A long time ago, I was a mere college student who lived in a dorm on campus. There was a college radio station that played a lot of music I’d never hear on mainstream radio. I wasn’t a regular listener but occasionally I would turn it on out of curiosity and one day I heard a song by this group called Split Enz. I’d never heard of them before and I don’t know what song it was. But the name of the group stayed in my mind long afterwards.

A couple years went by and we had a new student in the dorm, called the Scientist, who was from Australia. This would have been not too many years after “Down Under” by Men at Work came out so it still had a far away feel and exotic feel in North Carolina. Australia was a long way away, after all. After a time, the Scientist would share some of his interests and one of them was this group called Split Enz from New Zealand, which was hugely popular back home. I liked the music well enough but it didn’t hook me and life carried on.

More time passed and a new group entered the scene called Crowded House. The Scientist proudly mentioned how it was formed by one of the former members of Split Enz. Crowded House actually got a fair bit of radio play and eventually its signature song, “Don’t Dream It’s Over” became a thing of sorts. I liked the songs from Crowded House but I wasn’t hooked and life went on for many more years.

In 1993 the Scientist and I got married and plans were made to move to Australia. This was the year Crowded House released their major creative album, Together Alone. I still wasn’t hooked but I did take note of one song that year, “Locked Out” which was getting some decent play on the local rock station. I liked the song and I remember seeing the video often during that time. Any other songs from the record didn’t make too much of an impression at that time.

The following year, we moved to Australia and a few months later my first son was born. Life was pretty busy and there wasn’t much time for anything other than meeting the needs of this new person. I was still coming to know this new place where I lived. With regard to music, I soon understood how Split Enz were considered an iconic Australian band. Even though they were from New Zealand. I was hearing quite a lot more Crowded House on the radio and my knowledge of their catalogue increased a bit.

In November 1996, the band performed at a concert referred to as Farewell to the World. It was staged on the steps of the Sydney Opera House and was broadcast live on television here. At least for those living on the east coast. The band was breaking up and this was their last hurrah. When it was broadcast, the tv was on but I wasn’t watching that closely. It happened I was talking on the phone to my family, a not very frequent occurrence back then thanks to the expensive call rates, not to mention the time difference. While talking I would occasionally pay attention to what was happening on-screen but it wasn’t until we finished that I devoted any big attention. This was the first time I had put faces to the band and they put on a very entertaining show filled with music, chatter and lots of humor. By the end of that show I was finally hooked and I’m still a big fan of the band and its predecessor, Split Enz all these years later. The Scientist was nearly certain I would write about the third album, Woodface, for this challenge. It’s definitely one of their best works but I think I’m going to surprise him with something else.

When deciding which album to use here, I looked to the first real attention I paid to their music, the aforementioned “Locked Out”. The band was known more as a pop band but this was a more rocking song and maybe that’s where the seed was planted. After all it got a lot of play on the rock station I listened to so my exposure was considerably higher than it might have been from other stations. Funnily enough, this isn’t a song that I’ve heard often on the radio here in Australia.

The bigger candidate from that album is “Distant Sun”, a song I’m sure I had heard before I came here but probably not a lot. I discovered when checking details of the album that this song only reached number 23 on the charts when it was released here, a fact I find pretty amazing given the airplay it has now. This one is a great pop love song that makes for wonderful sing-alongs at shows.

Once when leader Neil Finn’s son was young and suffering from a fever, he came out with some curious words and phrases which inspired him to write the great song, “Pineapple Head”. It really does have that feeling of being not quite there and only catching some of the details of what’s happening around and threatening to pull you further away from reality.

There’s no chance I’d write about this album without mentioning my favorite Crowded House song. “Private Universe” was released in October 1994, the same month my son was born. I don’t remember ever hearing this on the radio back then but I loved it when I heard it the first time I played the album. I wouldn’t say this is a dreamy song but it does put me in mind of otherworldly and secret places and things. And it never fails to take me away from the real world for a few minutes when I hear this. This is one of those songs that gets played at almost all the live shows they do and it’s always fun to hear what sort of arrangement will be played. Once they started the show with this song and it came out all big and bold with lots of drumming and other percussion. It really did sound good that time but it was almost too soon. There wasn’t that feeling of anticipation while other songs were being performed and then basking in the joy of the crowd and the feeling of the song.

The last song I will mention is “Together Alone” the title track. It’s quite a moving piece beginning with Neil singing the first verse and a Maori choir and log drummers joining in as the song continues.

Over the past ten to fifteen years, I’ve seen several shows with the band and several related to the band. I’ve seen Neil Finn solo a few times too, and he always puts on a good show. He once played a show here, just off a long flight from the UK with just him playing guitar. It was still pretty amazing. Even “Don’t Dream It’s Over” came off really well without the seemingly integral organ playing.

Anyway, this group is one of my top bands/performers ever and being in Australia has leant itself to making them even bigger for me since I’ve been privileged to see them much more often than I would if I lived elsewhere. The charismatic drummer Paul Hester was a major factor in catching my attention back in 1996. It was due to his desire to get out that the band stopped at that point. Sadly Paul took his life in 2005 after struggling with mental health issues for many years. His death became a bit of a spark to restart the band, albeit with slight changes to personnel. Very recently the band has had a bit of a shake up and personnel have been upended quite a bit. I’m not sure how I feel about those changes but I feel pretty certain that I’ll like whatever they produce.