Afterglow Crowded House EMI, 2000 Disc One Tracks 1: I Am In Love 2: Sacred Cow 3: You Can Touch 4: Help Is Coming 5: I Love You Dawn 6: Dr. Livingstone 7: My Telly's Gone Bung 8: Private Universe 9: Lester 10: Anyone Can Tell 11: Recurring Dream 12: Left Hand 13: Time Immemorial Disc Two Tracks 1: Neil Finn Interview   Buy it online Reviewed by David Middleton	When an artist or band releases a greatest hits package it's usually produced for a wide market: diehard fans and casual listeners. You get a compilation of the best bits and pieces from several albums without having to wade through all of the previous releases -- which in some cases can span decades -- to hear the bestsellers. Often, the artist will have recorded and added one or more new or previously unheard songs to the album, giving the listener added incentive to buy what they may essentially already have. But when a band releases an album full of oddities, demos and songs that never made it to disc or were never meant to be included on a recording, then clearly this album is meant for a narrower audience: the True Fan. The True Fan just loves to hear the track that went astray, the sneezes, grunts and out takes that so often occur in the studio but, for obvious reasons, never see the light of day. The True Fan wants to know everything their favorite artist has recorded regardless of its shortcomings. An album like this can often give the True Fan valuable insight. Crowded House's two disc set, Afterglow, is such an album. Though it contains no sounds of the studio, bodily noises or notes not-quite-hit, it was ideally made for the True Fan. Anyone who has ever liked even one Crowded House song will likely enjoy this album as well. Throwing together this compilation of 13 misfits and orphans -- recorded over a span of 15 years -- in chronological order would have been too easy and not done justice to these wonderfully crafted tunes. Instead, the entire recording has been constructed like a fully realized album. Rather than putting the songs in order of the date they were originally recorded, they are compiled to flow one to another, taking the listener gently through, flitting back and forth in time and not just bashing one song against another regardless of its history. And while this may not be ideal for those who would like to hear a more clearly defined musical evolution, it does perhaps challenge the listener to do more than listen. I often found myself thinking, "That sounds like it should be from around the time of Temple of Low Men (1988)," or "this tune would probably have fit into Woodface (1991)," and so on. It's not hard to see why some of these songs never made it to disc though. Paul Hester's silly lament "My Telly's Gone Bung," about his busted television being a prime example. The non-chronological order results in a good flow, from the rolling drum intro of the first song, "I am in Love," all the way through to the folksy "Time Immemorial." The real standout track on the album has to be "Recurring Dream." With its jangling psychedelic guitar and Finn's clear, soaring vocals it could easily be released as a single. Written in 1985, it's the oldest song on the album and is reminiscent of later Split Enz. In fact, it was one of the first songs written by Crowded House and it has aged remarkably well. Disc two is an interview with Neil Finn. While Finn was the driving force behind Crowded House, the voices and comments of band mates Paul Hester (drums), Nick Seymour (bass) or Mitchell Froom (producer and sometime keyboard player) would have given this second disc a bit more credence. Their comments would also have added some length. As it is, a second disc that includes only an 11 minute interview seems like a bit of a waste. Finn's comments are interesting and informative though and he gives a short breakdown of each song in order as well as the impetus for producing the album: This album has been brewing really since the band broke up. Partly because I keep having fans of the band come up to me and ask me about obscure songs that they know exist, have never been released, and also how they can get a hold of obscure songs that were released on B-sides. So really it was for them in the main I started listening to a few of these obscure songs and decided that with the passage of time they actually... many of them sounded really good and would be a worthy addition to the catalog. Not all the songs on Afterglow are great, but they are all very good. Finn and company have a flawless ear for writing solid pop songs with catchy hooks, filled with often sardonic wit and intimate lyrics that never come off as trite. Led by Neil Finn's crisp, strong voice, the band's sterling musicianship and tight vocal harmonies are always true to form. And though the songs range from fully produced to rough home demo (a touching song about Neil Finn's Dalmatian titled "Lester"), Afterglow is a wonderfully complete album that deserves its place in the Crowded House collection. | March 2000 David Middleton is the art director of Blue Coupe magazine.	Rather than putting the songs in order of the date they were originally recorded, they are compiled to flow one to another, taking the listener gently through, flitting back and forth in time and not just bashing one song against another regardless of its history. And while this may not be ideal for those who would like to hear a more clearly defined musical evolution, it does perhaps challenge the listener to do more than listen.