Second Thoughts (1976)
Here’s a fun bit of label bookkeeping before we start: this album is called Second Thoughts, except in the US and Europe, where it got repackaged as Mental Notes, which is also the name of the actual debut. So there are now two different Split Enz albums called Mental Notes, and only one of them is the one I reviewed last time. Naming chaos aside, this is the better record.
The band still sounds like nothing else, that same mix of serious musicianship and songs that refuse to behave, but everything’s tighter this time. It’s the second No Skip Album in a row from these guys, which is starting to feel less like luck and more like a pattern.
Late Last Night opens and immediately shows how much they’ve grown. The energy is high, the lyrics tell an actual story, and the melody sticks on the first pass. It’s also where you notice the vocal shift: Tim Finn is out front and plays it straighter than Phil Judd did on the debut. The wild card got reined in just enough. With a more conventional arrangement under him, it’s one of the album’s best.
Walking Down a Road is a re-recording of a debut track, and it’s the rare do-over that justifies itself. Better gear, tighter playing, and a piano part Elton John would sign off on. They figured out how to take something good and buff it into something shinier.
Across the record, Split Enz keeps folding prog, new wave, art rock, and pop into the same songs until the genre tag stops meaning much. Sweet Dreams and Matinee Idyll are the clearest cases, catchy and intricate at once, familiar if you know the debut but pushing somewhere new. The big addition this time is saxophone, worked in smartly on Late Last Night, Matinee Idyll, and my favorite so far, The Woman Who Loves Me.
So: a sophomore album that builds on the debut’s strengths and stands fully on its own, maybe a step past it. Same creative nerve, more control. Old fans and newcomers should both find a way in.
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Highlight Songs:
The Woman Who Loves Me
Late Last Night
Matinee Idyll
Walking Down a Road
Own it, Stream it, Forget about it?
Same verdict as the Mental Notes review, so go read that one too. This record is either exactly your thing or completely not, no middle ground. If it’s your thing, buy it and love it. If it isn’t, feel free to be boring!
Overall Rating:
4.5 Stars
