Thumbs up for Enz

Press, 7 May 1981, Page 14

Thumbs up for Enz

The latest edition of “Melody Maker,” the British musical weekly newspaper, contains a favourable review of the Split Enz album, 4, Waiata.” The review, entitled “Hard Act To Follow,” was written by Paul Colbert, and gets bold print and a photograph of Split Enz, at the top of the third page devoted to album reviews.

“The times when the Enz were credited as New Zealand counterparts to Genesis and their associates have now passed; they were daft comparisons anyhow,” Paul Colbert writes. “If anything, this album, again produced by hitmaker, David Ticket, is further dowji the Beatles path, another' collection of instant energetic pop songs, familiar as. soon as you’ve heard them, unforgettable after two listens.’’

Later Colbert writes that “Waiata” is the sound of a whole driving band, functioning at its very best, not a template shaped by one man. "It’s one of those rare albums where the second you hear the opening bars, you feel you’ve known the track since birth. Choosing the one or two numbers that wouldn’t make cracking singles is easier than selecting between those that would,” he says. "History Never Repeats” has also been chosen for the British single release, and Paul Colbert says it is like the other tracks on the album — taut song construction, neat and. instrumental breaks, and' “not aminch.of fat.” r

Later be says "that “Hard Act To Follow” is equally as captivating.' * ‘

“This entire record is like a virus spreading its mes-. sage along every nerve ’end. There’s a smoother consistency of pace than the last release, ‘True Colours,’ and they’ve mastered the art of varying each arrangement

on the surface, but keeping the unremitting pulse underneath.” ’ ( . According to ..Paul Colbert, “True Colours” may have been a difficult album for

U.K. fans to take, because of the break after “Disrhythmia.” He reasons that this is the inclusion of a quote from “My Mistake” in the lunatic percussion jabber of “Ships.” “Clumsy” is mentioned as a track that shows that Split Enz can still be “odd” if they want to be, the tracking ending on a comma rather than an exclamation mark. Paul Colbert sums up “Waiata” by saying: “Picking the best of the bunch is impossible, and so is resisting the urge to play the whole lot over again.” Having dealt with the review from “Melody Maker” (which within yet another lay-out change including a colour cover, perhaps to break free of its nick-name, ‘Monotony Maker” it will be interesting to hear what “New Musical Express” and others have to say.