Nominated by: Kev
Music club: WTWMC
I really think highly of all but one song on this classic, iconic kiwi album (that one song, in case you were wondering, is So Long For Now - not a bad song by any means but for me, the weakest song on the album).
IMHO the album as a whole is their Sgt. Peppers - I think that was deliberate on their part as there are quite a few parallels.- the rabid progressive Beatle-ish experimentation after a poptastic start to their career, the use of sound effects to link some tracks or the close segue into the next song makes it all feel linked, the conceptual overview (mental notes and the torture of relationships - children/parents feature a lot - and there are a lot of missing people in these songs - btw I like the ambiguity of both words - mental as in inside the head and the crazy connotation plus note - musical and written), the repetition of the phrase mental notes in the run out groove and Spellbound's similarity to A day In The Life as the penultimate song before the run out groove. Each seems like the album's definitive statement.
My fav songs have changed over the years. Early on - as in the eighties/nineties it was the longer more proggy kitchen sink songs - Stranger Than Fiction, Under The Wheel and Spellbound but in the latter years my two clear favourites are the shorter and poppier Maybe and Titus. I tend to think of those two songs together actually as they complement each other so well.
Titus is an amazing song by Phil Judd - the one time on the album that he briefly lets the artiface slip and his soul is laid bare for a split (enz) second - when are you coming back to me?- before the self-deprecating 'babe' tries to recapture the nonchalance. Heart-breaking. I love the surreal lyrics he creates on this song and the brilliant interplay between Tim and him - perfect foils for each other at this point. It also has that early classic mandolin sound that I really really love. Spine-tingling this song - genius and pain etched in the killing me/lying to me refrain! Btw Titus seems to be referencing Mervyn Peake's gothic novels - Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone. Wonderful novels that I read as a teenager. Titus as a character doesn't appear in the song I don't think.
- Why I like Spllt Enz & this album in particular
All of us experienced Split Ends at the same specific time on New Faces. I love that we shared that moment in our lounges spread over Auckland. Looking at the clip now it looks very innocuous but in the early 70s it was revolutionary in NZ to see a scruffy bunch of uni students singing on the telly. That sowed the seed. Then my mate at school gave me a copy of the 129 single. I loved it! Still do! The mandolin sound was an early hook and it worked on me.
Mental Notes album in particular: I confess that I did not get it immediately - mainly because it seemed so different to that poppy single. It was dark, doomy and dense to my Led Zep/Deep Purple stained ears. It took a while and I backtracked to it eventually. It's lovable because its a one-off - a unique moment in their evolution. They'd return quickly to the poptastic sounds with the next albums - post Judd. This feels like Phil Judd's particular set of visions - he dominates. For me it has special resonance because of the reliance on dreamscapes, Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy and a surreal Alice in Wonderland feel. The heavy themes of fear and childhood traumas are unusual in their canon and they add layers of depth that Tim et al were unwilling or unable to return to after Judd left.
Musically, I especially like the drumming, the mellotron provides a great soundscape and the Pink Floyd style special effects. Sparse guitaring in these songs - seems Eddie provides the keyboard riffs a lot of the time, but highly effective when it comes in. The twists and turns in the songs - time and space - I really love. But then I'm a big fan of prog rock. It's so much of its time - lightning in a bottle.
Post Judd SE I like the variety of Beatle threads - Tim and Neil are clearly big fans. I like the differences between the different eras too - each album is different and each has its own charms.
- What other Enz material you own
I have some singles and all their albums - either on vinyl or CD (or some, like Mental Notes - both).
- How many times and where you’ve seen them live
Four - Auckland Town Hall, Nambassa Music Festival 1979 in Waihi, His Majesty's Theatre - Auckland with Michael and Greg Knowles - a brilliant brilliant concert - easily my fav of the 4, Logan Campbell Centre - Auckland with the three amigos.
- What it means to you ( if anything )
Well it doesn't mean the same as it means to you Kev. For you - this is THE ultimate band AND your first ever album - hence your ongoing need to have a complete set of everything they ever did. I get that - I feel the same about Lennon. For me - they are a great NZ band that links to my youth and my distinctive Nu Zildness. They are a thread running through music from 1973 till now. They are part of our make up.
- Your Split Enz story
Mike Budd giving me that EMI Split Ends single was huge but I've already told you about that. Maybe Nambassa in 1979? It was late at night - very dark and I think it was drizzly rain, I was pretty tired and I can dimly remember it. I wasn't a huge SE fan at that point - other bands were more of a drawcard for me but I'm glad I experienced that Festival and can count it on my list.
- And any not so good stuff.
I've mentioned their weakest MN track already. I much prefer their early stuff - basically everything up to and including Frenzy is superb in my book. I'm not a huge fan of True Colours but it's also a quality set of songs and their other stuff post TC I've only collected in the last few years. Everything they've done has merit though to varying degrees.
Push comes to shove Dizrythmia is my favourite album with Maybe, Titus, Late Last Night, I See Red, Bold As Brass, My Mistake my favourite songs.
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