{"id":951913,"date":"2026-11-04T05:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/951913\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T05:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:02:11","slug":"the-weekend-stream-extra-an-enz-to-enz-anomaly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/951913\/","title":{"rendered":"The Weekend Stream Extra: An Enz-to-Enz Anomaly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SplitAs fans of New Zealand pop\/rock heroes Split Enz continue to hope for additional, international deep-dive catalogue activity beyond last year\u2019s release of the box set\u00a0ENZyclopedia Volumes 1 & 2<\/a>, a most unusual streaming surprise has popped up on digital storefronts that may provoke questions about those plans.<\/p>\n

Within the last month, the band\u2019s fourth album, 1979\u2019s\u00a0Frenzy, has appeared to stream and download on Apple Music<\/a> and Amazon<\/a> \u2013 its first appearance in U.S. storefronts in years, if ever. Frenzy marked an intriguing turning point for the group: after a band shake-up ahead of 1977\u2019s\u00a0Dizrythmia\u00a0that saw original members Phil Judd and Mike Chunn depart and lead singer Tim Finn\u2019s younger brother Neil join as a vocalist and guitarist,\u00a0Frenzy \u2013 which was preceded by a madcap session in Luton, England that was later officially released decades later \u2013 found the group moving away from their previous art-rock style toward a more manic, raucous and melodic pop\/rock. Notably, the album features the first writing and lead vocal credits for the young Neil Finn, whose turn on \u201cGive It a Whirl\u201d anticipated the direction the Enz (and Finn\u2019s future band Crowded House) would take into the \u201980s. The (no pun intended) Tim Finn-penned single \u201cI See Red\u201d was a minor hit in New Zealand and a Top 20 in Australia, and deep cuts like \u201cStuff and Nonsense\u201d underlined the elder Finn\u2019s elegiac, timeless style and pen.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Frenzy was the Enz\u2019s first album not to be released by Chrysalis Records in territories outside the Antipodean nations, where Mushroom Records put out their works. Follow-up True Colours (1980), which yielded the group\u2019s breakthrough \u201cI Got You,\u201d was their first to get a North American release through A&M Records, and after sixth album\u00a0Waiata sold well enough on the continent in 1981, A&M extended a release option for\u00a0Frenzy. But there was a twist: dissatisfied with the sound of the record, Enz keyboardist Eddie Rayner was allowed to remix the album for the U.S. and Canada. He in turn resequenced the album as well, dropping three tracks (\u201cFamous People,\u201d \u201cThe Roughest Toughest Game in the World,\u201d \u201cAbu Dhabi\u201d) and adding six tracks from the Luton sessions (previously released B-sides \u201cSemi-Detached,\u201d \u201cCarried Away,\u201d \u201cHoly Smoke\u201d and \u201cLivin\u2019 It Up,\u201d plus that session\u2019s versions of \u201cHermit McDermitt\u201d and \u201cMind Over Matter,\u201d different to the ones on the original pressing). Subsequent Enz albums were common cut-out bin finds for the rest of the \u201980s, with the band\u2019s final, Tim-free album See Ya \u2018Round\u00a0(1984) not even released in the United States. When the group\u2019s catalogue was remastered in 2006<\/a>, Rayner took the opportunity to remix and resequence the album yet again, combining both track lists and adding the outtake \u201cHorse to Water.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new digital edition of Frenzy is copyrighted by Mushroom, but notably features the 1981 remix available digitally for the first time anywhere. What makes the availability of this mix even more interesting is a somewhat controversial footnote that took place some time before the release of\u00a0ENZyclopedia: third-party reissue label Rubellan Remasters applied to release the 1981 mix of Frenzy\u00a0on CD in 2024<\/a>, a release that was provisionally approved by Universal Music Group (who, as owners of the A&M catalogue, theoretically had access to Rayner\u2019s revised tapes). However, with\u00a0ENZyclopedia due out on Chrysalis the following year (and a tour of Australia and New Zealand planned for 2026, their first in two decades), the band stepped in and asked UMG to cancel the release. In what seemed like a fit of pique at the time, Rubellan founder Scott Davies in turn voluntarily drew down the entire label, to the consternation of fans of his work. What was not known at the time was Davies and UMG had already manufactured the discs and packaging<\/a>, making his frustration much clearer, having paid for product that could in no way be utilized. A comparison of an obtained copy of that disc and the new digital product appear to be identical.\u00a0(Besides the running order, a key tell of\u00a0Frenzy\u2018s U.S. mix is the spoken dedication by Tim Finn to the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team before \u201cStuff and Nonsense.\u201d)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

What this portends for future Enz reissues \u2013 or if such projects are in development. is hard to parse. Chrysalis released ENZyclopedia Volumes 1 & 2 worldwide; a theoretical ENZyclopedia Volumes 3 & 4 would sit in between the band\u2019s existing deals: Chrysalis worldwide for Dizrythmia, Mushroom (now owned by Warner Music Australia) and\/or A&M for\u00a0Frenzy. And it wouldn\u2019t seem out of place for Rayner to have another go at mixing\u00a0Frenzy or the accompanying Luton sessions. In the meantime, digital listeners can finally hear\u00a0Frenzy with a few clicks \u2013 although not in the form they, or anyone else, may have expected.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. We have reached out to various labels and stakeholders for comment or clarification and will update as we know more. A big thank you to Bluesky user AkaoMiru<\/a> for the tip on this!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As fans of New Zealand pop\/rock heroes Split Enz continue to hope for additional, international deep-dive catalogue activity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":951914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-951913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/951914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}