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22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
who says 80s music sucks?, September 15, 2001
Okay, so it doesn't have anything from their first three albums. Okay, so it almost completely ignores their late-70s crazy music-hall period. Yeah, this is pop music. Not only that, it's 80s pop music. Not only that, "I Got You" is so 80s that it rivals the movie _Flight of the Navigator_ and little gold remote-controlled robot toys labeled "rad" for the title of Epitome of 80s-Ness. But damn, there hasn't been pop music this good since the Beatles! Take "One Step Ahead", for example. Just a simple verse-chorus-verse pop song, but the tune is convoluted and constantly surprises you with unexpected twists and unusual chord progressions. Split Enz also had a tendency to use different arrangements when the choruses come back, and the sudden appearance of staccato synths in the background of the second chorus is wonderfully effective. Or how about "What's The Matter With You?", whose opening sounds so much like the Beatles that you'd swear it was Paul McCartney singing? The song also contains one of the most fun synth/keyboard solos I've ever heard, a lightning-quick spiky stuttering on a bluesy chord that soon falls apart into out-of-tune bass notes. Then there's "History Never Repeats", another fantastically catchy song which contains another excellent example of Split Enz' sense of texture: For a few seconds in the middle, everything but one held note drops out to reveal some delicious falsetto harmonizing, and when the verse comes back in, there are sparkling synths zipping all over the place behind it. Oh, and there's also the wonderfully funky "Dirty Creature" (with even better falsetto in the chorus). And "Six Months in a Leaky Boat"... I could go on, but I won't. I will, however, mention three exceptions to my praise. "Message to my Girl" and "I Hope I Never" are the two songs on the album that don't live up to the standards of the rest. Again like the Beatles, Split Enz could be rather cloying when they got too ballad-y. "Message to my Girl" has nice verses (with Neil Finn again sounding almost exactly like Paul McCartney), but the chorus is rather overproduced and sappy. "I Hope I Never" is worse... maybe not the "She's Leaving Home" of this compilation, but comparable. The other exception is "I See Red" from their 1979 album _Frenzy_, which is not a bad song at all -- in fact, it may be my favorite song on the CD. However, it's emphatically not typical 80s pop music. No, this is the Split Enz of the late 70s, still infected with the freaky-cabaret spirit of Phil Judd, who had just left when _Frenzy_ was recorded. The music is hyperactive and punk-inspired, even to the point of the lower-class accent in the B section (recalling the Sex Pistols?). There's a piano solo in the middle harmonized almost entirely in minor seconds. It ends in mid-syllable. The Cardiacs were definitely listening to this. If this is your first Enz CD, as it is mine, this will tell you whether or not you want to explore their more experimental early work. I know I do. But even if "I See Red" grates, you'll still have a wonderful collection of songs that prove that the Golden Age of Rock and Roll is a myth, and post-60s pop music -- even /80s/ pop music -- can be truly excellent.
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by Split Enz 
