The dream was never over

It can be hard to imagine - and even accept - iconic band line-ups with apparent interlopers. Think of the unfortunate Adam Lambert, depping for Freddie Mercury in Queen, or Ray Wilson replacing Phil Collins in Genesis, for just the one album. But while not as left-field an appointment as, say, Liam Gallagher joining a reformed Boyzone, Neil Finn’s 2018 replacement of Lindsey Buckingham in Fleetwood Mac was one I wouldn’t have imagined in a hundred years. 

When they joined the mighty Mac in 1975 Buckingham and then-partner Stevie Nicks heralded the band’s metamorphosis from worthy British blues legends to the all-conquering behemoth that made Rumours, took drugs and did a lot of bed hopping, largely with each other. So when Buckingham was apparently unceremoniously fired in January 2018, following an artistic bust-up, Finn being parachuted in to do Buckingham’s voice and lead guitar parts seemed a little outré. Not that Fleetwood Mac and Finn aren’t suited to each other, or that Finn wasn’t a credible replacement. 

Perhaps it was the notion of Finn, lead singer and main creative force of one significant band, joining an outfit firmly established in the firmament of classic bands, as, essentially, a session player, that felt somewhat odd. Even Finn himself was surprised to be invited to tour with the Mac. “It was just crazy really – although it’s amazing how things become normal,” Finn told The Guardian this week. “[You’re] standing in rehearsal and singing with Stevie [Nicks] and Christine [McVie], with John McVeigh and Mick Fleetwood, one of the greatest rhythm sections of all time. But within a week or two, you’re just making music with people. It was an unfamiliar role for me…being a part of the machine.”

That machine, however, led to an unexpected - and, from my point of view, very welcome - bi-product: it inspired Finn to bring Crowded House out of cold storage. The result is Dreamers Are Waiting, the band’s first album in a decade and 35 years after their eponymous debut introduced Finn’s McCartney-esque knack for sweet melodies, via songs like Don’t Dream It’s Over, Something So Strong and World Where You Live. It’s also, incredibly, 25 years since they said goodbye to 100,000 fans in front of the Sydney Opera House. The Farewell To The World live album resulting from it remains one of my go-to listens to this day, though there’s a residual sadness to it, being the last time Finn’s “best friend”, drummer Paul Hester was in the band. He succumbed to depression in 2005. 

Since 2010’s band release Intriguer, Finn has released two solo albums, Dizzy Heights and Out Of Silence, both of which saw him collaborate increasingly with his sons Liam and Elroy, as well as brother (and fellow former Split Enz member) Tim. Critics will have it that neither Finn’s solo work or post-Millennium releases from Crowded House have lived up to the band’s opening run of albums, but I would staunchly disagree. Because uniform to them all is that remarkable Finn talent for perfect song structure.

Picture: Kerry Brown

Despite the absence of Finn, co-founding bassist Nick Seymour and their longtime producer Mitchell Froom for a decade, Dreamers Are Waiting is infused with a freshness that Finn himself admits came out of his Fleetwood Mac stint. “I was going into this record thinking, ‘I would like to gravitate the band toward songs that would be great to play onstage and where I’m stretching my voice and that are upbeat,’” he said in The Guardian interview. “It made the album a little less melancholy and ballad-oriented, as some of my records have sometimes tended to be.”

It certainly zips along. Like Paul Weller’s recent Fat Pop, Dreamers Are Waiting’s 12 tracks are neat and concise, all coming in under four minutes, framing those Finn melodies and vocal harmonies with absolute perfection. While there isn’t a standout hit of the distinction of Don’t Dream It’s Over or Weather With You, there’s no lack of immediacy, due in part to Froom’s pristine production work which draws out the many layers of the writing and musicianship. It might mean a couple of listens to fully appreciate, but even if, as Finn says, it’s a little different, it’s all the better for it, as you soak in all the classic Crowded House textures while absorbing the new sonic influences that takes it all beyond the Beatley expectation fans might be still want.

An example of this comes late on with Love Isn’t Hard At All, a song that lends itself more to New Order than anything I’ve heard from Crowded House before, with its syncopation of Seymour’s bass, a fibrous guitar riff and layers of synths making it infectiously anthemic without being overstated. This, then, is the hallmark of the album. From start to finish, it soothes in places, lifts in others, but all within a range that manages to encompass plenty of variety. 

This isn’t, however, just a collection of pleasant tunes - there’s something else going on in Finn’s writing. Though written before the word “coronavirus” entered public consciousness, Dreamers Are Waiting finds him reflecting on the importance of family, though some of its songs provide a view on Trump’s America, where Finn moved in 2018 for his sojourn with Fleetwood Mac, setting up home in LA’s swanky Los Feliz neighbourhood. Having a ringside seat shaped Finn’s view of the future, which explains Playing With Fire’s somewhat vituperative lyrics. Likewise, Whatever You Want, which nods back to the 80s vibe of Split Enz and thrusts in the lyric: “This man is a fake/But they will follow him down to the edge of the cliff.” It is something of a departure. “I don’t normally venture into those areas [lyrically], because far better minds than me are able to express it,” Finn told The Guardian. But, he says, the words came out, and he found himself giving subtle commentary on a land divided.

There’s more on the dark, vaudevillian To The Island, which examines the “bigger picture items”, Finn says, shaped by the priorities of his native New Zealand, but framed with a world view of a society strained by the you-know-what. This album is far from maudlin, however, even if the gentle shuffle of Too Good For This World hints at a sense of frustration, while the gorgeous harmony-drenched Start Of Something balances this with an open conversation of hope amid a world in turmoil. Show Me The Way, written by Liam Finn, broods delectably, while Sweet Tooth dips into his father’s quirky sense, delivering a searingly good guitar solo in the process. It is probably the closest Dreamers Are Waiting gets to Crowded House’s more jaunty excursions of old, like Pineapple Head or It’s Only Natural.

Taken as a whole, Crowded House have always managed to deliver engaging rock music without rock excess. That’s not a polite alternative, by the way, to likening them to Coldplay. Dreamers Are Waiting is, without doubt, an eminently soothing record without being somnolent. It is, without doubt, a glorious return for a band which, over the last 35 years, have produced some of the most listenable records in my collection. That’s a semi-vacuous statement, I know,  but I ran out of superlatives when talking about this band a long time ago.