Review: The Rootin' Tootin' Luton Tapes by Split Enz (Mushroom Records, 2006)
Despite the fact that the Rootin Tootin' Luton Tapes (I hate the title) were rejects by the band in this fertile period, I think that it is one of their best albums. Many references have been made tothe album's "edge" and "energy". It seems that on many of the songs, members of the band did not really know them that well and were flying by the seat of their pants or "blagging it" as Nigel Griggs put it. It's that spirit that gives the songs their edge and it's hard indeed to replicate that in a big fancy studio where a band must be cognizant of time and money. It all brings to mind Bob Dylan: Bob has been recording records and playing shows with backing bands who have no idea what song he's going to play or what key or tempo it will be in for decades in an attempt to capture this edge, and as we see from his career, sometimes it works spectactularly, sometimes it doesn't. Here it works. To me the RTLT represent some of th...