Mushroom Records releases the fourth Split Enz album, Frenzy, recorded after a long period of unemployment for the band, which went to the UK to find fame and became stranded there, too broke to return home. Most members of the group are dissatisfied with the finished album, feeling that it lacks the spark of demos they recorded during their England downtime, but it yields a genuine hit: Tim Finn’s punk-styled anthem “I See Red”. 
This was the first hint of the studio-polished Enz as well as the first glimpse of a much heavier, more electric sound to come. When this album was recorded, things were not going well for the band – they were stranded in England, broke, and shortly after their studio sessions, their instruments and equipment were lost in a fire just before a concert date in support of the new album. The resulting frustrations and tensions are evident on the music, which is harder-hitting all around. Neil Finn begins to make his voice 
heard on this album, which offers a preview of the band’s style in the 80s. The best bits from Frenzy include the Tim & Neil collaboration “Give It A Whirl”, the poignant “Stuff And Nonsense”, and the uncharacteristically heavy “Abu Dhabi” and “Mind Over Matter”.
- I See Red (3:17)
- Give It A Whirl (2:51)
- Master Plan (3:09)
- Famous People (2:53)
- Hermit McDermitt (4:09)
- Stuff and Nonsense (4:26)
- Marooned (2:51)
- Frenzy (3:03)
- The Roughest Toughest Game in the World (3:43)
- She Got Body She Got Soul (2:56)
- Betty (4:43)
- Abu Dhabi (4:32)
- Mind Over Matter (2:57)
Released by: Mushroom
Release date: 1979
Total running time: 45:30
1994 music review by Earl Green