Neil Reflects...

I was thrilled by the audio commentary for Crowded House's Afterglow. Because clearly that's what it was. To have the writer/musician drop in at the end of the album and give 10-15 minutes explanation for the record along with a play-by-play on each song was a rare treat. I wish more artists would do it. Jesus, can you imagine Prince or Tom Jones or some other such artist sitting down to nibble on the album in detail. Even if we couldn't take them at their word? The mind boggles.

The only thing I might have enjoyed more would be if the "interview" had preceded the record itself, as a sort of introduction. As it was I had to go back to disc one and replay a couple of the tracks with Neil's added insight. Most particularly Lester, which is a sweet little song after you know the back story (I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't listen closely enough to the lyrics the first time through to know that he was singing about his dog.)