Neil Finn - Acoustic Radio Sessions, Volume 3: 2002-2014

This is the third and final album I'm posting of Neil Finn's acoustic radio sessions. The title says 2002 to 2014, but note that all but the last song is from the 2002 to 2004 time frame.

Unfortunately, when I posted Volume 2 in this series, it got taken down to due a copyright issue. I have since restored that post without the download link... but you may find a useful link in the comments section there. We'll see if this lasts. I was surprised that one was taken down, because all but two of the performances were unreleased. For this one, all but three of the performances are unreleased. But I guess one never knows, so grab it while you can.

This comes from the same source of the kind person who sent me a bunch of Crowded House related music a few years ago. I'm sure Finn has continued to perform more for the radio, but this is all I have from that source. If I come across more, perhaps there could be a Volume 4 someday. If anyone has the material to help with that, please send it along.

As I mentioned above, only three songs here have been officially released. Those are tracks 1, 11, and 12. Track 11 ("Won't Give In (Acoustic Version)") was a B-side, while the other two are from various artists compilations. Most of the rest come from appearances on the radio shows "Morning Becomes Eclectic" and "World Cafe."

The vast majority of the songs are originals. But the last two are interesting cover versions of classic songs by Marvin Gaye and Bob Marley. "Persuasion" is actually sung by Richard Thompson, with Neil Finn and Tim Finn only playing guitar. The song was originally written by Thompson as an instrumental and included in a movie soundtrack in 1991. But Neil Finn liked the song, added lyrics to it, and included it in his 1993 album "Before and After." Since then, Thompson has performed the song a lot, and always sings the Finn lyrics, like he does here.

This album is 48 minutes long.

01 Private Universe (Neil Finn)
02 Faster than Light (Neil Finn)
03 Weather with You (Neil Finn)
04 Whaling (Neil Finn)
05 Secret God (Neil Finn)
06 The Climber (Neil Finn)
07 It's Only Natural (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn])
08 Persuasion (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn] & Richard Thompson)
09 Love Is All That Remains (Neil Finn)
10 Pineapple Head (Neil Finn)
11 Won't Give In [Acoustic Version] (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn])
12 Sexual Healing (Neil Finn)
13 Waiting in Vain (Neil Finn)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/cUvmyMU9

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/HzkcJgR8HAqaZg5/file

The cover photo is from a 2001 concert at the Palace Theatre (wherever that is).

Neil Finn - Acoustic Radio Sessions, Volume 2: 1999-2001

As I explained when I posted the first album in this series, a few years ago, a kind soul on the Internet contacted me and sent me a bunch of Crowded House and Neil Finn radio show recordings. I'm pretty sure these were recorded when they were broadcast by this person way back when, and they otherwise have disappeared. So these are pretty important. Unfortunately, I waited a few years to post all of this stuff (I just have so much to post that a lot slips through the cracks) and I've forgotten that person's name. But a big thanks just the same.

All but two of the songs here are unreleased. The two released one are tracks 2 and 3. Even those two are pretty rare. Track 2, a fun cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," comes from a various artists album collection "Andrew Denton's Musical Challenge." Track 3, "Throw Your Arms Around Me," is from the various artists collection called "KCRW Sounds Eclectic."

This album mostly consists of Crowded House done in acoustic format. It includes some well-known ones, including their biggest hit, "Don't Dream It's Over." There are some interesting other songs as well. For instance, "Message to My Girl" was originally done by Split Enz, the band Finn was in before he was in Crowded House.

This album is 47 minutes long.

01 Message to My Girl (Neil Finn)
02 Billie Jean (Neil Finn)
03 Throw Your Arms Around Me (Neil Finn)
04 Rest of the Day Off (Neil Finn)
05 Distant Sun (Neil Finn)
06 Turn and Run (Neil Finn)
07 Into the Sunset (Neil Finn)
08 Last Day of June (Neil Finn)
09 Wherever You Are (Neil Finn)
10 Last to Know (Neil Finn)
11 Fall at Your Feet (Neil Finn)
12 Anytime (Neil Finn)
13 Driving Me Mad (Neil Finn)
14 Don't Dream It's Over (Neil Finn)

NOTE: The link has been removed due to a copyright issue. However, take a look at the comments.

The cover photo is from a promotional photo shoot in 2001.

Neil Finn - Acoustic Radio Sessions, Volume 1: 1996-1999

At the end of last year (2023), I posted two albums consisting of unreleased acoustic radio sessions by the New Zealand/Australia band Crowded House. The material for these albums was given to me years ago by someone whose name I have unfortunately forgotten. At the same time, he provided me with material for three albums of acoustic radio sessions by Neil Finn, the main singer-songwriter for Crowded House. Here's the first of those three.

Just like the Crowded House material, this all has excellent sound quality, despite being totally unreleased. And also just like that material, this had fallen into total obscurity. I doubt any of this would survive to be shared on the Internet had it not been for that one fan recording it at the time and passing it on to me. So I wish to thank that person yet again.

Most of the songs here were originally done by Crowded House, which put on a final concert in 1996 (though they reunited years later). But there's a few cover songs rarely done by Finn elsewhere, such as "Southern Man" and "I Can See Clearly Now." Also, four of the songs here were performed by Neil Finn with his brother Tim Finn, another talented singer-songwriter and sometime member of Crowded House. Tim Finn was also the leader of Split Enz, a band in which Neil Finn was a member for most of their successful years. Split Enz had a big hit with the song "I Got You," written by both Finn brothers, and that song was performed here as well.

All the songs are from in-person radio station performances around the world. Only one, "12 Guitars," was done before an audience. A few were from BBC performances, but not enough for me to deem this a BBC album.

This album is 51 minutes long.

01 Better Be Home Soon (Neil Finn)
02 Angels Heap (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn])
03 Six Months in a Leaky Boat (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn])
04 Suffer Never (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn])
05 Weather with You (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn])
06 I Got You (Neil Finn)
07 Last One Standing (Neil Finn)
08 Southern Man (Neil Finn)
09 Try Whistling This (Neil Finn)
10 Falling Star (Neil Finn)
11 She Will Have Her Way (Neil Finn)
12 What I Get Paid For (Neil Finn)
13 King Tide (Neil Finn)
14 Only Talking Sense (Neil Finn)
15 12 Guitars (Neil Finn)
16 I Can See Clearly Now (Neil Finn)
17 Four Seasons in One Day (Neil Finn)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/1C9mtMtf

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/gUPm17IahWncrja/file

The cover photo is from the Concert for Linda McCartney at London's Royal Albert Hall in April 1999.

Crowded House - Acoustic Radio Sessions, Volume 2: 1991-1994

I recently posted "Acoustic Radio Sessions, Volume 1" by Crowded House, and this one picks up right where that one left off. Like that one, these are generally full band performances, but they're done with all acoustic instruments. And like that one, all the performances here are unreleased, and come from in-person radio station appearances.

The first three songs are from 1991, the next three are from 1993, and the rest are from 1994. That roughly corresponds to the time the band was together, until reunions over a decade later. The songs here go through April 1994, and that month is when drummer Paul Hester quit the band. They played some concerts after that, with a final concert in 1996, but they didn't put out any more studio albums. So between this volume and the previous one, pretty much all the best known songs from the band's first era are included.

The sound quality is generally excellent. Three of the songs, tracks 8, 9, and 10, were played in front of a small audience, but that didn't overlap the music much. In case you're curious about the BBC, like I am, tracks 4 through 8 were done for a BBC radio show.

Thanks again to the person who sent me all this music a while back. Sorry it took so long for me to get around to posting it.

This album is 44 minutes long.

01 World Where You Live (Crowded House)
02 Whole Lotta Love (Crowded House)
03 Four Seasons in One Day (Crowded House)
04 Locked Out (Crowded House)
05 Private Universe (Crowded House)
06 In My Command (Crowded House)
07 Nails in My Feet (Crowded House)
08 Distant Sun (Crowded House)
09 Pineapple Head (Crowded House)
10 Black and White Boy (Crowded House)
11 Fingers of Love (Crowded House)
12 Fall at Your Feet (Crowded House)
13 Catherine Wheels (Crowded House)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15945840/CrwdedHous_1991-1994_AcoustcRdioSessonsVolum2_atse.zip.html

I wanted to use a photo of Crowded House playing acoustic instruments from this era. I couldn't find a good one though, so I went with a publicity photo from 1991 instead.

Crowded House - Acoustic Radio Sessions, Volume 1: 1988-1991

Quite a while back, a very big Crowded House fan gave me a bunch of unreleased recordings from Crowded House and lead singer Neil Finn. Unfortunately, that was a couple of years ago at least, so I've forgotten the person's name. But if they're still around, they should step forward and take a bow, because I've searched the Internet and I haven't seen most of this material anywhere else. Thanks to this person, I'll be posting two Crowded House albums and three Neil Finn ones. They all consist of acoustic performances. 

This album is made up of acoustic radio sessions from 1988 to 1991. But just the first three songs are from 1988, and the rest are from 1991, with nothing in between. Eight of the 13 songs are from BBC studio sessions, but I've decided against calling this a BBC album, because most of the second album in this series is not from BBC sources, and what really unifies all the performances are the acoustic nature of the performances. Mind you, these are band performances, usually with bass and drums, but it's all done with acoustic instruments.

If you're a Crowded House fan, you're in for a treat. Typically, their albums had lush, full production. And that's fine, it usually worked for them, but it's nice to hear their songs done in a very different manner.

This album is 42 minutes long.

01 Sister Madly (Crowded House)
02 When You Come (Crowded House)
03 Better Be Home Soon (Crowded House)
04 Weather with You (Crowded House)
05 Chocolate Cake (Crowded House)
06 There Goes God (Crowded House)
07 It's Only Natural (Crowded House)
08 Don't Dream It's Over - All I Have to Do Is Dream (Crowded House)
09 Throw Your Arms Around Me (Crowded House)
10 Italian Plastic (Crowded House)
11 Into Temptation (Crowded House)
12 Fame Is (Crowded House)
13 Spellbound (Crowded House)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15941584/CrwdedHous_1988-1991_AcoustcRdioSessonsVolum1_atse.zip.html

The cover photo comes from Crowded House playing MTV Unplugged in Los Angeles in April 1990. It was the only photo I could find of them from that time period playing all acoustic instruments.

Neil Finn - Home Concerts 8, Los Angeles, CA, 5-12-2020 to 6-6-2020

Sadly, this is the eighth and last of my collections of home concert performances from Neil Finn of Crowded House (and, lately, Fleetwood Mac). 

As I mentioned in my last post about him, for the first two months or so of the coronavirus lockdown, mostly March and April of 2020, he played home concerts of about half an hour to an hour nearly every single day. But as you can see by the dates on this album, he began doing a lot fewer by May, and then stopped altogether in June. Since then, he hasn't done any more. Maybe that'll change, but for now this is the end of this series.

The material is the same as the rest of the series. It's a mix of originals and covers, mostly done totally solo by Finn. One song, "Find Your Way Back Home," is a brand new song. He recently released a full band version with Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac helping on vocals.

The covers are "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys, "Sexy Sadie" by the Beatles, "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor, and "Something" by the Beatles. "Something" actually was performed in late April 2020, but I missed including in on any earlier album. I had an alert commenter point it out to me recently, so I found it and included it here. I was tempted to redo one of the earlier albums with that one added in, but that album was long and it would have made it longer. This album is shorter than the others, so I just stuck it on the end here.

Three of the songs are repeats of songs on earlier albums in this series. Normally, I would skip the repeats, but I included them here because each of them were played on piano on these versions whereas the previous versions were acoustic guitar versions.

01 People Are like Suns [Piano Version] (Neil Finn)
02 More than One of You (Neil Finn)
03 Pour le Monde (Neil Finn)
04 Gentle Hum (Neil Finn)
05 Faster than Light (Neil Finn)
06 God Only Knows (Neil Finn)
07 Walking on the Spot [Piano Version] (Neil Finn)
08 Try Whistling This [Piano Version] (Neil Finn)
09 What's the Matter with You (Neil Finn)
10 Sexy Sadie (Neil Finn)
11 Fire and Rain (Neil Finn)
12 Find Your Way Back Home (Neil Finn)
13 Weather with You (Neil Finn)
14 I Feel Possessed (Neil Finn)
15 Something (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17363168/NEILFNN2020HmeConcrts08LsAnglesCA__5-12-2020_to_6-6-2020_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/UMs8Wk5n

The cover art photo comes from early 2020, just before the pandemic hit. In the photo, he actually was hugging people on each side, but I made some minor edits in Photoshop to make it look like it was just him.

Neil Finn - Home Concerts 7, Los Angeles, CA, 4-22-2020 to 4-27-2020

As a  reminder, Neil Finn is the main singer and songwriter for the band Crowded House, and now he's a part of Fleetwood Mac. For the first couple of months of the coronavirus pandemic, Finn was a home concert maniac. He played a home concert nearly every single day, and then made them available for free at his website: https://www.neilfinn.com/fangradio

I don't know what happened, but he began doing them less and less, and then seemingly stopped altogether. The last home concert he posted was in early June 2020. He mentioned working on a new album, so maybe that's still taking all his time.

I previously posted six albums of his home concert material. But I waited a long time before posting any more, because I wasn't sure how to organize it. If he did more home concerts, then I would have to shuffle things around. Since it's been so long since his last home concert, I'm going to post the rest of what I have. It happens to nicely fit on two albums. This one is 54 minutes long, and the one still to come is 45 minutes long.

As I've previously mentioned, Finn has played both acoustic and full band home concerts. I've focused entirely on the acoustic ones, because I find that more interesting. He also does a mix of originals from his Split Enz, Crowded House, and solo phases of his career, plus covers. This is more of that exact same good stuff.

The notable covers this time are "When Doves Cry" by Prince, "Here, There and Everywhere" by the Beatles, "Nobody's Fault but My Own" by Beck, "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke, and "Happy Together" by the Turtles. There are some other song snippets and repeats of songs he did in earlier home concerts and the like that I left out.

01 When Doves Cry (Neil Finn)
02 Fall at Your Feet (Neil Finn)
03 Here, There and Everywhere (Neil Finn)
04 Carried Away (Neil Finn)
05 True Colours (Neil Finn)
06 Pour le Monde (Neil Finn)
07 Nobody's Fault but My Own (Neil Finn)
08 Nobody Wants To (Neil Finn)
09 You Send Me (Neil Finn)
10 You Are the One to Make Me Cry (Neil Finn)
11 Happy Together (Neil Finn)
12 Lester (Neil Finn)
13 Pineapple Head (Neil Finn)
14 Distant Sun (Neil Finn)
15 Astro (Neil Finn)
16 Dirty Creature - You Sexy Thing (Neil Finn)
17 People Are like Suns (Neil Finn)
18 Recurring Dream (Neil Finn)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17363153/NEILFNN2020HmeConcrts07LsAnglesCA__4-22-2020_to_4-27-2020_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/A1PTb2jc

Finn posted a YouTube video of him playing the version of "When Doves Cry" that starts this album. So I took a screenshot from that video for the cover art photo.

Neil Finn - Home Concerts 6, Los Angeles, CA, 4-19-2020 to 4-21-2020

Here's the next in my series of home concert recordings by Neil Finn, formerly of Split Enz and Crowded House, and now a member of Fleetwood Mac. If you haven't given any of these a listen, you should. As I said before, I was only a mild fan of his earlier bands, but I've come to appreciate him as a major artist due to these recordings.

One again, this mostly consists of originals, with some covers added in. The covers are:

This Guy's in Love with You - Burt Bacharach / Herb Alpert
Wild World - Cat Stevens
Norwegian Wood - Beatles
I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash
Irish Heartbeat - Van Morrison
To Love Somebody - Bee Gees

As usual, I'm not including his versions of songs he wrote and sang in his earlier bands as covers. But I suppose one might consider his version of a song like "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" a cover, since that Split Enz hit was actually written by his brother Tim Finn.

I had to make some edits on some songs. As with the rest of his home recordings, he's taking a winging it without a safety net approach, which means he makes mistakes sometimes. For instance, with the song "Edible Flowers," halfway through the song, he got a phone call from his Fleetwood Mac band mate Mick Fleetwood. So he stopped the song, took the call, and talked to him for a while (and kept the recording going). When the call ended, he resumed the song more or less where he'd stopped. I patched it up to make it one whole performance.

Or as another example, there are some tricky guitar riffs in the middle of the song "Nails in My Feet." He messed up the first two, then apologized while he kept playing, and finally got the third one right. I fixed his errors and removed the apology. The way I figure, it might be charming to hear the mistakes once or twice, but if I'm going to listen to this album lots of times, I don't want jarring mistakes.

By the way, I hope you especially appreciate the work I put into making this album, because I had to do it twice! I did it once, and then realize I'd had the wrong setting in my sound editing program, so all the songs had been recorded in mono. I had to download everything and do it all over from scratch to have it in stereo. Ugh!

01 This Guy's in Love with You (Neil Finn)
02 Lost Island (Neil Finn)
03 Wild World (Neil Finn) (Neil Finn)
04 Back to Life (Neil Finn & Liam Finn)
05 Won't Give In (Neil Finn & Liam Finn)
06 Norwegian Wood (Neil Finn)
07 Paradise [Edit] (Neil Finn)
08 Walking on the Spot (Neil Finn)
09 Poor Boy (Neil Finn)
10 Six Months in a Leaky Boat (Neil Finn)
11 Edible Flowers [Edit] (Neil Finn)
12 In the Lowlands (Neil Finn)
13 Anything Can Happen (Neil Finn)
14 Nails in My Feet (Neil Finn)
15 I Can See Clearly Now (Neil Finn)
16 Irish Heartbeat (Neil Finn)
17 To Love Somebody (Neil Finn)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17363152/NEILFNN2020HmeConcrts06LsAnglesCA__4-19-2020_to_4-21-2020_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/p8foyPKv

The cover art is another screenshot from one of the few videos he's released on him playing songs during the coronavirus lockdown.

Neil Finn - Home Concerts 5, Los Angeles, CA, 4-12-2020 to 4-15-2020

This is the fifth album of Neil Finn's home concerts I've posted here.

Compared to his other home concert albums I've posted, there are relatively few cover versions this time. This one has "Everybody's Talkin'" by Fred Neil / Harry Nilsson, "Man of the World" by Fleetwood Mac, and "Lola" by the Kinks. "Lola" is performed by both Neil Finn and Jimmy Barnes. (Barnes is a huge musical star in Australia, but has only had one hit in the US, the song "Good Times" done with INXS.) Barnes sent his contribution remotely, since he was doing his lockdown somewhere else. There also are versions of Split Enz and Crowded House songs like "Sweet Dreams" and "Four Seasons in One Day."

In terms of sound quality and length, it's basically the same as all the previous albums in this series. If you like those, you'll like this one too. By the way, note that some of the songs chosen are especially fitting for the coronavirus crisis, such as "Recluse" and "Isolation."

01 Sweet Dreams (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)
02 English Trees (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)
03 Wherever You Are (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)
04 Four Seasons in One Day (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)
05 Recluse (Neil Finn)
06 Everybody's Talkin' (Neil Finn)
07 Divebomber (Neil Finn)
08 There Goes God (Neil Finn)
09 Man of the World (Neil Finn)
10 The Devil You Know (Neil Finn)
11 Isolation (Neil Finn)
12 Never Be the Same (Neil Finn)
13 Last Day of June (Neil Finn)
14 Only Talking Sense (Neil Finn)
15 Lola (Neil Finn & Jimmy Barnes)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17363161/NEILFNN2020HmeConcrts05LsAnglesCA__4-12-2020_to_4-15-2020_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Ff8bEWzs

 The cover art is a photo of Finn at home during the lockdown, playing a piano. It's not the greatest picture, but I figure it's something different instead of having him holding a guitar in the other photos in this album series.

Neil Finn - Home Concerts 4, Los Angeles, CA, 4-8-2020 to 4-10-2020

Here's the fourth album in my series of Neil Finn's home concerts. He's been on hiatus from doing his daily concerts for the last week or so, which gives me a chance to catch up a bit. (I hope he hasn't stopped his home concerts for good!)

I think this is one of the strongest albums in the series. It has a great selection of songs, both in terms of originals and covers. The YouTube video of his cover of David Bowie's "Heroes" has gone viral to a certain degree. And he does some of the best and biggest Crowded House hits, such as "Fall at Your Feet" and "Something So Strong."

It also is unusual in that most of the songs have lovely vocal harmonies added to them. This is comprised of three home concerts in roughly equal measure. For the first one, Neil Finn went back over the recording before publicly releasing it and added harmonies to his own vocals. So those songs are sung by Neil Finn and Neil Finn. ;) The second concert is just him by himself. But for the third concert, his son Elroy joined in nicely on backing vocals.

Here are the original artists for each of the cover songs:

In My Room - Beach Boys
Coming into Los Angeles - Arlo Guthrie
Heroes - David Bowie
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away - Beatles
Not Fade Away - Buddy Holly
I'll Follow the Sun - Beatles

I edited "Not Fade Away" because Finn started the song in one key, sang a little bit, decided it was too high for his voice, and switched keys without stopping the song. So I edited out the beginning bit in the different key. I also edited out his comment "That's better" shortly after changing keys.

01 In My Room (Neil Finn)
02 Anyone Can Tell (Neil Finn)
03 Fall at Your Feet (Neil Finn)
04 Love Is All that Remains (Neil Finn)
05 Something So Strong (Neil Finn)
06 Fingers of Love (Neil Finn)
07 Coming into Los Angeles (Neil Finn)
08 Heroes (Neil Finn)
09 You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (Neil Finn)
10 Not Fade Away [Edit] (Neil Finn)
11 Private Universe (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)
12 Silent House (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)
13 Love This Life (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)
14 Independence Day (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)
15 I'll Follow the Sun (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17363160/NEILFNN2020HmeConcrts04LsAnglesCA__4-8-2020_to_4-10-2020_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/yn2ybiYq

The cover art is a screenshot from one of his recent home concerts, though I'm not sure which one.

Neil Finn - Home Concerts 3, Los Angeles, CA, 4-5-2020 to 4-7-2020

Neil Finn of Crowded House (and lately, Fleetwood Mac) has been so prolific with his home concerts in recent weeks that I'm going to need to post more from him just to keep up. So here's the third album compiling his daily home concerts.

But before I go any further, I need to address the elephant in Neil Finn's room. Are you familiar with the New Zealand TV sitcom "Flight of the Conchords?" It's very funny; I highly recommend it. Anyway, the musical duo starring in that show have a bumbling, meek manager named Murray, played by Rhys Darby. I swear, Neil Finn sounds EXACTLY like Murray! I'm only including Finn's songs and not his talking between songs, so you probably can't tell, but trust me on this. I even lived in New Zealand for a year, so I know it's not just the general Kiwi accent. Anyway, I just had to get that off my chest. Every time I listen to his home concerts and hear him talking, I have to laugh because I think it's Murray talking.

As far as this album goes, it's more of the same good stuff. Here are the cover versions he does:

Sweet Baby James - James Taylor
There Is a Light that Never Goes Out - Smiths
Homeward Bound - Simon & Garfunkel
Will You Love Me Tomorrow - Carole King / Shirelles
Throw Your Arms Around Me - Hunters and Collectors
Changes - David Bowie

That's not including songs from Finn's earlier bands, such as "Four Seasons in One Day," a Crowded House hit.

01 As Sure as I Am (Neil Finn)
02 Time Immemorial (Neil Finn)
03 Golden Child (Neil Finn with Sharon Finn)
04 Sweet Baby James (Neil Finn)
05 Four Seasons in One Day (Neil Finn)
06 Spirit of the Stairs (Neil Finn)
07 There Is a Light that Never Goes Out (Neil Finn with Johnny Marr)
08 Whispers and Moans (Neil Finn)
09 Love Is Emotional (Neil Finn)
10 Homeward Bound (Neil Finn)
11 Will You Love Me Tomorrow (Neil Finn)
12 Throw Your Arms Around Me (Neil Finn)
13 Won’t Give In (Neil Finn)
14 Log Cabin Fever (Neil Finn)
15 Changes (Neil Finn)
16 She Goes On (Neil Finn)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17363157/NEILFNN2020HmeConcrts03LsAnglesCA__4-5-2020_to_4-7-2020_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/txAqT8pn

For the album cover art, I decided it would be nice to have a close-up photo of Finn's head. I couldn't find any really good recent ones, so this one is from about five years ago. But he looks pretty much exactly the same now, except for whiter hair.

Neil Finn - Home Concerts 2, Los Angeles, CA, 3-29-2020 to 4-4-2020

Here's another collection of Neil Finn home concerts. This is one of my favorites. I think it's an especially interesting one because a majority of the songs he plays are cover versions.

These are the cover versions he does this time:

Quicksand - David Bowie
After the Gold Rush - Neil Young
Love Song - Lesley Duncan / Elton John
Across the Universe - Beatles
Soul Love - David Bowie
Ashes to Ashes - David Bowie
Here Comes the Sun - Beatles

Note that he did no less than three David Bowie covers! So far, he's done a lot of nice Bowie covers, including one of "Heroes" that has been getting some traction on YouTube, with half a million views so far. I'll include that in a later album in this series. The version of "Ashes to Ashes" here is especially interesting, because it's not usually done in a solo acoustic format.

By the way, sometimes he's messed up playing these songs, since he's usually winging it. For instance, he messed up badly on Quicksand and stopped in the middle of the song. But I managed to edit out his main flub, so the pause is gone. But he also hits a few wrong chords here and there, or forgets a few words, or the like. I don't mind though, and you shouldn't either, because he's taking a lot of risks, and the result is a bunch of new music nearly every single day. As I mentioned in my last blog post on him, if he really messes up badly, he stops playing the song altogether and then almost always gives it another go on the next day, in which he gets it right. I'm not including the flubbed versions.

This concert is 49 minutes long. 

 01 She Will Have Her Way (Neil Finn)
02 Quicksand (Neil Finn)
03 After the Gold Rush (Neil Finn)
04 Love Song (Neil Finn)
05 Across the Universe (Neil Finn)
06 Message to My Girl (Neil Finn)
07 The Climber (Neil Finn)
08 Soul Love (Neil Finn)
09 Into the Sunset (Neil Finn)
10 Elephants (Neil Finn)
11 Last to Know (Neil Finn)
12 Ashes to Ashes (Neil Finn)
13 Here Comes the Sun (Neil Finn)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17363159/NEILFNN2020HmeConcrts02LsAnglesCA__3-29-2020_to_4-4-2020_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/X4rBHbCy

The cover art is a screenshot taken from one of the few YouTube videos he's made from his home concerts series. This one comes from his "Heroes" video.

Neil Finn - Home Concerts 1, Los Angeles, CA, 3-18-2020 to 3-26-2020

Boy, has Neil Finn gone all in with the coronavirus home concert trend! If you don't know who he is already, Finn has been the main singer and songwriter for Split Enz and Crowded House, and has done a lot as a solo artist as well. Recently (as I write this in late 2020), he's joined Fleetwood Mac. Some artists have played a few songs or done a home concert or two since the worldwide virus lockdown began. But not Finn. Starting on March 18, 2020, he's played a home concert nearly every single day! As I write this, he's done 35 home concerts since then, with no sign of stopping or slowing down. So this is the first of many home concert albums I'll be posting from him, because it's very good stuff.

I should mention that I haven't really been that big of a Split Enz or Crowded House fan. I like a lot of their songs, but I'd put them in more of a "greatest hits" category. One big issue I had was with the production. It's not bad on any given song, but they tend to all sound too similar to each other. But I have to say that since I've been listening to Finn's home concerts, I've reassessed his career. Maybe it's just that he's been playing his songs in solo acoustic format for the home concerts. I love that format, and it removes the production issues I had. But hearing him this way made me realize what a very talented singer and songwriter he is. I hope you'll check this out even if you're like me and not a really big fan to begin with.

Since the virus outbreak began, Finn has been holed up in Los Angeles with his family. And I mention the family part because his sons Liam and Elroy are professional musicians and sometimes join in his home concerts. His wife Sharon occasionally joins in on background vocals as well, and she's definitely a capable singer. Most days, Finn has done the home concerts in solo acoustic format, with the occasional guest appearance by one of his sons or his wife. Some days, he and his sons make up a rock trio. I haven't included any of those recordings, because the full band sound (with a full drum kit) is very different from the acoustic recordings. If you want to hear those too, I recommend you check out his webpage of recordings:

https://www.neilfinn.com/fangradio

Since he's begun, on a typical day, Finn records shows that are roughly an hour long. But a good chunk of that - maybe half - is him talking between songs. It's often interesting, but I haven't included any of the talking because I don't think it stands up to repeat listening. If you want to hear all that, check out the link above. He also often acts kind of like a DJ, ending the show with a selection of his favorite recordings by others. I haven't included any of that either.

Also, if he plays the same song twice on different days, I'm only including one version. He does that every now and then, especially for his best known songs like "Don't Dream It's Over" or "Something So Strong." Furthermore, given that he's recording so much music every day, a good portion of it is off the cuff. He tries out a song, and sometimes it works, but other times it falls flat. Occasionally, he might even give up on a song before it ends. In cases where I judge the song didn't work well, I'm not including it. Happily though, whenever he flubs a song, he usually comes back to it on a later date and gets it right.

If one boils his daily broadcasts down to just the unique, quality solo acoustic performances, one gets maybe 15 to 20 minutes of music per day, though that can vary a lot. So rather than post a bunch of mini-concerts, I'm packaging the daily concerts together until I have enough for an album that's between 45 minutes and an hour in length. This is the first one, but I already have five more ready to go, and he keeps coming out with more nearly every single damn day! What he's doing really is remarkable. I haven't heard of any other musicians being nearly this prolific with their home concerts. (If you know of someone, please let me know.)

Getting to the music. he typically performs a mix of his older Split Enz and Crowded House songs, his later solo career songs, and some cover versions. This particular album has fewer covers than usual. He does "Catch the Wind" by Donovan, "Moon River" by Henry Mancini, and "Julia" by the Beatles.

The sound quality of his home recordings is generally excellent. However, there is a partial exception with this album. Since it includes his first 2020 home concerts, I think he was still working out the kinks in terms of how to best record the music. For some of the songs, he went way into the red on the loudest sections, resulting in a very bad sound for those parts. Luckily, most of the songs here weren't afflicted with this problem at all. For most of them that were, he happened to play them again later, so I've included those versions on future albums in this series instead.

The only ones that really got hit with this problem were "Distant Sun" and "When You Come." So I've included those two as bonus tracks only. Given how he occasionally plays his most famous songs more than once, I'm hopeful he'll do those again, especially "Distant Sun," which is one of his best known songs. If he does, I'll remove these bonus tracks.

In conclusion, if you're already a fan of Finn's music, you should really enjoy this. But if you only know and like the big Split Enz and Crowded House hits, I still recommend you check this out. Hopefully, like me, you'll be seriously impressed with his talent.

01 Don't Dream It's Over (Neil Finn)
02 Better Be Home Soon (Neil Finn)
03 Rest of the Day Off (Neil Finn)
04 Catch the Wind (Neil Finn)
05 Moon River (Neil Finn)
06 Not the Girl You Think You Are (Neil Finn)
07 Missing Person (Neil Finn)
08 I Can’t Give You Anything but Love (Neil Finn)
09 Love This Life (Neil Finn)
10 Lost Island (Neil Finn)
11 Julia (Neil Finn)
12 Catherine Wheels (Neil Finn)
13 Either Side of the World [Edit] (Neil Finn)
14 Dizzy Heights (Neil Finn)
15 Try Whistling This (Neil Finn)
16 Italian Plastic (Neil Finn)
17 Anytime (Neil Finn)

Distant Sun (Neil Finn)
When You Come (Neil Finn)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17363162/NEILFNN2020HmeConcrts01LsAnglesCA__3-18-2020_to_3-26-2020_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/dxqJDuzb

The cover art photo seems to be Finn's favorite photo for his home concerts. He has it at the top of his webpage (which I linked to above), and on his Facebook account, and so forth. I don't know when or where it was taken, but I figure it makes sense to use it to start this series. The only problem I had was that it was black and white, and I generally dislike those. So I colorized it.