Crowded House

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Crowded House

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Anyone familiar with 80s music will recognize the soulful, expressive sounds of Crowded House from some of this album's biggest hits, including "Don't Dream It's Over," "Something So Strong," and "Now We're Getting Somewhere." These popular tunes accurately represent the entire album, whose songs range from pop-like tracks with catchy lyrics ("World Where You Live") to tracks with a similar beat but a more moody feel ("Mean to Me"). If you've ever purchased an album for 1-2 songs only to find out that the rest of the album was totally different, this will NOT be your experience with Crowded House, as the band's sound is very consistant throughout. Furthermore, although Crowded House experienced little fame beyond the 80s, their music still feels thoroughly fresh and modern. If you don't yet have any Crowded House in your 80s music collection, this album is a must-have.

This is by far the most popular Crowded House album in the States. It includes the huge classic Don't Dream It's Over & another lesser hit, Something So Strong. Despite there being other fine tunes on the album such as Mean To Me and Now We're Getting Somewhere, the overall quality does not match in any way what was still to come, merely hints at what would make Crowded House such a great band

This is not to say that the rest are filler tracks. If the last tunes are excluded, most songs are catchy with great texts. The production of many of them has, however, quickly dated. Case in point is the catchy Can't Carry On, influenced with the then current 80s sound heavy with synth and tin sounding production. And despite being very tuneful, many songs simply lacked depth which became later apparent. Those who have had the great fortune of owning the live CD available (limited edition) with their greatest hits collection hear how well Crowded House later turned mediocre songs on this album such as Hole In The River (which simply comes to life on that version) and Love You 'Til The Day I Die into great tunes.

With the exception of Now We're Getting Somewhere, most of the main songs on this album are included on the Recurring Dream greatest hits collection. I recommend purchasing that one for most people (being a Crowded House fan, I own all their records, including this one) and for those wanting more, pick the version including the live CD, which is outstanding. It is, however, in most cases very expensive.