SEE YA 'ROUND

Sad for a great band like SPLIT ENZ to finish with such a lemon, but finish with a lemon they did. Having started their career with an engaging blend of art rock and vaudeville, they added punk to their palette in the late 70s, and became one of the most memorable new wave bands in the early 1980s, with 'True Colours' and 'Time and Tide' matching the best of the movement. By 1984, however, they had shed everything but blandness, including their charismatic leader, TIM FINN. Younger brother NEIL helmed the band during this, its dying gasp, and was already thinking about his next project. Thus he had only five tracks ready for this release - but instead of doing the decent thing and retiring gracefully, the band added what they called 'experimental' (read: half-finished) numbers to make up the balance. No vestige of their art-rock origins remain: this is sixth-rate tunes dressed up to the nines in hurricane-force overproduction. Doesn't matter how much perfume you douse this stuff in, it still smells.