''Try Whistling This'' is the debut solo album by the New Zealand singer/songwriter

Neil Finn Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for being a principal member of Split Enz and for being the lead singer of Crowded House. He was also a member of Fleetwood Mac from 2018 ...

, released in 1998. It was produced by Finn,

Tchad Blake Tchad Blake (born 1955) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixer and musician. A native of Baytown, Texas, he has worked with artists and musicians including Al Green, American Music Club, Ani DiFranco, Apartment 26, Arctic Monke ...

Marius De Vries Marius de Vries (born 1961) is an English record producer and composer. He has won a Grammy Award from four nominations, two BAFTA Awards, and an Ivor Novello Award. Education Marius de Vries was educated at St Paul's Cathedral School, Bedfor ...

, and

Jim Moginie James 'Jim' Moginie (born 18 May 1956) is an Australian musician. He is best known for his work with Midnight Oil, of which he is a founding member, guitarist, keyboardist and leading songwriter. Career In addition to Midnight Oil, Moginie ha ...

. The Japanese version of the album has a bonus track called "Tokyo", which also appears on the UK release of the single "Sinner". Special editions of the Australian CD contained a bonus CD with six extra tracks which were used as the B-sides for the singles released from the album. The album topped the charts in Australia and New Zealand, and also reached the top five of the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

Critical reception

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' wrote that Finn's "eternally yearning tones set him apart from other melodic late-thirtysomethings—though he also happens to write lovely, inexplicably underrated songs."

Awards

In 1999, ''Try Whistling This'' won the New Zealand Music Award for Best Cover Art. The cover was drawn by Neil's young son, Elroy.

Track listing

All songs were written by

, except where noted. # "Last One Standing" – 3:04 # "Souvenir" – 3:42 # "King Tide" (Finn, Robert Moore) – 4:33 # "Try Whistling This" (Finn,

) – 4:13 # " She Will Have Her Way" – 3:56 # " Sinner" (Finn,

) – 4:25 # "Twisty Bass" – 5:09 # "Loose Tongue" (Finn, Moginie) – 4:12 # "Truth" (Finn, Moginie) – 4:03 # "Astro" – 3:46 # "Dream Date" – 4:51 # "Faster Than Light" – 4:23 # "Addicted" – 4:22 Australian edition bonus disc # "Tokyo" – 2:56 # "Family Ties" – 3:11 # "She Comes Scattered" – 3:36 # "Identical Twin" – 3:30 # "808 Song" – 3:30 # "Log Drums" – 3:49

Personnel

* Tony Allen – drums (track 11) * Michael Barker – drums (tracks 3, 5, 6, 10),

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

(tracks 5, 6, 7, 8, 11) *Lyn Buchannan – additional drums (track 1) *

– programming (tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13), keyboards (tracks 6 and 13) *

Liam Finn Liam Mullane Finn (born 24 September 1983) is a New Zealand singer and musician. Born in Melbourne, Australia, he moved to New Zealand as a child. He is the son of musicians Sharon (Johnson) and Neil Finn. In 2020, he joined his father's band ...

– drums (tracks 2, 8), guitar (track 5) *Paddy Free – programming (track 7) *

Mitchell Froom Mitchell Froom (born June 29, 1953) is an American musician and record producer. He was a member of the bands Gamma and Latin Playboys, and is the keyboardist for Crowded House. He has produced albums for several artists, including David LaFl ...

– Hammond (tracks 10, 11, 12) *

– guitars (tracks 4, 8, 10, 13), bass guitar (track 13),

omnichord The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It allows users to play distinctive harp-like arpeggios produced through an electronic strum plate, simulating the experience of ...

(track 13), percussion (track 13) *Robert Moore – bass (track 8) *

Sebastian Steinberg Sebastian Steinberg (born February 20, 1959) is an American double bass, bass player, best known for his work in the band Soul Coughing. Biography Steinberg played with Soul Coughing throughout the band's entire history, from 1992 to 2000. In 200 ...

– bass (tracks 1 to 6, 8, 9, 11) * Pete Thomas – drums (tracks 1, 4, 9) *

– all other instruments

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Neil Finn albums 1998 debut albums Albums produced by Tchad Blake Albums produced by Marius de Vries Parlophone albums