''Second Thoughts'' is the second studio album by New Zealand

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ar ...

band

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 ...

. It was recorded in London with

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

's guitarist

Phil Manzanera Phillip Geoffrey Targett-Adams (born 31 January 1951), known professionally as Phil Manzanera, is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He is the lead guitarist with Roxy Music, and was the lead guitarist with 801 and Quiet Sun. ...

producing the album. Four of the songs on the album were reworked versions of songs from their 1975 debut album, '' Mental Notes''. Two other songs on the album had been first recorded during the ''Mental Notes'' sessions, but left off and re-recorded for ''Second Thoughts''. There were two new songs, both written by

Phil Judd Philip Raymond Judd (born 20 March 1953) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter known for being one of the founders of the bands Split Enz and The Swingers. Split Enz In 1972, Judd and Tim Finn founded the arty folk band Split Enz. In its early d ...

, and a re-recording of an early Judd/Finn composition ("129"), which for the ''Second Thoughts'' version, was renamed "Matinee Idyll". The album was called ''Mental Notes'' when released outside Australasia and also featured a reworked version of the ''Mental Notes'' cover (for comparison se
original
an
remake
. Wally Wilkinson's image was replaced with that of Robert Gillies, and some band members are shown with newer haircuts:

was now bald, and

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 ...

had his sides shaved.

, Robert Gillies and

Eddie Rayner Anthony Edward Charles Rayner (born 19 November 1952) is a New Zealand musician who spent ten years as a keyboardist in the band Split Enz. He has also played in the groups Orb, Space Waltz, Crowded House, the Makers, The Angels in 1986-1987 ...

have said that the band felt the songs needed to be redone. But both

and

Noel Crombie Geoffrey Noel Crombie (born 17 April 1953) is a New Zealand percussionist and former member of the band Split Enz. He fulfilled multiple roles including costume and hair designer, singer, album cover designer, and music video director. Prior ...

have said that the re-recording of the ''Mental Notes'' tracks was a waste of time. On his

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

forum, Judd has said that

was obsessed with making the songs sound better, while he had new songs that he wanted to record.

Track listing

:* New arrangement of a song that first appeared on ''Mental Notes'' :† Recorded during the ''Mental Notes'' sessions but not included in it, and re-recorded for ''Second Thoughts''

Personnel

Split Enz *

– vocals, piano on "Stranger Than Fiction" *

– vocals, guitars,

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

* Jonathan Michael Chunn – bass, piano on "Titus" *

– percussion * Emlyn Crowther – drums * Robert Gillies –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, trumpet * Edward Rayner – keyboards Additional personnel * Miles Golding – violin on "Stranger Than Fiction" and "Matinee Idyll" * Ian Sharp – cello on "Matinee Idyll" *

Rhett Davies Rhett Davies (born 1949 in London) is an English record producer and engineer. Davies' father was the trumpet player Ray Davies. Davies became a studio engineer at Island Records in the early 1970s. One of his first recording sessions was for B ...

, Guy Bidmead – Recording engineers * Phil Manzanera – producer * Rhett Davies – Mixing engineer * John Prew – Front cover photograph *

– Back snaps * Special Thanks To Dave Russell and Wally Wilkinson

Charts

References

{{Authority control Split Enz albums 1976 albums Chrysalis Records albums Albums produced by Phil Manzanera Mushroom Records albums