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Getting The Spinz: Split Enz – Frenzy

(A&M Records, 1979)

Anyone who knows me knows I am a lover of all things Finn: I love Tim. I love Neil. I love Liam. I love Crowded House (ssshh…don’t tell anyone). And I love Split Enz. Frenzy was released in 1979, one year before the band broke through with True Colours and became fixtures on MTV with their always-fantastic videos. This one is kind of overlooked…even by me! But as I revisit Frenzy, I am absolutely loving it. While 1977’s Dizrythmia marked Split Enz’s transition out of weirdo circus art prog, Frenzy sees the band settling into the taut new wave pop that would colour the rest of their output. A 20-year-old Neil Finn also made his Enz debut on this record (with the excellent “Give It a Whirl,” “Holy Smoke” and “Carried Away”), but brother Tim takes the lead throughout most of Frenzy (bassist Nigel Griggs also deserves a nod for his knotty post-punk closer “Livin’ It Up”). “I See Red,” “Master Plan” and “Marooned” are all pop perfection, which is essentially all you get with Split Enz. I am 4FR a frenz of Enz.