Early nineties (1991–1994) Crowded House

multi-instrumentalist mark hart

crowded house took break after canadian leg of temple of low men tour. neil finn , brother tim recorded songs had co-written own album, finn. following recording sessions tim, neil began writing , recording third crowded house album hester , seymour, these tracks rejected record company, neil asked tim if crowded house use finn songs. tim jokingly agreed on proviso become member, neil apparently took literally. tim official member, band returned studio. new tracks, rejected recordings combined make woodface, released in july 1991. album features 8 tracks co-written neil , tim, feature brothers harmonising on lead vocals, except on sombre ask on tim sang lead. track later used on aids awareness commercials in australia. 5 of album s tracks neil s solo compositions , 2 hester, exuberant italian plastic , became crowd favourite @ concerts , hidden track m still here .

chocolate cake , humorous comment on american excesses not taken critics , sections of american public, released in june 1991 first single. perhaps unsurprisingly failed chart in us, reached number 2 on billboard s modern rock tracks chart. song peaked @ number 7 in new zealand , reached top 20 in australia. second single, fall @ feet , less successful in australia , new zealand did @ least reach hot 100. album reached number 1 in new zealand, number 2 in australia, number 6 in uk , made top 20 in several european countries. third single woodface, weather , peaked @ no. 7 in 1992 giving band highest uk chart placement. contrast, album had limited success in us, reaching number 83 on billboard 200 album chart.

tim finn left crowded house during woodface tour in november 1991, part-way through uk leg. performances on tour, @ town , country club in london, recorded live , given limited release in australia, while individual songs shows released b-sides of singles in countries. in june 1993 new zealand government recommended queen award obe neil , tim finn contribution music of new zealand.

for fourth album, alone, crowded house used producer martin glover (aka youth ) , invited touring musician mark hart (guitar , keyboards) become permanent band member. album recorded @ karekare beach, new zealand, gave name opening track, kare kare . album released in october 1993 , sold internationally on strength of lead single distant sun , followup private universe . topped new zealand album chart, reached number 2 in australia , number 4 in uk. locked out album s first single , received airplay on mtv , vh1. track , sharona knack, both included soundtrack of film reality bites, bundled on jukebox single promote film soundtrack.