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Some time after Crowded House frontman Neil Finn indicated potential work being done with the catalogue of Split Enz - the cult-hero pop band co-founded by his older brother Tim - fans finally have some development on that front, with the first in a planned series of archival sets covering the group's early, avant-garde years.
Enzyclopedia Volumes One and Two will focus on the group's early years, coalescing around the material leading up to 1975 debut Mental Notes, which celebrates a half-century this year. The 5CD set will feature remasters of Mental Notes and its sort-of follow-up Second Thoughts, a rework of the Mental material with Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera in the producer's chair. Second Thoughts will also be newly remixed for the set by Enz keyboardist Eddie Rayner; he'll do similar work on parts of the band's early-odds-and-ends compilation The Beginning of the Enz and a new seven-track collection of rarities called Wide Angle Enz. (A 140-gram, triple-vinyl set will include the remastered Mental Notes and the remixed Second Thoughts and Beginning of the Enz.) It's all been newly remastered by Phil Kinrade at AIR Studios in London, with vinyl lacquers cut there by Harry Rudkins. Each version comes with a 40-page book of rare photos, memorabilia and liner notes featuring new recollections by Tim Finn, Rayner, Manzanera, guitarist Wally Wilkinson and bassist Mike Chunn. (Packaging varies between both sets. Both formats come in a rigid slipcase featuring the Mental Notes artwork and an obi strip; the CDs are housed in a tri-fold sleeve, while the vinyl includes replicas of the original artwork for Mental Notes and Second Thoughts along with a redesigned cover for Beginning.)
The ever-evolving Enz (originally named Split Ends, before altering out of pride for their homeland of New Zealand) was founded by Tim Finn and Phil Judd in 1972. Within a year, they began to release some avant-folk singles (like "For You" and "The Sweet Talkin' Spoon Song," which featured Judd on percussive spoons) and established a unique reputation as an arresting if hard to pin down live act. (The group made a TV appearance at home on the talent series New Faces, and placed second to last.)
By the time Mental Notes arrived in Australian and New Zealand record stores in 1975, the group had expanded into a septet of Judd (vocals/guitars) and Finn (vocals/piano) Rayner (keyboards), Wilkerson (lead guitar), Chunn (bass), Emlyn Crowther (drums) and Noel Crombie (percussion). Their live act got even wilder, performing in unusual outfits, makeup and hairstyles all designed by Crombie. However the push-pull of the Enz sound (juxtaposed by Judd's progressive leanings and Finn's ear for pop melodies) seemed on paper, the band found themselves waylaid by the relative disinterest of a production and engineering team who didn't get what they were trying to do.
One person who had no trouble understanding their vision, however, was Roxy Music's Manzanera, who helped the group head to London for sessions under his watch. Perplexingly (but fitting to its title), Second Thoughts was largely a re-recording and reshuffling of Mental Notes in fact issued by its original title in several territories including England and America. (By this point, the group would welcome new drummer Malcolm Green and saxophonist Rob Gillies, who'd departed the band before the recording of Mental Notes, but briefly rejoined for these sessions.) It's hard to assess which version is better, though it did mark a pretty significant turning point for the band, when Judd - who felt his material lost its impact when played for audiences, who were often left stymied by what the Enz were attempting - decided to withdraw from the group.
Beyond Rayner's remixes on Second Thoughts and a resequenced Beginning of the Enz, the extra material on Enzyclopedia largely focuses on the group's live prowess, excerpting performances - also mixed by Rayner - from a late 1975 appearance at the Australian underground Reefer Cabaret. (Additional performances from this show have been included on the 1976 collection A-Reefer-Derci! and mid-'00s reissues of the Enz discography.) It also includes two unreleased mixes from the Second Thoughts sessions recently discovered in Chrysalis' archives.
Both titles will be available November 14, with Amazon links gradually populating around the world. (As an affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.) The full track breakdown is below.
Enzyclopedia Volumes One and Two (Chrysalis CRV-1899, 2025)
5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
CD/LP 1: Mental Notes (2025 Remaster) (released as White Cloud WCL 101 (NZ)/Mushroom L 35588 (AUS), 1975)
- Walking Down a Road
- Under the Wheel
- Amy (Darling)
- So Long for Now
- Stranger Than Fiction
- Time for a Change
- Maybe
- Titus
- Spellbound
- Mental Notes
CD/LP 2: Second Thoughts (2025 Eddie Rayner Remix)
- Late Last Night
- Walking Down a Road
- Titus
- Lovey Dovey
- Sweet Dreams
- Stranger Than Fiction
- Time for a Change
- Matinee Idyll
- The Woman Who Loves You
CD 3: Second Thoughts (2025 Remaster) (released as Mushroom L 35981 (AUS/NZ) and as Mental Notes - Chrysalis CHR 1131 (U.K./U.S.), 1976)
CD 4/LP 3: The Beginning of the Enz (2025 Remaster) (released as Mushroom L 37132 (AUS/NZ), 1979)
- Spellbound (2025 Eddie Rayner Remix)
- No Bother to Me (2025 Eddie Rayner Remix)
- Malmsbury Villa (2025 Eddie Rayner Remix)
- Sweet Talking Spoon Song (2025 Eddie Rayner Remix)
- Lovey Dovey (2025 Eddie Rayner Remix)
- 129
- Split Ends
- For You
- Home Sweet Home
Original mix of Track 1 is an alternate version from Mental Notes exclusive to this compilation, with Tim Finn on lead vocals
Original mix of Track 2 and Track 9 released as White Cloud single WC 002 (NZ), 1975
Original mix of Tracks 3 and 5 exclusive to this compilation; demos recorded in 1974
Original mix of Track 4 and Track 6 released as EMI single HR.512 (NZ), 1973
Tracks 7-8 released as Vertigo single 6036 902 (NZ), 1973
CD 5: Wide Angle Enz
- Sweet Dreams (Live at Ormond Hall (Reefer Cabaret), Melbourne, Australia - 12/13/1975) (Eddie Rayner Remix) *
- Late Last Night (Archival Rough Mix) *
- Stranger Than Fiction (1975 Version) (Eddie Rayner Remix)
- 129 (Matinee Idyll) (Live at Ormond Hall (Reefer Cabaret), Melbourne, Australia - 12/13/1975) (Eddie Rayner Remix)
- Titus (Archival Rough Mix) *
- Under the Wheel (Live at Ormond Hall (Reefer Cabaret), Melbourne, Australia - 12/13/1975) (Eddie Rayner Remix)
- Time for a Change (Live at Ormond Hall (Reefer Cabaret), Melbourne, Australia - 12/13/1975) (Eddie Rayner Remix)
Original mix of Track 3 released on Mental Notes
Original mixes of Track 4 and 6 released on 1972-1979 box set - Mushroom D80940 (AUS), 1992
Original mix of Track 7 released on A-Reefer-Derci! - Mushroom L 45657/8 (AUS), 1976
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3 words...fun, orderly, skimpy...i understand if that is all that was available and/or recorded, but i hope it's priced accordingly...only 45 tracks over 5 discs...but perhaps the booklet makes up for it...
Actually 44 tracks, and discs 2 and 3 are the same songs, just remastered on disc 3. Plus, four songs from Mental Notes were re-recorded for Second Thoughts.
Very skimpy indeed...hopefully the set is priced accordingly.
How many of these will there be I wonder? I only know a few of thier songs like "I Got You". I guess they were bigger in the UK?
Very interesting that Chrysalis is doing these and not UMG, given the Rubellan issue last year...
UMG never had rights to this material. Split Enz is one of those catalogues where there's different rights holders depending on territory, which is a huge contributor to that whole Rubellan issue.
The catalogue is controlled in AUS/NZ by Warner Music, who either own or bought the Mushroom Records catalogue, where those albums originally came out. Chrysalis holds rest-of-world rights to the material covered here and a little beyond that (Mental Notes/Second Thoughts/Dizrythmia/The Beginning of The Enz).
UMG, through A&M, starts rest-of-world rights with True Colours, Frenzy (which was released in AUS/NZ first but everywhere else in remixed/resequenced form - the one Rubellan planned to reissue - afterward), Waiata (named Corroboree in Australia), Time and Tide and Conflicting Emotions.
No one outside of AUS/NZ, as far as I know, has a deal for See Ya 'Round, which is why it's not digtally available here. (Which is a bummer, because I dig that one a lot.)
Correction: Emlyn Crowther is the drummer on both Mental Notes and Second Thoughts - he’s the guy in the lower left in the group painting, pretty much the only one who isn’t subtly altered between the two covers.
Mal Green didn’t join until they started work on the next album Dizrhythmia.
I enjoy lp’s, cd’s and blu-ray. There is a blu-ray out there that will include a 5.1 mix as well as the original 1975 stereo mix. That’s everything I hope for on a blu- ray and will go that route. Always wanted this record.
I hope they don't print them with that date for the live Ormond Hall tracks... Should be 30/12/1975.
These are the only Split Enz recordings that have any life in them. They stupidly jettisoned their creative genius right after, leaving only Tim Finn to "write songs" - how embarrassing! At least this record of achievement still exists. It's the only one that matters anyway. 🙂