Leading You Into Temptation

As you've seen in this blog, I love listening to covers of songs I'm familiar with. I think it gives me an excuse to re-listen to my favorite songs without getting bored.

Today, I have an interesting Crowded House cover for you. Then, a song from Paul Hester whose suicide death recently was instrumental in getting the group back together. Plus, as a Split Enz fan, I'm adding a cover of a spectacularly beautiful Split Enz song.

I enjoy international language versions of well known songs. I started this CH week with an Italian cover of Don't Dream It's Over. Today, I have a Dutch language cover of Crowded House's Into Temptation from Dutch artist Rob de Nijs. The second song, Get It On is typically zany Paul Hester. It is a simple and beautiful good night lullaby, but with a Paul Hester twist: "Sleep, baby, sleep. Mum and dad might just get it on ..." Finally, 80's popster Belinda Carlisle had a sensitive cover version of Split Enz's spectacular Stuff and Nonsense. Enjoy.

You can find the CD catalog of the artists featured in this post by clicking on their names above.

1. Rob de Nijs - In De Verleiding (6.81 MB; 192kbps MP3)
2. Paul Hester - Get It On (3 MB; 128kbps MP3)
3. Belinda Carlisle - Stuff and Nonsense (6.31 MB; 192kbps MP3)

Dance and Feel Sad

One "family" of artists I promise to feature regularly on this blog is the "Finn Family." You can trace this family's musical roots to the groups Split Enz, Crowded House, Schnell Fenster, The Finn Brothers, as well as solo albums by brothers Tim and Neil Finn.

This year has been big news for the Finn folks as we heard that Crowded House had been reformed for gigs around the world. Yesterday, Tim Finn kicked of his U.S. tour with an appearance on KCRW in Los Angeles. Tim Finn is out promoting his new album Imaginary Kingdom which was just released in the U.S. Before I post a song or two from that album, I am going to jump back early to his solo career and post a couple of songs from his first two solo albums.

The first song is from his 1983 album Escapade and features very dated synthesizer-heavy dance music. While it certainly sounds like "an 80's song" Fraction Too Much Friction has the catchy pop melody and reggae-tinged beat to make it instantly likable. The second song is from his 1989 self-titled album and is achingly painful. The story is that Tim went through bouts of depression. Follow the lyrics in this song. There's one verse where he sings "Not even close to pulling through ..." with such feeling that it makes your hair stand on end. You can feel that this is not some meaningless lyric to him. Two very contrasting moods in these selections here.

You can find all Tim Finn CDs on Amazon.com here. Escapade can be purchased here, and the self-titled Tim Finn can be found here. You should buy his newest album Imaginary Kingdom here. And, if possible, catch Tim Finn at a city near you using the news here. Tim even has a MySpace page where you can listen to songs and watch videos.

1. Tim Finn - Fraction Too Much Friction (3.89 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Tim Finn - Not Even Close (3.96 MB; 128kbps MP3)