Crowded House

Australian rock band Crowded House was formed in Melbourne by New Zealand musician Neil Finn, who is the permanent leader of the group. The story of Crowded House started in the 80’s after Neil’s previous band Split Enz was disbanded. With his friends Finn organized the band called The Mullanes. Soon after that the musicians were lucky to sign the contract with Capitol Records and moved to Los Angeles. They were renting the lodging and realized what that meant to live in a crowded house. Thereby the band got its name.

Crowded House’ debut album titled Crowded House was released in 1986. Its first single Mean to Me received a good airplay, so the music lovers could get familiar with the band’s creativity. It was followed by Don't Dream It's Over, which became a real hit and brought the international popularity to Crowded House. The band’s good start was noticed and in 1987 Crowded House were awarded Best New Talent and Song of the Year for Don't Dream It's Over by the ARIA Music Awards. Their second studio work Temple of Low Men was issued in 1988. It was acclaimed by the musical experts, however it did not manage to repeat the debut album’s success. Nevertheless, Temple of Low Men was well received due to such compositions as Better Be Home Soon, Into Temptation and Sister Madly. The latter is one of the fans’ most favorite songs to sing along at the band’s performances. Soon after the release Crowded House went on the tour to support Temple of Low Men in Canada and Australia.

In 1991 the musicians released their third studio work titled Woodface. Compositions Fall At Your Feet and Weather With You got deserved attention and appeared in the British Top 10. In 1993 the band’s discography was enlarged by the record Together Alone, which was of a great success in Australia and New Zealand. It was well-received in the US and the composition Locked Out was included into Reality Bites’ soundtrack in 1994. In 1996 Crowded House released the compilation album of their best songs titled Recurring Dream and announced about the disbanding. In that period the musicians were occupied with different projects: Finn issued several solo albums which turned out to be quite successful. Seymour participated in Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, and in 2001 he released the solo album. The tragical event happened in 2005: one of the founders of the band, Paul Hester, was found dead in a park in Melbourne. The police representatives stated that he had committed a suicide. Other members of Crowded House were shocked and depressed by that news.

In January, 2007 the musicians reunited and recorded a new album Time on Earth, which was well-received both by the band’s fans and the critics. The long-awaited album was a very strong record and soon it was certified Platinum in Australia and Gold in New Zealand. Crowded House’ new album titled Intriguer was released in 2010. It was created in the best traditions of Melbourne rock band which means that it will be interesting to listen to it for all good music lovers. The same 2010 year the compilation album titled The Very Very Best Of Crowded House was released. That album included time-honored compositions that deserved the right to be called one of Crowded House’s best works: Something So Strong, Four Seasons In One Day and many others. There is absolutely no doubt that The Very Very Best Of Crowded House proved to be a wonderful present to the band’s fans.