Album review: Crowded House's 'Intriguer'

What purpose does it serve to resurrect a band when all the original members aren't around for the reunion? That's the question raised by Crowded House, the ridiculously infectious New Zealand pop-rock band that released a handful of albums in the ‘80s and ‘90s then disbanded several years before the 2005 suicide of drummer Paul Hester.

Their second collection since coming back together out of solace following that loss makes it clear that to group leader Neil Finn, there's still musical business to finish for this band, in which former adjunct keyboardist Mark Hart has been made a full-fledged member and Matt Sherrod has taken over behind the drums.

Finn's facility with Lennon-McCartney-inspired song craft has typically been instantly engaging; the difference here is that the lyrics are consistently more impressionistic than during the first go-round, and the loveliness of the music sometimes requires a few listens to reveal itself.

“Saturday Sun” and “Archers Arrows” easily fit into the band's repertoire, while “Amsterdam” sounds a tad more atmospheric in its sketch of a day in the land of Vincent Van Gogh. “Either Side of the World” is a gorgeous, loping exercise in avoiding outwardly seductive pitfalls.

“Isolation,” the one song credited to all four band members, begins as a dreamy waltz that yearns for human connection, then abruptly shifts to a lurching, grimy rock grind that parallels the struggle of making that connection.

That segues into the elegant pulsing pop-rock of “Twice If You're Lucky,” with its echoes of first-incarnation Crowded House's “Love This Life” as it embraces the changes that life inevitably has in store: “There are times that come once in your life/Twice if you're lucky,” Finn sings in the chorus. As rock ‘n' roll bands go, Crowded House seems to be one of the lucky ones.

--Randy Lewis

Crowded House
“Intriguer”
Fantasy
Three stars (out of four)

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Comments

[fornoles]

'Intriguer' is classic Neil Finn/Crowded House. At first listen, I found it kind of odd and the songs didn't go where I expected them to. After repeated listenings, the songs' dreamy melodies and textures grew on me and stuck in my head. I liked the songs even more after further listenings because of their originality, that 'odd' quality. Because of this, Neil's past music has always had the power to conjure up vivid memories of what I was doing at the time. I expect 'Intriguer' to do the same.

[Matt Bross]

This is my album (so far) of 2010. After a few listens you CAN'T turn it off. Falling Dove is gorgeous. Twice if You're Lucky is PURE Finn - songwriting at it's best. Inside Out is Pearl Jam in 10 years. Either Side of the World is where the album starts to take flight. Even If could have been a Neil Finn solo song. And to end it, Turn It Around sounds it belongs on In Rainbows, as a Radiohead fan this one is a Jem. Enjoy.... Matt

[John]

I have always enjoyed albums involving one or both of the Finn brothers, but the last two Crowded House albums have not inspired me in any way. Yes; they are both done very well, near perfection in fact, but not one song on either has made me feel good about it or want to sing along like the songs on their earlier albums do. Where are the great pop hooks I had become accustomed too, which served to lift one out of the seriousness of the rest of the lyrics for a bit to catch a breath and smile?

I guess I'm just not desperate enough to play it over and over again and merely talk myself into liking it the way so many others seem to be doing. I use to do that sort of thing, but then I matured and grew out of it.