Various They Will Have Their Way – The Songs Of Tim & Neil Finn CD

They Will Have Their Way - The Songs of Tim and Neil Finn

...it’s exactly fifteen years since craig hawker and I hatched this idea and sculpted it into shape... to us it was obvious, here were two of the worlds best songwriters with twenty-five years of incredible songs to choose from... with some careful and considered curation from us, we believed we had a strong idea... i think dedicating it, initially, to female voices and naming the first album she will have her way was smart... it defined the album strongly and proudly... we got tim and neil’s blessing and then approached a range of female artists... the reaction was overwhelming... there was so much deep love and respect for these songs and for the finns generally... that love poured out of australian and new zealand studios and made a direct connection to our hearts.... some people in the company didn't believe in this idea, thinking it a typical tribute album... we knew we had fashioned something different, something very deep and moving, something visceral, powerful, haunting...something life-affirming... we’ve now sold well over 500,000 copies of she will, he will (the male counterpart - which delivered equal love and mercy) and they will have their way which goes to prove we were right... and of course, we were only right because of tim and neil's incredible songs and the heart and soul that these artists brought to the altar... all of this is without us ever releasing these amazing reinterpretations on vinyl... it’s fantastic to be able to remedy that now...

"I am very grateful to have had songs become part of the fabric of everyday life for a lot of people. By the same token, it is very flattering to have other artists record my songs - reinterpreting, finding new colours and dimensions, all part of a process by which the good songs live on, being sung by people. That's all I could hope for." Neil Finn

"When songwriters are asked to name a favourite song of theirs, they often fall back on the metaphor of songs as children, and declare themselves unable to single one out. Leaving aside the growing awareness over time that you definitely love some more than others, I'd like to extend the metaphor by suggesting that when a song is covered by another artist, it has finally grown up and left home. I'm told that you still worry about your child, and don't agree with how they present themselves to the world. But equally, you are delighted to step aside and watch them do it for themselves.  John O'Donnell loved these songs enough to want to carry them to new people. Thankfully a number of idiosyncratic artists came on board. I'm flattered and grateful. Some are radical reworkings, but I do those myself as I continue, with different line-ups, to explore the songs in live performance. These albums are full of great surprises."Tim Finn