Split Enz - History Never Repeats: The Best of Split Enz

Great collection of Split Enz

if you're just getting into the split enz, well what took you so long? But anyways, this is a great sample of their music, and a great example of how influential they've been. My personal favorites, "I see red" and "I got you," but the rest are awesome too. November 24, 2008

"Message to My Girl" makes it all worthwhile!

People remember Split Enz for "I Got You" and "One Step Ahead," but "Message to My Girl" should have been the band's biggest success. The track comes from Conflicting Emotions, the last Split Enz album released in America. "Message to My Girl," like the Who's "Bargain" and a handful of other songs, is a rock rarity--a powerfully poignant love song. During the eighties, Enz founder Tim Finn enjoyed a successful solo album and wrote music for the film The Coca-Cola Kid, while little brother Neil kept the Enz spirit alive with his band Crowded House. The nineties found Tim and Neil playing together in Crowded House and then, in 2004, collaborating on the excellent Finn Brothers album Everyone Is Here (take a listen to "Won't Give In"). Sadly, one-time Enz and Crowded House drummer Paul Hester took his own life in 2005. September 23, 2008

Better than I expected

I really only bought this CD for one song "I got you" but after listening to the entire CD I realized that there are many more good songs on this, not great, but good for that type of music. Sounds very 80's, but that's what it is February 13, 2008

Neil is my personal musical messiah

I have been a Neil Finn fan since I was a youngster imitating everything my sisters liked/did/listened to. Glad they had excellent taste, because Neil Finn became my touchstone from 1979. He really is the master lyric poet of the latter 20th Century and beyond. "Message to My Girl" was the first dance at our wedding, and when he sang it on his recent Crowded House reunion tour, it was pretty much Nirvana for us! Anyhow, History Never Repeats is a reasonable summary of their mid career music, although if you like what you hear, I suggest you go beyond and dabble in the early releases to understand the band (and Neil's) growth as musicians and songwriters. I envy those who are just getting to know this band as you have many many pleasurable hours of discovery ahead... Enjoy! November 4, 2007

If you're wondering Split Who? Start here.

What's with all these "new wave" reviews? Split Enz never belonged to any wave. University daze, mid 70's and what do I encounter? The most out there, incredibly hard rocking, deliberately off centre bunch of guys with one of the best songwriter/voice combinations ever. I'm talking about Split Enz, followers of no fad whatsoever (akin to the concept of trend-setter really, long gone by the time everyone gets to wherever they're at) and particularly about Tim Finn.

Split Enz was Tim's band, Neil came along a bit later, added significantly to the band (not that it was lacking without him) and then drifted off into pop-la-la-land as Crowded House. Tim never went down the pop route and Spilt Enz was his early tour de force.

This compilation is a superb introduction to the band, or a good "best of" to have in the car or whatever. As to whether the selected tracks really are the best, who cares? They're a great selection. You get some hard rocking stuff like "I see red", "I Got You" and "Shark Attack", some wonderful melodic pieces "Dirty Creature", "Pioneer/Six Months in a Leaky Boat", "Poor Boy", "Message to my Girl" and Neil's "I walk away" (you can hear Crowded House all through this one, played by the better band).

All in all I cannot recommend this highly enough as a starter/taster of one of the best and least known (outside of AU/NZ) bands around.

After you've listened to this a few times and gone "wow", you better get True Colours and any of the early albums and then you'll really know what you missed out on.

And you'll be thinking ... goddam, why isn't this band around now? Well, it isn't, but Tim and Neil are and their 2004 release "Everyone is Here" is sublime. April 6, 2007

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