Big Canoe
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| Review scores |
| Source |
Rating |
| Allmusic |
[1] |
Big Canoe is the 1986 solo album released by former Split Enz frontman Tim Finn. Finn had won Australasian success with his debut solo album, Escapade in 1983, while still a member of his longtime band Split Enz. Finn left the band permanently in June 1984, to focus on a solo career, and the following year moved to London and began working on Big Canoe. The album utilised a wide variety of instrumentation, including guitars, orchestral backings and traditional Indian instruments - notably on the ambitious single No Thunder, No Fire, No Rain, which was inspired by the Bhopal chemical disaster. Though Big Canoe reached number three on the New Zealand charts, it failed to become the international breakthrough that Finn or record company Virgin had hoped.
Finn worked on lyrics for the album with British writer Jeremy Brock. Big Canoe also marked the first time Finn had worked with Split Enz co-founder Phil Judd since Judd left the band in 1978. In interviews Tim said that the idea was that he and Judd intending on writing together again, trying to recapture the magic of early Split Enz. Instead a lot of drinking happened, but Phil was still commissioned to play guitar.
Track listing
LP Listing
- All tracks by Tim Finn & Jeremy Brock unless noted
- "Spiritual Hunger"
- "Don't Bury My Heart"
- "Timmy"
- "So Deep"
- "No Thunder, No Fire, No Rain"
- "Carve You In Marble" - T.Finn
- "Water Into Wine"
- "Hyacinth"
- "Big Canoe"
- "Are We One Or Are We Two" - T.Finn
CD Listing
All tracks by Tim Finn & Jeremy Brock unless noted
- Spiritual Hunger
- Don't Bury My Heart
- Timmy
- So Deep
- No Thunder, No Fire, No Rain
- Searching The Streets
- Carve You In Marble - T.Finn
- Water Into Wine
- Hyacinth
- Big Canoe
- Hole In My Heart - T.Finn
- Are We One Or Are We Two - T.Finn
- The introduction track "Spiritual Hunger" began life as a Split Enz demo called "Mr Catalyst"
Chart Performance
| Chart (1986) |
Peak position |
| Australia[2] |
#31 |
| New Zealand[3] |
#3 |
Personnel
- Tim Finn - vocals, keyboards & Piano
- Geoff Dugmore - drums, percussion and the occasional scream
- Steve Greetham - Bass
- Jon McLoughlin - Guitars (One Red, One White)
- Phil Judd - Sitar/Guitar on Hyacinth, Extra Rhythm Guitar on Water Into Wine, Intro Composition, Solo & Guitar Synth on Spiritual Hunger, Brass arrangements in So Deep plus contributions to Nick's footwear
- Norma Lewis - Backing vocals
- Wendy Harris - Backing vocals
Additional personnel
- Mark McGann - Backing vocals on Hyacinth
- Paul Wickens - Keyboards
- Danny Schogger - Keyboards
- Anne Dudley - String Arrangements
- Skaila Kanga - Harp on Hyacinth
- Pandit Dinesh - Tabla & Indian Percussion on No Thunder, No Fire, No Rain
- Danny Cummings - Congas on Searching The Streets
- Gary Barnacle - Electric Sax & Solos
- Luke Tunney - Trumpet
- Simon Gardner - Trumpet
- Pete Toms - Trombone
- All songs arranged by Tim & Nick, with help from the band.
References