Tim Finn Reunites With Phil Manzanera - Noise11.com
Tim Finn and Phil Manzanera

Tim Finn and Phil Manzanera

Tim Finn Reunites With Phil Manzanera

by Paul Cashmere on August 27, 2021

in News

Split Enz’ Tim Finn has reunited with Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music for a new album ‘Caught By The Heart’.

Phil Manzanera produced the second Split Enz album ‘Second Thoughts’. ‘Second Thoughts’ gave Split Enz their first hit song ‘Late Last Night’.

Tim and Phil met in Sydney in 1975. Split Enz for the support act for Roxy Music’s Australian tour that year. Over the years they remained friends. Tim wrote songs for Phil’s K-Scope’ and ‘Southern Cross’ albums.

‘Caught By The Act’ features 10 songs covering multiple genres.

On collaborating with Tim, Phil Manzanera said: “It’s March 2020, lockdown has been announced in the UK and I am sitting looking at my screen saver on my computer, showing an island in the Pacific. Up pops an email from Tim asking if I have any ‘Latin Grooves’ By lucky happenstance, I did, as I’d been writing for a possible Latin music album. And from then our course was set. For the next 18 months, while the world was being pulled out of its familiar shape, Tim and I would be travelling, virtually, between New Zealand and the UK, backwards and forwards, through our respective days and nights, exchanging musical ideas and creating songs of every musical genre starting with those Latin grooves but with no particular destination other than doing good work.

“The first ten of the twenty-three songs we wrote are on this first album. It’s been therapeutic for me to have my mind engrossed in this creative process and to work again with Tim, one of the great singer songwriters. It has also been inspiring to have these talented musicians and friends accompanying us on this journey, they are truly our ‘Galleon of Stars.’

“For me, this is what a world music album is all about.”

On collaborating with Phil, Tim Finn said, “In March 2020, as NZ entered its first lockdown, I reached out to Phil in the UK and asked him if he had any slow Latin grooves I could work with. There’s always been something in the uplift and syncopation of this music, no matter how dark the times, that offers a refuge. We had worked before with musicians from Cuba and Columbia when I was based in the UK, and our project quickly fell into place once we began writing together again. Meanwhile the world was decelerating. And shrinking. A feeling of global interconnectedness was the one positive effect of the disturbing images we all saw in the early days of the pandemic. I wrote lyrics in Spanish and Italian. I wrote about Cuba where I had been in the 80’s after a Chilean musician had introduced me to salsa one night in Rome. Our daughter Elliot was home more than usual and ended up singing on the highly evocative instrumental tracks Phil was sending. I remember one night listening back to a new tune and watching my shadow dancing on the wall. I hope you feel as good as I did then when you hear them.”

Caught By The Heart tracklisting:

1. Mambo! Salsa!…
2. The Cry Of The Earth
3. Caught By The Heart
4. La Ruleta De La Fortuna
5. All That’s Human
6. Malecón
7. Bajo Luz Distinta
8. Galleon Of Stars
9. Vamos Despacio
10. La Musica Del Tiempo

Musicians:
Tim Finn: Vocals, keyboards, programming

Phil Manzanera: Guitars, keyboards, programming

Elliot Finn: Vocals

Harper Finn: backing Vocals on Malecón

Yaron Stavi: Bass, double bass
Israeli bass player who played with Berlin Philharmonic, Gilad Atzmon Orient Express, Robert Wyatt, David Gilmour, and all Phil’s albums for the last 10 years

Steve DiStanislao: Drums
Played with David Gilmour, Crosby Stills Nash, Don Felder, Joe Walsh, Kenny Loggins

Javier Weyler: Drums
Stereophonics, Phil Manzanera

Guy Pratt: Bass
Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, Madonna, Rockonteurs podcast

Anna Phoebe: Violin
Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Oi Va Voi, Ian Anderson, Jon Lord, Roxy Music

Matteo Saggese: Piano
Zucchero, Phil Manzanera, Apollo 440

Frank Portaoundo: Bass
World renowned Cuban bass player from Santiago de Cuba

Mike Boddy: drum programming, engineering, mixing
Worked with Bryan Ferry, David Gilmour, Andy Mackay, Mumford & Sons, Billy Bragg, The Fall

Yazz Ahmed: Flugel Horn and treatments
Toshiko Akiyoshi, Rufus Reid, John Zorn, Ash Walker, the London Jazz Orchestra, Radiohead, Lee Perry, ABC, Joan as Police Woman.

João Mello: Sax
David Gilmour, Razorlight, Phil Manzanera

Corinna Hentchel: violin, viola
Gilad Atzmon &The Orient House Ensemble, recorded for Beatie Wolfe and plays in various orchestras including the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ann Masina: Vocals
Africa Sings Choral Society, Nico Malan Opera House (also known as Cape Town Opera House), double Grammy Award Winners Soweto Gospel Choir (SGC). She performed at the 46664 Concert at Hyde Park in London with the SGC as ambassadors for the late former South African President, Nelson Mandela.

Noise11.com

Follow Noise11 on Social Media

NEW: Noise11 on YouTube SUBSCRIBE

Noise11 on Instagram

You’ll discover music news first following Noise11 on Twitter

Comment on the news of the day, join Noise11 on Facebook

Related Posts

Shirley Strachan Skyhooks (photo from skyhooks-music.com)
Shirley Strachan of Skyhooks Left Us 24 Years Ago Today 29 August

It’s hard to believe it’s been 24 years since Australia lost one of its most iconic musical sons—Graeme “Shirley” Strachan, the charismatic lead singer of Skyhooks. Today, on 29 August 2025, fans, friends, and fellow musicians remember the voice that defined a generation, the performer whose presence lit up stages, and the personality who made Australian rock both fun and unforgettable.

7 hours ago
Russell Morris at Hamer Hall Melbourne 27 August 2025 photo by Winston Robinson
Russell Morris The Farewell Tour Is A Treasure Trove Of Hits and Rarities

Russell Morris was almost apologetic when he stepped onto the Hamer Hall stage in Melbourne for the first night of The Farewell Tour on Wednesday (27 August 2025). He admitted to his fans that a 60-year career can look confusing from the outside. The truth is, Morris was never one to sit still.

1 day ago
Steve Martin and Alison Browne photo from Compass Records
Steve Martin and Alison Brown Unite for Safe, Sensible and Sane Out October 17

Steve Martin has spent decades balancing comedy, acting, writing and music, but his love for the banjo has always been more than a hobby. On October 17, Martin will join forces with banjo trailblazer Alison Brown for their new collaborative album Safe, Sensible and Sane, a star-studded roots music project set to be one of the year’s most intriguing releases.

3 days ago
Tom Waits supplied by Anti
Tom Waits To Reissue 1975 Classic Nighthawks at the Diner For 50th Anniversary

Tom Waits’ Nighthawks at the Diner is being reissued for its 50th anniversary on October 24, with ANTI- Records pressing the landmark album onto three limited-edition yellow vinyl variants. More than just a re-release, this marks a celebration of one of the most unusual and defining recordings of Waits’ early career.

3 days ago
Queen autographed A Night At The Opera
Why Queen’s Quietest Member John Deacon Chose to Become a Recluse Until This Rare Return

For fans of Queen, John Deacon has long been the enigma of the band, a brilliant musician, masterful songwriter, and humble presence behind the scenes. Since the early 1990s, Deacon has shunned the spotlight, retiring quietly after Freddie Mercury’s death in 1991. But now, years later, he has quietly resurfaced, lending his signature alongside bandmates Roger Taylor and Brian May on a charity auction item, signalling, perhaps, that even the most private of souls can still make their mark in unexpected ways.

4 days ago
Patti Smith Horses 50th Anniversary
Patti Smith ‘Horses’ Gets 50th Anniversary Reissue With Unearthed Demos and Live Cuts

In 1975, Patti Smith entered Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in New York City with a vision: to fuse the jagged energy of punk with the fluid imagery of poetry. That vision became Horses, one of the most groundbreaking debut albums in rock history. Now, half a century later, Sony has announced the 50th Anniversary Expanded Edition of Horses, a release that both celebrates the legacy of the record and offers fans newly unearthed material from Smith’s early years.

4 days ago
Bruce Springsteen Born To Run
Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run Album Turns 50

On 25 August 1975, Bruce Springsteen released Born To Run, the album that transformed him from a New Jersey barroom songwriter into one of the most important voices in rock history. Fifty years later, the record still stands as a landmark, both for its ambitious sound and for the way it defined Springsteen’s career.

5 days ago