''It's one thing for a band to get back together and expect that everyone's just going to embrace you as if you'd never left - that it's going to be a big celebratory and nostalgic exercise,'' says Neil Finn, leader of the newly reformed Crowded House, one of the most beloved pop-rock bands of the late '80s to mid '90s. "That's not what we have in mind. We want to get out amongst it and be a band that has to earn our respect again."