Dizzy Heights (Bonus Track Version)

First off, I've been getting back into vinyl recently and decided to get select new albums on vinyl. Dizzy Heights was my first foray into the new vinyl arena and I have no regrets. This album is great from beginning to end. No bad tracks, only lesser ones. Particular favorites for me are the title track and Pony Ride. I just saw him a little over a week ago and the show was amazing. He did a nice cross section of Split Enz, Crowded House and solo work. It was everything I expected and more.

Neil FInn is back with another spectacular album of well crafted pop songs. If you can, catch him on his current tour. You won't be disappointed. Either way, this album is worth it.

If there were any justice in this world, "Pony Ride" would be #1 on the charts. Great album. Thank you Neil Finn for sharing your talents and enriching our lives once again.

Neil Finn is one hell of a crafty songwriter. This is one of those albums where you think "okay, this is the last batch of best songs ever written, surely, there cannot be any more beyond this" - only to have your breath taken away with the next record. I am not a musician or songwriter, it's a mystery to me how some artist rearrange notes, chords and melodies to keep creating such gems. Neil Finn is right up there with Rufus Wainwright, Alex Cornish, David Gray, Fran Healy, Royal Wood. They keep me sane!

uhhh... wrong genre. This is NOT rock!!! very disappointed.

Neil Finn can knock out gorgeous harmony-soaked pop songs in his sleep. He can go toe to toe with the best and beats them every time. But 30+ years into his career he is still moving the bar. Yes there are great pop hooks here, but he isn't about to take the easy road and toss out a dozen Don't Dream It's Overs (although he could quite easily). It hearkens back to Together Alone, and if you're a Crowded House aficionado you know that means it is really good. It is challenging, complex and supremely rewarding. Others can rest on their laurels and put out what's expected. Neil Finn isn't "others." It is a supremely rewarding record

A much more soulful and textural solo record with the masterful songwriting you've come to expect from Neil Finn. He's got the whole talented family in the studio with him and a bounty of thoughtful string arrangements this time, but that doesn't mean he's gone soft. Dizzy Heights finds Finn both relaxed and contemplative but it's a very energetic, cohesive record with really great production value courtesy of Dave Fridmann.

After 13 years, the follow-up to One All in the US arrives. It is definitely worth the wait. Ok, this is misleading. The word follow-up is misleading. We didn't really need to wait; Finn has been making pop tunes in its purest terms under many names. Neil Finn did not stop making music after One All. (More about that later.). His last release was just two years ago, the funky self-titled Pajama Club album. For over 35 years, he's been making words and sounds feel dreamy, impressionistic, melancholy, sweet, bright, dark, hooky, catchy, smooth, jarring, serious, funny, literate, and timeless. With Dizzy Heights, his words and music elicit more description: groovy, soulful, psychedelic, cinematic, foreboding, wistful, surreal and still timeless as ever. With Dave Friddman ( Flaming Lips, MGMT) behind the board and Victoria Kelly arranging strings, Finn's latest is a sonic carnival. Imagine Bing Crosby's White Christmas interpreted by Tim Burton. Sounds odd, but it works. Songs like Dizzy Heights, Divebomber, Recluse, Better Than TV and In My Blood challenge the ear but continue the songwriting arc that began in New Zealand in the early 70's. Finn's musical journey began with his brother Tim's band Split Enz. Stellar pop songs like I Got You and Message to My Girl introduced Neil's immaculate songwriting and vocals to the world. When Split Enz dissolved, as most bands do, Finn formed Crowded House with the most recent Enz drummer, Paul Hester, and Nick Seymour, Melbourne artist and bassist. With each album and big hit song, Crowded House appealed to the world: Don't Dream It's Over (US) Better Be Home Soon (Australia, NZ, Canada) Weather With You, Four Seasons in One Day (UK, Europe). When Crowded House said farewell to the world in front of 200,000 plus fans in front of the Sydney Opera House, the birth of Neil Finn solo was in the works. 1998's Try Whistling This, following in the experimental vein of the last Crowded House album with the late great Hester, Together Alone, showed that Finn was a restless creative soul, not satisfied with just tasteful pop nuggets. One Nil, his 2001 solo follow up, kept stretching his talents. The songwriting was there in his solo sets but the catchiness took multiple listens to hook. Once hooked, songs like Sinner, Try Whistling This, Turn and Run, and Last To Know crept into our subconscious and buried into our soul. As soon as we got comfortable with Neil solo, new entities emerged, Finn Brothers, 7 Worlds Collide, Pajama Club, and vehicles in the shop were made road worthy again, Crowded House. Finn will tell you that the music, no matter the name attached to the project, is part of a continuum. This continuum offers Dizzy Heights as the next chapter, worthy of the highest accolades that Together Alone rightfully deserved. Give it a listen or 5. The more you listen, the more it reveals the brilliance of Neil Finn.

I'm a huge fan of Neil Finn and can't believe that he's come up with his best album since his Crowded House glory days. Bringing in Fridmann to co-produce and Kelly to arrange these songs was a stroke of genius as is Neil's songwriting which remains world-class.

As always, a collection of compelling songs, made even better by the cohesive feel of the album. I am sold on the soul version of Neil Finn.