Everyone Is Here

Finn Brothers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 5, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Nettwerk Records
• ASIN: B0002H6O9M
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,981 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Ever since the demise of New Zealand popsmiths Crowded House back in the late '90s, brothers Neil and Tim Finn have been content to plough their furrow far from pop's bustling farmstead. Everyone Is Here, the pair's second full-lengther, lacks the full production and grand, Beatlesesque melodic ambitions that saw songs like "Weather With You" and "Fall At Your Feet" become transatlantic radio hits--but it replaces such scope with a smudged, intimate acoustic style that suits Neil and Tim's songwriting talents almost as neatly. The album's finest moments are mostly placed towards the top end: "Luckiest Man Alive" is the sort of conscious rock gospel that Stereophonics' Kelly Jones would kill to be able to write, while "Anything Can Happen"--a billowing, U2-style epic of scintillating guitar and cavernous drum-crashes is seemingly placed to prove that not all is trad chez Finn. As an album, it probably won't spawn any MTV-hogging video classics--certainly, that was never the intention--but Finn fans in search of a mellow listen should find Everyone Is Here hits all the right buttons. --Louis Pattison

Product Description

That day: Tim and Neil Finn flew in from New Zealand to record a new album.

Friends and allies were called in to help as the album grew from Piha Beach to London and Los Angeles. In the engine room there's Matt Chamberlain (David Bowie/Macy Gray) on drums and Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing) on bass; Jon Brion (Grant Lee Phillips/Fiona Apple/Badly Drawn Boy) appears on guitars, keyboards and face scratching.

Mitchell Froom (Crowded House/Phantom Planet) lent his production skills. Bob Clearmountain was called in to mix, and it was the first time the Finns, Froom and Clearmountain had been in a room together since Woodface. At the heart of the project are these 12 new songs, as fine as anything the brothers have written.

"Mitchell Froom was someone we'd spoken about in terms of keyboards; maybe getting him to play on a couple of things," Tim says. "We saw him soon after we came to LA. We played him material and I'll never forget it. In the space of a few hours he gave very precise opinions on every song. He became a producer on the project, but it was more like a friend helping out two other friends, with great authority and intuition. He knows us both so well. He's worked with both of us individually and together. He's creates this great level space."

Everyone Is Here offers an intense emotional journey.

"It involves a recurrence of ideas," Tim explains of the magic. "It's about embracing the simple classic elements that you've always loved."

This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harmony, September 26, 2004

By 

WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Everyone Is Here (Audio CD)

Two of the best singer/songwriters hook up in their brotherly combo with some help from their musical friends. "Everyone is Here" has some of the best material both Neil and Tim Finn have written and that's saying quite a bit considering their pedigree (Split Enz, Crowded House and their respective solo careers). Backed by a group of top musicians, this is the duos most unified and powerful album to date delivering on the promise of the sparse "Finn Brothers" debut nearly a decade ago.

Although it isn't exactly a concept album, it has a set of unifying themes one of them their sibiling relationship and family. While it might sound like a boring subject to write songs about, their complex relationship as sibilings over the years yields riches beyond expectations. The harmonic "Disembodied Voices" with its metaphorical glance back at their relationship as they grew up to the stunning harmonies that open the glorious and beautiful "Won't Give In", this album is rich in original melodies, great playing and the unique sound of the Finn's harmonies (the most stunning combination of two voices aside from The Everly Brothers). The amazing "Part of me, Part of You" has a rich melody worthy of Lennon and McCartney with a middle eight that takes the song to a completely other level.

"Edible Flowers" infused with a sense of melancholy but a intricate and melorable melody also is a stand out cut for Tim to sing. I honestly can't say that there's a bad cut on the album (and much as I loved "Finn Brothers", it did have a couple of tracks that just didn't live up to their potential). "Everyone is Here" delivers on the promise of both Neil and Tim's last set of solo albums.

If you get a chance pick up the single "Won't Give In" as it has two tracks not available on this album and both are worthwhile additions. "Sunset Swim" is a stunning song that didn't make the cut but probably should have been included. "Everyone is Here" certainly demonstrates that these vets haven't lost their ability to craft amazing songs with meaning.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finn Again, August 27, 2004

By 

John Scalzi (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everyone Is Here (Audio CD)

This is an easy recommendation for me since I think that Neil Finn is one of the best songwriters out there: Smart, witty, incredibly melodic in the Beatles mode. He's been underrated here in the US because outside of the left field hit of "Don't Dream it's Over" in the mid-80s, he's had the misfortune of putting out music that's largely been the opposite of what's popular at the moment, whatever moment that might be (the man was not about the grunge or the hair metal, the two dominant genres during the Crowded House years). However, outside the US, he's rather better regarded, particularly for Woodface, the Crowded House album which also featured Tim. That album was a big fat flop in the US but was a smash almost everywhere else in the world. Tim Finn doesn't have the same easy melodic genius of his younger brother (his music is a little more twitchy and angular), but he's also a fine songwriter. Between the two of them it's difficult to imagine they'd make a bad album.

And they haven't. Everyone is Here is not destined to be a massive hit -- it's the sound of two middle-aged brothers having a conversation about life, family, love and brotherhood, and it's a reasonable bet that the hip young kids today aren't ready to take part in that conversation. And that's fine -- let them have their Red Bulls and all-night parties. We'll catch up with them again in a couple of decades. But for anyone who has spent time wrestling with what it means to be a father, brother or son (or their female counterparts), there's a lot here that's going to ring true, set to music by two guys who know how to make songs fly.

The first single from the album, "Won't Give In," is an encapsulation of the album in minature, a beautiful song that simply and elegantly outlines what it means to be family and what that one word entails and rewards for those who are privleged to use it. For those who want more than mellow, may I suggest "All God's Children," which shows the Finns' slightly snarkier side, with fuzzy guitar spread thickly on top.

On the whole, however, a warm, welcoming and satisfying album, by grownups, about grownups and for grownups (and the kids who want to know what being grownup can be like in an ideal situation).

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Totally Endearing, September 15, 2004

By 

James Simon (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Everyone Is Here (Audio CD)

Easily they're best album since the two played on Crowded House's "Woodface", the two former Split Enz leader come together with some of the best songs of the year. They bring back something missing today, the power of the songwriter. "Luckiest Man Alive" is a terrific ballad without being sappy. Every guy should want to be the guy they sing about. "Nothing Wrong With You" is better than therapy with catchy music for anyone feeling the world is against them. They rock out on a few songs like "Anything Can Happen", but this is a fairly restrained and beutifully constructed album. One of the best of 2004.