Split Enz – Conflicting Emotions

Tim Finn’s final album as a member of Split Enz in the studio is a bit uneven. Such Enz classics as Neil’s “Strait Old Line” and the well-known “Message To My Girl” – both revived on the later ENZSO album – came from this album, but there are very electronic and almost disco-esque tunes such as “Bullet Brain And Cactus Head” that I usually skip over. The underlying problem I have with Conflicting Emotions is the predominance of sequencers, drum machines and other synthetic elements – sure, the band had used them before, but not to this degree. To balance this, however, there are two lovely songs that are worth finding, both of which are primarily piano-and-vocal pieces: Neil’s typically cryptic “The Devil You Know” and Tim’s melancholy farewell “Bon Voyage” – appropriately enough, the last song on the album and Tim Finn’s last hurrah as a member of Split Enz.

1. Strait Old Line (4:01)
2. Bullet Brain & Cactus Head (3:59)
3. Message to My Girl (4:04)
4. Working Up An Appetite (4:07)
5. Our Day (4:58)
6. No Mischief (4:14)
7. The Devil You Know (3:36)
8. I Wake Up Every Night (4:46)
9. Conflicting Emotions (4:30)
10. Bon Voyage (4:04)

Released by: Mushroom
Release date: 1984
Total running time: 42:19