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Crowded
House's "Woodface" is a perfect example of what can be achieved by
Australian artists. Not only is it the third album from the legendary
band consisting of Neil Finn, the late Paul Hester and Nick Seymour
(and we all know that most bands who hit big on their debut usually
fizzle by outing number 3) - but it's an album which launched the
brothers Finn into the big leagues in the UK.
"Woodface" also
has one of the most talked about back stories of any Australian album
as well. Full of controversy, plenty of laughs - and more importantly -
jam packed with some of the most classic tunes from the Crowded House
back catalouge.
As the story goes, when the Crowdies came to
record their third album in 1990 (off the back of their less than
successful sophomore outing) the group was on the verge of splitting
apart. The tensions of touring had made the members grow weary, Neil
Finn was in early preparations for a new album with brother Tim (who
had led the group Split Enz from New Zealand to the top of the
Australian charts and invited Neil to join the group, only to be
eclipsed by him). Things looked grim.
The situation was: Neil
had half a decent album written for Crowded House, and a handful of
hits for the Finn Brother side project. As fate would have it, Finn
decided that it was only sensible to merge the two projects which would
ultimately become "Woodface".
However, with the album done - it
soon became apparent that the inclusion of another Finn into the tight
knit Crowdie group was nothing but trouble, with tensions flaring up to
the point of mild violence and in the middle of a world tour, in which
Tim was ousted from the band.
There are some fascinating
retrospectives from the surviving band members (Hester, sadly died
before the special was filmed), none more interesting than the
recollections of Tim Finn.
The elder brother of the Finn clan
is nothing short of an arrogant, deluded has-been. It's simply
astonishing to hear his side of things "They wanted was a short guy to
play keyboard, and what they got was a natural born lead singer". What
a wanker? Honestly, how hard is it to put your arrogance aside for more
than five seconds (Tim Finn's solo albums are notoriously unsuccessful
- heck, even Split Enz only really took off with Neil in the
band...perhaps it's time to admit that up front isn't the place for
you!).
Neil Finn gives some great insight here, he
really is such a
charismatic lead man. Viewers will hang off every word from the mouth
of the New Zealander who help pen the likes of Four Seasons In One Day,
Weather
With You and Something
So Strong
- and he even credits his brothers input (something which Tim seems to
neglect - apparentley Tim Finn believes the only reason that music
exists is because of Tim Finn).
Nick Seymour, Jimmy
Barnes, Rob Hirst
(Midnight Oil), Reg Mombasa and Pete O'Doherty (Mental as Anything)
also give their input, but the real worthwhile event here is Neil Finn
revisiting the master tapes,as well as a number of acoustic songs
played exclusively for this documentary.
A must watch for any Crowded House fan, but theres enough of an
interesting back story for general music fans as well.
A great series - let's hope theres plenty more on the way!
EXTRAS
Not
a great deal on offer. There are some extended and unedited pieces of
the various interviews that make up the bulk of the DVD's. There's
nothing of real insight here, but interesting to see how the musicians
change so abruptly when they don't think they are on camera.
Definitely for the fans.
Conclusion:
Movie 70% Extras: 50%
 Download Album Here:
Purchase DVD: 
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