Afterglow - Crowded House (1999)

 


Afterglow is a compilation albums of B-sides and outtakes from Crowded House's first ten years or so and first four albums, released after the band's first break up. 

It's a good testament to the enduring quality of Neil Finn's songwriting, as even these castaways are excellent, at least musically. There's a good flow and overall gestalt to the album that is actually a little surprising given the different line ups and eras the songs are taken from. The only real criticism I have of the album is sometimes the lyrics are little obscure, to say the least: a product of Neil's craft, which often involves putting pieces of different songs together, but also just a product of his impressionistic style of lyric writing which sometimes pays off big time and sometimes, doesnt. 

Not quite up the heights of the first four album, perhaps, but nearly there in my opinion. In their heyday, Crowded House was one of the great bands of all time in my opinion, especially live, and so even this collection of outtakes is better song-by-song than most bands'. 

4.5/5

https://open.spotify.com/album/6an8ClpN6v0citvC0lQzRB?si=UsR3DwboTHC6U77RBdNnOg

The 2015 deluxe edition of this album came with a bonus disc of outtakes and demos. This was one of the most valuable of the Crowded House deluxe editions as many of the songs were recorded during their 1995 York Street Sessions in Auckland, with new drummer Pete Jones. With those songs, and the three "New songs" from the Recurring Dream sessions early in 1996, one can make a fantasy playlist of a fifth Crowded House album that never was. It's an interesting playlist, more groovy and sexier than the usually more earnest, emotional Crowded House. 

My playlist for that goes:

  1. Instinct
  2. Taste of Something Divine
  3. Help Is Coming
  4. Loose Tongue
  5. Not The Girl You Think You Are
  6. Anthem
  7. I Don't Know You
  8. Spirit of the Stairs 
  9. I'm So Scared of Losing I CAn't Compete
  10. Everything Is Good For You


https://open.spotify.com/album/1DlJDIqxvAFNEAX2sEJQ2V?si=ApjTcoQvTciZ1kllqZfgEw

Coming Up:

A.M. Wilco

A.T.O.M. - Carbon Silicon

ABBA - ABBA 

ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits

Abbey Road - The Beatles

Achtung, Baby! U2

Actually - Pet Shop Boys

Adult/Child- The Beach Boys

Aerosmith's Greatest Hits

After The Gold Rush - Neil Young

Afterglow - Crowded House

Aftermath (UK Version) - The Rolling Stones

Against The Odds: 1974-1982 Blondie (three disc version)

Aimee Mann Live at St. Ann's Warehouse

Aiming For Your Head - Betchadupa

The Album -- ABBA

The Album That Never Was - The Kinks

All Four One - The Motels

All Over the Place - The Bangles

All Summer Long -- The Beach Boys

All the Great Hits -- Diana Ross

All Things Must Pass -- George Harrison

All This Useless Beauty -- Elvis Costello & the Attractions

All-Time Greatest Hits - Neil Diamond

Alluvium -- Eddie Rayner

Almost Blue -- Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Almost Summer - Celebration

Alpha Mike Foxtrot -- Wilco

The Alphabetchadupa - Betchadupa

Altitude - ALT

American Idiot Green Day

American Prayer -- The Doors

Amnesiac Radiohead

And I Feel Fine...The Best of the IRS years (1982-1987) - R.E.M.

Animals - Pink Floyd

Anodyne - Uncle Tupelo

Another Life - Another Life

Another Music in Another Kitchen: The Buzzcocks

Another Side of Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

Anthology: Diana Ross & The Supremes

Anthology: Smokey Robinson & The Beatles

Anthology 1: The Beatles

Anthology 2: The Beatles

Anthology 3 The Beatles

Anthology: North South, East West - Tim Finn

Apple Venus: Volume One -- XTC

Apollo 18 - They Might Be Giants

The ArchAndroid: Janelle Monae

Are Well-Respected Men - The Kinks

Armed Forces -Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Around the World in a Day - Prince

Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) - The Kinks

At My Piano - Brian Wilson

Autoamerican - Blondie

Automatic for the People - R.E.M.


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