The Finn Brothers may have a global legacy, but every Aussie and Kiwi holds at least one Crowded House song dear to our Southern Cross branded hearts…

OK, all schmaltz aside, the Finn Brothers have concocted some of the most iconic and stunning tracks in living memory.

To honour the legendary Tim and Neil, some of the nation’s most diverse and favourite talents have pulled together to create He Will Have His Way: The Songs of Tim & Neil Finn… and it’s freakin’ stunning. He Will Have His Way is the male sequel to 2005’s universally acclaimed She Will Have Her Way and features the likes of Paul Kelly, Jimmy Barnes, Paul Dempsey, Chris Cheney, former members of Midnight Oil [as The Break] and Empire Of The Sun’s Luke Steele [as The Sleepy Jackson]. They are joined by more recent acts such as Boy & Bear, Art Vs Science, Philadelphia Grand Jury, Angus Stone, Dan Sultan, Oh Mercy, Artisan Guns and more… here’s the full tracklisting:

1.   I Feel Possessed – Oh Mercy
2.   Distant Sun – Chris Cheney
3.   Fall At Your Feet – Boy & Bear
4.   Four Seasons in One Day – Paul Kelly & Angus Stone
5.   She Got Body, She Got Soul – Glenn Richards
6.   Addicted – Paul Dempsey
7.   Message To My Girl – Jimmy Barnes
8.   I See Red – Art Vs Science
9.   I Got You – Philadelphia Grand Jury
10. Better Be Home Soon – The Sleepy Jackson
11. Private Universe – Artisan Guns
12. Not Even Close – Darren Hayes
13. Shark Attack – The Break with Dan Sultan
14. Poor Boy – Perry Keyes
15. Better Be Home Soon – Busby Marou
16. Kiss The Road To Rarotonga – Kody Nielson
17. Angels Heap – Perry Keyes [Bonus Track for iTunes]

You can read testimonials from each of the contributing artists on the He Will Have His Way facebook page.

And don’t you worry that there are two versions of Better Be Home Soon. In true Luke Steele fashion, The Sleepy Jackson’s version is pretty damn unique. In fact give all the tracks a whirl here!

We’re thinking this album is probably the Best. Christmas Gift. Ever. It’s available from iTunes, JB Hi-Fi, The In Song, and Sanity. Go, go, go!

We’re on a bit of a John Lennon binge here at In Sound HQ.

So here’s a special ditty we dug up from the archives… The unique vocal stylings of our main man Luke Steele (The Sleepy Jackson, Empire of the Sun) and his version of John Lennon’s (Just Like) Starting Over.

(Just Like) Starting Over was Lennon’s first single from his final album and 1980’s Grammy Album of the Year, Double Fantasy. It eventually becoming his biggest US solo single, staying at #1 for 5 weeks.

In celebration of his 70th birthday on October 9 this year, Double Fantasy is being re-presented in a newly remixed stripped down version remixed and produced by Yoko Ono and Jack Douglas, co-producers of the original mix with John Lennon. As Lennon’s 70th approaches, we’ll be seeing a whole festival of commemorative events and releases around the world. Stay tuned.

Emperor Steele has taken out the 2009 GQ Man Of The Year Award in the Music Act Of The Year category!With tight competition within in the music category, Luke Steele has beaten Daniel Merriweather, Wolfmother and fellow EMI label mates, Keith Urban and JET.Staged inside the historical Great Hall of Sydney University on Thursday night, the GQ Awards honoured leading Australian men across the arts, sport, politics, business and community service. Luke was unable to attend the awards ceremony due to upcoming touring commitments but recorded this brilliant acceptance speech played to all those in attendance. Don’t forget to check out the Special Edition (2CD) version of Walking On A Dream available from today and don’t miss the Empire perform live at next week’s ARIA Awards, Thursday November 26.

Luke will also appear on the special gatefold cover of the 2009 GQ Men of the Year Awards issue on sale November 25.

Go the Empire!

How did it come to this? Ten short years ago I was dancing to TLC’s No Scrubs (judge ye not!) on Manly Beach for the countdown to *gasp* The Millennium.

Suddenly, we’re at the other end of the decade, and we never did work out what to call ‘00-10… “The Noughties” didn’t really cut it. We’d better come up with something quick sticks, because the tunes from the last ten years have been incredible and future generations are going to need to refer to us somehow…

NME’s Top 100 albums of the last decade has some mean contributions, not the least of which is the man of the hour Emperor Luke Steele’s early effort, Lovers from The Sleepy Jackson. The Empire defining epochs, even way back when!

Other EMI faves from the list you can regularly hear blasting around the office are below:

One very notable absence however… WHERE IS THE DAFT PUNK!?!?

Whilst we greatly respect NME’s all-seeing UK hipster stylings, stay tuned for The In Sound’s very own and very wise Best Of 2009 album list – coming soon to a browser near you!