One strange thing that happened close to Michaels death was an appearance in an independent feature film called “Limp” in October 1997. His character in the movie, an unscrupulous recording A&R man, has a scene in which he recommends that a young musician kill himself so that he will gain immortality in the legions of rock history. The director later described Hutchence’s performance as being entirely believable and culled from the gut. The film has never been released but here's the trailer Apparently acting was an avenue that he wished to explore further and he had even met with Quentin Tarantino and Michael Douglas about potential roles.
I remember buying Shine Like It Does: The Anthology (1979-1997), when it was released, even though I obviously didn't necessarily need to. However, there are a few cool & unique 12" and alternate mix versions. And I just flipped through the booklet, which I hadn't looked at for years. And I actually forgot about how spectacular the extensive line notes and artwork are (similar to Stay Young: The Deluxe Years - 1979-1982). In fact, I should've typed out Andrew's track by track comments when we were reviewing the catalogue, like I did with INXS' track by track comments for SY: TDY - 1979-1982 - damn! Anyway, Rhino did a phenomenal job, as they usually do... Like I was saying in my previous post, I was indifferent towards INXS when they decided to continue at this point in their career. Though, out of all the vocalists they tried on for size during this era, and they were all talented, I really wish Terence Trent D'Arby (now Sananda Maitreya) would've decided to join INXS because I believe he was the best fit. And it's primarily because their performance with him at Stadium Australia's opening in June 1999. They could've toured with him as an opener and then done a headlining set - it would've been great! But I think part of the reason why he didn't, was because of personal reasons and differing obligations, etc...
Over the past day, since there's been way too much speculation regarding, MH's finances, INXS' popularity, etc., and it would take an enormous time to quote and/or correct the misinformation post by post, I'll do my best to generally go over things... There are so many myths, mistruths and misinformation about Michael's financial dealings and estate, that I can't even piece together what's correct and what isn't. As far as I know, by the mid-'80s, Chris Murphy, financially prepared INXS for any potential future issues. And advised them to them buy /manage farm / ranch estates. Which several of them still do to this day. As far as royalty percentages go, to my knowledge, according to the 2014 Never Tear Us Apart mini-series, they split almost everything 7 ways. X is INXS' 2nd highest selling studio album and by my estimations, it has sold 6-7 million copies worldwide. Kick has sold basically twice that. Despite, not doing as well worldwide, Switch, sold over 1 million albums worldwide (the vast majority of that is mainly from the US, Canada & Australia). And its lead single, Pretty Vegas, was the biggest selling single (Gold) INXS ever had in Canada. Believe it or not. INXS were/are a larger concert draw than some fans realize. Right now, off the top of my head, I can think of nearly 80 or so markets worldwide where INXS could easily fill arenas/amphitheaters in 2021, due to most markets either not being played and/or under-booked for 10-30 years or in some cases, for even longer. But it would have to be with the right singer. Presumably, JD Fortune. And it would probably have to be a farewell tour. These markets include: Australia / Tasmania / New Zealand: Sydney (2) Brisbane Melbourne (2) Adelaide Perth Hobart Auckland Christchurch Wellington Asia: Tokyo Bangalore Mumbai Canada: Victoria Vancouver Kelowna Edmonton Calgary Saskatoon Winnipeg Toronto London Ottawa St. John's Halifax Moncton United States: Honolulu LA (2) Las Vegas San Fran / Oakland Tucson Dallas Oklahoma City / Tulsa Miami Tampa Atlanta Raleigh Hampton / Norfolk DC / Baltimore Philly / Atlantic City NYC/NJ (2) Hartford Boston Detroit Columbus Chicago Nashville Memphis Omaha Denver UK / Europe: London Birmingham Dublin Amsterdam/Rotterdam Paris Stockholm Berlin Munich Budapest Vienna Milan Barcelona Madrid Lisbon South Africa: Johannesburg (2) Cape Town Durban Central / South America: Mexico City Monterrey Lima Santiago Buenos Aires Rio de Janeiro Sao Paulo
Shine Like It Does: The Anthology: I was working at a music store shelving it on release day. It caught my attention and so I bought a copy. I'll say this disc one alone renewed my interest in the band as I never heard their pre-1984 stuff before. This collection is fantastic; Plenty for the fans and casual listeners to keep them interested as a whole. Love the packaging and booklet with the photos and essay. For a good part of 2001/2002 this collection was a mainstay in my CD player and at the store, too. I would play it on the overhead while I was prepping the store for opening and in some cases have it playing during business hours. I was dedicated. If I had to nitpick, I really wished they put Shining Star on it, divorcing it from Live Baby Live. Aside from that, it's an essential collection for those who love the band and those who want to dip their toes into the band's repertoire.
Tall Paul vs Inxs - Precious Heart It is extremely rare that any of the slew of dj vs releases held any interest for me. Here we have drums and percussion for about a minute and a half, and some under the radar swirl, then about 1:45 it breaks and we get some synth stabs and a vocal edit, and then we move into a synth bass and the synth stabs over the drums and percussion pattern. By this stage we're about 3:30 in, and I just feel I lost 3:30 of my life .... I'm sure it's great for the clubs, but it does absolutely nothing for me
Par-T-One vs Inxs - I'm So Crazy After the last one, my enthusiasm levels are pretty low for this one... To me it's more of the same kind of thing. A kick drum for just under 1:30 then some backing vocals mixed low. A new percussion sound comes in, and we're rolling around to 2:00 and not much has happened. Then we get some chop up vocals from Just Keep Walking ..... and essentially it just makes me want to listen to the original. I know this stuff takes a certain talent, but to me it is as interesting as watching paint dry.
2002 The Best of INXS Greatest hits album by INXS Released 4 June 2002; 18 years ago Genre Rock Length 78:34 Label Atlantic/Rhino Producer Mark Opitz, Nile Rodgers, Chris Thomas, INXS, David McLees, Emily Cagan, Karen Ahmed, David Edwards[1] The Best of INXS is a greatest hits album by Australian rock band INXS, released on 4 June 2002 by Atlantic Records and Rhino Entertainment. It reached #144 on the US charts and has sold 373,000 copies since its release. The nearly identical counterpart compilation released in the same year, Definitive INXS, was a moderate chart success in the UK, peaking at #15. Michael Hutchence – vocals, production Andrew Farriss – keyboards, guitars, production Tim Farriss – guitars, bass, production Kirk Pengilly – guitar, saxophone, vocals, production Garry Gary Beers – bass, production Jon Farriss – drums, production Additional musicians[edit] Sunil DeSilva – percussion on "Not Enough Time" Deni Hines – backing vocals on "Not Enough Time" James Morrison – brass section on "Tight" 1. "Need You Tonight" (Single version) Andrew Farriss, Michael Hutchence 3:03 2. "What You Need" A. Farriss, Hutchence 3:34 3. "By My Side" A. Farriss, Hutchence, Chris Thomas 3:04 4. "Taste It" A. Farriss, Hutchence 3:24 5. "New Sensation" A. Farriss, Hutchence 3:40 6. "The One Thing" A. Farriss, Hutchence 3:25 7. "Disappear" Jon Farriss, Hutchence 4:07 8. "Never Tear Us Apart" A. Farriss, Hutchence 3:02 9. "Original Sin" (Single version) A. Farriss, Hutchence 4:01 10. "Mystify" A. Farriss, Hutchence 3:18 11. "This Time" A. Farriss 3:08 12. "Suicide Blonde" (Maxi-single version – 7" mix) A. Farriss, Hutchence 3:50 13. "Beautiful Girl" (Mendelsohn mix) A. Farriss 3:09 14. "The Gift" J. Farriss, Hutchence 4:03 15. "Listen Like Thieves" A. Farriss, Hutchence, Garry Gary Beers 3:46 16. "Devil Inside" (Maxi-single version – Australian single edit) A. Farriss, Hutchence 3:56 17. "Bitter Tears" A. Farriss, Hutchence 3:51 18. "Not Enough Time" (Single version – Barcelona LP fade) A. Farriss, Hutchence 4:19 19. "Salvation Jane" A. Farriss 4:43 20. "Tight" (Dan the Automator remix) A. Farriss 4:35 21. "Don't Change" A. Farriss, Hutchence, Beers, Kirk Pengilly, Tim Farriss, J. Farriss 4:25 Limited special edition disc "Mystify" Live from America "Suicide Blonde" Live from America "New Sensation" Live from America "Tight" Dan the Automator remix "Precious Heart" Tall Paul vs. INXS – Radio edit "I'm So Crazy" Par-T-One vs. INXS – Radio edit "Suicide Blonde" Music video "Need You Tonight" Music video "Mystify" Music video -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So a year after the Shine Like It Does release we get a best of compilation, but there are a couple of tracks on here that we haven't seen so we'll look at those tomorrow. The majority of this album contains much later material, with nothing off the first two albums or The Swing, and I guess that's understandable for the overseas market, as those albums and their singles never seemed to find their way to those markets heart's. We get those two thump thump remixes on a limited bonus release, and a couple of live tracks, with three music videos.
Those remixes are awful. Just testing a drum machine to me. And, we have yet another "greatest hits" with a rare track or two. What they should have done is put all those B-sides into an anthology physical release. I'm not a fan of buying greatest hits -- every three years -- seeming like what the Stones and Depeche Mode like to do these days. In fact, I loathe that mentality.
The Best Of INXS makes a huge mistake by only having the “Dan The Automator” remix of Tight. The UK version of this album, title Definitive INXS, has the non-remix, which is a essential unless you prefer ol’ Dan rapping over this previously unreleased song. If you are going to lure fans to buy compilations by having unreleased tracks on them, then at least have the original INXS versions. Baffling move.
a friend of mine, Giov Scatola, engineered this but we’ve never spoken about it. I like it. There are far worse remixes out there.
They did on the Australian release of The Years 1979-1997. It was their version of the Shine Like it Does anthology set, sort of speak.
They even went to Mike Patton who claims he laughed at them (interview below). Honestly they should've just let it rest.
As a fan, I pretty much agree with you. But as a musician, I really do sympathize, and understand why they tried so hard to keep going (at least on and off) for a good 15 years. Musicians want to play, and unfortunately I don't think there were a ton of opportunities for them to do so outside of INXS, at least not without being 40-somethings in a van playing tiny clubs. I don't see anything wrong with doing that, but I can understand it not sounding like a super fun option after being in a band that played arenas for multiple tours.
The way the catalog has been managed has been atrocious, I think most of us can agree on that. There's lots of posts earlier in this thread about whether label issues are partly to blame, but it's still such a bummer. Especially in the post-physical digital age, there's no reason for every b-side & remix not to be out there for the hardcore fans.
Typical Mike Patton, but yes uncalled for. Great frontman and is always challenging himself, so no way was he going to go back to front a band that used to be big in the 80s
Sorry...but the Tall Paul vs Inxs - Precious Heart & Par-T-One vs Inxs - I'm So Crazy remixes are horrible and not even remotely worth finishing listening to. So I didn't. The Tight (Dan The Automator) remix, as well as the original studio version & even the EW demo version, are much better and are classic funk rock-styled INXS. Even though I'm a fan of some of Mr. Bungle & Faith No More's material, Patton is a total douche. And I'm willing to bet he's only heard a couple of INXS' hits. Because much like most non-fans do, he probably views INXS as an '80s pop rock band - which of course, is only partly true. Ironically, Mr. Bungle covered part of Need You Tonight on their 1988 Goddammit, I Love America! EP. It's embedded in the track, Definition Of Shapes... 30:57 - 31:40... Also, upon further analysis, I'd like to subtract, Monterrey & Miami, from the list in my previous post of arenas/amphitheaters that INXS could fill if they toured in 2021, considering the aforementioned factors, and add Bogota, Osaka, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Taipei & Hong Kong.
On the Patton thing... Good frontman. Versatile vocalist. Not the greatest live vocalist. I like Faith no more, and consider Angel Dust a classic album. But Seems narcissistic to some extent, thinks he's edgy (and it's fine to be edgy, but not so much to think your edgy) Whether Patton thought the idea was a joke, or the band was a joke, it doesn't matter either way, because for all Patton's talents and abilities, he would have been a lousy match for Inxs, musically, and personality-wise...... Somewhat like getting Glenn Danzig to front Split Enz.... Anyway, that's my two cents.
