You Heard It Here First
Neil Finn has reformed Crowded House and recorded this new album, and it's a quiet gem, nothing earthshaking, just melodic, smart, beautifully crafted songs. And because of Hester, there's a wistfulness and a sorrow that deepens the album, the way that an awareness of mortality and loss infuses and adds meaning to all the most powerful art.The sentiment is most explicit on two songs, "A Sigh" and "Silent House...."—SITD, July 13, '07Mr. Finn reconvened the bassist Nick Seymour, a founder of the band in 1985, and the keyboardist and guitarist Mark Hart. One member was absent: the drummer Paul Hester, who suffered from depression and committed suicide in 2005. That’s one reason the reunion album, “Time on Earth,” is suffused with thoughts of mortality and mourning....“Time on Earth” is filled with ballads and thoughts of how transient life is, nowhere more so than in the aching, shimmering “A Sigh"....
New York Times, August 6, '07