Crowded House

"Crowded House" is one of a handful of albums that changed my life. During the summer of it's release, I literally played it on a constant loop along with Split Enz's "History Never Repeats." I love every track and hated that no one has remastered this during the 31 years since it came out. Near as I can tell, they have not remixed it, just remastered the original audio. It has a bit more punch coming out of the speakers, but nothing ear shattering.I'm planning on purchasing the deluxe editions for the other three records they made with Paul Hester, which is my favorite period of their history.

I remember listening to the vinyl record of this album over and over when it was first released back in the '80's. I was probably 14 or 15 years old. This was in the days before the average person had a CD player, although CDs were available by then, just too expensive. I played this album, along with a few others like U2's Joshua Tree, Sting's Dream of the Blue Turtles, Synchronicity by the Police, Peter Gabriel's So, Paul Simon's Graceland, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA and Nebraska, and a few other records that I spent my allowance money on regularly. All this truly incredible music was released over the span of a few short years in the 1980's. People like to make fun of '80's music as if it was all silly pop songs, but this music stands up artistically to anything ever released by anyone. In fact, I would say the '80's were easily the most artistic decade in popular music. I'm sure some '60's folks don't want to believe that. In spite of a few catchy tunes scattered over all those albums, they are all largely dark, sometimes downright depressing, often dealing with weighty subjects, and Crowded House is no exception.If you are contemplating this purchase, you probably already know the music, so I won't bother saying anything about the music itself other than that it is a masterpiece, made in a time when people listened to the entire album. Cds can sound wonderful and they are convenient, but people tend to skip around a lot just because they can, as opposed to listening straight through a side like vinyl records almost forced you to do. Well, this new remastered CD is worth listening all the way through. It sounds incredible, much better than the original vinyl lp, much better than the original CD. The sound is now more natural, more dynamic, the bass is deeper and louder but not overly so, across the board every aspect of the sound is superior. It is also superior to the DVD-Audio that was released back around 2000. Has it been so long? These new Crowded House deluxe editions are all worth the money--I bought them all. This is now the definitive edition of this album in terms of sound quality. Packaging is very nice. The extra disc of rarities is nice, perhaps not essential from my point of view for what that's worth. One thing I don't like, though, is the size of the packaging. It is the size of a DVD case, which makes it too tall to fit on my CD shelf. I wish it could have been in a standard CD sized package, perhaps in a similar booklet like U2's remasters were in about 10 years ago. Still, this is the best sounding version of Crowded House, so to me this is indispensable.

They really are ALL amazing. Smoke a bone, kick back in your easy chair, send your mind back to the 80s and listen to this WHOLE ALBUM without interruption!! That is an order!! Maybe you will re-connect with their magic!!! Maybe getting a kick-ass REAL sound system WITH A REAL AMPLIFIER, will help you truly HEAR the music properly.

My favorite album of the 1980's.A songwriting masterpiece.The first CD copies issued were terrible.This remastered version brings the music back to life.

WOW! Love this cd. One of my favorite albums in the 80's. Remastered and extra tracks.. Sounds awesome! A must have for any Crowded House fan! Received in perfect condition and shipping was quick!

If you are a fan of the Finn brothers - this is NICE!

Awesome

A double CD but it has only one music that is worth it, the famous "Don't Dream It's Over"

For me , I will always miss Paul Hester, and I'm not saying Crowded House's last two albums were bad- but their first four had something, and a sound that is no longer there- obviously no writing credits to Paul/backing vocals which sound great- and I hadn't listened to this album in a while. I saw the deluxe edition, and must say it is a worthwhile purchase and one I would definately recommend. There are so many good songs here- it's a great album, and that's disc one- the other is has many alternative versions and others songs - including one of my favourites Recurring Dream- all in all it's a lovely item with a really good booklet and made of good quality- i really enjoyed playing these songs again

After Split Enz broke up, Neil Finn convened Crowded Hose, bringing along drummer Paul Hester from the final Enz line-up. In truth, Crowded House was a natural continuation of the last Enz album, 'See Ya 'Round', but losing some of the band's quirkier moments. Finn's song craft, and his great melodic gifts are given full, free rein here, and he sounds like a man set free. There's some lovely work here - 'Don't Dream It's Over' is a great place to start, but that's not alone; with songs like 'Something So Strong', the yearning 'Hole in The River' and 'I Walk Away', the latter a song that Finn had recorded on 'See Ya 'Round'This version - the Super Deluxe version - includes a disc of demos and rarities, which is nice to have, and a lavish booklet that helps give this excellent debut album .the kind of justice it deserves.

These two CD reissues of Crowded House's catalog are a great value. They include live tracks and demo's along with a comprehensive booklet for the release. Although they are too large to fit on a cd shelf, they showcase a worthy successor to Split Enz.

Where are the remixes? I understand it's a deluxe edition, so they had to trawl through something to come up with a second CD of content. However, there's at least 2 or 3 remixes of the main hits that still have yet to see widespread CD release. Would have been a perfect medium to include them.

A nice limited edition CD! Thanks from Tony Cole.