Enzology

Tim Finn makes a solo album and has a giant hit; Split Enz begins to fall apart; the robots take over, and the American label gets all the fax... and they're not impressed.Songs in this programme include 'Fraction Too Much Friction', 'Strait Old Line', 'Message To My Girl', 'Kia Kaha' and rare recordings of 'My Darkest Day', 'Merry Christmas to the Frenz of the Enz' and others.Album Trivia: Conflicting EmotionsIn NZ, the initial copies of the Conflicting Emotions LP included a bonus 12" single of non-album cuts 'Kia Kaha' and 'Parasite'. These tracks were also issued as B-sides on the 'Strait Old Line' and 'Message To My Girl' singles.Phil Judd painted the front cover for Conflicting Emotions, as he'd done for the first album, Mental Notes.Noel Crombie painted the back cover.The 'Strait Old Line' video is one of Nigel Griggs's favourite Split Enz clips. To film the slow motion effect in time with the music, the band had to mime with their instruments at double speed. Hard to do without cracking up.The video of 'Message To My Girl' was shot in two continuous takes, with the one and only edit obscured halfway through. New drummer Paul Hester appears in the video. Neil Finn remembers Nigel suggesting the song be called I Love You.A verse was removed from the recording of 'Our Day' before the album was released, but after the lyric sheet was printed. This trips up many fans who like to sing along.The arrangement of 'Conflicting Emotions' was influenced by a nightmare Eddie had. The whole song was recorded in five hours with a live vocal by Tim.'Bon Voyage', credited to Tim, was partially composed by Eddie Rayner.'When the Spirit Moves Us', one of Tim's songs, was given a run through by the band but was rejected from the album's final line-up. It's similar in style to the tracks on his Escapade solo album.When the album was being mixed in Sydney, Neil flew back to Melbourne every night for three or four nights in a row. On one of those nights, September 24th, Liam Finn was born.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Tim Finn has a nervous breakdown and he's not alone; Split Enz record perhaps their best album; and 'Leaky Boat' is scuppered in the UK.Songs in this programme include 'Remember When', 'Dirty Creature', 'Six Months In a Leaky Boat', 'Take a Walk' plus demos of 'Something To Do', 'Giant Heartbeat' and other rarities.Album Trivia: Time and Tide'Six Months In a Leaky Boat', the first single released from the album in the UK, was sent to radio stations on record and, unusually, video.In NZ, the third single released from Time and Tide was 'Hello Sandy Allen'. In Australia, 'Never Ceases To Amaze Me' was issued instead. The video for 'Never Ceases...', shot in a zoo and featuring Tim Finn with an extreme afro-hairdo, is now considered so embarrassing by the band that it was left off the recent Split Enz DVD. Neil has called the song itself "naff" and "twee to the extreme".'Fire Drill' was recorded during the Time and Tide sessions, but was left off the album and became a B-side. The song opened many of the band's 1982 live shows and included an instrumental section previously used in the unreleased songs 'Murder' and 'Outer Mongolia'.Eddie Rayner began composing Pioneer back in 1975.'Giant Heartbeat', composed by Neil Finn and Nigel Griggs, was initially called 'Look-alike'. The instrumental break was recycled from a rejected Neil and Tim song, 'Silent But Deadly', cited by Neil as the worst he's ever written!In 'Haul Away', after Tim sings "Ambition has lost me friends and time", a few seconds of the 1973 recording 'Split Ends' can be heard: "Telling them all about Split Ends".The final line of 'Haul Away' was inspired by 5-year-old Sean Lennon's 'A Story' on Yoko Ono's 1981 album Season of Glass.'Log Cabin Fever' was partly inspired by the movie The Shining.Some UK copies of Time and Tide included a bonus LP of the remixed Frenzy.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The band sell out London's Hammersmith Odeon, sack their drummer and hand the kit to their costume designer. A gun to the head and a chair to the ceiling. Canada loves them, America misses the boat, hotels lock the windows.Songs in this programme include 'Iris', 'What's the Matter With You', 'Walking Through The Ruins', 'Lost For Words' plus demos of 'Sooner The Better', 'One Step Ahead' and other rarities.Album Trivia: WaiataNoel Crombie initially designed the album cover to be cut in the shape of a shield.The back cover credits thank Wayne again (as in Wayne Kerr). See album trivia notes for True Colours.​Waiata was recorded on a 48 track machine, rather than the standard 24 track.Producer David Tickle had a pet rock.Tim Finn, on 'Ghost Girl': "I was inspired to write this by a couple of girls that we met in Christchurch in New Zealand who had very pale faces and didn't say very much. They dressed well and just had an air of mystery about them and an air of decadence."'Ships' was originally called 'Up To The Nines'. Eddie Rayner sings background vocals on his mostly instrumental 'Wail', with a strained neck and bulging veins, according to Neil.Neil Finn's guitar bridge in 'History Never Repeats' first appeared in 'Bergen Aan Zee', a Split Ends song written by Phil Judd in 1978 which the band played live in concert but never recorded in the studio.Noel Crombie helped out with some lyrics for 'One Step Ahead' when Neil became stuck. One or two lines of his remain in the finished song.'Clumsy' was first called 'Cheated'. In rehearsals for 'Clumsy', Eddie experimented with the intro to the song, at one point adding a circus-type piano sequence.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The band base themselves in Australia again and nearly break up due to bad debts. A successful tour re-balances the books, as does the huge radio hit 'I Got You' and album True Colours. The Enz simultaneously hit the charts in the UK and US and begin recording the follow-up album, Waiata.Songs in this episode include 'I Got You', 'Poor Boy', 'Hard Act To Follow', 'History Never Repeats' plus rare demos of 'I Hope I Never', 'Shark Attack' and other rarities.Album Trivia: True ColoursOn the back cover of the LP, a credit says "No thanks to Wayne." At parties and record company dos, "Is Wayne coming?" was code for "Let's get this person out of here, he's a dickhead."Split Enz were the first Australasian band to release a full-length home video cassette. Split Enz Live In Concert was videotaped in January 1980. The rare Enz song 'Outer Mongolia' was performed but wasn't included on the video. The Beta and VHS videos are next to impossible to find nowadays.For the A&M release of True Colours, geometric patterns were finely etched onto the surface of the vinyl. These shapes would be projected around the room when a light was shone on the spinning record. Laser-etching was initially developed to stop counterfeiting.The U.S. edition of the LP swapped the first two tracks around. 'I Got You was the hit of the day, so the record company insisted that it begin the album.'Missing Person' was originally considered by the band to be top-of-the-A-list single material. 'I Got You' was on the B list. Nigel: "We never had a clue 'til we finished the record."'I Hope I Never' was remixed for its Australian single release and featured more prominent percussion.'Poor Boy', 'Nobody Takes Me Seriously' and 'What's the Matter With You?' were released as singles in the Northern hemisphere, but not in Australia and New Zealand.Eddie Rayner's synth melody at the ending of 'I Wouldn't Dream Of It' was borrowed from the early Split Enz instrumental called 'The Instrumental'.Neil Finn on True Colours: "We went through a period where we shunned it 'cause it was so successful. We were sick of playing it. But it's a fantastic record. Lean and tight, energetic and up. Good songwriting and I love the sound of it now. I don't know if anyone else feels the same way about True Colours. There's a tendency for bands to turn on the record that makes you successful and regard it as a curse, but now I think it was a blessing in every respect."Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details