Freedom Deep‘s mood looks back to the first song on Welcome, with an interesting arrangement and a rhythm that doesn’t get started until well into the song. We’re deep into a stretch of songs that elevate this album.
Sorry to jump back a few albums/years but "Need You Tonight" is this week's song on Stereogum's popular "The Number Ones" column: The Number Ones: INXS’ “Need You Tonight”
-- Could be, but Freedom is not a passive song. The tension in it rocks more than 4 opening tracks to me.
Freedom Deep The vocal octave leap ("I need a new way") when the drums come in is absolutely glorious. One of Hutchence's best performances. In my mind, this is the opening song of the album. Full Moon Dirty Hearts In the interviews that accompanied the original 'album visual' when broadcast, Andrew said they were expecting criticism for the bluesy nature of this song. Can't remember exactly, but something about critics being waiting to bash them for a blues song. One of the few times I remember seeing that their career trajectory was getting to them. Felt the mask dropped slightly.
Freedom Deep segues out of the title track flawlessly and shifts gear into more emotionally atmospheric territory. After the song's short ethereal intro, the chorus melody enters, played on keys by Andrew and sung in unison with Michael. It sets the stage for the uplifting textures that soon follow. When Jon's drums enter, everyone slowly blends in sync and we're flown off to another soundscape altogether, yet it aptly all flows together wonderfully. This is another example of a song written around almost one chord and this time it's D major (with virtually no other changes), anchored by Kirk's Coral/Danelectro electric sitar 3S19. This droning effect provides an incredibly soothing feel, as we drift towards the end of the track before the next segue. FD is an absolutely emotionally dynamic & amazing song! It should've been released as a single in other parts of the world, and not just in Australia & Japan. The extended 12" mix does a pretty good job at fleshing out much of the rawness of the vocals & instrumentation, that were either buried in and/or left out of the original mix. These types of extended mixes seem to do this often in INXS' catalogue.
It is. And what an amazingly good partial re-arrangement it is too! And here's INXS' entire set from this festival... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_moksHjaPE
Yes! That moment is a great one. The song starts slow, but then it takes off. Not the same, but a similar arc to something like The Stairs, in which we have an anthemic song that begins with a bit of a slower almost ambient intro. By the time we are hearing The Beatles drum track from Tomorrow Never Knows it almost feels like an entirely different song. This is not some soft-rock mellow track. It’s really the most unexpected pleasure of the album for me.
Nothing to add about “Freedom Deep” y’all haven’t already said. So many perfect comments here. I’ll just say I’m so pleasantly surprised everyone loves this track as much as I do. I’m in good company here.
Full Moon, Dirty Hearts (Song): We get a welcomed bluesy inspired number after the block of heavy songs. It's pretty good all around. The guitars and rhythm section are great here; so much that I want to reach for the Zippo and start swaying along. The vocals from Micheal and Chrissie are great and compliment each other. Freedom Deep: .As the title track ends and leads into this psychedelic, atmospheric track. I am simply taken back how well put together this track is. I forgot how much I love this track. Really surprised I never put this on a playlist or mix tape. Oh foolish me. With the slow burn and the psychedelia that this song has, it would of been great to hear The Chemical Brothers have a go at it; Honestly it wouldn't sound out of place on their first couple of albums. With that, it's a highlight on the album and a classic INXS song.
FMDH A stellar title track. It contains enough soul and emotion to not come across as contrived or forced. I don't actually know the backstory behind Chrissie Hynde and INXS/Hutchence i.e. how this duet came to be. If anyone knows more I would be interested to hear about it. Freedom Deep Now this is what I'm talking about! A wonderful song that deserves far more recognition. Again I would love to know the backstory to this song. The Tomorrow Never Knows drum pattern is in a way ahead of the curve considering the Chemical Brothers used it so successfully only a couple of years later. This for me sits alongside the best songs the band ever recorded. It's staggering how underrated this album is!
Kill the Pain As this song starts, the first thing that comes to mind is actually Wilco. Obviously Hutchence sounds nothing like Tweedy, but the vibe of the song just made me think of them. We open with a really nicely laid out piano arrangement. The vocals come in pretty much straight away. Put the red lights on Don't tell them that you've gone Leave behind your fears You know they can't be wrong Kill the pain you feel Kill the pain you feel I know you've seen some things That buried you in your dreams Your face It tells the story The pages stained with tears You kill the pain you feel You kill the pain you feel, darling Keep the heart Take the curtains down The sun is what you found It leads you far from here And takes you to high ground Kill the pain you feel Kill the pain you feel Find a way Keep the heart You have within Songwriters: Andrew Charles Farriss / Michael Kelland Hutchence Kill the Pain lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group I can imagine the lyrics here being tied to the year Michael had just had. Interesting that the last line is essentially Find a way to keep the heart you have within.... I guess with the situation he had over the previous year, and the pain and side effects and the mood swings... all this stuff needed somewhere to come out. We normally know when something is causing us to behave unlike ourselves ... and it seems like this song may be a direct reaction to that. As I say this is a piano driven track, and I think the chord pattern is really good, quite beautiful in fact, and underlying the piano there is a kind of atmospheric, minimalist atmospheric track... some synth, some subtle guitar. A harmony vocal on the chorus. This is probably not the number one Inxs track on the album, but I think it is a really solid track, and a nice fluctuation in atmosphere, giving the album another layer to unwrap. I like this track.
Kill The Pain Another excellent song. My only gripe is once again the sequencing. We basically have three ballads in a row which really disrupts the flow and mood of the album. I like how understated the arrangements are on this track.
I suppose I'm having the opposite reaction upon revisiting this record, the sequencing may be the best thing about it. Masterful.
Being really new to this album, I actually find the sequencing debate interesting, because it seems pretty tight to me.
Kill The Pain: 5/5. D@mn fine song. Should have ended the album like the video album. Yes, the sequencing was done by dartboard. Lot of missteps with this album. A bit of a first with this song as sadness has crept into an INXS song, which maybe the first. Another one of those songs that hit me while listening to this album at work as I didn't have much to put on. Along with Freedom Deep, I just couldn't help but think -- why are the best two songs stuck in the middle-end of an album?
Now that you mention it, these guys loved to stick a great song in the second slot on Side 2: Love Is (What I Say) This Time Never Tear Us Apart Beautiful Girl Freedom Deep
Interesting: Golden Playpen too. I hope it was planned like that, if not, it shows their greatness by just pulling songs out and placing them in a list.
Part of the issue is that by the time of FM, DH a vinyl tracklisting is a bit of an academic exercise. Nobody was buying vinyl for new albums at this point in 92-93. Some albums simply could not be found on vinyl. So a sensible tracklist has to accept this and try to make it work with a CD player.
Kill the Pain Beautiful little sincere downer of a tune. Truly. I have nothing against it, and I have a lot of goodwill for it. But it is in the wrong place. If you like this song here, are you in love with Viking Juice going last? Serious question - but maybe one to talk about when we get to Viking Juice in a couple days. I will say this: INXS have put a bluesy song, a Ray Charles duet, and a mostly unaccompanied piano song on this album - all firsts. And all at once. It’s a real grab bag - but the quality is very high, I totally get that too! This feels like a late night-into very early morning song sung by a guy at a piano with stacks of empty cans and shot glasses amidst ashtrays laying around.
Keep watching after the end of Kill The Pain to hear the instrumental coda of Freedom Deep start up and play while the credits roll. This is one way the album could have ended.
I take your point, but I think they were still in the mindset that people listened deep into their records and would appreciate a really good song in the #8 or #9 slot. Again, I don't think sequencing was INXS's biggest problem in 1993. Lots of bands were still "backloading" albums with good songs then; look at Automatic For The People, maybe the most backloaded album ever. Re: "Viking Juice," it absolutely goes last. I usually turn it off after "The Messenger" TBH.
The quiet Kill The Pain provides a change of pace. It’s painful, but in the end it becomes a song of redemption, without a musical resolution. It’s a solid album track, and one that I really like to hear.
Kill The Pain is one of most beautiful ballads I've ever heard. It's probably the most simplistic song in INXS' catalogue. And surprisingly, parts of the arrangement, primarily the guitar arpeggiation, contain vestiges of country music. I think this works wonders to generate the maudlin atmosphere & nuances embedded in the track. KTP is definitely not single-worthy, but it's a great album track nonetheless. Short but sweet...and very affective.