CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

The Beginning of the Enz

album by the Split Enz

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ7716354 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Beginning of the Enz is a compilation album from the New Zealand rock group Split Enz. It contains non-album singles and demos that pre-date the band's first album Mental Notes. Three of these songs, "129", "Lovey Dovey" and "Spellbound", were later re-recorded and included on Mental Notes and Second Thoughts.

The album reached number 35 in New Zealand, but did not chart in Australia.

An unrelated compilation album, Beginning of the Enz (dropping "The" from the title), was released in the UK in 1980 by Chrysalis Records.

Track listing

This version of "Spellbound" has Tim Finn on lead vocals, compared to the album version which has Phil Judd singing lead.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Beginning of the Enz” as album by the Split Enz. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1980—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Beginning, album and Split can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as album by the Split Enz. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7716354. The first chronological checks are 1980.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Beginning of the Enz”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Beginning of the Enz primary sources, The Beginning of the Enz archive and Beginning research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Beginning of the Enz”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Beginning of the Enz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.