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When Split Enz started their new archival series Enzyclopedia Volumes One and Two last year, there was a bit of a difference across formats. The 5CD box set included new remasters of debut Mental Notes and Second Thoughts, a new mix of the latter by longtime keyboardist Eddie Rayner, a tweaked version of early odds-and-ends compilation The Beginning of The Enz, and a new rarities set, Wide Angle Enz. The equivalent 3LP box, however, only had the remastered Mental Notes, the remixed Second Thoughts and the retooled Beginning.

While fans await any news on another volume of Enzyclopedia, the band (soon to take stages in Australia and New Zealand for their first tour in 20 years) will release “appendices” to the first two volumes, in the form of a vinyl-only remastered and expanded edition of Second Thoughts. This 2LP set will include the original mix of the album as remastered by Phil Kinrade, along with a bonus disc including Wide Angle Enz, which featured alternate mixes and live tracks from the period. (In true value-add form, an unreleased “archival rough mix” of early single “Matinee Idyll (129)” will be available exclusively on this set.)

After releasing Mental Notes to a bemused Antipodean record-buying public in 1975, the oft-made-up New Zealand band – co-founded and fronted by singer/songwriters Phil Judd and Tim Finn – took the unusual step of releasing a second album that was another stab at their first. Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera had caught an Enz gig, liked what he saw, and offered his assistance in the form of producing sessions in London. (Bizarrely, Second Thoughts was released under the title Mental Notes in England and America.) “One can debate the merits of the re-recorded Mental Notes tracks,” we wrote in our Enzyclopedia review, “but the new songs here – including the upbeat Judd-Finn collab ‘Lovey Dovey’ and Judd winners ‘Late Last Night’ (a re-recording of a non-album single) and ‘Sweet Dreams,’ arguably the most straightforward pop number the Enz offered in this era – are unquestionable assets.”

Wide Angle Enz, an unusual bonus coda to the box, balances five tracks (also mixed by Rayner) from a late 1975 appearance at the Australian underground Reefer Cabaret with (now three) archival rough mixes of various tracks from the Chrysalis/Mushroom vaults. (Some Reefer Cabaret tracks – including entirely different performances – were included on a 1976 compilation as well as previous reissues of the Enz discography.) The inclusion of “Matinee Idyll (129)” takes things back to the beginning; the track was the B-side of the band’s second single and re-recorded for Second Thoughts.

The expanded Second Thoughts will be released on vinyl on February 27 and can be pre-ordered below. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)

Second Thoughts (Expanded Edition) (Chrysalis CRV1991, 2026) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

LP 1: Second Thoughts (2025 Phil Kinrade Remaster) (originally released as Mushroom L 35981 (AUS/NZ) and as Mental Notes – Chrysalis CHR 1131 (U.K./U.S.), 1976)

Side A

1. Late Last Night
2. Walking Down a Road
3. Titus
4. Lovey Dovey
5. Sweet Dreams

Side B

1. Stranger Than Fiction
2. Time for a Change
3. Matinee Idyll (129)
4. The Woman Who Loves You
5. Mental Notes

Original version of Track A1 released on Mushroom single K 6300 (NZ), 1976
Tracks A2-3 and B1-2 and 5 originally recorded and released on Mental Notes – White Cloud WCL 101 (NZ)/Mushroom L 35588 (AUS), 1975
Tracks A4-5 and B4 were previously unreleased
Original version of Track B3 released on “Sweet Talking Spoon Song” single – EMI HR.512 (NZ), 1973

LP 2: Wide Angle Enz

Side C

1. Sweet Dreams (Live at Ormond Hall (Reefer Cabaret), Melbourne, Australia – 12/13/1975) (Eddie Rayner Remix)
2. Late Last Night (Archival Rough Mix)
3. Stranger Than Fiction (1975 Version) (Eddie Rayner Remix)
4. 129 (Matinee Idyll) (Live at Ormond Hall (Reefer Cabaret), Melbourne, Australia – 12/13/1975) (Eddie Rayner Remix)

Side D

1. Titus (Archival Rough Mix)
2. Under the Wheel (Live at Ormond Hall (Reefer Cabaret), Melbourne, Australia – 12/13/1975) (Eddie Rayner Remix)
3. Time for a Change (Live at Ormond Hall (Reefer Cabaret), Melbourne, Australia – 12/13/1975) (Eddie Rayner Remix)
4. Matinee Idyll (129) (Archival Rough Mix) *

Tracks C1-2 and D1 released on Enzyclopedia Volumes One and Two – Chrysalis CRC/CRV1899, 2025
Original mix of Track C3 released on Mental Notes
Original mixes of Tracks C4 and D2 released on 1972-1979 box set – Mushroom D80940 (AUS), 1992
Original mix of Track D3 released on A-Reefer-Derci! – Mushroom L 45657/8 (AUS), 1976