Woodface

Woodface
Studio album by Crowded House
Released	2 July 1991
Recorded	1989 - 1991, A&M Studios, Los Angeles Periscope Studio, Melbourne Ocean Way Studios, Los Angeles Platinum Studios, Melbourne
Genre	Rock, pop rock, alternative rock
Length	48:11
Label	Capitol
Producer	Mitchell Froom, Neil Finn
Crowded House chronology
Temple of Low Men (1988) Woodface (1991) Together Alone (1993)
Singles from Woodface
"Chocolate Cake" Released: 1991 (1991) "Fall at Your Feet" Released: 1991 (1991) "Weather with You" Released: 1992 (1992) "Four Seasons in One Day" Released: 1992 (1992) "It's Only Natural" Released: 1992 (1992)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Insider's Guides	link
Q	[1]

Woodface is the third studio album by the band Crowded House. The album was produced by Mitchell Froom and released by Capitol in July 1991. It features five singles "Chocolate Cake", "Fall at Your Feet", "Weather with You", "Four Seasons in One Day", and "It's Only Natural".^[2] Woodface was a major hit in Australia^[3] and New Zealand^[4] as well as giving the band their first top ten hit album in the UK.^[5] It was listed at No. 3 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums, in October 2010.^[6]

Background

During a break from Crowded House following the Canadian leg of the tour in support of their second album, Temple of Low Men, band-leader Neil Finn began recording songs with his older brother and former Split Enz band mate Tim Finn. These songs were originally intended for a Finn Brothers album. Once these sessions were complete, Neil teamed back up with Nick Seymour and Paul Hester to write and record Crowded House's third album. Capitol Records rejected most of the new Crowded House songs, so Neil asked Tim if the band could use some of the new Finn Brothers songs. Tim agreed, on condition that he would join the band, although he has since indicated he meant this as a joke. Whatever the truth of that claim, the group that returned to the studio included Tim as a full band member.^[7]

The album was titled Woodface and was released in July 1991. It was co-produced by Mitchell Froom and Neil Finn, and mixed by Bob Clearmountain. Eight tracks were co-written by Neil and Tim Finn and mainly feature the brothers harmonising on lead vocals, although Neil takes the lead on "Four Seasons In One Day" and Tim sings "All I Ask", which later featured in AIDS awareness commercials in Australia.^[7] Five other tracks were solo compositions by Neil Finn and the remaining two were written by Paul Hester, including "I'm Still Here", a hidden track. Former Beach Boys drummer Ricky Fataar is credited on three of the Finn Brothers songs, "All I Ask", "There Goes God" and "Weather With You".

During the UK leg of the Woodface tour, Tim left the band.^[8] Multi-instrumentalist Mark Hart, who had played some keyboards on Woodface, was recruited to replace Tim for the remaining dates. The final date of this tour at The Town & Country Club in London was recorded and given a limited release in Australia, while individual tracks were used as B-sides for the album's singles in other countries.^[9]

Personnel

Crowded House

• Neil Finn – guitar, vocals, keyboards
• Tim Finn – piano, guitar, vocals
• Paul Hester – drums, vocals, keyboards, percussion
• Nick Seymour – bass guitar, vocals

Additional musicians

Album credits

Track listing

All songs written by Neil Finn and Tim Finn, except where indicated.

1. "Chocolate Cake" – 4:02
2. "It's Only Natural" – 3:32
3. "Fall at Your Feet" (N. Finn) – 3:18
4. "Tall Trees" – 2:19
5. "Weather with You" – 3:44
6. "Whispers and Moans" (N. Finn) – 3:39
7. "Four Seasons in One Day" – 2:50
8. "There Goes God" – 3:50
9. "Fame Is" (N. Finn) – 2:23
10. "All I Ask" – 3:55
11. "As Sure as I Am" (N. Finn) – 2:53
12. "Italian Plastic" (Paul Hester) – 3:39
13. "She Goes On" (N. Finn) – 3:15
14. "How Will You Go" – 3:07 / "I'm Still Here" (Hester) – 1:07

"I'm Still Here" follows "How Will You Go" in track 14 as a hidden track at 3:37 after 30 seconds silence.

The following songs were recorded by Crowded House for Woodface before Tim Finn became involved but were not included on the album. Seven appeared on the 1999 rarities collection Afterglow. "Fields Are Full of Your Kind" remains unreleased and "My Legs Are Gone" features on the fanclub only disc "I Like It Rare".

• "Anyone Can Tell"
• "Left Hand"
• "Dr. Livingstone"
• "Sacred Cow"
• "I Love You Dawn"
• "My Telly's Gone Bung"
• "Time Immemorial"
• "Fields Are Full of Your Kind"
• "My Legs Are Gone"

Chart performance

Album

Sales of Woodface indicated that Crowded House remained hugely popular in Australasia.^[3][4] Their continued diminishing success in the US^[10] was countered by increased sales in Europe where the album reached several national charts, including a top 10 hit in the UK.^[5] The album was certified platinum in Australia (x2), New Zealand (x4), Canada^[11] and the UK.^[12]

Singles

The first single, "Chocolate Cake", was a humorous comment on American excess, which perhaps unsurprisingly failed to make the US Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. It did, however, peak at #2 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart.^[18] Although the second single, "Fall at Your Feet", entered the lower reaches of the Hot 100^[19] and "It's Only Natural" peaked at #5 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart,^[18] the poor performance of the singles from Woodface in the US reflected the band's declining popularity there. Outside the US, the singles from Woodface were more successful, especially in Canada, the UK,^[5] Australia,^[3] New Zealand^[4] and the Netherlands,^[20] where all five singles from the album charted.

Further reading

• Bourke, Chris (1997). Crowded House: Something So Strong. South Melbourne, Victoria: Macmillan. ISBN 0-7329-0886-8. 
• McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Entry for Crowded House". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. 

Notes and references

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crowded House.

• Crowded House official website