Don't Dream It's Over

Crowded House is one of my favorite bands. I sincerely think singer/songwriter Neil Finn is an under-rated genius. I love his work with his brother’s band Split Enz; his work with Crowded House; his duo work with his brother; and his solo work. All of it.

To musicians like Eddie Vedder, Sinead O’Connor, Tori Amos, Lisa Germano, Sarah McLachlan, Dido, Jewel, and lots of others, Neil Finn is a legend.

Crowded House’s first two CDs – the eponymous one and Temple of Low Men – are lovely, and everyone should at least hear it once. (Now, I already know Todd-Michael won’t like it, because he only likes music where the singer sings at full blastisimo volume, adds lots of unnecessary extraneous trills and screeches and wallops, and basically bitch-slaps him up the side of the head. He thinks of music not as an artistic endeavor, but as if it was 8 pounds of cocaine right into the bloodstream just before his performing in an all-day cheerleading exhibition. Relaxing music and Todd-Michael don’t mix – they’re like Madonna and celluloid.)

But to me, Crowded House is my Simon & Garfunkel or Cat Stevens or James Taylor.

Their last concert was in 1996 in front of the famous Sydney Opera House in Australia with 120,000 fans. It was called Farewell to the World. Here’s a clip from it. Wait till the end; it's worth it:



Also, it’s sad to note that in 2005, drummer Paul Hester committed suicide by hanging himself in a public park in Australia. His smiling at the end of this particular song is doubly heart-breaking.