Podcast
Enzology
Hosted by RNZ · EN
The story of New Zealand's most iconic band - Split Enz.
10episodes
Episodes
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See Ya Round (1984)
Oct 4, 201200:46:25Tap to summarizeTim Finn walks away and the Enz ends with a bang. Neil Finn almost ends with a bang too.Songs in this programme include 'Voices', 'I Walk Away', 'Shark Attack', 'Years Go By', plus rare recordings of 'Something So Strong', 'Walking On The Pier', 'You Send Me' and others.Album Trivia: See Ya 'RoundSee Ya 'Round was co-produced and co-engineered by Jim Barton. Jim also recorded Noel Crombie's solo single 'My Voice Keeps Changing On Me'.The album took four and a half weeks to record. The previous album, Conflicting Emotions, took three months.In homage to the first Split Enz LP, Mental Notes, the final words on the final Split Enz studio album play ad infinitum around the inner groove on side 2. The final words are Noel's... but no one's quite sure what he's saying...The cover art was again designed by Noel.Neil Finn's old song 'Late In Rome' was recorded for See Ya 'Round as 'Serge', complete with strings. It didn't make the final cut.Another song of Neil's, 'Fallout With the Lads' from his early band After Hours, was rewritten as 'Voices'. The recording features Wilbur Wilde from Jo Jo Zep on saxophone.While recording the vocal track on 'This Is Massive, Paul Hester's microphone stand slowly fell over. Paul finished singing the song on his knees.Nigel Griggs wrote and demoed his song Adz and then turned the tape over backwards and worked on it from there.'Kia Kaha' was recorded for Conflicting Emotions" but was reduced to B-side status before being added to See Ya 'Round.The See Ya 'Round credits list Bob Venier as playing flugelhorn on 'Isolation'. This was the original name of Eddie Rayner's instrumental track on the album. 'The Lost Cat' was a last-minute beat-the-deadline replacement title suggested by Raewyn Turner (Split Enz lighting operator and Eddie's then-partner) when Eddie had a hangover and couldn't come up with anything else. The instrumental had nothing to do with cats when he composed and recorded it two years earlier.Neil's guitar solo in 'Years Go By' is a patch-job of seven takes, edited together.'Ninnie Knees Up' includes samples from James Brown's Live at the Apollo album.'One Mouth Is Fed' was released as a follow-up single to 'I Walk Away' but sank without a trace. It was the last Split Enz single issued before the band dissolved.See Ya 'Round was released only in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Transcribe →Conflicting Emotions (1983-1984)
Oct 4, 201200:49:18Tap to summarizeTim Finn makes a solo album and has a giant hit; Split Enz begins to fall apart; the robots take over, and the American label gets all the fax... and they're not impressed.Songs in this programme include 'Fraction Too Much Friction', 'Strait Old Line', 'Message To My Girl', 'Kia Kaha' and rare recordings of 'My Darkest Day', 'Merry Christmas to the Frenz of the Enz' and others.Album Trivia: Conflicting EmotionsIn NZ, the initial copies of the Conflicting Emotions LP included a bonus 12" single of non-album cuts 'Kia Kaha' and 'Parasite'. These tracks were also issued as B-sides on the 'Strait Old Line' and 'Message To My Girl' singles.Phil Judd painted the front cover for Conflicting Emotions, as he'd done for the first album, Mental Notes.Noel Crombie painted the back cover.The 'Strait Old Line' video is one of Nigel Griggs's favourite Split Enz clips. To film the slow motion effect in time with the music, the band had to mime with their instruments at double speed. Hard to do without cracking up.The video of 'Message To My Girl' was shot in two continuous takes, with the one and only edit obscured halfway through. New drummer Paul Hester appears in the video. Neil Finn remembers Nigel suggesting the song be called I Love You.A verse was removed from the recording of 'Our Day' before the album was released, but after the lyric sheet was printed. This trips up many fans who like to sing along.The arrangement of 'Conflicting Emotions' was influenced by a nightmare Eddie had. The whole song was recorded in five hours with a live vocal by Tim.'Bon Voyage', credited to Tim, was partially composed by Eddie Rayner.'When the Spirit Moves Us', one of Tim's songs, was given a run through by the band but was rejected from the album's final line-up. It's similar in style to the tracks on his Escapade solo album.When the album was being mixed in Sydney, Neil flew back to Melbourne every night for three or four nights in a row. On one of those nights, September 24th, Liam Finn was born.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Transcribe →Time and Tide (1981-1982)
Oct 4, 201200:49:04Tap to summarizeTim Finn has a nervous breakdown and he's not alone; Split Enz record perhaps their best album; and 'Leaky Boat' is scuppered in the UK.Songs in this programme include 'Remember When', 'Dirty Creature', 'Six Months In a Leaky Boat', 'Take a Walk' plus demos of 'Something To Do', 'Giant Heartbeat' and other rarities.Album Trivia: Time and Tide'Six Months In a Leaky Boat', the first single released from the album in the UK, was sent to radio stations on record and, unusually, video.In NZ, the third single released from Time and Tide was 'Hello Sandy Allen'. In Australia, 'Never Ceases To Amaze Me' was issued instead. The video for 'Never Ceases...', shot in a zoo and featuring Tim Finn with an extreme afro-hairdo, is now considered so embarrassing by the band that it was left off the recent Split Enz DVD. Neil has called the song itself "naff" and "twee to the extreme".'Fire Drill' was recorded during the Time and Tide sessions, but was left off the album and became a B-side. The song opened many of the band's 1982 live shows and included an instrumental section previously used in the unreleased songs 'Murder' and 'Outer Mongolia'.Eddie Rayner began composing Pioneer back in 1975.'Giant Heartbeat', composed by Neil Finn and Nigel Griggs, was initially called 'Look-alike'. The instrumental break was recycled from a rejected Neil and Tim song, 'Silent But Deadly', cited by Neil as the worst he's ever written!In 'Haul Away', after Tim sings "Ambition has lost me friends and time", a few seconds of the 1973 recording 'Split Ends' can be heard: "Telling them all about Split Ends".The final line of 'Haul Away' was inspired by 5-year-old Sean Lennon's 'A Story' on Yoko Ono's 1981 album Season of Glass.'Log Cabin Fever' was partly inspired by the movie The Shining.Some UK copies of Time and Tide included a bonus LP of the remixed Frenzy.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Transcribe →Waiata (1980-1981)
Oct 4, 201200:51:38Tap to summarizeSplit Enz sell out London's Hammersmith Odeon, sack their drummer and hand the kit to their costume designer. A gun to the head and a chair to the ceiling. Canada loves them, America misses the boat, hotels lock the windows.Songs in this programme include 'Iris', 'What's the Matter With You', 'Walking Through The Ruins', 'Lost For Words' plus demos of 'Sooner The Better', 'One Step Ahead' and other rarities.Album Trivia: WaiataNoel Crombie initially designed the album cover to be cut in the shape of a shield.The back cover credits thank Wayne again (as in Wayne Kerr). See album trivia notes for True Colours.Waiata was recorded on a 48 track machine, rather than the standard 24 track.Producer David Tickle had a pet rock.Tim Finn, on 'Ghost Girl': "I was inspired to write this by a couple of girls that we met in Christchurch in New Zealand who had very pale faces and didn't say very much. They dressed well and just had an air of mystery about them and an air of decadence."'Ships' was originally called 'Up To The Nines'. Eddie Rayner sings background vocals on his mostly instrumental 'Wail', with a strained neck and bulging veins, according to Neil.Neil Finn's guitar bridge in 'History Never Repeats' first appeared in 'Bergen Aan Zee', a Split Ends song written by Phil Judd in 1978 which the band played live in concert but never recorded in the studio.Noel Crombie helped out with some lyrics for 'One Step Ahead' when Neil became stuck. One or two lines of his remain in the finished song.'Clumsy' was first called 'Cheated'. In rehearsals for 'Clumsy', Eddie experimented with the intro to the song, at one point adding a circus-type piano sequence.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Transcribe →True Colours (1979-1980)
Oct 4, 201200:52:37Tap to summarizeThe band base themselves in Australia again and nearly break up due to bad debts. A successful tour re-balances the books, as does the huge radio hit 'I Got You' and album True Colours. The Enz simultaneously hit the charts in the UK and US and begin recording the follow-up album, Waiata.Songs in this episode include 'I Got You', 'Poor Boy', 'Hard Act To Follow', 'History Never Repeats' plus rare demos of 'I Hope I Never', 'Shark Attack' and other rarities.Album Trivia: True ColoursOn the back cover of the LP, a credit says "No thanks to Wayne." At parties and record company dos, "Is Wayne coming?" was code for "Let's get this person out of here, he's a dickhead."Split Enz were the first Australasian band to release a full-length home video cassette. Split Enz Live In Concert was videotaped in January 1980. The rare Enz song 'Outer Mongolia' was performed but wasn't included on the video. The Beta and VHS videos are next to impossible to find nowadays.For the A&M release of True Colours, geometric patterns were finely etched onto the surface of the vinyl. These shapes would be projected around the room when a light was shone on the spinning record. Laser-etching was initially developed to stop counterfeiting.The U.S. edition of the LP swapped the first two tracks around. 'I Got You was the hit of the day, so the record company insisted that it begin the album.'Missing Person' was originally considered by the band to be top-of-the-A-list single material. 'I Got You' was on the B list. Nigel: "We never had a clue 'til we finished the record."'I Hope I Never' was remixed for its Australian single release and featured more prominent percussion.'Poor Boy', 'Nobody Takes Me Seriously' and 'What's the Matter With You?' were released as singles in the Northern hemisphere, but not in Australia and New Zealand.Eddie Rayner's synth melody at the ending of 'I Wouldn't Dream Of It' was borrowed from the early Split Enz instrumental called 'The Instrumental'.Neil Finn on True Colours: "We went through a period where we shunned it 'cause it was so successful. We were sick of playing it. But it's a fantastic record. Lean and tight, energetic and up. Good songwriting and I love the sound of it now. I don't know if anyone else feels the same way about True Colours. There's a tendency for bands to turn on the record that makes you successful and regard it as a curse, but now I think it was a blessing in every respect."Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Transcribe →Frenzy (1978-1979)
Oct 4, 201200:49:56Tap to summarizeThe band gets fired up after the Luton session and records 'I See Red' with whiz-kid producer David Tickle; they lose the plot by recording the Frenzy album with Jimi Hendrix's tea boy; and get fired up again by losing gear in a fire, one day before their Nambassa Festival performance in NZ.Songs in this programme include 'Carried Away', 'Next Exit', 'I See Red', 'Give It A Whirl', 'Stuff And Nonsense', 'True Colours' plus rarities 'Evelyn', 'Up Against A Brick Wall' and others.Album Trivia: FrenzyProducer John Leckie visited Split Enz while they were rehearsing at the Old Mill Studio in Devon and was interested in producing Frenzy. Mallory Earl ended up with the job, while Leckie went on to produce The Stone Rose's debut album and Radiohead's The Bends.A jammed song from the Old Mill House sessions, 'Who's Got The Biggest Bumhole of Us All', was considered unsuitable for the album. It was also unsuitable for airing in Enzology!Eddie Rayner: "Tim and I had a to-do during the making of that record. I told him to f... off, he told me to f...ing write my own singles then. He left for three or four days and we carried on without him."The lyrics in 'Abu Dhabi', which take a swipe at "greedy westerners" and "oil barons", weren't printed on the album's lyric sheet in case they caused offence to rich people or were considered racist. The vocals were also mixed low.The album cover was painted by Raewyn Turner, the band's lighting operator and Eddie's partner at the time.Due to the original version of the album sounding "like it was produced in a milk shake machine", Frenzy was completely remixed by Eddie in 1981 for its debut release in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. Side 1 contained songs from the Mallory Earl sessions, plus the Tickle-produced 'I See Red'. Side 2 used mainly Luton recordings. The northern hemisphere version had the same album cover as the original Australasian LP.Mal Green had a hard time kicking the bass drum fast enough during rehearsals for 'I See Red'. He felt so paranoid about it, he thought he might get sacked from the band.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Transcribe →Dizrythmia (1977-1978)
Oct 4, 201200:49:01Tap to summarizeNew members, new songs, disaster and rebirth. After recording their third album, Split Enz regain Phil Judd, lose their record company, lose Phil Judd again and feed off the energy of punk with the Rootin' Tootin' Luton demos.Songs in this programme include 'Parrot Fashion Love', 'My Mistake', 'Bold As Brass', 'Charlie', 'Semi Detached' plus rarities 'Play It Strange', 'So This Is Love', 'Hollow Victory' and others.Album Trivia: Dizrythmia"Dizrythmia" is a mis-spelling of "Circadian Dysrhythmia", otherwise known as jet lag.Back and front cover designs were by Noel Crombie. The back was originally going to be the front.Kate Bush was recording her first album, The Kick Inside, in the studio next door to Split Enz during the Dizrythmia sessions.Tim coughs forty-four seconds into 'Nice to Know'. This was accidentally left in the final mix. Extraneous voices can be heard at the beginning and ending of many tracks on the album.Early takes of 'Nice to Know' were much slower than the released version and began with a plodding synthesiser pulse. The synth intro was later reinstated for live performances.'My Mistake' was the first Split Enz 12" single, released in the UK by Chrysalis.Dizrythmia is one of Nigel Griggs's favourite Split Enz albums.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Transcribe →Second Thoughts (1976-1977
Oct 4, 201200:51:31Tap to summarizeThe band move to London, Mental Notes is re-recorded for the overseas market and the Enz tour the UK just as punk rears its snotty head. An ill-fated promotional tour of the US leads to the departure of key band members. Neil Finn is asked to join.Songs in this programme include 'Titus', 'Sweet Dreams', 'Another Great Divide', 'Jamboree' and 'Crosswords' plus rare recordings of 'Love Song' and 'Fallout With The Lads'. Album Trivia: Second ThoughtsThe Enz lived opposite Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren's Sex Shop in Kings Road while recording Second Thoughts (or Mental Notes, as it was known in the Northern Hemisphere).Eddie Rayner hired a double-Mellotron for these sessions.Tim Finn was kept away from the studio during the recording of the rhythm tracks. "He was deemed too nervy", says bassist Mike Chunn.'Matinee Idyll', the re-recorded and re-named '129', features former Split Enz member Miles Golding on violin.The demo of 'Late Last Night' contained an extra verse.There were two studio versions of 'Late Last Night' released on record. The first was recorded in Melbourne with producer Ernie Rose and was released as a single in Australasia with a promo video. The second was the Phil Manzanera-produced version for the album. Unfortunately, the tape of the original 'Late Last Night' is no longer in the vault. Therefore, when the Split Enz DVD was being compiled, this song's video was synchronised with the album recording, causing some timing difficulties. See if you can spot 'em.The 'Late Last Night' video, directed by Noel in the warehouse above the Armstrongs recording studio, features Mike as a drunk, puffing away on his cigarette. "I didn't drink or smoke back then, so it was fun."UK's Sounds magazine named Mental Notes as the best debut LP for 1976.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Transcribe →Mental Notes (1974-1976)
Oct 4, 201200:52:14Tap to summarizeThe band moves to Australia and infiltrates the Aussie rock scene. They record their debut album Mental Notes, which in 2004 was voted the number 1 New Zealand album of all time by Rip It Up magazine.Songs in this programme include 'Stranger Than Fiction', 'Under the Wheel', 'Spellbound', 'Maybe' and 'Late Last Night', plus rarities 'Prophecy', 'Tiny Tote' and others.…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Transcribe →Beginning of the Enz (1950s-1975)
Oct 4, 201200:52:24Tap to summarizeWe hear about the formation of the band as Split Ends and the songwriting partnership of Tim Finn and Phil Judd.Songs in this programme include 'Split Ends' 'Time For A Change', '129', 'No Bother To Me' and 'Lovey Dovey', plus rarities 'Near Hosts' and 'The Instrumental'. It also features rare pre-Enz recordings from as early as 1968 and Split Ends in concert, 1973-75.…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Transcribe →