| Mental Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Split Enz | ||||
| Released |
31 July 1975 (Australia) 7 August 1975 (New Zealand) |
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| Recorded | May – June 1975 | |||
| Genre | Art rock, progressive rock | |||
| Length | 44:17 | |||
| Label |
Mushroom Records (Australia) White Cloud Records (New Zealand) |
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| Producer | David Russell, Split Enz | |||
| Split Enz chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
Mental Notes is the 1975 debut album by New Zealand art rock band Split Enz. The album cover was painted by band member Phil Judd. Original vinyl copies featured Phil saying "Make a mental note" in the runout groove of the record's second side, causing the phrase to be looped ad infinitum until the needle was removed from it.
Contents |
| Side one | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Walking Down a Road *" | Tim Finn, Phil Judd | 5:26 | ||||||
| 2. | "Under the Wheel" | Tim Finn, Phil Judd | 7:50 | ||||||
| 3. | "Amy (Darling)" | Tim Finn, Phil Judd | 5:18 | ||||||
| 4. | "So Long for Now" | Tim Finn, Phil Judd | 3:19 | ||||||
| Side two | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Stranger Than Fiction *" | Tim Finn, Phil Judd | 6:58 | ||||||
| 2. | "Time for a Change *" | Phil Judd | 3:46 | ||||||
| 3. | "Maybe" | Tim Finn, Phil Judd | 2:59 | ||||||
| 4. | "Titus *" | Phil Judd | 3:02 | ||||||
| 5. | "Spellbound †" | Tim Finn, Phil Judd | 5:00 | ||||||
| 6. | "Mental Notes" | Phil Judd | 0:34 | ||||||
* These songs were re-recorded for the Second Thoughts album.
† This version has Phil Judd singing lead vocals. An earlier version (found on The Beginning of the Enz) recorded in 1974 has Tim Finn singing lead.
The album was a moderate success on its release in July 1975. It sold 12,000 copies in Australia, reached #35 on the album chart for one week, and peaked at #7 in New Zealand. Much of the material derived from Tim Finn's and Phil Judd's fascination with the work of the renowned English writer and artist Mervyn Peake – notably Spellbound, the epic track Stranger Than Fiction (their concert centrepiece) andTitus, named after the hero of Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. [2]