Rocktrospectiva: The Outstanding And Memorable "True Colours" Turns 45

 

Released on 21 January 1980, "True Colours" was the sixth studio album released by New Zealand band Split Enz, and was their first major commercial success. The album featured more pronounced contributions from co-lead singer and songwriter Neil Finn than previous releases. The album spaned three singles "I Got you" which was a New Zealand and Australian number 1 single, and also broke them internationally, "I Hope I Never", "Poor Boy", & Nobody Takes Me Seriously". 

Split Enz found their place in new wave with True Colours, shedding the eccentricities and excesses of their past in favor of bright, highly memorable, Beatlesque pop. The album also marked Neil Finn's emergence as a great songcraftsman, on his infectious "I Got You" helped to push the album and the band to international success. Both the single and the album stand as high points of the new wave era. As part of its marketing, the album was released in several different-colored covers with laser-etched vinyl. 

According to Tim Finn: We had been playing so many shows, so the band were very tight. It was like everything was starting to line up to make a really powerful record. Also, Crombie added, "We'd had a rough time up to that in England, and I think we're really just raring to go. We came back to Melbourne and recorded the album and it just felt it was a new beginning. The Producer David Tickle was supremely confident, almost arrogant, but he gave us something to bounce off. Half the time we didn't even like him. 

About the singles, originally, the band thought "Missing Person" to be the album's standout track, not realizing "I Got You" would become the hit. "I Hope I Never" was mixed differently for the Australian single release, with strengthened percussion. "Nobody Takes Me Seriously", "What's the Matter with You" and "Poor Boy" were released as singles in the northern hemisphere. Also a synthesizer melody played in "I Wouldn't Dream of It" was first introduced in an early Split Enz recording, aptly titled "The Instrumental".

The album cover had certain curiosities, it was initially released in four colour combinations – yellow and blue, red and green, purple and yellow, and blue and orange – but would ultimately be given another four makeovers with releases in lime green and pink, hot purple and burnt orange, gold and platinum (to mark its sales milestones), and finally yellow, blue and red.

Crombie later said, "There was a lot of resistance initially. For some reason they thought people would get confused. It was just playing with it really. Why not? In the end there were 11 covers. The rarest one is the black and white one that got sent out to the press. There's about 100 of them, with Textas to colour your own. The album was the first to ever use this technique, originally designed to discourage the creation of counterfeit copies.

The critics described it as, "a thoughtful, reflective album. The approach to songs is more straight forward, more serious, than the Split Enz we are all used to, also marked a change on their style with a different kind of vibe in terms of live performance. 

 

True Colours Track List: 

 

1. Shark Attack

2. I Got You

3. What's The Matter With You

4. Double Happy

5. I Wouldn't Dream Of It

6. I Hope I Never

7. Nobody Takes Me Seriously

8. Missing Person

9. Poor Boy

10. How Can I Resist Her

11. The Choral Sea