Customer Reviews

Temple of Low Men

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you've read the previous customer reviews and laughed at the review that ranked this disc as one of the best of the 80s, behind Joshua Tree - stop laughing. This disc has NO weak songs. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. The greatness of this disc lies in the subtle realization that there are no weaknesses here. Do I believe in liberally administering five star reviews? Absolutely not. From the opening keyboard strokes on "I Feel Possessed" to Neil's last breath on "Better Be Home Soon", the sheer quality of the songwriting and production will astound you. Other highlights include "Into Temptation" (perhaps the second-best* song Neil Finn has ever written), "Kill Eye" (killer guitar), and "In the Lowlands" (beautiful harmonies). I didn't particularly care for Crowded House's debut (though I love "World Where You Live"); I first listened to "Temple of Low Men" when a friend recommended it to me and loaned it to me. I've been a fan of this disc for more than twelve years, and it has never aged on me. Trust the customer reviews on this one - you will not be disappointed.

*Neil's best song - written when he was with Split Enz - is "Message to My Girl".

Look there is always going to be those that argue over which crowded house album is the best, they made 4 great albums.

I divide this into two, Woodface and Crowded house have the best singles but Together and Temple are the better albums, more cohesive units and singles sell albums so this is why they are the lowest selling of the 4 albums

Temple is amazing, how could capitol let this fall through the cracks (a quote from the boss B Springsteen)The album is brimming with great songs (Love this life, in the lowlands, sister madly) hell the whole lot.

I still believe to this day if the right singles were released from this album it would have been as big as the Joshua tree (Singles, In the lowlands, never be the same and Into Temptation) When you come and better be home are good songs but not the dynamic singles that radio stations play

I own nearly 3000 cd's in my collection ranging from Eminem to Joni Mitchell to Neil Finn to Kieth Urban and let me tell you this album is my favourite cd amongst the lot. For these reasons

1.It features Neil's best song (Into Temptation)The string bit sends me away in the clouds
2.The harmonies are amazing from Paul and Nick
3.Songwriting and lyrics from the heart
4.Fantastic from Start to finish

Go and buy this record it is amazing

I've long admired Split Enz/Crowded House/Neil + Tim Finn, and it's hard to pick one cd to review without reviewing them all. Temple of Low Men is a classic. Of the four Crowded House cds this one has 10 solid tracks with no filler and no excess. Their debut is great, but I think Temple of Low Men moved Crowded House out of the pop spotlight and into a more mature band. The debut is a rougher, less honed effort than Temple is. Temple is also better than Woodface in that it's shorter and more consistent. It's also better than Together Alone for the same reasons--shorter, more consistent songcraft. All of Crowded Houses cds are great, but Temple of Low Men with songs like "Into Temptation", "I Feel Possessed", "When You Come", "Kill Eye", "Better Be Home Soon", "Love This Life", "Mansion in the Slums", "Never Be the Same" and "Sister Madly" show that they can make a classic cd. This is a must have for any rock collector.

There aren't too many perfect pop/rock records: this is one of them (it belongs on the same shelf as Revolver, OK Computer, Hunky Dory, Superfly....). All ten songs are great and, as with the other masterpieces mentioned, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The album *sounds* unlike anything else ever released, and the songs collectively conjure up their own very specific, haunting and haunted landscape. A "ghost car on the freeway" of the 80's to use one of Neil Finn's stunning images, _Temple_ is a cd to live with, to always have with you on a long drive, and should you be banished to a desert island....

The whims of the pop world and the fickle nature of the record industry have buried many a fine album, but none of those lost gems has been as deserving of mass success as Crowded House's "Temple of Low Men". An assured and thoughtful follow-up to their poppier debut, "Temple" is, quite simply, the best album of the band's rather troubled history (if you can find it, read "Something So Strong" by Chris Bourke to get a glimpse into their tumultuous career) and one of the best pop records ever. Why? Its darker, more somber tone is often mentioned as a knock, but the dynamic elements of the LP are undeniable - the swing from the melancholy of "Into Temptation" and "Better Be Home Soon" juxtaposed against the rollicking "Sister Madly" and buoyant "When You Come" makes for an incredibly satisfying musical experience. There is not a weak track in the bunch, and the band have never played or emoted better; Neil Finn is at his absolute peak as both a singer and a songwriter, and Nick Seymour and Paul Hester play with the confidence gleaned from their early "Don't Dream It's Over" chart success. All that, and Mitchell Froom's stellar production, make for an album that refuses to age.

Listeners who thought Crowded House would follow up their eponymous release with something as light and poppy as "Something So Strong" were not prepared for the strong, brooding tracks from Temple of Low Men. This is a relentlessly dark album from the opening strains of "I Feel Possessed" to the weary closing plea of "Better Be Home Soon." The stunner "Into Temptation" sets the tone as strings give way to gentle brushwork by drummer Paul Hester. Neil Finn crafts a simple acoustic melody that aches with both beauty and sadness. The word "Beatlesque" keeps popping up in Crowded House reviews like a unruly cowlick on class picture day. Temple of Low Men proves that Neil Finn and company don't need to be compared, they need to be heard.

For years this was my favorite Crowded House {CH} album. Like most of the other reviewers, I'm a huge fan of Neil Finn and all things Finn in general, but this album stood out as the diamond among all their other precious gems. It was quirky, instantly accessible, it sounded great and Neil Finn really came into his own as a writer and a vocalist in a way he hadn't (in my opinion) yet on `Crowded House', the first CH album which only made the 35-40 minute LP length because they included a cover of one of his older Split Enz songs ("Can't Carry On" from Split Enz' 'See You Around' CD).

In fact, while their first album has the big radio hits we still hear (albeit in supermarkets), Temple of Low Men seems more consistent in tone and flavor. The songs are quirkier perhaps, but with the possible exception of 'Kill Eye' there isn't a dodgy track on the disc.

Why only 4 stars? Because I'm grading on a Crowded House curve and this album suffers a bit from when it was produced and a bit in comparison with its soul mate 'Together Alone'. Like their self-titled debut, 'Temple of Low Men' was recorded for vinyl and is therefore mastered at a lower level (not always a bad thing) and has fewer songs than most modern releases. The saving grace is that the production still mostly holds up and doesn't sound particularly dated or '80's-ish. Their last CD 'Together Alone' takes up where 'Temple of Low Men' leaves off and breaks new ground not only for the band, but for the rest of us as well and it's in comparison with that strength that 'Temple' seems to suffer. But that's grading on a curve.

Should you start with 'Temple of Low Men' to see if Crowded House is for you? I did and in a sense it gave me a truer expectation and better appreciation of the rest of Neil Finn's work than I think either 'Woodface (co-written with his brilliant brother Tim Finn)' or 'Crowded House' would have done.

There is NO good reason not to buy this CD. In all honesty, all their albums are great (or nearly great in the case of their debut) and you can't really make a bad choice. Best of all, once you've assimilated the Crowded House catalog you can check out the stunning solo careers of both Neil and Tim Finn, their collaborations together and the whole Split Enz discography.

These guys are the best.

Welcome.

This album was labelled "dark" when it first came out, but that label shows a critic(al) lack of imagination. This album is incredible. It's more cohesive than Woodface, more mature than Crowded House (the first album), and has the perfect balance of pop music and angsty lyrics. Sister Madly, Never Be The Same, Into Temptation, Better Be Home Soon, and When You Come are classics!

Crowded House's second album is considerably darker than its first, but it's where the Crowded House formula was working almost at 100%. Temple of Low Men was not your standard pop release like Crowded House's self-titled debut was, and as a result met with indifference in a market that saw the first album go platinum. It IS a dark album, with songs about extramarital affairs and death, but anyone with an ear for quality pop music would do well to expend the effort the album requires - they'll be rewarded.

One thing I like about Crowded House's albums is that they never outstay their welcome. Temple of Low Men is no different, 10 songs totalling around 40 minutes.

Highlights include "Into Temptation", a dark ballad that explores the emotional impact of an extramarital affair; "I Feel Possessed", the rolling album opener; "Better Be Home Soon", a beautiful acoustic ballad that some country music producer would be wise to turn into a Nashville hit - the song practically begs for it; and "Love This Life", my personal favorite Crowded House song and the one I think sums up the group the best - a dark, minor key verse about life weighing you down, that explodes into a beautiful, bright, major key chorus.

A few missteps on this album makes Woodface the best album done by the group, but this one is quite a runner-up. It's a shame this group is not better known here in the US.

The best description I can give of this cd is that when I go to put on a Crowded House cd, I generally pass over this one at first, and generally end up with "Together Alone." But that may be because I've listened to it so many times over. What belies my affection and respect for this recording is that whenever I make someone a Crowded House tape to share with them the music of this great, and yet somehow little-known, band, every single song from "Temple of Low Men" ends up on it. It is a masterpiece. Finn's songwriting is masterful, and the band is as tight as they come. Mitchell Froom's production is the only flaw, and I think mainly because it came out about the time that all-digital recordings were the thing, and it's all digital, so it doesn't have the sonic "punch" characteristic of analog masters that their other albums typically do have. To his credit, however, the use of synthesizers is sparce, which doesn't laden the music with "80s-ness." It still sounds great because the basic guitar-bass-drums formula drives it. But the songwriting is stellar and poetic; the music not quite so hook laden as the debut, but rewards repeated listenings. Incidentally, for those who think Finn's lyrics are simply modernist impressionistic stuff with random meaning--read a bit closer. It's genuine poetry, not merely the turn of a clever phrase.