In the end, Elegantly Wasted is a frustratingly inconsistent album. While there are some tracks I don’t particularly like, the best tracks are still very good, and I enjoyed it much more than I remembered; this is another album that’s moved up in my opinion thanks to a deep dive. There are certainly enough quality tracks here that it makes me wonder what might have happened in a different future; the band could well have put together another superb album.
I’ve never heard “Shine” before, so thanks for sharing @mark winstanley. I actually like it better than “Building Bridges” but that song makes more sense as an album closer, so I can see why “Shine” was exiled to bonus track territory… Question: was it just CD’s from outside the USA that included this track? (I’m sure if I had known in 1997 how to buy a version of Elegantly Wasted with a bonus track, I would have.)
I can tell why Shine never made the cut for EW. And it's not that the song isn't strong enough. But because, stylistically speaking, it's too funky and the production is too slinky sounding. This of course, is the exact opposite to the feel, sound and production of the vast majority of songs on EW. In fact, EW is one of the few INXS albums that isn't funk-oriented but is instead, far more rock-oriented (LLT & FM, DH are in this category too). Don't get me wrong, it's a great song since everything about Shine shines. But for the above reasons alone, it was never going to make the album. Regardless, I rate this song 4.5/5. Despite there being a handful of flaws, Elegantly Wasted is definitely one of INXS' best albums. What I love about it, is also what I love about all of INXS' albums. And that is, with virtually every example, just about any musical style INXS dress themselves up in, were influenced by or wrote in, it almost always naturally sounds like them. And here, regardless of the lack of funk, and instead, an overwhelmingly harder rock feel, EW still sounds like INXS. That takes immense talent and skill and helped to shape their overall sound (or do they have one?). Admittedly, this is something only hard-core fans will notice, since the majority of music fans or non-fans still think of INXS as an '80s pop rock band, because of their most successful singles from Kick & X being played just about everywhere from '87-'91 (and to a certain extent, today). 11 weeks before Michael Hutchence died, after an amazing show here at the Pacific Coliseum on September 1, 1997, my friend and I waited at the back of the venue hoping to meet INXS. 40-45 minutes later, Jon, Garry and Tim, but only at the end, because he spotted someone he knew in the crowd, came out to talk and sign autographs. The first thing I said to Jon was, "You're the best drummer ever!" He said, "Thank you." He then asked me very sincerely, since I was in the 9th row on the floor, on Tim's side, being over-zealous and jumping up and down too much, "Did you see ok?" I said, "Yes." We then chatted about his drum kit and technical details, etc. When Garry was signing my ticket stub, since he had a shaved head at this point, I literally started rubbing it. ROTF! Everybody laughed, including him. Once Tim finally came out, he gave me a death stare, but then lightened up, once I calmed down and started to ask him about one of his guitars. Unfortunately, the security guard tapped him on the should from behind right when I was asking him the question. He then started walking backwards, realizing this was going to be a very good conversation, and with an unfortunate tone, said, "Gotta go." As INXS' white van with black-tinted windows, slowly starting driving away, someone started banging on the window from the inside in my direction while fans were clapping. I think I know who it was. What a ****ing great night! A few years later, I tracked down a half-decent audience recording of the show from an Aussie fan, minus the encore, which is not in major circulation. I listen to it all the time. When MH died on November 22, just before the Australian leg of the tour was to begin, INXS, as well as their fans, endured the shock of a lifetime. But INXS certainly weren't ready to end the band or the brand name. And by 1998, they decided they were going to try to make it work again. What resulted, were varying levels of creative & commercial success... Here are my song ratings for Elegantly Wasted: Elegantly Wasted ~ 4.63/5 Show Me (Cherry Baby) ~ 4.5/5 Elegantly Wasted ~ 5/5 Everything ~ 4/5 Don't Lose Your Head ~ 5/5 Searching ~ 4.5/5 I'm Just A Man ~ 4.5/5 Girl On Fire ~ 5/5 We're Thrown Together ~ 4.5/5 Shake The Tree ~ 5/5 She Is Rising ~ 5/5 Building Bridges ~ 4/5
Shine: It's a funky number with a percolating bass line and a groove you can dance to; I even like the 'Shine' vocal treatment that adds to the funk. It's not bad and really grew on me over time, but as an album closer not so much. It definitely felt like a b-side at best. Of course, I'm a bit surprised I have an import and not the domestic release, so for the longest time I thought this was the album closer proper. Lucky me! Elegantly Wasted, Revisited: So looking back and reviewing everyone's wonderful comments, I realize that this album is underrated. It definitely deserved more love from the public. The album did get some play from during 1997, but not as much as Pop or Ultra. It just fell by the wayside and as time went on, it was left ignored. Not anymore. I do recall the day Micheal passed. I was in my dorm room and my friend comes in and breaks the news to me. I was devastated. I put on MTV and caught the update, watching it and being shook to the core. I went to my CD case and grab my copy of 'X', took out the booklet, unfolded and hung up the cover on my corkboard as a tribute. I really was tragic and I wonder what could of been. Something great I'm sure. However, I do remember hearing a DJ on the radio making a statement that the band was going to carry on. It made my day, got me really excited, but I would have to wait a while for any creative output from the band.
Live EP in Aspen February 1997 Live album by INXS Released July 1997 Recorded February 1997 Genre Rock Length 22:54 Label Mercury Records Pollygram Aust. (Brashs) Producer INXS Live in Aspen is from Australian rock band INXS. Recorded live at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen Colorado USA, it is now considered to be a rare 1997 Australian limited edition 6-track CD. It was released exclusively through Brashs Record Store following the release of the album Elegantly Wasted. "New Sensation" "Elegantly Wasted" "Searching" "Need You Tonight" "What You Need" "Kick" ----------------------------------------------------------------- I am unaware of the video being released, but it seems like it probably should be at this stage. We looked at a couple of these tracks during the Elegantly Wasted album, but here we have the video of the concert that this mini album came from. New Sensation Elegantly Wasted Listen Like Thieves Suicide Blonde Devil Inside I Need You Tonight Never Tear Us Apart Everything What You Need Searching Don't Change This is an excellent gig, the band are absolutely in top of their game as far as I can see and hear. It really seems to show a band eager to show that they aren't washed up, and have a lot to offer and they did.
Shine As has been previously mentioned this has a nice funk groove. It steams along at a furious pace and employs further dark and ambiguous lyrics from Hutchence. I think it is fitting that the final proper INXS album ends with Michaels vocals. Elegantly Wasted As a whole the album stands up well. There was definitely a harder/darker edge seeping into their work and it's a shame we never got to see what would have happened next. A few points of interest for me are the fact that Hutchence plays guitar for the first time on am INXS song (She Is Rising) and also that this was one of Bruce Fairburns final production duties before his untimely passing in 1999. The thanks and acknowledgements on the sleeve also prove interesting. We see Hutchence thank Bono, Edge and Nick Cave along with his family, however there is no mention of his sister ("Sister T" from Just a Man). To be a fly on the wall of the initial Dublin sessions would have been riveting. U2 would have been recording Pop while Michael and Andrew were coming up with material for EW. I'm sure Bono and Hutchence were trading ideas and offering advice to eachother over late nights and early mornings!
Live In Aspen -- had no idea this existed. Thanks. 1997 was a quick year for me. Got married, now divorced, so it was a whirlwind. Got lost in the rush.
By the time EW came out, my interest in INXS had waned somewhat. I cannot really recall why but I do remember Michael looking like he had lost some confidence when he appeared on a number of TV shows. Maybe it’s because of the whole circus surrounding his life at the time and the Gallagher incident. I don’t know. However, thanks to this thread I’ve since gone back and revisited the band’s material and there’s a great body of work. My memory of the day when Michael died was that I was at work at London Heathrow airport, hearing the news and seeing Yasmin Le Bon in floods of tears at a departure gate. I understand both her husband Simon and her were good friends of his.
It's really unfortunate (and has nothing to do with the music) but to this day I think most people still think Michael's death was some autoerotic thing gone wrong. Not sure why — perhaps because it was still early days of the Internet? I don't remember reading even a hint of this stuff when Chris Cornell hanged himself.
Thankfully that rumour has been rightfully fact checked and disproven in recent years by those closest to him.
Michael Kelland John Hutchence (22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997) There are probably many things to say regarding Michael's death, but I have to be honest and say, I am really not sure what to say.... Hutchence seemed to always come across as a thoughtful, pleasant and friendly person, and pretty much all reports I have heard about him, seem to suggest this was the case. We have covered some of the events that occurred leading up to this tragic event, and certainly his life changed after the head injury... there ended up being some drug problems, and it seems as though relationship issues also. For the most part it appears that it was compounding factors that led to the events on 11/22/97, or if you prefer 22/11/1997. I think the Mystify documentary/film is essential viewing for anyone who cares about his story. For me, I am somewhat offended by the way it was all handled, reported as being something it wasn't, and compounded into myth. Based on the evidence I have seen, it appears to be yet another tragic suicide, but it also seems to make little sense in light of all the other things we know. I'm going to leave tomorrow free, for folks to share their thoughts and hearts about the situation. Also please feel free to share anything regarding the run up to November. We know Michael was reportedly lined up to meet the band for rehearsals for a big tour, to the best of my knowledge, and I believe, from the reports I have read that he was enthusiastic about it. Sadly a cocktail of alcohol and drugs, and bad news, plus the compounding of all the things that had happened over the last few years, all came together to end a life that had given us so much musical pleasure. I remember the band appearing on Aus tv in the early days, and I liked the music, and thought the singer had a quirky style and delivery about him. Shabooh shoobah and the Swing played a big part in my teen years, and the band cemented themselves into my life via those two albums. To some degree, even though I have loved these more recent albums, and think they may be better albums in some ways, those two albums remain my favourites, and perhaps it is nostalgia, but it is hard to see that changing. Probably as with anyone having some pride in their country, I was proud of the guys for taking some Aus music overseas and succeeding so well. We were always the little kids on the block in the music world, and often overlooked, yet had a great wealth of musical talent, and Inxs were possibly the biggest musical export Australia produced..... I say all this even though I was born in England, because perhaps it is because we moved to Aus when I was 5, but I have always considered myself Australian, even now having been in the US for ten years...... All that ties in to say how horrible it was to hear the news about Michael, and now having more clear information about it, how absolutely disgusted it makes me feel at the media surrounding it. We certainly have more Inxs with Michael to look at, and we will look at that before we move on to the various forms the band took afterwards. We will also look at the posthumously released solo album. For now though, I just want to set up a days reflection on Michael Hutchence the man and the musician, a very sad loss, and one that was close to home. Sorry if that's a waffling mess.
First post in this thread. I’ll keep it short but what a beautiful person Micheal was. I was and still am to a degree obsessed with him. One of the true greats . As for the band, I was a very big fan, although I don’t really listen to them too much nowadays . I own all the albums they did with Micheal and I have various dvds. The Wembley stadium show.....Wow. Favourite album? I’d probably say “Welcome To Wherever You Are.
Poor Michael! Remember when this happened as I was in Europe recovering from a back accident I had and wandering around while healing. Coming back from a long walk about, I was met with the news on a music television program, don't remember which one, probably not MTV as they were ****e by then. Kinda in shock. They were reporting a few days straight on this. There are days when one finds out youth is no longer there. This day was one of them. One of my favorite bands -- now gone -- though they tried -- it would never be the same. With all my other favs slowly releasing albums and the internet not fully to what we know now -- I found other interests and just bought older music. Watching all the media circus after I just felt sorry for him. He didn't deserve the laughs, the jokes, as he was a top dude who made a mistake, just like all of us. I still feel his loss of taste and smell was a big factor in this. I can sympathize with the torture he was probably living with in regard to that. Did he have residual pain we do not know about? Could be an issue? Mixed with a toxic relationship, I can see why. He should have just found a way to get out. I think there was an interview where Kirk mentions he had plans to do so. Just wish he would have remained strong enough to do so. In the end, we have the great albums to cherish and enjoy. As with Mark, my favorites are Shabooh and The Swing, nostalgia? Until my last days, these two will always travel with me, mentally and physically.
First discovered the big albums “Kick” “X” then found my way on to “Listen Like Thieves”. Then graduated into the 90s a bit more where I discovered “Welcome” “Full Moon” “Elegantly Wasted” . There was also the solo album. I then found a compilation cd in a record store which had their early stuff on. Tbf I didn’t realise how far they went back at the time, but I bought the album and although it was not my usual kind of music, there were some absolute gems on there. I then went out and got the rest of their early albums , Underneath The Colours, Self titled debut etc etc. Some bands can get away with replacing members, but unfortunately for INXS , he really was irreplaceable, and far outshone the rest of his band members. That’s not to say the other band members were not worth talking about, but Micheal was such a shining star.
For sure... but there is a chemistry, and once the chemistry has an element taken out, it is never the same. I think Jon Stevens was the first replacement for Michael, and Jon was very good, and had been very successful in Aus with Noiseworks Very good singer, good frontman... everything you would need, but he hadn't built up a writing relationship with Andrew over twenty years or so. They hadn't all been slumming it to get to the top together, sharing their lives, successes and failures ... change can work, but this was a blow to the heart of the band, and not just in the talent or whatever that Michael had, it tore the heart out of the band, and I'm not sure they ever recovered, even though they did have some success later on.
Totally agree. I know they were a very very close band. Those early years doing the Aussie bars circuit linked all their hearts together. The Wembley stadium gig showed how well they played together, so it wasn’t a one man show, but the media were only interested in Micheal. In the UK he was treated terrible by our media. Not sure what was going through his head at the time, but the poor bloke was under a lot of strain. Don’t want to debate his death too much, but pressure can do funny things to people. To this day male suicide is a massive problem .
Elegantly Wasted was a decent album I thought. The title track was bloody brilliant. One part of that album that pulls on my heart strings is a part on “I’m Just A Man” when Micheal gets to the bit where he sings.... I'm just a man My will is so strong When I've got plans I close my eyes to the pain My father ran (flesh and blood) My mother left town But we still have (flesh and blood) What's necessary to go on Gets me every time that does.
It did come up but only on a fan forum and very briefly. A lot of finger pointing has gone to his widow Vicky. There were rumours that he was murdered but the Police found no evidence of foul play. It appears that he had a combination of prescription drugs in his system that were above the prescribed amounts but nothing out of this world. However, it’s not the first time a cocktail of drugs have led to suicide ideation. His widow believes and has shown evidence that he had been abusing the drugs for a number of months. Others say he was depressed. It’s a messy affair and has caused ructions between the widow, his family and his band mates. what is awful is that both Cornell and Hutchence were talented, sweet men, admired by their peers and loved by many that have gone way before their time. We are poorer for it, but more so are their families and friends.
Spot on. It is remarkable the number prescription drugs that warn of depression and suicidal thoughts, and they are often prescribed to treat those very issues.....
That's interesting...made me think of Billy Corgan's comments after Chris passed which could very easily be applied to Michael's situation as well: “I’ve stood in front of that mirror a thousand times — just like he did,” Corgan reflected. “You know, kind of an OK gig, you ain’t getting any younger. They weren’t playing the arena, they were playing the theater. I’ve been on those **** tours. You have to be an older band to know what I mean by that. I know there’s a lot of people who would love to play for 2,500 people, but when you’ve been at the top and you’re somewhere on the other side. Whether they were going to have a comeback, or they were just out doing whatever they were doing...And if you’re insecure, which most artists are, you start to think you did something wrong or you haven’t done something right. And that’s when people around you start getting in your head.” Billy Corgan on Chris Cornell's death: "I've been in that exact spot a thousand times"
A really valid point.. Extremely true that most artists have a fair bit of insecurity too. It takes a lot to put yourself out there, because you know you're going to be judged. You put yourself in a place to be judged. I was in a guitar comp final one time, and gigs always gave me anxiety attacks anyhow, but knowing just about every person there was going to be a guitarist removed any possible enjoyment of the event. I should have been really comfortable that I was even there, but that self doubt, that borders on self loathing is just about enough to send you into seizures... When you have been riding the wave of success, and then it all goes away..... I can't even imagine how humbling that is... They say that a big gig is about the biggest high you can get... and I can believe it. I think the biggest gig I ever did was about 5000 people, and it was an insane rush. Once you get passed the anxiety, and things are coming together, it is like walking on air.... I can only assume that a crowd of 50,000 plus multiplies that immeasurably... Yet even at those highs, when you come off stage, you still have the same crap to deal with, that every other Joe blow does. Also when you are full of self doubt, or those kinds of insecurity issues, it rarely helps that people are idolizing you, because deep down, you know full well, that you're just another person, struggling through. It is really no surprise that drugs, prescription and illegal are so popular... And it all makes me think of Robin Williams..... the tears of a clown, when there's no one else around ...
I think Billy Corgan is somewhat projecting his own insecurities here, especially given that he and Cornell had fallen out. Soundgarden were not only playing theatres but arenas too. However, yes, it must be hard for an artist to see his star fall.
INXS' non-Hutchence members, more than almost any other band I can think of, were the absolute definition of being "greater than the sum of their parts." I don't really think any of them are particularly great or compelling instrumentalists, but the five of them together made a sound no one else could have. I genuinely feel bad for those guys, I don't think any of them were really going to do much as solo artists after 1997, and seemingly (this is just me hypothesizing) they didn't have super close relationships with other bands, in a way where perhaps some of them could've joined other established bands in the 2000's or beyond. (Think about when Derek Forbes joined Big Country or Pearl Thompson touring with Page & Plant, stuff like that) Hopefully they all had their finances in order and good deals to continue earning enough revenue off their legacy, but what were they gonna do besides eventually figure out how to try and be INXS again? I kinda wish they hadn't (I even saw one of the 2006 shows...my only live INXS experience), but I can't fault them for trying.
Billy Corgan actually wrote a song about Michael Hutchence on Adore. It's interesting how Chris Cornells death appears to have hit the same nerve for a lot of people here (myself included).
