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The Rootin Tootin Luton Tapes

Overview

The Rootin Tootin Luton Tapes --- 2007-11-10

The Rootin Tootin Luton Tapes is a collection of demos made by New Zealand band Split Enz in 1978. During their 2006 tour of Australia it was announced that these recordings would finally be released as an official album after lengthy pressure from the fan club Frenz of the Enz. In 1978 Split Enz fired their record company, their manager, and co-founder Phil Judd had left for the final time. The band was in a slump, and the opportunity arose for them to record in a small studio in Luton. It was a cramped space with percussionist Noel Crombie having to set up his kit in the studio's toilet and Eddie Rayner in a position where he was almost constantly hitting Tim Finn in the head with his elbow. In spite of this, the band claims that this was a very passionate recording session, and was the beginning of a new era. Some songs were re-recorded for the album Frenzy, but the band considered the original recordings to be far superior. This was partly due to the engineering and mixing incompetence on that album by producer Mallory Earl resulting in tracks described by Noel Crombie as "woolly and average", and also from subdued performances by the band. In 2007, Split Enz keyboardist Eddie Rayner remixed the available tapes; a limited edition 2 CD set was made available by the Frenz Of The Enz fan club to its members, while the commercial release is a single CD Recorded at Quest Studios, Luton, Bedfordshire, England, July 1978. Track 1-5 is the original 1978 mix.