Tim Finn: Through the Years 1983-93

Tim Finn at WOMAD 2014. Courtesy Warren Smart, 15/3/14.

 Tim Finns first solo album Escapade just had its fortieth anniversary last year, but he did not leave Split Enz until it came out, since he still appeared on Conflicting Emotions, but not See Ya Round (yet returned for the last tour for over a decade). It's just that there's now enough to put in a 5 CD mini-LP boxed set, which can be rounded up with a rare 1993 performance at the Borderline in London to promote Before & After, which closed the original Capitol contract that started in its own right with 1989s Tim Finn (which allowed him to join their Neil in Crowded House for 1991s Woodface).

 Universals acquisition of much of EMI in 2013 would put much of the catalogue together, such as 1986s Big Canoe on Virgin (which EMI bought in 1992). A&M (see Wikipedia for more because it gets too easy for me to do the Cliffs Notes) only released Escapade in North America, probably as part of a contract clause. Later albums would be released through EMI or Universal before the sale, but Finn owns the rights to those now, and he and his management Commercial Music Group would likely decide on those reissue rights. 1995s Finn (one of two albums by the brothers in neither band) only just got a remaster, yet the licence is through BMG (on CD) because of Fleetwood Macs deal there, which Neil joined in 2018. Tim Finn trying to licence if not get back the masters of the first ten years of his solo career would be a feat to do this himself since Fish and Camel were lucky to even reissue their first albums on their own indie labels, but those are for another day, but you get the idea now.

 The idea here is for Universal to put the early solo albums in one package. Plan B would be for Edsel/Demon/BBC to have a limited edition boxed set like they have for every vintage of Kiki Dee (coming out of Elton Johns shadow), or even Memorandum Recordings in Australia (Raven Records went out of business last year, and I can't find something comparable for Australasian artists). Vinyl remasters would be nice too, and just have a few thousand would cut costs, even for a Record Store Day run before they disappear or get touted (you know how it is). While Tim Finns albums can either be streamed or even purchased online or found in shops for not too much money, they deserve to be back in print and given updated treatment which is long overdue like for tonnes of other people.

UPDATE: Escapade will get a remaster on CD/stream/LP on 23/8/24 from Warner Music Australia (which absorbed Festival Mushroom Records). Only could find the original US LP near me.