Big Canoe is the 1986 solo album released by former Split Enz frontman Tim Finn. Finn had won Australasian success with his debut solo album, Escapade in 1983, while still a member of his longtime band Split Enz. Finn left the band permanently in June 1984, to focus on a solo career, and the following year moved to London and began working on Big Canoe. The album utilised a wide variety of instrumentation, including guitars, orchestral backings and traditional Indian instruments - notably on the ambitious single No Thunder, No Fire, No Rain, which was inspired by the Bhopal chemical disaster. Though Big Canoe reached number three on the New Zealand charts, it failed to become the international breakthrough that Finn or record company Virgin had hoped.
Finn worked on lyrics for the album with British writer Jeremy Brock. Big Canoe also marked the first time Finn had worked with Split Enz co-founder Phil Judd since Judd left the band in 1978. In interviews Tim said that the idea was that he and Judd intending on writing together again, trying to recapture the magic of early Split Enz. Instead a lot of drinking happened, but Phil was still commissioned to play guitar.
Read more about Big Canoe: Chart Performance, Personnel
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