''Say It Is So'' is the fifth studio album by

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

singer/songwriter

Tim Finn Brian Timothy Finn (born 25 June 1952) is a New Zealand singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He is best known as a founding member of Split Enz. Finn founded the band in 1972 with Phil Judd and served as lead singer and principal songw ...

. After the release of 1993's '' Before & After'' Finn was left without a record company. He met producer

Jay Joyce John Joseph "Jay" Joyce is an American record producer, songwriter and session musician. In the 1990s, Joyce, with Chris Feinstein and Brad Pemberton, recorded and toured as Iodine. He also fronted the band Bedlam, featured on the soundtrack to ...

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, in 1998 with whom he worked. No record company was interested in the album so he released it independently.

Track listing

In the track ''Some Dumb Reason'' there is the line "feeding the gods". This became the title of Finn's next album (and continues a long-standing continuity theme of

Split Enz Split Enz were a New Zealand band formed in 1972. Regarded as the first New Zealand band to gain significant recognition outside of Australasia, they were initially noted for their progressive rock, progressive/art rock sound, flamboyant visua ...

Crowded House Crowded House are an Australian-New Zealand rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Paul Hester (drums), who were both for ...

and

Neil Neil is a masculine name of Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. As a surname ...

and

albums using phrases from their other songs). In contrast, the ''Feeding the Gods'' album also contained a song entitled ''Say It Is So''.

Personnel

- vocals, piano, acoustic guitar *

- guitars, keyboards, sounds * Chris Feinstein - bass *

Ken Coomer Ken Coomer is an American musician and producer best known for his drumming in Uncle Tupelo and later Wilco. He was the drummer and co-founder of the Nashville-based band, Clockhammer, in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Career Coomer produced th ...

- drums * Giles Reaves - drums on ''Underwater Mountain'', ''Shiver'', ''Twinkle'', ''Rest''

Additional personnel

Bruce Bouton Bruce Bouton is an American guitarist, session musician, producer, and songwriter. His pedal steel guitar has been featured on many country music recordings, and he helped reintroduce the pedal steel guitar to the forefront of the Nashville sound ...

- pedal steel * Matt Johnson - drums on ''Currents'' * Kalai Lam - ukulele, log drum, nose flute on ''Currents'' * Laurence Maddy - guitar on ''Shiver'' *

Julie Miller Julie Anne Miller (born Julie Griffin, July 12, 1956) is an American songwriter, singer, and recording artist living in Nashville, Tennessee. She married Buddy Miller in 1981. They sing and play on each other's solo projects and have recorded ...

- backing vocals * Jackie Orsazky - second bass guitar & string arrangement on ''Underwater Mountain''

References

{{Authority control Tim Finn albums 1999 albums Albums produced by Jay Joyce