SEE YA 'ROUND

Split Enz were searching for a new sound in the mid 80s to end their career. They found their sound: a cat being run over by a lawnmower! Tim Finn got out while the going was good and the band still had a top 10 hit with Message To My Girl. As Tim sailed away into the sunset to pursue a dogged solo career, the great NZ/Aus band were left to stumble their careers into the studio to appease the record label; the result is a lackluster effort that had no singles worthy of serious marketing and a totally manufactured sound that was the worst of the mid 80s."See Ya Round" was a self prophecying farewell album and was a shocking way to go out. After the disappointing "Conflicting Emotions" this followup is so bad that compilations usually tend to ignore it as if it didn't exist and for good reason.

What went wrong?

The Enz transformed over the years from colourful costumed mannequins on acid to clean cut ladie's magnets. The pop 80s were inundated by Split Enz on the charts and we Australians heard ad infinitum the likes of I Got You and 6 Months on a Leaky Boat as a daily diet. Then they tended to fizzle out on subsequent albums following "Time and Tide".

First there was a very mediocre effort with "Conflicting Emotions" but this was followed up by the worst the Enz produced; "See Ya Round". The cheesy album cover with the band member's faces peeking out of silly cardboard characterisations was supposed to be pop art, instead it just comes across as poop art; flaccid unamusing drawings with an equally lifeless song list.

Is there anything salvageable?

I Walk Away was an attempt at a single and failed. Doctor Love has a catchy tune if you can get past the lyrics. One Mouth is Fed is a boring dance tune that was a live favourite of sorts. Lost Cat was a proggy instrumental with atmospheric cat sounds on the synth (best track on the whole dang album!). This track genuinely sounds like a cat stalking with weird bizarre synth effects and ascending bassline, one of the best instrumentals I have heard.

That's about it really. One intriguing instrumental and 10 manufactured pop slop throwaways. It is seriously devoid of inspiration and is not a cohesive work, rather sounds as though it were recorded in separate booths by each musician, and even then they sound as if they are bored with it. She's a must to avoid.

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