Published on Jul 1, 1998
To the fans of Neil Finn, he not only was a founding member of
the Australian band Crowded House, he
was Crowded House. This could be why his first solo release,
Try Whistling This, seems to have a lot of the flavor of his
old band – but for those who weren’t into Crowded House, this is a
flavor that takes some time to get a taste for.
Finn’s quirky style of pop doesn’t follow any particular style.
From the sparse arrangements of “Last One Standing,” “Sinner” and
the title track to the all-out joyful noise of “She Will Have Her
Way” and “Truth,” the listener is challenged at every turn by
Finn.
Upon one listen,
Try Whistling This might sound like a collection of Crowded
House throwaways. However, the more one listens to this album, the
more apparent its beauty is. The haphazard rolling of “Twisty Bass”
locks a tempo into your ear, and it’s hard to shake it, while songs
like “Truth” and “Astro” are almost perfect candidates for radio
airplay, as is “She Will Have Her Way”. Only near the end of the
album does the formula become a little strained; tracks like
“Addicted,” while solid, just tend to weaken the base of the
album.
In fact, it is when Finn’s music is a little more lively that
Try Whistling This clicks. Tracks like “Loose Tongue” stick
out in the mind more than tracks like “King Tide”; in a sense, it’s
almost like Finn is trying to re-create the magic of “Don’t Dream
(It’s Over)” from his Crowded House days. It almost would have been
better, in cases like this, for Finn to totally forget his part in
music’s history and try to carve out a new road for himself.
The only real weakness of
Try Whistling This is that it’s not the easiest album for
new fans to approach. If you’re not familiar with his past work,
you’re not going to get as much enjoyment out of this album on one
listen. (I listened to the whole album four times before I started
to appreciate many of the tracks – and I’m admittedly not a big
Crowded House fan.)
Try Whistling This does solidify Finn’s position as one of
Australia’s premiere songwriters, but the album proves that until
he can appease the masses with his music, he should put any plans
of world domination on hold.