Woodface

About halfway through the album, somebody starts shouting during the outro to a song. It got my attention, because it was the first time anybody in the band showed any emotion. I'm probably being too cynical, but it sure feels like Crowded House worked their way joylessly through a checklist. Scathing indictment of American culture? Check. Multiple instrumental solos that are just long enough to display some talent? Check. Children's choir singing backing vocals? You betcha. The one thing they forgot to pack? A bit of passion. It shouldn't feel like a chore to listen to a 48-minute pop rock album, but here we are. Best track: Fall at Your Feet

"There goes God in his sexy pants and his sausage dog" is a high point of this album, it is all downhill after that.

If you want the most generic, background music during Gilmore Girls album then this is for you. I really can’t for the life of me figure out why this album is on this list. It sounds like every other run of the mill 90s alt-rock album. It doesn’t even have that one or two fun songs to make playing the album worth it. There’s a lot of albums that I’ve listened to during this that I’m not super into but I understand why they’re on this list. I have no answers for this one. This is bad. Do yourself a favor and listen to any of the other 10,000 90s bands that sound like this. Or better yet, maybe skip that realm altogether.

After two listens, it finally clicked that this band has a very R.E.M. feel to them. I really enjoyed it, even if at times the instruments sound like they're from the Spyro video game series. Great album from front to back. Favorite tracks: "Tall Trees", "Weather With You", "It's Only Natural"

This is one of my all-time favourite albums. Crowded House have beautiful melodies and Neil Finn is a genius songwriter, as showcased on this albums many hits. Even his brother (of Split Enz fame) helps out on a lot of the tracks. My favourite Crowded House record, even if it isn't generally agreed upon as their best.

Sort of a boring album. Not bad, but nothing too interesting. I liked the song "Weather With You" but even that was kind of boring.

I'm biased, as I already love Crowded House, though Temple of Low Men is the best album. Fall At Your Feet is such a simple but achingly beautiful love song... Love how they take simple songs and always add a twist - an unusual time signature, layered production that grows through the song, clever harmonies. Fav new song: Four Seasons In One Day

Harmonies. Storytelling. Nostalgia. Took me back to the living room floor with headphones on.

A bunch of hits backed up by songs that the competition wish they could write. A lot of negative reviews probably due to the content of Chocolate Cake. Americans really can't take criticism, it seems.

Forgotten album of my childhood. Holy shit. My Dad used to play this all the time and I remember staring at the cover thinking about how it resembled The Mask w/ Jim Carrey. Nostalgia for me.

A tour de force of nostalgia. Perfectly alligned with the rock movement of early to mid 90’s. Rembrandts, Hootie and the Blowfish, Goo Goo Dolls...all of which would fit perfectly for a couple of bars between the scene segues in Friends; seasons 1 and 2. Any album with “Fall at Your Feet” should be getting a strong vote however the album delves into a mushy slop of generic easy listening with the lyrics trumping the overall unoriginality of the record. Some of the Bass lines always stumped me as a less experienced bass player and a close listen will prove why on the timings and fills. Fun fact: bass player Nick Seymour compiled backing tracks for adult movies before making it big with Crowded House. He moved to Dublin in the late 90’s and was involved with the early production of Bell X1

What a beautiful album this one is...the songs sing to you in such a friendly and welcoming vibe. All the hits could be played in almost any life situation and everyone would still sing along. ‘Fall At Your Feet’ is a classic example of one of these tracks which hits you right in the guts but somehow still gives you hope. The ‘B’ tracks are just as engaging and a joy to listen to in their own right...and that’s honestly what makes a great album. 4 Stars!

That Neil Finn sure can craft a tune. Tim's no slouch either, and this album benefits from their collaborative songwriting and close harmony singing. The band, as always, is warm and organic, with excellent production from Mitchell Froom. The emphasis on real instruments and live playing gives the album a classic and timeless edge, that makes it hard to date. It certainly does not sound strongly of its time. The very reasonable 48 minute run time is also on the short side for the CD era, but ensure there is not much fat on this record. 'Weather With You', 'It's Only Natural' and 'Four Seasons in One Day' are classic songs, but even the non-singles have wonderful melodies, close harmonies and lyrical and musical interest. All that said, I'm not sure why Dimery included this album on the list as opposed to the previous two albums, which I would argue have a higher quotient of truly great songs. I mean, that first Crowded House album is a masterpiece that I would happily listen to any day of the week. I think it's because this was the album that was big in the UK, and he doesn't like the production on the previous two albums (which doesn't seem _that_ different to me). No arguing with personal taste.

Near Perfect pop album. With the beautiful voices of the Finn Brothers, Weather With You and one of the best songs ever written, 4 Seasons in one day. Add Only Natural and more stuff that makes you at ease with life like All I Want.

I actually really like this album. I would actually look up more by them and consider getting an album for my playlist.

Loved this favourite lyric "There goes God in those sexy pants and sausage dog" what more do you want from an album?!

9/10. I really liked this, nothing super crazy special, but there was something nice about it. Maybe I'm just a sucker for Aussies/Kiwis

The talent in the Finn family is just ridiculous. Some misfires here, but when they work, HOLY FUCK.

Fab album, not a dud track, originally bought as CD in the early 1990’s , good to see N Fynn at Glasto this year

The first album I've come across that I would like to give more than five stars to. This is a perfect album for so many reasons, not least of which is the fact the Fall at Your Feet is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

Cool, nice, didn't know "Weather is with you" is their song

This took three listens to stick; “Fall At Your Feet” and “Weather With You” drew immediate nostalgic swoon, the rest slighter on first touch. A couple of listens later I think this is a triumph from the Antipodean School of Fey. I nervously await Simon’s verdict for the true measure of its feyness.

A wonderful surprise. Sophisticated pop tunes that could be from almost any era. Lots of tracks made my love list.

Already love this band’s radio hits. I had never heard this album. Absolutely loved it. The bass lines slap. Favorite songs: chocolate cake, it’s only natural, fall at your feet, weather with you, four seasons in one day, there goes god (interesting lyrics), as sure as I am. Wow what an album. Will definitely listen to this again.

Just an amazing album, weather with you, four seasons in one day and Fall at your feet are just phenomenal songs. Top 3 album for me

Not my favorite CH album but 5 ⭐️ nonetheless because it’s still great

Sounded like a classic rock album, despite being more recent than I extracted. I liked the beginning better than the end, but overall pretty solid.

This is what pop-rock should be. I really liked this album. Solid tunes all along. One of the best discoveries of the project so far.

83% Best: Chocolate Cake; Weather With You; Whispers And Moans; She Goes On Must-Hear? Sure

Really like this band. The harmonies on the vocals are what gives them their distinctive sound. On some of the tracks they sound very Beatleesque. The only criticism is the album gets a little boring towards the end. Didn't like the medley track at the end of the album, it sounded a bit messy. Other than that though, quite a pleasant listen.

An absolute treat. One of those albums where you are surprisingly familiar with a few songs but the rest is a mystery. Sometimes the singles are just the diamonds in the rough. Sometimes the singles are just an indication of the quality to be found on further inspection. This is the latter and the singles hit me like a wave of nostalgia, but the rest way very good. Four seasons in one day could have been a Beatles song, and italian plastic shone. An unfortunately line about god and a sausage dog, plus some random mooing probably keep this off the top rank, but i think i managed 4 listens in a day and that speaks volumes

I enjoyed the entire album. It's light and fun, makes for an easy listen. Nostalgic sound and I'll go listen to more of their stuff.

I just knew that one song. Now listening to a full album I appreciate Crowded House a lot more. I'd describe them as soft rock in a better sense. The bass player does a really good job.

90s Joy! Own this one and always liked Crowded House.

enjoyed this a lot. really solid album with no real low points

Woodface - Crowded House. 14 tracks. I've owned Crowded House albums before, but never this one despite it heavily influencing my early adult life. It's quite varied and very good. Interesting that this was largely written by both Finn brothers rather than just Neil. 4/5.

A very 90s crowd-pleaser piece of pop rock. This would be great background music for grilling or hanging around a campfire on a summer night. But when listened more intently than that, only about half the songs really hold up for me. It just barely missed out on its fourth star.

Inoffensive, often bordering on dull, but with a cosy familiarity. Nice end to the week’s listening.

Had never heard of this band before. I liked them, and they have a cool, fresh sound but it didn't wow me either. A good easy listen, but I'm not itching to revisit immediately

Standard inoffensive rock.

Passable.

Not bad but nothing that left much impression on me.

Better than I expected it would be

Not the type of music I'm interested in. An all around good pop-rock album by a New Zealand band.

mediocre

Was decent, but I wouldn’t have bought it

Not bad, but nothing particularly good.

Not a bad album, not a really good album. Solidly in the middle.

It's alright, another slightly bland pop folky thing.

Something to listen to in the background.

This album was huge when I was in the prime of hipness, so naturally I dismissed it as boring. My impetuousness was quite accurate it seems, there are some decent melodies but it all sounds so dispassionate. "Weather With You" is the biggie, pervasive and slightly annoying to this day. Crowded House have generous songwriting talent but lack something important in the delivery, achieving a Squeeze-like impression when they could have aimed for Aztec Camera if they'd put the effort in. Low 3

Weather with you and Four seasons in one day are nice but the rest seems pretty mediocre. Okay album overal but nothing extraordinary

not my thing

Not bad, not great.

Not bad

There was nothing wrong with this, but there's also very little to recommend it. Almost the dictionary definition of average.

Bland but ok.

No one needs to listen to this unless they have a real hankering for something unremarkable.

Decent album. But, like many albums on this list, forgettable after the listen.

First off, this kind of feels like proto-Wilco in a lot of spots, but like…more adult contemporary and a bit more saccharine. Second, let’s talk about New Zealand, because I feel they are underrepresented on this list. So much great rock music came from New Zealand in the 80’s and early 90’s and this looks to be the closest the list comes to it, which is a shame, because, frankly, this record isn’t that impressive (sorry, Crowded House fans). The Flying Nun record label was putting out amazing music throughout those years and there’s not a mention of it on the list. Like seriously influential music…music that would inform American Indie Rock throughout the 90’s and beyond: The Clean, The Chills, Toy Love, The Verlaines, Tall Dwarfs, the Bats, Snapper…it’s a long list worthy of deep-dive if you enjoy bands like Pavement, Guided Voices, Yo La Tengo or Superchunk. For a New Zealand-based counterpoint to this record from a year earlier, listen to “Vehicle” by The Clean. If you’ve only got 20 minutes, listen to their “Boodle Boodle Boodle” EP from 1981. That’s a band you need to hear before you die. Crowded House? For me, not as much.

Sounds like unmemorable early Weezer

Loved the first record. Tolerated the second record. Couldn't stand this one and never listened to anything else by them.

this is a 5 for me! woof.

Awesome. Exactly the kind of stuff I had hoped to discover here. Except for "Weather With You", I hadn't heard any song on this album, despite its quality.

Fantastic. Perfect encapsulation of the early 90s.

pleasant surprise enjoyed it 4.6/5

So far I'm liking it. Several tracks in. Chocolate Cake was an odd choice for the first song lol All I Ask isy new favorite song!

Probably in my top 5 albums. Half a dozen perfect pop songs most bands would kill for 1 of. So catchy you can’t help but sing along, but not just dumb simple, layers of depth underneath. Love it.

What an incredible album. Very Beatles ish but with stronger production and a deeper sound. Instrumentals were good, the harmonies even better. Fun lyrics - it starts off with a bang on Chocolate Cake and just keeps going all over the place. Musical roller coaster.

Very controlled and well produced pop rock (?). Again I find myself often listening instead of it just being in the background.

First time hearing this group - will listen to more.

4,5/5

I didn't think I had ever heard of the band but the music immediately felt familiar and very catchy. I like the sound a lot. I don't know any of these songs but something made me think "Young Einstein" and sure enough they are on that soundtrack. Also I figured out the Finn Brothers opened for Indigo Girls and 10,000 Maniacs at Red Rocks in 1989, and that was the only thing I enjoyed from that show; made enough of an impression that I still remember. Anyway, this album is right up my alley.

What a band and sound. How can you say soothing and happy, fun and good nostalgia is two words? crowded house. Arguable culturally defining for the 80s and 90s and even important to the identity of NZ and Australian music. Most Aussie probably think of them as Aussies. Their last ever concert was a free gift to the nation at the steps of the Opera House. It was like a national event. But very mixed feelings for this album for me was their "sell out" to market themselves to American tastes. It is glib and pop and departed from what I felt was their authentic roots. So "chocolate cake " for me is feeding an American consumer taste for sweet and familiar crap, right down the forces references to Elvis & 7 eleven. But a great band. Maybe not their finest album or reflective of the best of their self co structured sound.It's the one that opened doors to international sales. I will be interested to read what their influences were and how they Influenced music, as I'm ignorant on that point. My 4 stars is for the better songs, like sweeping "fall at your feet" and the eternal "take the weather with you" and songs like "4 seasons in one day" about Melbourne weather and more... but maybe not the album as such. Love the Wookie on the cover though :-). There is something so nice about hearing them, isn't there, eh? ;-)

Cuánto tiempo hacía que no escuchaba As Sure As I Am. Me dejó el cd Marta. Lo tuve durante mucho tiempo. Se lo quise devolver, pero no lo ha querido. Pero si lo quiere, se lo devuelvo. Cuánto tiempo hacía que no escuchaba Italian Plastic.

Neil Finn is among the great pop songwriters of the late 20th century Difford & Tilbrook, Costello, Westerberg and Collingwood & Schlesinger. Crowded House's biggest US hits (the two songs everyone knows, all time classics Don't Dream It's Over and Something So Strong) came a couple of albums before this one but this is their most consistent work and their best album.

Cuánto tiempo hacía que no escuchaba As Sure As I Am. Me dejó el cd Marta. Lo tuve durante mucho tiempo. Se lo quise devolver, pero no lo ha querido. Pero si lo quiere, se lo devuelvo. Cuánto tiempo hacía que no escuchaba Italian Plastic.

Crowded House - Wood face Crowded House's third album released in 1991. This album includes both Finn Brothers as Tim told Neil that they could use some of the songs they wrote for the next Finn Brothers album if he could join the band. It's up for debate if he was really serious about that, but in the end, he was added to their lineup for this album. Lots of great songs on this one, with my favorites being, Fall at Your Feet, She Goes On, & Chocolate Cake. The 90's were a strange time. Researching this album reminded me of the old CD staple of including a hidden track that would play several seconds after the last song listed on the track list. I remember putting the CD in and seeing how many tracks were listed to see if I could tell if there was a track at the end. If you didn't know it was going to be in there, it would be a real treat when it popped on, except if you had to wait the 30 seconds of silence to get to it. It was a simpler time when things like that was a huge deal! 5/5

Really enjoyed this one. So much more than ‘Fall at your feet’ and ‘The Weather’

Excellent

Hate the cover Great album. Only contains 1 dud imo

🥰

It's a great album.

Very very good! Super relaxing music

Another one of my car CDs. Definitely stronger first half than second half. Maybe I only listen to the first half - I didn't recognise anything after Fame Is. Either way, because of the strength of the first half of the album (Chocolate Cake all the way to There Goes God) - solid 5 stars.

Like a fine teak cabinet full of treasures.

Classic NZ Rock already in my saved albums list. Nothing new or exciting or the first album. Actually so many songs that already know.

Simply amazing album, way ahead of its time. Perfect road trip album!

This is some stuff that I really got into the early 90s. So I’m going to be biased.

Si hi ha alguna banda que es mereix amb justícia el sobrenom de "nous Beatles", és Crowded House. I 'Woodface' és el seu millor disc. Algunes cançons genériques, però el nombre i qualitat dels seus hits és impressionant. En un any excels per la música, aquest és segurament el disc més atemporal de totes les obres mestres que van veure la llum aquell 1991

Loved this album, so many great singles while still being cohesive. Really enjoyable.

I really enjoyed this album. Great compositions, entertaining, good instrumentation. Very interesting and varied

Good jams!

touched my heart so well

I can't believe I've never heard of this band before what is wrong with me

Mooie ballads afgewisseld met leuke popdeuntjes voorzien van respectievelijke mooie en leuke teksten. 'There goes God' bracht een glimlach op het gezicht

very good

Me sorprendió, muy bueno.

This album starts out with a bang with "Chocolate Cake;" It's catchy, light, and fun. The album sags a little bit in places but never breaks, carrying that fun and lighthearted tone throughout. The vocals work really well together and the backing instrumentals are different enough between each song that it doesn't ever feel like any two songs blur together. Some of the songs are even beautiful and solemn, like "Four Seasons in One Day," but they don't detract from the positive feeling the album gives you.

Perfect pop song after perfect pop song. Sure, it's radio friendly, sure I guess it's kinda M.O.R. but, there's just something about Crowded House that means this doesn't matter. They stride above such concerns. Must be the quality. So it's either this or Together Alone which is their best album, I have a very strong soft spot for Together Alone as it just came out when I was buying album after album, but this is a very close second for me.