CROWDED HOUSE’S RETURN five years ago was certainly a welcome one. The Australian-formed group had been dormant since 2016, when it played four shows at the Sydney Opera House and was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association’s (ARIA) Hall of Fame. So frontman and co-founder Neil Finn’s announcement of resumption and a new lineup — with original bassist Nick Seymour, original producer Mitchell Froom on keyboards, and Finn’s sons Liam and Elroy on guitar and drums, respectively — was greeted with great anticipation, even if the pandemic delayed the group’s return to the stage.
“It does feel like it’s got a really good future, because everyone is super excited,” Finn enthused during the spring of 2021, when the new Crowded House released Dreamers Are Waiting, the band’s first new album in 11 years. “We want to push it. We’ve got five people equally committed to exploring what it could be.”
That he meant business is proven by the new Gravity Stairs (Lester/BMG), Crowded House’s eighth studio album overall. Produced by the band with longtime engineer Steven Schram, its 11 tracks are brimming with the particular musical magic that Finn, Seymour and drummer Paul Hester — who committed suicide in 2005 at the age of 46 — began making in 1985 as the Mullanes, before Capitol Records insisted on a name change. The melodies are, as is Crowded House’s wont, rich and memorable, usually by the second chorus. The soundscape is intricately orchestrated with nuanced layers of guitars, Froom’s Hammond B-3 accents, and lushly executed vocal harmonies that have always been Crowded House trademarks but now boast a familial potency thanks to having three Finns onboard.
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Denne historien er fra August 2024-utgaven av Guitar Player.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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PRS
PREVIOUSLY PART OF PRS's Maryland-built guitar line, the SE NF3 was recently reissued in the company's offshore-produced SE series. The SE NF3 is so named for its Narrowfield Deep Dish (a.k.a. DD) \"S\" pickups. These unique PRS-design units have deeper bobbins to accommodate more windings and extra metal pieces between the magnets to yield a more powerful \"single-coil\" tone, while remaining noise-free because they are in fact humbuckers. A control set consisting of master volume, tone and a five-way blade switch allows the usual selections of bridge, middle and neck pickups by themselves and the neck-plus-middle and bridge-plus-middle combinations that allow the SE NF3 to veer into Strat-like territory in switch positions two and four.
EPIPHONE
Inspired by Gibson Custom 1963 Firebird V and 1959 ES-355
Dobro 101
A look at the iconic bluegrass slide box.
CERTIFIED GREATNESS
Fingerstyle master Tommy Emmanuel combines unique musical instincts and breathtaking technique to become an acoustic tour de force.
MASTER OF HIS OWN JOURNEY
For more than 50 years, David Lindley graced albums and concert stages with his singular talent on a vast range of stringed instruments. In this Guitar Player exclusive, his musical friends — including Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder and Bonnie Raitt - pay tribute to an original.
TRANSCENDENTAL MAN
Luther Dickinson interpreted a priceless work of art in music. In the process, the blues guitarist wrote his own next chapter.
THE BEAT GOES ON
Together with Tony Levin, Adrian Belew and Steve Vai join forces for a Robert Fripp-endorsed revival of King Crimson's groundbreaking 1980s music.
I'M 100 PERCENT HAPPY WITH THE WORK I'VE DONE WITH PINK FLOYD. BUT...'MY FOCUS IS DIFFERENT RIGHT NOW'
Leading a rock group and being a solo artist were \"not what I asked for,\" David Gilmour says. For Luck and Strange, he assembled a team that shared the weight of his creative efforts. The result? \"The best album I've made since The Dark Side of the Moon.\"
DOUG GILLARD IS INDISPENSABLE
His six-string genius has proved vital to the music of Guided by Voices, Nada Surf and other indie-rock favorites. But all he really wants is to make good music.
Sol Salvation
The genius of Sol Hoopii is preserved in 16 timeless cuts on Master of the Hawaiian Guitar.