h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Excellent article Mark. I should have known you are a fan

Lots of useful info for me. I can relate to your observations as I know Woodface by heart and you make clear comparisons.

Woodface has been in my list of alltime-favourites for years and years now. It's Beatles-quality! And of course the Beatles also sounded very very commercial. Although Neill Finn is still very good, for me he never quite caught the magic of Woodface again. Well....so far. You never know what he will come up next.

I did miss my favourite song-quotes though :

"I'd do anything to be a fly upon the wall"
"and hear your whispers and moans"

But that is of course entirely personal The fact that it's also my favourite Woodface-song may have something to do with it .

I used to do small gigs playing the guitar and singing in local bars, and I still remember the time when I first played an unplugged version of 'Don't dream it's over'. It wasn't perfect, it was most definitely not Neil Finn, but the audience sang along within 2 seconds... After that I even had the nerve to play Supertramp's "Give a little bit"... Something that one always does at one's own risc...

BTW : Back in 1993 the BBC did a series of 3 programmes called "Words and Music" which featured composers - famous and otherwise - singing and playing their songs with the help of either a piano or an acoustic guitar. Neil Finn did a truly exceptional version of 'Don't dream...'. By chance I recorded the programs(they were aired around 03:00 ) and I still play them. Imagine Neil Finn, Loudon Wainwright, Iggy Pop(!), Shawn Colvin, Aimee Mann, Joe Henry, The Sparks(!), Jimmy Webb, Janis Ian, Blondie, Warren Zevon and many more. All on one videotape doing unplugged sessions.

Maybe you can order a copy from the BBC, I know the Dutch tv-station(s) have a customerservice where you can order tapes so...
If you can get it you will be addicted to your telly for the next couple of weeks.

Greetz,

TM.