The track list from the new Tim Finn anthology album reads like a list of Australian and New Zealand classics. As the name suggests, North, South, East, West is an all-encompassing look at Finn’s career from his days with pioneering 80’s group Split Enz to his brief collaboration with Crowded House, The Finn Brothers and his successful solo albums.
To celebrate the release of North, South, East, West Finn will be taking his National Anthology Tour around the country.
‘Every song we play will be a song from the anthology,’ said Finn from his home in Auckland.
‘We’ll probably do 17 or 18 of those a night, and we’re just sort of trying to make those selections now. The anthology is already a cull from 34 years, so now we have to cull the cull.’
With such an enormous back catalogue of work, choosing just 34 tracks to feature across the two-CD anthology was something of a challenge for Finn.
‘I had a lot of help,’ he explained. ‘I don’t know how I ever would have gotten around to it, if it had been left up to me.’
Proving that you can’t please everyone, some reviewers have argued there are many notable tracks missing from the anthology.
‘People love one thing as opposed to another, and it’s always hard,’ he said.
‘For me, I was resisting the idea of any song list being completely definitive. So I acknowledge that there were other ways I could have gone, but this is the way I went.
‘I think it flows pretty well; a lot of it was about the flow, and I try to get that right.’
More than just a compilation of past original recordings, North, South, East, West contains a number of rarities and re-recordings such as a duet of the Split Enz classic Stuff and Nonsense with Missy Higgins and It’s Only Natural from the Crowded House album Woodface, redone as a duet with Bic Runga.
‘Missy had covered Stuff and Nonsense on the She Will Have Her Way album, so I knew that she had a feel for that song, and it was great to get together with her,’ said Finn.
‘And I’ve toured with Bic here in New Zealand. She’s a good friend and a great artist so it was just an easy choice to make, really.’
Musical partnerships are nothing new for Finn who says he enjoys combining his ideas with those of other artists.
‘Even when I’m working solo, I’m very collaborative by nature. So I let musicians play whatever they feel and then maybe change it a bit but I don’t tell people what to play,’ he said.
The National Anthology Tour will also be featuring a special guest appearance. Former Split Enz and Crowded House keyboardist and composer, Eddie Rayner will be joining Finn on stage.
‘Eddie and I go back to obviously the Split Enz days, but we’ve done very little touring together since then; hardly ever.
‘We collaborated briefly on the ENZSO project he did with the New Zealand symphony orchestra, but otherwise, too long between drinks, really.’
Tim Finn’s National Anthology Tour is at the Quarry Amphitheatre on November 20, 21 and 22. Tickets available through BOCS www.bocsticketing.com.au
Amy Henderson
