Together Alone - Crowded House > Reviews > Crowdies best

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	Brilliant songwriting, Atmospheric, looser and more experimental than before, timeless
Disadvantages:	Not as immediately accessible as previous albums

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Woodface marked the start of succes for Crowded House in Europe. The wonderful haromnies and great pop feel made it difficult to beat. However, Neil Finn, Nick Seymour, Paul Hester and Mark Hart took a different direction with Together Alone, and it worked.

The album was produced by the eccentric Youth in New Zealand, and the less pedantic tendencies of Youth help the band create a very natural sound on this record, along with the influence of the New Zealand environment. The tracks all have the inherent Finn songmanship that had already been shown in his previous Crowded House and Split Enz work, but also have an extra ambient and uninhibited feel to them. Kare Kare (named after the beach where the album is recorded) is a gorgeous opener, with stirring harmonies and a brilliant band feel to it. The album then continues to play with the senses, going from quicker, rockier numbers (eg In My Command, Black and White Boy, Locked Out) to gorgeous slower ones (eg Nails In My Feet, Private Universe, Distant Sun). The album has a real sense of atmopshere and brilliance to it, whilst remaining accesible and hooky.

In comparison to the previous Crowded House albums, Together Alone is not as immediately grabbing but it takes you after a few listens and has much more of a timeless lasting quality. In summary, this is a great work and emphasises why it was such a shame that the House came down.