True Colours by Split Enz

True Colours, Split Enz's fifth album, came out on Mushroom Records on June 25, 1980, and it's the moment the New Zealand art-rock oddballs turned into a pop band without losing the plot. The band had made its name on theatrical shows and a flamboyant look, but here the tunes do the talking, and more of them than ever come from Neil Finn, who steps further into the spotlight as co-lead singer and songwriter, with Tim Finn still in the ranks.

The sound is crisp, bright new wave: nervy, clipped guitars, glossy keyboards and hooks that stick like burrs. Neil's "I Got You" is the jewel, a twitchy blast of new wave that went to number one in New Zealand and Australia and became the band's breakout overseas. The American pressing even moved it up the running order, swapping places with "Shark Attack", once the single took off.

It was the Enz's first big commercial success, and the start of a run that carried them through Waiata and Time and Tide. After years of art-rock theatrics, they had finally found a way to be strange and catchy at once.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.