a young age; later, when ...
album. Once these sessions were complete, Neil teamed back up with
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 ...
to write and record Crowded House's third album.
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 ...
rejected most of the new Crowded House songs, so Neil asked Tim if the band could use some of the new Finn Brothers songs. Tim agreed, on condition that he would join the band, although he has since indicated he meant this as a joke. Whatever the truth of that claim, the group that returned to the studio included Tim as a full band member.''Bourke'', 1997 The album was titled ''Woodface'' and was released in July 1991. The cover was designed by Nick Seymour and Tommy Steele. It was co-produced by
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, ...
and Neil Finn, 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 ...
. Eight tracks were co-written by Neil and Tim Finn and mainly feature the brothers harmonising on lead vocals, although Neil takes the lead on "Four Seasons in One Day" and Tim sings "All I Ask", which later featured in
AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
awareness commercials in Australia. Five other tracks were solo compositions by Neil Finn and the remaining two were written by Paul Hester, including "I'm Still Here", a hidden track. Former
Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...
drummer
Ricky Fataar Ricky Fataar (born 5 September 1952) is a South African-English multi-instrumentalist of Cape Malay descent, who has performed as both a drummer and a guitarist. He gained fame as an actor in ''The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash'', a spoof on t ...
, and member of
the Rutles The Rutles () were a rock band that performed visual and aural pastiches and parodies of the Beatles. This originally fictional band, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a sketch in Idle's mid-1970s BBC television comedy series ''Rutland We ...
, is credited on three of the Finn Brothers songs, "All I Ask", "There Goes God" and "Weather With You". The addition of Tim Finn and the inclusion of songs originally written for the Finn Brothers project gave the album a more upbeat and optimistic sound compared to its darkly personal predecessor, "represent ngthe joy of reunion and the freedom of a collaborative effort", as Chris Woodstra of
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 ...
remarked. During the UK leg of the ''Woodface'' tour, Tim and the band parted company. 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 mem ...
, who had played some keyboards on ''Woodface'', was recruited to replace Tim for the remaining dates. The final date of this tour at
The Town & Country Club The O Forum Kentish Town is a concert venue in Kentish Town, London, England owned by MAMA & Company, and originally built in 1934. History The venue was built in 1934 and was originally used as an art deco cinema. After the cinema was close ...
in London was recorded and given a limited release in Australia, while individual tracks were used as B-sides for the album's singles in other countries."Crowded House Discography"
''amws.com.au'' - 12 January 1994
The group described their work in the 2007 documentary ''
Great Australian Albums ''Great Australian Albums'' was an Australian TV documentary series, which was broadcast on SBS-TV for two seasons (2007 and 2008) of four episodes each. The first season commenced on 28 July 2007 and was written by Toby Creswell with Larry Mel ...
''.


Track listing

"I'm Still Here" follows "How Will You Go" in track 14 as a
hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...
at 3:37 after 30 seconds silence. The version released as a hidden track in 1991 is an excerpt containing the first minute of the full track, which appears on the 2016 deluxe edition of the album. The following songs were recorded by Crowded House for ''Woodface'' before Tim Finn became involved but were not included on the album. Seven appeared on the 1999 rarities collection ''
Afterglow An afterglow in meteorology consists of several atmospheric optical phenomena, with a general definition as a broad arch of whitish or pinkish sunlight in the twilight sky, consisting of the bright segment and the purple light. Purple light mainl ...
''; "Fields Are Full of Your Kind" and "My Legs Are Gone" appeared on the bonus disc to the deluxe edition. "My Legs Are Gone" had previously been released on ''I Like It Rare'', a rarities compilation available through Frenz of the Enz, the official Crowded House fan club. "Fields Are Full of Your Kind" remained unreleased until the deluxe edition of ''Woodface''. * "Anyone Can Tell" * "Left Hand" * "Dr. Livingstone" * "Sacred Cow" * "I Love You Dawn" * "My Telly's Gone Bung" * "Time Immemorial" * "Fields Are Full of Your Kind" * "My Legs Are Gone" Several songs initially recorded by Tim and Neil were temporarily considered for "Woodface", but not used. "Catherine Wheels" would be recorded for ''Together Alone'' later. * "Catherine Wheels" * "In Love With It All" * "Strangeness and Charm" * "Prodigal Son" * "Cemetery in the Rain"


2016 reissue

Includes the original album for the first disc. Notes * * Previously released * # features excerpts from "The Burglar's Song" (Neil Finn, Liam Finn), "Don't Dream It's Over" (Neil Finn), "When You Come" (Neil Finn), "Hole in the River" (Neil Finn, Eddie Rayner), "Money's No Object" (Tim Finn), "It's Only Natural" (Neil Finn, Tim Finn) and "Still Emotional" (Paul Hester).


Personnel

Crowded House *
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 ...
– guitar, vocals, keyboards *
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 ...
– piano, guitar, vocals *
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 ...
– drums, vocals, keyboards, percussion *
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 ...
– bass guitar, vocals Additional musicians *
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, ...
– keyboards *
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 mem ...
– additional keyboards * Stuart Ellison – additional keyboards (5) *
David Hidalgo David Kent Hidalgo (born October 6, 1954, in Los Angeles.) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his work with the band Los Lobos. Hidalgo frequently plays musical instruments such as accordion, violin, 6-string banjo, cello, requin ...
– accordion (11) *
Ricky Fataar Ricky Fataar (born 5 September 1952) is a South African-English multi-instrumentalist of Cape Malay descent, who has performed as both a drummer and a guitarist. He gained fame as an actor in ''The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash'', a spoof on t ...
– drums (5, 8, 10), percussion (5, 8, 10) *
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 ...
– additional percussion * Geoffrey Hales – additional percussion * Chris Wilson – harmonica (1, 4, 8) *
Peter Bucknell Peter Wentworth Bucknell (born 1967) is a filmmaker, author and classical violist residing in Barcelona. Film Known best for his underwater films, Bucknell is a commercial and documentary film maker. In 2014 he wrotThe Underwater GoPro Book an i ...
– violin (8) * Vince Parsonage – viola (8) * Jack Mack – brass * Jorge Callendrelli – string arrangements and conductor (10) * Sharon Finn – backing vocals (10) Production * Neil Finn – producer * Mitchell Froom – producer *
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 ...
– engineer * Paul Kosky – engineer (Periscope Studios) * Rob Jaczko – second engineer (A&M Studios) * Andrew Horne – second engineer (Periscope Studios) * Max Garcia – second engineer (A&M Studios /
Record Plant The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...
) *
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 ...
– mixing (A&M Studios /
Record Plant The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...
) *
Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...
– mastering (
Masterdisk Masterdisk is an American multimedia company in New York, located at 8 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production. Their clients include such no ...
) * Nick Seymour – art direction, cover painting * Tommy Steele – art direction * Dennis Keeley – photography * Stephen Walker – design * Timothy Eames – letter construction * Brenda Bentley – costumes


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


Further reading

* *


Notes and references


External links


Crowded House official website
{{Authority control 1991 albums Crowded House albums Albums produced by Mitchell Froom Albums recorded at A&M Studios Albums recorded at United Western Recorders