New Zealand music month has got me thinking about our greatest ever band. Much has been written about Split Enz, and most of it has been in glowing terms. Listen to the music though, and you realise that the Finn boys were capable of writing some pretty average tunes. The wonder is how some of them actually made it onto the albums. Before every album was due to appear on the record shop shelves, there was usually talk from the songwriters that they had far too many tunes, and only the best made it onto vinyl. Well, I shudder to think what some of the songs were like that didn't make the grade. The Conflicting Emotions album was considered by many as their weakest post-True Colours effort. Tim Finn was already thinking about his solo career, and his single taken from the album didn't set any sales charts on fire. "I wake up every night" was the third single behind the excellent "Strait old line" and "Message to my girl" (both Neil's). It does't say much for the album if this was considered the next best song after those two. "The devil you know" was much better, but that was Neil's as well. Maybe they thought one of Tim's offering had to be recognised. The final album "See ya round" was a fine album, and it was a nice touch to have all the band members contribute a song. But Neil's well was obviously not endless. He's in fine form on side one. But his offering on 'the band' side, side two, is less than inspring. With a title like "Kia kaha" you'd expect something special. It originally appeared around the time of the Conflicting Emotions album. Perhaps it should have stayed there. I can't help thinking he must have had other gems waiting in line. Just goes to show, our greatest ever songwriters were human after all. Now, when is Neil Finn going to deliver an international chart topper again?