CONFLICTING EMOTIONS

After the high water mark that was Time & Tide, Conflicting Emotions came as a bit of a let down. Still prog pop as played by masters of the genre, but you could feel it was coming apart.

Some songs stand up as good as anything on Time & Tide - but the keyboards sounds tended more towards adult pop dance , and so diminish the overall quality of the album. No Mischief, I Wake Up Every Night, Conflicting Emotions, & Bon Voyage are all brought down by this dreaded instrumentation particular to the 80s. All are good pop, but they haven't aged well due to the overall sound.

Starting with the "proggiest", the songs Our Day and Bullet Brain & Cactus Head are lyrical serious looks at our children & the future & the then timely view of Reagan & Gorbachev (the thus named Bullet Brain & Cactus Head). The tone & melody stand out, but it's still a ways from T & T. One of Neil Finn's best melodies is found on Message to my Girl. For those who miss Paul McCartney's gift for sweet songs, this is a hit, spot on target. Rayner's keyboards on this one give it a ghostly longing that echoes Finn singing. Why this didn't wipe the charts clean, I'll never know. But it is one I would love for Neil to include in his concerts. Strait old Line reminds me of Take a Walk from T & T, but a bit less lyrical waxing about. Again, it recalls the previous album's strengths , but falls short in its' attempt.

So if you an Enz fan, this is still a well done offering. But for the prog heads amongst us, it's stay away, as most of its' charm lies in the melancholy pop approach that the group can do in its' sleep. A 4 for me, barely a 3 for this site.

This is where Enz really start to lose it. Tim got preoccupied with his solo career and as a result only adds a handful of uninspired tracks, so its up to Neil. Most of this sounds like early 80s dance music, it doesn't rally feel like Enz. Bullet Brain and Cactus Head is relly the only true prog song, although Conflicting Emotions has elements of the bands earlier chaos and madness, merged with uninspired new wave. Strait Old Line is a slight throw back to the earlier vaudiville style and is ok but not really prog, Message to my Girl is a song your wives/girlfriends will absolutely adore Neil is always a sincere singer/song writer when it comes to love so its a nice love song very natural sounding without sounding greasy like most Phil Collins songs, but at the same time is not prog so it will dissappoint you. Some of this album is pretty anooying, its the whole Duran duran feel to it, although not as bad as 80s Genesis, it comes off as rather unfocussed and uninspired after such a great classic as Time and Tide, not even Eddie's keyboards rescue it. Tim is to blame for this, as I mentioned earlier he got involved with his solo career an left the band after this album only to after See Ya 'Round. return for the last tour, although at time Neil does have some inspiration the totality of the album is quite lost. Two stars, some nice songs, some lame ones, minimal prog, a dissappointment for fans, and a flop on the charts. Avoid unless you are a fan of the Finn brothers work or are a female. The remaster has a bonus track single; Next Exit which is a real low point for the group. Also interesting is that former Enz leader Phil Judd pianted the album cover. Two stars bargain bin stuff for your girlfirind/wife.

THIS COULD BE HEAVEN OR THIS COULD BE HELL!

These are the first words of the opening number. And, gosh! The second part of the sentence describes this album brilliantly.

From the funky/jazzy "Strait Old Line" to the most disgusting synth music you could imagine ("Working Up An Appetite", "I Wake Up Every Night"), there is very little to expect from this album. Bright and creative music is definitely forgotten. One of the very rare bearable track is and "Bullet Brain.". Somewhat reminiscent of their "10CC" oriented music. But only one song is no big deal, right?

Split end is near, and everything here indicates this. This album is a real disaster. It is not even good pop music. Synthetic beats combined with poor backing vocals. All uninspired and dull.

Luckily, one can listen to the early albums of the band to get some reconciliation with them; but by no means is this one be appealing. There is no need to write a thousand words here. To listen to this album won't do you any good. A long press next exercise.

Sorry guys but this is really a painful album. Funny enough, the last track is called "Bon Voyage". If it was done on purpose, at least it indicates that the band has still the sense of humour because the trip proposed here is not good at all.

One star.

Slickly produced, inoffensive white-boy funk, dreamy pop bordering on muzak - someone's slipped the wrong album into the SPLIT ENZ sleeve. No; though notionally still part of the band, TIM FINN has wandered off in search of Greta Scacchi and a solo music and film career, leaving the rest of the band without sufficient eccentricity to sound like old-style ENZ. This album says more about what was to become CROWDED HOUSE than it does about SPLIT ENZ, despite the slightly weird 'Bullet Brain and Cactus Head', with 'Message to my Girl' being the most obvious precursor to the gorgeous, superslick pop that the NEIL FINN-led CROWDED HOUSE would produce. The rest of the album slips past in a blur of heavily-disguised mediocrity. Of most relevance is the fact that both FINN brothers had saved their best tracks for other projects: TIM scored with the pleasant 'Fraction too Much Friction', while NEIL already had his mega-hit 'Don't Dream it's Over' in his bottom drawer. There's nothing here approaching that. This is the sound of a band in terminal decline.