Search - Neil Finn :: One All

Reworking of a Masterpiece

Kevin Caffrey | Fredericksburg, VA | 05/25/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In a perfect world, Neil Finn's _One Nil_ that was released in 2001 everywhere *but* the US would've gotten the international release it deserved. _One Nil_ was simply a brilliant album - twelve excellent songs focused for the most part on Neil Finn's love for his wife and family. _One All_ is the 'American' version of that album, if you will, that replaces two songs and remixes several of the ones that was on _One Nil_. The only gripe I have with _One All_ is that it's unreal to think that an album as wonderful as _One Nil_ had to be tampered with at all. But Finn wanted to change things on the album so more power to him. Gone are the funky "Don't Ask Why" and ambient "Elastic Heart", replaced with the best song John Lennon never wrote, "Lullaby Requiem", and "Human Kindness." In my opinion, Neil Finn is probably the best pop songwriter of the last 25 years. His songs (solo or with Crowded House and Split Enz) range from excellent to very good - he simply doesn't seem to write bad songs. Again and again he writes one gem after another. Not only are the songs great, but the production is immensely enjoyable. _One All_ and _One Nil_ are treats to listen to - interesting instrumentation, songs are given space to breathe, and Finn's voice soars. In addition to being an amazing vocalist with subtly impressive range, there's a vulnerability in Finn's voice that makes his songs incredibly appealing. "Into The Sunset" is one of the best songs ever written about 'being on the road': "And I'm away from home/and it's a way of life/and I'm flying high/and I'm a wheeling gull." Other excellent tracks include "Anytime", where Finn expresses the common fear of never knowing when his time is going to come, and "Turn and Run", a duet with Sheryl Crow. Other guests on the album include Lisa Germano, Wendy Melvoin & Lisa Coleman (from Prince's Revolution), Sebastian Steinberg, and Mitchell Froom.I recommend _One All_ to music fans who like their pop/rock smart, catchy, and heartfelt. My utmost suggestion would be to buy both _One Nil_ (as an import) as well as _One All_ - the songs on these albums are *that* good."

For Fin's Fans

loce_the_wizard | Lilburn, GA USA | 07/17/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Neil Finn, the mastermind behind the late, lamented Crowded House, has again delivered an engaging, animated collection of tunes. No matter what you think of Neil's efforts, there is no denying he is a great and prolific song writer."One All"---which is a remixed and reworked version of the more cleverly named import One Nil---features Neil's trademark vocals and arrangements interspersed with some odd, even jolting, contributions from his sidewomen, Lisa and Wendy who are best known for keeping Prince in check with their great bass and drum work on Purple Rain. But the best tracks, in opinion, are those where Sheryl Crow melds her vocal with Neil's. Driving Me Mad is one of those songs that keeps haunting you hours after you have heard this CD. Another one that will haunt you is "Anytime."Though I prefer the earlier "Try Whistling This" just a bit to this CD---in part because some of the innovations there seem less obtrusive than they do here---"One All" is sure to make my favorites list for this year. I'm not sure if this CD will make many converts but it will surely satisfy the legions of Neil Finn/Crowded House/Split Enz fans around the globe. And the fact that Neil gets nil play on American radio further underscores just how moribund and stale a state the music industry here has lapsed into."

A very good album becomes outstanding

commontone | 05/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cynics may be tempted to think that the remixing, resequencing and addition of two new songs on "One All" are little more than a sordid attempt to woo US fans who bought "One Nil" last year into buying what is essentially the same album twice. Fortunately, this proves not to be the case, as the changes are substantial and actually manage to improve upon what was already a very good album. The tinkering merely confirms what a craftsman Neil Finn is, and lucky for us, because this may be the best album of his career.For "One All," his second studio album as a solo artist, Finn does what he's been doing routinely for the past 20 years: he conjures up a sparkling collection of elemental pop melodies and dresses them in earnest, plaintive lyrics that affect the listener in a way rarely experienced with pop songs. Never before, however, has it sounded so effortless. The two duds of "One Nil" have been replaced with two excellent new songs; the soothing arrangement and sing-song melody of "Lullaby Requiem" belie the deeply affecting lyrics, and "Human Kindness" manages to shuffle, shimmer and soar all at once.Four songs received complete, if sometimes subtle, remixes. The two most affected are "Turn and Run" and "Hole In the Ice." The former has transformed from snappy pop ballad to majestic, atmospheric dirge, while the swirling nightmarish verses of "Hole" have received a healthy dose of clarity, courtesy of Bob Clearmountain.The production in general is inventive but rarely intrusive. In a much more subtle way than on his debut solo album "Try Whistling This," Finn continues to explore the superimposition of drum samples, Mellotron and treated guitars upon traditional acoustic instrumentation. Some critics might call this an attempt to add a "techno-savvy" quality to the album, but that judgement owes more to Finn's image than his music. A happily married father of two at 43, Finn shouldn't be able to sound as current as he does, but he pulls it off with grace. One is hard-pressed to single out favorites on this album. Neil Finn has, perhaps for the first time, assembled an album of uniformly excellent songs, ditching the self-indulgence that sometimes bogged down his earlier releases. Lyrically "One All" leans toward self-doubt, mortality and mourning, but the last two songs, "Rest of the Day Off" and "Into the Sunset," introduce an altogether new theme for Finn: hope. Still, the optimism of "Sunset" is laced with doubt: "Faster into the weakness, off the wall into blackness--gifted." Such refusal to lapse into simple emotional sentiments is what makes Neil Finn so compelling as a songwriter. A line from Crowded House's "Four Seasons In One Day" aptly sums this up: "Sleeping on an unmade bed/finding out wherever there is comfort there is pain." "One All" is Finn's most focused attempt at exploring this yet, and is recommended for his fans or anyone curious about good, thoughtful pop."