Product Description

'Time On Earth' is the first album by Crowded House in overten years and features contributions from Johnny Marr and the Dixie Chicks. Recorded equally in the UK and New Zealand,production comes from Ethan Johns and Steve Lillywhite. Thesingle 'Don't Stop Now' is included.

Track Listing

1. Nobody Wants To
2. Don't Stop Now
3. She Called Up
4. Say That Again
5. Pour Le Monde
6. Even A Child
7. Heaven That I'm Making
8. Silent House
9. English Trees
10. Walked Her Way Down
11. Transit Lounge
12. You Are The One To Make Me Cry
13. A Sigh
14. People Are Like Suns

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4513 in Music
• Released on: 2007-07-02
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Time on Earth, the first Crowded House record since 1993’s superlative Together Alone, began as a Neil Finn solo record, but morphed into a reunion album after bassist Nick Seymour joined the studio sessions and new drummer (Matt Sherrod, formerly of Beck) was recruited to replace the late Paul Hester. Hester sadly took his own life in 2005, and Time on Earth is, in that sense, a tribute album; yet it’s simultaneously a move into the future. In true CH style, Time on Earth weaves together a range of moods, from touching, introspective ballads, to upbeat, Beatles-esque rock ‘n’ roll. --Paul Sullivan

Customer Reviews

A great comeback album
This album does take a few listens I admit, but there are a few tracks which I loved instantly-She walked her way down being one of them along with Silent House.
I hate to say it-but I actually skipped through Transit Lounge after hearing the intro. But it IS really good, quite different but certainly not worth skipping! I liked the woman's ooh's and aah's on it too.
All in all, a great album. Went to see them live in Cardiff last Dec and it was definitely a memorable night! I was only a kid in the days of Woodface-Recurring Dream so being able to watch a band I never thought I would see live was truly, a treat.

Legacy intact - the nearly wholly majestic return of Crowded House
It's always a difficult decision to revisit and attempt to re-create something that was very special indeed. The re-formed Crowded House, now comprising of Neil Finn, Nick Seymour, Mark Hart and new member Matt Sherrod, replacing the late Paul Hester, made that particular decision and many fans held their collective breath to see how Neil Finn, who has had a rather inconsistent solo career, would add to or damage the legacy of the 'Sacred Cow' that is Crowded House.

Well, perhaps they shouldn't have worried. Time On Earth, Crowded House's first album since 1993's Together Alone, is largely excellent. Although there are songs which sound a little like very good Neil Finn solo tracks, there are at least a handful of songs such as the brilliant She Called Up, Walked Her Way Down and Even A Child which sound every bit like Crowded House as Mean To Me or Something So Strong. Not everything on Time On Earth is instant though. You won't get as much out of this album on the first listen as you will on, say, the fifth and, even then, subsequent listening sessions will reveal more and more of this multi-layered and richly textured album, just as Together Alone rewarded repeated playbacks.

A big highlight of the album is Pour Le Monde, which was inspired by an anti-Iraq war demonstration march in Paris in which the protesters chanted "Pour le monde pas pour la guerre", meaning, "For the world, not for the war", both of which are included within the song's lyrics. Pour Le Monde is an absolutely gorgeous song, a damning, but beautiful and magnificent criticism of Bush's administration (In a hope that comes to nothing/'Cos the liars moved in/And they believe in all dark medicine) - a protest song has never sounded so good before. Other highlights include the Beatlesque Heaven That I'm Making, the dark beauty of Silent House, You Are The One To Make Me Cry, which reminds me strongly of Painted From Memory-era Elvis Costello and People Are Like Suns, a very worthy album closer which features some heart-breakingly wonderful piano-led music.

As an album, Time On Earth isn't without flaws - it could easily be argued that it is maybe two songs too long and that there are too many samey mid-tempo songs which make the album less exciting and perhaps diminishes the listening pleasure of the work as a whole. While I would conceed that such a point of view has merit, the positives completely overwhelm the negatives on this album and the tracks which don't exactly attain the status of classics are still at least fairly good and perfectly listenable. Out of the fourteen tracks, at least ten - if not twelve - of them are worthy additions to the Crowded House catalogue and I'm sure that's more than most Crowded House fans expected prior to the release of this album. This isn't another Woodface or Together Alone, sure, but it's really not that far behind.

TIME ON EARTH GENTLEMEN
When Neil Finn decided to reform Crowded House early in 2007, i for one was a just a little dubious. The band called it a day in 1996 at the height of their fame and pulling power - they were the critics darlings and had just enjoyed a 3 week run as the UK's number 1 album with their 'best of'.
The death of drummer Paul Hester seemed to act as the catalyst to the reformation and thankfully the resulting record of new material was not the disaster some predicted. Time On Earth is a real 'slowburner' of a record - much like Together alone was 12 years previously - but it's delights are many. Only & Child and She Called Up could have happily fitted onto the sublime Woodface, English Trees sounds uncannily like Paul McCartney on a really good day and Transit Lounge has all the experimentation and fun of a prime Split Enz track. People Are Like Suns and Heaven That I'm Making are ballads that draw you in over time, whilst Pour Le Monde sounds like a classic in the making.
Sure there are some duffers - A Sigh and the poor first single Don't Stop Now sound like fillers - but overall this is an excellent record. It rewards repeated listening in spades. Finns voice is in great shape and new drummer Matt Sherrod looks like shaping up to be an excellent replacement for the sadly missed Hester.
It's no Woodface but for fans its a must.

cw