Crowded House

Paula and I went to see Crowded House at the Tabernacle Wednesday night and the show was awesome. Jeremy over at the Rockblog has a couple of pictures and a setlist from the show in Nashville.

Anyone that knows anything about my musical tastes knows that Crowded House is my band. If I had to pick one album to listen to for the rest of my life it would be Temple Of Low Men. Hands down. No deliberation.

And I don't know if it plays a part in why I like them so much, but something struck me as particular about this band. You see, probably 99% of the music I listen to was introduced to me by others for the last twenty-five years. There are bands in my collection which are immediately connected in my mind to people that shared their music with me. David I. introduced me to pre-Sledgehammer Peter Gabriel. Paula played Donkey and Cake for me when I wouldn't have listened if given a choice. David L. gave me Nick Drake before Volkswagen did. I can thank Laurie S. for Billy Joel and The B-52's. Brent Cash let me in on the secret of The Kinks. Doob played me the Merry-go-round and Emmitt Rhodes. Keith was instrumental in opening me up to Elvis Costello's genius. And of course, Michael and Jeremy introduced me to a LOT of the music that I cherish to this day: Starlight Mints, Ben Kewller, Fountains of Wayne, etc. The list of people and music could go on and on.

So thank you all, really. But when I said that Crowded House was my band I meant it. I found them on my own. And it shouldn't matter but maybe it does. Maybe it makes it a little more special. Maybe it's the difference between admiring the Hope Diamond and finding it.

Back when I frequented the record store at least four to five hours a week for music and conversation, I couldn't stand to see a Crowded House album in the used bin. The idea that someone didn't want the music was vaguely offensive to me and, I assumed, the band. So I would buy the cd's any time I saw them and then give them to someone I knew that needed to hear this music; a Johnny Appleseed of Crowded House.

So for whatever reason I hold them above all others, I do. Seeing them live is, for me, like paying homage. The Return of the King, and me a loyal subject.

But maybe now I need to be Johnny Appleseed again.

In college, a friend that worked for Capitol Records found a two disc live performance of Crowded House in a box of discs to be thrown away. He knew I liked them and gave it to me. Some of what was on these discs was released years later as extras on singles. But what he gave me was an entire concert, recorded digitally by the record company never intended to be released as a whole. Now, some of you reading this may not realize that most "Live" albums contain stuff that was recorded in a studio afterward to cover up mistakes, missed notes, etc. that come with live performances. This album contains none of those. It's pure live Crowded House.

Here's one of the tracks; in appreciation for her hangin' with me in the heat of the Tabernacle through both encores, I give you Paula's favorite Crowded House song (with band banter), recorded live in London on November 9. 1991.

Enjoy.