Product Description

The history of Crowded House is traced up until its split in 1996, and the internal politics that led to the split are explored. Three chapters have been added to this updated edition which deal with their final concerts, and the lives of the band members are followed from birth in New Zealand.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #955673 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 145 pages

Customer Reviews

A must have for any Crowded House fan!
This book follows Crowded House from the start. It tells you about Neil & Tim's life growing up in Te Awamutu and it also gives you a brief history of Split Enz. I had the first copy of the book that went up to just after the release of 'Together Alone' the second copy goes up to the 'Farewell To The World' concert. All I can say is everything I know about Crowded House, I learn't from reading this book!

Great Insights, Great Research, But not all great
this book is an utterly must-have for any crowded house fan. it illustrates absolutely perfectly the story of Crowded House. However, it suffers greatly from a few vital flaws however.

firstly, i was dissapointed at the sometimes "pop-prose" used in the book. the authors create silly little cliffhangers throughout the book, which are particularly annoying! more dissapointing than this is that the book doesn't always grip you. some parts you can't just put-down, but others will leave you thinking "they could've concentrated a little less on this".

the second flaw is that it sometimes focuses a little too much on the statistical story of CH and not of the internal politics within the band. for example, we spend paragraph after paragraph toiling over dissapointing record sales and loads of figures etc, when it would've been far more interesting giving an insight into something else, like their respective lives.

aside from these, i think the book is extremely well researched, and it benefits from being a kind of "first-hand account of" the band. the sources used are fantastic and well employed. yet, of course, being an unofficial biography, it cannot paint the absolute full story, and i think that the latest chapter about CHs' final concert in sydney could've done with a few more pages. for such a monumental event, it gets barely a chapter when we're toiling over Split Enz and in-effect a biography of them for many chapters!!!

all in all, it is a great book-but one which will only appeal to true Crowded House fans. not a bad way of spending your money!