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From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Woodface

Crowded House

1991

Buy At Rough Trade
Woodface
Album Summary

Woodface is the third studio album by New Zealand-Australian band Crowded House. The album was produced by Mitchell Froom and Neil Finn and was released by Capitol in July 1991. It features five singles "Chocolate Cake", "Fall at Your Feet", "It's Only Natural", "Weather with You", and "Four Seasons in One Day". Woodface was a major hit in Australia and New Zealand as well as giving the band their first top ten hit album in the UK. It was listed at No. 3 in the book 100 Best Australian Albums in October 2010. It was voted number 80 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).

Wikipedia

Rating

3.11

Votes

10694
Genres
Rock

Reviews

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Thu Jun 03 2021
3

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

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Thu Feb 25 2021
2

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

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Mon Apr 19 2021
4

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"

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Mon Jan 03 2022
1

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.

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Thu Feb 03 2022
5

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.

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Tue May 25 2021
3

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

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Thu Aug 19 2021
3

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.

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Sun Dec 19 2021
3

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.

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Mon Oct 04 2021
5

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

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Mon Mar 07 2022
5

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

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Fri Jan 22 2021
4

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

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Mon Apr 19 2021
4

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!

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Fri May 21 2021
5

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

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Sat Jan 01 2022
5

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

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Mon Jun 06 2022
5

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.

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Tue Jun 21 2022
5

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.

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Fri Feb 03 2023
5

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

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Mon Feb 13 2023
5

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.

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Sat Mar 25 2023
5

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

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Wed May 26 2021
4

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.

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Sun Aug 15 2021
4

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.

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Tue Sep 21 2021
4

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.

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Mon Jan 08 2024
4

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.

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Wed Nov 25 2020
3

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

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Tue Jan 26 2021
3

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

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Mon May 17 2021
3

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

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Sun Mar 28 2021
3

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

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Tue Jul 20 2021
3

Was decent, but I wouldn’t have bought it

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Sun Sep 05 2021
3

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.

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Tue Jan 04 2022
3

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

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Mon May 09 2022
3

Not bad but nothing that left much impression on me.

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Mon Jun 06 2022
3

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

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Fri Dec 30 2022
3

Something to listen to in the background.

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Wed Feb 08 2023
3

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

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Tue Mar 07 2023
3

Not bad, but nothing particularly good.

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Tue Mar 28 2023
3

Better than I expected it would be

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Fri Dec 11 2020
2

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

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Thu May 27 2021
1

Sounds like unmemorable early Weezer

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Sun Aug 15 2021
1

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

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Tue May 18 2021
5

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

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Mon Jun 21 2021
5

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.

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Sun Sep 05 2021
5

One of the most apt album titles and art. A very good night album.

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Sat Sep 11 2021
5

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.

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Mon Nov 22 2021
5

5/5 Really nice and relaxing album

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Wed Nov 24 2021
5

Love this album Crowded House at there best

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Mon Jan 10 2022
5

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

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Thu Feb 17 2022
5

Like a fine teak cabinet full of treasures.

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Thu Jul 28 2022
5

Love the sounds of this album. Definetely earning a place among my favorites.

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Tue Aug 02 2022
5

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.

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Tue Aug 30 2022
5

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

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Thu Sep 08 2022
5

Lots of childhood memories. Love what tims vocals bring to this album, but I understand the dynamics where he couldn’t bring himself to be a supporting character in his little brothers band.

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Mon Sep 12 2022
5

This list is letting me appreciate local bands on a global scale. Love this album. Always pleased or seduced who ever listens.

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Fri Sep 23 2022
5

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

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Mon Oct 10 2022
5

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.

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Tue Oct 18 2022
5

Everyone knows this one, hasn't aged a bit!

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Sun Dec 18 2022
5

You've got to love Crowded House.

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Wed Dec 21 2022
5

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.

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Tue Dec 27 2022
5

One of my favorite albums from my favorite band.

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Sat Mar 25 2023
5

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

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Sun Mar 26 2023
5

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

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Thu May 11 2023
5

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

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Fri Jul 07 2023
5

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.

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Wed Aug 23 2023
5

Hate the cover Great album. Only contains 1 dud imo

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Wed Sep 06 2023
5

Very very good! Super relaxing music

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Sat Oct 07 2023
5

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

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Wed Oct 18 2023
5

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

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Sun Oct 22 2023
5

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.

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Mon Jan 01 2024
5

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.

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Wed Jan 03 2024
5

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

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Mon Jan 08 2024
5

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? ;-)

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Mon Jan 08 2024
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.

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Fri Feb 02 2024
5

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

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Wed Mar 13 2024
5

First time hearing this group - will listen to more.

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Fri Mar 15 2024
5

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.

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Thu Nov 26 2020
4

1991. Key Songs: Four Seasons In One Day, Fall At Your Feet, Weather With You

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Mon Oct 19 2020
4

Going in, I had no idea who these guys were, but after a couple songs I was absolutely sure they were from Australia or New Zealand. A jangly guitar sound and an intuitive understanding of Western music theory make for songs that are both catchy and beautiful, and for one reason or another they're pretty strong signals for a band being from Oz or NZ. (However, it was a little surprising that these guys weren't from Dunedin.) I'm going with a 4 for now, solely because I'm extremely sparing with my 5s, but there's an extremely strong probability that I bump this up on RateYourMusic a year or two from now. Best song: It's Only Natural was really good, and How Will You Go was a magical closer, although there are a ton to choose from.

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Tue Feb 09 2021
4

It was certainly not the album with the hit on it. It was a solid pop albun with the angst one expects from crowded house, but nothing really stuck out as a single to me.

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Wed Jan 27 2021
4

Nice, easy listen. Good for working to or as background music.

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Fri May 14 2021
4

Cuando vi este nombre no pasó por mi cabeza que fuera la banda que hizo "Don't dream it's over". El disco me sorprendió muy positivamente pues siento que este es el Soft Rock muy bien producido que vale la pena: cada canción tiene algún detalle musical, algún arreglo, algo en la voz que la hace disfrutable. En especial me gustaron 'Four Seasons In One Day', 'All I Ask' y 'As Sure As I Am'.

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Mon Jun 07 2021
4

I’ve lived in New Zealand for 8yrs and now listened to one of the best New Zealand albums ever. Not an Aussie album.

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Mon Feb 08 2021
4

I don’t know much about Crowded House. I’m digging this album. Easy to listen to, hook-heavy 90’s pop. Kind of reminds me of Toad the Wet Sprocket a bit.

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