Tim Finn
Say It Is So
On Sale Now
For $12.98

I’ve always believed that Tim Finn got a raw deal. First his younger brother Neil joins Tim’s band Split Enz; the seminal 70s art rock combo turned new wave popsters from New Zealand. The band then proceeds to have their first American hit with Neil’s "I Got You." Then in the mid-80s, Tim’s stop and start solo career was overshadowed by Neil’s success leading Crowded House. In 1991, Tim was reduced to joining little brother’s band for what became their penultimate and finest record, Woodface.

But throughout a career spanning more than a quarter century now, the elder Finn in a low profile way has proven himself nearly the equal of Neil as both a tunesmith and a singer. And his latest tour in support of his first new solo material in seven years shows his talent virtually undiminished. The new album, Say It Is So, finds Finn exploring his lower vocal range on his own brand of modern mature pop that isn’t that far removed from Neil’s 1998 solo work Try Whistling This. It was recorded in Nashville with producer Jay Joyce and features appearances by Ken Coomer of Wilco on drums and Julie Miller on background vocals.

During his hour and fifteen-minute set at the 9:30 Club, Tim hit the highlights of the new record including "Underwater Mountain," an upbeat pop number which became a slowed-down piano ballad live. The ominous "Roadtrip" was also a highlight. Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar for most of the set, Finn also played kick drum on "Currents." Joining him for much of the set was guitarist Greg Hitchcock who provided nice coloration for Finn’s tunes. Julie Miller’s feminine counterpoint was missed however on songs like "Good Together" and "Death of a Popular Song."

But Finn also revisited other highlights of his long career during the show. He reached back to his Split Enz days for "My Mistake" from 1977’s Dizrhythmia, "Poor Boy" from 1979’s True Colours, and the set-closing "Six Months In A Leaky Boat."

From his other solo work, Finn touched on his 1989 self-titled record with a nice version of "Not Even Close," although he seems to be having more trouble hitting that song’s high notes these days. He was in fine voice though on the excellent "Persuasion" from 1993’s Before and After, a song co-written with Richard Thompson.

Finn even threw in a couple of choice songs from his brief stint in Crowded House, the funny "Chocolate Cake" and "Weather With You." And he opened the show with "Angel’s Heap," the pretty acoustic number from his 1995 collaboration with Neil, Finn Brothers.

Opener Joseph Arthur is a native of Akron, Ohio who now lives in New York City. He's on Peter Gabriel's Real World label and sounds vocally like a cross between Steve Kilbey of The Church and Karl Wallinger of World Party. Performing songs primarily from his new album Come to Where I’m From, Arthur took the one-man-band concept to the next level, using guitar effects loops, sampling and drum machines to create fully-arranged songs using just one hollow body guitar. He would first set up a percussion loop by banging out a rhythm on the guitar. Then he might add a lead guitar loop. He also had a second vocal microphone he could sing into to create a background vocal part. Over all of this, he would strum the melody of the song and sing while controlling the flow of the song with fader foot pedals and knobs. At one point, he stopped playing completely and just twisted the knobs back and forth for a few minutes to create some weird sounds and "conduct" his own little mini-orchestra. But Arthur never seemed satisfied with the onstage sound mix during his set and chose not to interact much with the sparse crowd. Fortunately, his music and his cool toys were interesting enough on their own.

Check out Tim Finn's website at www.timfinn.com

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