Late weighing in on Switch and the post-Hutchence era. I do not begrudge a band carrying on after the death of their most recognizable member. Whether it's The Doors, The Tragically Hip, The Smithereens or INXS band members have a right to make a living. Fans are sensitive to it because they often feel like the band is insulting or downplaying the contributions of the deceased singer. Fans tend to forget the personal and economic impact a singer's death has on the band members. That being said.... Switch gets a 1/5 and I hate that they chose to find a way to carry on by using an American reality tv show to do it. They came off looking desperate and that brief moment in the spotlight may have caused them more long term damage than it gave them in short term benefit. If there was any doubt the band could deliver with the right singer, the 1999 Sydney appearance with Terence Trent D'arby on vocals put that to rest. The band was tight and D'arby's soulful vocals meshed perfectly with the rock/funk the band did so well. That performance kicks all kinds of backside. TTD was not a long term solution (he never would have joined full time) but he is they type of performer they should have pursued. A guy who could do the songs justice but wasn't there to impersonate Michael. I think the guys undervalued themselves as artists by going the TV show route and in doing so lowered the value of their work.
Nice post mate, totally agree. The weird thing from my perspective, is it seems like they never really got over the loss of their mate
Anybody reckon why they didn't carry on with JD? Were they unhappy playing theaters? That whole thing ended very strangely...
Never knew this existed and will look for it. I like the selection of deep tracks from the late period and it would serve as a nice companion for the US version Greatest Hits or Best Of.
I always assumed that all of the outside writers were part of the deal with the devil that put them on tv and got them all of the publicity. I figure it was a way for the show producers to maximize a return on their investment. I think Switch is a decent album but I never grab it when I want to hear anything INXS. When I give all the albums a listen I include this one too.
Finally, I am ready to chip in. First, a bit about my overall relationship with INXS. Unlike most bands, where I am typically a completist, I came to INXS late and got off the bus early. I will follow this post with another one with some short paragraph thoughts on each album with this post limiting my focus to my relationship with the band overall. I remember not being fond of their first two albums based on the singles (I was more of a metalhead at that time although I did like plenty of pop, funk and rock) so even though I had been quite impressed with the song Don’t Change, the other stuff I heard off Shaboo Shanahan had not been floating my boat at the time, and although I liked Original Sin, I skipped The Swing. That all changed dramatically when Listen Like Thieves came out. I was on vacation in Hawaii and one of the people on the trip had a cassette of LLT. I listened to it endlessly and fell in love with the band. Why, because they brought the rock and the guitars just a little bit more forward. Even then though, I did not go back and acquire the first two albums. very unusual for me. like most the people here, I snapped up Kick the minute it came out and was pretty blown away. The long wait for X caused my attention to wander but I still bought it almost immediately, then, again like most people here, was probably put off because it was a little bit too much like Kick and seem to even lack some of the (rock) teeth of Kick. It certainly was nowhere near as rocking as LLT. With the changing musical landscape of grunge, I ignored their next couple of releases completely (I don’t even think I heard the singles off of either one - thanks terrestrial radio, maybe had radio played Heaven Sent or Taste It I would’ve paid better attention). Finally, and after years of not paying attention, I heard the song Elegantly Wasted one day on the radio. Although I thought it was a great song, even that was not enough to get me to explore the release. Obviously, I was sad when I heard about Michael‘s death but even that was hardly enough to make me go back and really revisit the music. Somewhere along the way, a few years ago, I got bitten by the INXS bug and went back and re-listen to the albums I had and with the fond memories of elegantly wasted (the song) I downloaded a few things from that album as well. I credit this thread for finally making me go back and explore each and every album in total. At this point I have read through most of the thread twice, spending a careful amount of time with each album, as well as the b-sides, remixes, extra outtakes and demos. Although I had always considered myself a fan, it has been this slow, careful, methodical journey through each album that has really driven home the quality of their catalogue overall. The early albums, previously ignored, now stand tall in my eyes, as do the last 3 albums. rather than write a super long post, I will close this one out now, leaving this as my perspective on the band overall. In the next day or so I will follow up with some limited thoughts on each album and the song is there in. This might be a good time though to close by saying thank you to our thread starter, Mark, for leading us through a really great thread that has reawakened me to what a great band INXS was and what a tragic loss the music world experienced when Michael passed.
You are not alone! I participate in song by song threads like this one because it gives me a reason to go through an entire catalog and figure where I stand - something that I might not have the discipline to do otherwise. And with the huge amount of extra tracks available on reissues now there’s even more to sort through.
It's interesting to go through this thread and go back over the old albums. I didn't know that Disappear and The Gift were Jon Farris and Hutchence compositions for one thing, probably my two favourite post Kick songs. I didn't know that Andrew wrote so many songs entirely on his own, some of their greatest songs too. When it comes to their post Michael career. I mean, the only thing that might have worked for them was to establish a whole other thing with another lead singer and lyricist and stick permanently with him/her. After a while we simply think of INXS as classic Michael era and post Michael era with the new singer. Getting JD Fortune in wasn't such a bad call, go the AC/DC route. But they didn't stick with him. Let's face it though it was pretty lame, the dude had all the sexual authenticity of your average 14 year old, I was unmoved by his swagger let's say, but it's not like the songs he contributed lyrics to were bad, and he could sing pretty darn well.
I guess this mini album was really exclusive, none of these songs are available on youtube at all, under the Inxs or band members name.... The final track is the only one I can find..... If someone else can find them, please post them for our reference, but it seems they are lost to the hard drives of Inxs fan club members..... Cigarettes and Cocaine. Essentially this sounds like a live demo of some description. It has a folk-blues feel about it, and isn't too bad. We have a couple of different tempos thrown in, and again it works pretty well.... Essentially this is just an acoustic guitar and a vocal.
Giving Switch a deep dive tonight. On the Pono now. Devil's Party - At first this is a straight rip off of Listen Like Thieves but it changes enough to be different enough. JD sounds utterly, offensively, shameless in his Hutchence impersonation, like aural necrophilia, ditto for the next track. Pretty good track though. Pretty Vegas - I think what everyone thinks, great track. I wonder if there's irony in the fact that JD is basically the equivalent of a great fake Elvis in Vegas. I mean some of those fake Elvis' can really fool you. Afterglow - Three for three, but here I'm kind of hearing that old 1980's U2 power ballad thing that nobody has liked since at least 1992. Hot Girls - There's a lyric right off the bat about watching a hot girl eating a peach and maybe she knows JD is watching her and maybe she kinda likes it. I got nothing against sexy, but this song sounds like a terrible INXS tribute band trying to write a "sexy" INXS song. If I saw JD watching me strike a light for a cigarette or eating a peach, I would run, immediately, perhaps find a police officer. I kinda like the energy, and again, I gotta admit the guy sings great. But no. Perfect Strangers - Pretty much the same. I really don't like JD Fortune trying to have sex with me. "We are passing traaaaains, we are whiplash looverrrrs, we are burning wires melting all over eachotherrrr" cue SAX solo, or is that SEX solo, oh yeah baby, damn. No, I'm joking, I'm not horny at all, these two songs are okay as songs, but who finds this stuff sexy? Remember Who's Your Man - Well he starts off HOT and he's back to digging up the grave of Michael Hutchence and literally stealing his vocal chords, and style. I mean, I'm not even knocking him, he's doing a fantastic Hutchence, it's uncanny, it's just weird when it's obvious. This song is even sexier than the last two tracks, but actually I like this one, doesn't sound like a 1987 INXS song. Hungry - I immediately like the music of this track. Again we're in the 21st century, JD great again. Top marks for this Andrew song. Never Let You Go - I always like the Jon Farriss songs. JD writes the lyrics. Another great song, great track, we're still in this century but I do feel like this could almost have been an early 80's INXS track. Production and beat fantastic here, really digging this track. Sax solo very welcome unlike on earlier horny song. JD Fortune is winning me over big time. Like It Or Not - Horns a plenty, another good Kirk sax solo, there is a bit of a retro feel to this upbeat track, but it's another fun song. US - At this point in the album I'm wondering if I really like the first three tracks that much. The second half sounds cool, and like 2005. Devil's Party and Pretty Vegas sound good but in a 'I miss 1986' kind of way, ditto for Afterglow but I like that one less. Then we fall off a cliff with some high energy and low sex appeal tracks that bum me out. This song is just damn good vibes entirely. JD again finding his own feet here. Horns again at the climax, and a female chorus, the song fades out and at this point I'm feeling good, five good tracks in a row that don't sound dated, a qualified succesful comeback, plenty of good stuff on the second half. But oh no there's another track. God's Top Ten - This is exactly as good as you think it's going to be if you read the lyrics and know it's a Michael Hutchence tribute song. You don't want to be mean, I'm sure it's very sincere, not saying it's a bad song, but to me it's an entree of cheese, followed by a main course of cheese, with a desert of cheese, and a fine cup of cheese to wash it down with. Plus, JD is singing lyrics to Michael's kid right? While sounding like he's trying to entirely replace the man, it's creepy, like he's saying to Tiger Lily hey we'll never forget daddy, but I'm your daddy now baby. Weird guy. That's all sorry for interrupting the flow of the thread.
Oh there's no doubt about that. Sure they lost the face and voice of their band but they lost someone they had been with since they were kids. That's a double whammy of a professional and personal loss. Not only are you dealing with the impact on your personal finances but you're left with the heartache. Even worse, given the cause of death there might be a lot of second guessing and wondering if they could have done something. Can't imagine how horrible it must have been for them.
JD Fortune is on the record in saying he had a cocaine problem. I'm sure that lead to the band dismissing him in 2009 but he returned for tours the next two years. I figured at the time they'd go the route of Journey, Judas Priest and Boston and find a Hutchence clone or sound alike from a tribute band and do the summer tour circuit but seems like the band knew it had run it's course.
Murphy’s Law: INXS manager on ‘band to brand’ and the music industry in 2019 – SuperDeluxeEdition I've never been sure about where to post this link to this interview with Chris Murphy on superdeluxeedition.com I know it's going to mess with the chronology wherever it goes, but it's a) a very very good interview and b) particularly good in terms of how Murphy was trying to rehabilitate the damage that had been done to their standing in the wake of the TV show. And apologies if it's been posted before. But many of the points we've raised here lately are spoken of in the interview. A very good read.
This is really interesting and I appreciate what he did for the band...but Chris just came off terribly in interviews. He seems like he'd have been unbearable to deal with on a regular basis.
Original Sin Studio album by INXS Released 16 November 2010 Recorded 2009–2010 Genre Alternative rock Label Petrol Electric Polydor (France) Atco (U.S.) Groove Merchants (Australia) Epic (Canada) Producer Jon Farriss James Ash INXS Original Sin is the twelfth and final studio album by the Australian rock band INXS. It was released on physical media on 16 November 2010 by Epic Records, Atco Records and Polydor after having been released digitally on 28 October 2010. Original Sin features covers of their earlier songs, with each song featuring a guest singer.[2] J.D. Fortune, who was the winner of the Rock Star: INXS competition and featured on the band's previous album Switch, performed lead vocals for the 1990 track "The Stairs", being the last contribution from Fortune before his departure in 2011. Described as a tribute album by the band members, the record features new recordings of INXS songs. "We've re-invented these songs. Some have been done by an orchestra, some [are] stripped down and some tracks may take you [a while] to recognise what it is," said Jon Farriss.[3][4] A review in QRO Magazine gave the album a 5/10 rating.[5] The album charted at number 49 on the Australian Albums Chart. The album was re-issued in 2011 by Atco Records for the US market. This version features an alternative version of track four "Never Tear Us Apart", the French lyric and vocal duet between Ben Harper and Mylène Farmer is replaced with a solo vocal by Harper. Garry Gary Beers – bass Andrew Farriss – keyboards, guitar, vocals on "Don't Change" Jon Farriss – drums, percussion Tim Farriss – guitar J.D. Fortune – vocals on "The Stairs" Kirk Pengilly – guitar, saxophone, vocals 1. "Drum Opera" Jon Farriss 2:56 2. "Mediate" (featuring Tricky) Andrew Farriss 4:08 3. "Original Sin" (featuring Rob Thomas and DJ Yaleidys) A. Farriss, Michael Hutchence 4:20 4. "Never Tear Us Apart" (featuring Ben Harper & Mylène Farmer. US re-issue features Ben Harper on vocal only.) A. Farriss, Hutchence; French lyrics by Mylène Farmer 3:57 5. "Beautiful Girl" (featuring Pat Monahan) A. Farriss, Hutchence 4:08 6. "New Sensation" (featuring Deborah De Corral) A. Farriss, Hutchence 3:42 7. "Just Keep Walking" (featuring Dan Sultan) A. Farriss, Hutchence 2:42 8. "Mystify" (featuring Loane and John Mayer) A. Farriss, Hutchence 5:49 9. "To Look at You" (featuring Kav Temperley) A. Farriss 3:59 10. "Kick" (featuring Nikka Costa) A. Farriss, Hutchence 5:10 11. "Don't Change" (featuring Andrew Farriss and Kirk Pengilly) Garry Gary Beers, A. Farriss, J. Farriss, Tim Farriss, Hutchence, Pengilly 4:15 12. "The Stairs" (featuring J.D. Fortune) A. Farriss, Hutchence 4:31 Total length: 49:37 Bonus tracks 13. "Love Is (What I Say)" (featuring JD Fortune) Beers, A. Farriss, Hutchence, Pengilly, Anthony Braxton-Smith 3:50 14. "Never Tear Us Apart" (Orchestral Instrumental) A. Farriss, Hutchence 3:50 iTunes and Australian Deluxe edition bonus track 13. "Devil Inside" (featuring Ben Harper & Nikka Costa. Released as track 8 on Australian deluxe edition.) A. Farriss, Hutchence 5:25 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have never heard anything off this release, to the best of my knowledge, and it is unlikely that I would have been too interested in it anyway to be honest .... tribute albums are fine, but the aren't something that really interest me. I completely understand that using more current artists may bring newer/younger fans onboard, but I tend to prefer a band's original version over cover versions ..... So I'm not really sure what to say about this really, so.... If you are familiar with this album please give us the lowdown on this release and let us know your thoughts regarding it. Cheers Mark
Drum Opera. This is something put together by Jon Farriss. This comes across like a lead in track, and I guess that's why it opens this album. It's ok but doesn't really grab me that much ...
Mediate with Tricky. This is exactly what it sounds like, we have Tricky running through the vocal on a reimagined version of Mediate. It's ok, but I feel like most of these tracks are going to be similar, in that .... they're ok, but don't really interest me. There is a nice dynamic lift halfway through.
Original Sin (feat. Rob Thomas And DJ Yalediys). .... Again, this is ok, but as someone not particularly fond of remixes of this type, there isn't much going to appeal to me here.
Drum Opera: 4/5. I like this. Sounds like it could have fit on The Swing. Mediate: 3/5. Don't mind Tricky, but it is too polished. Original Sin: 2/5. Take a rather funky song and make it bland...good example of it.
Mediate with Tricky I love Tricky from back in his Massive Attack days. This track is alright. I don’t mind at all what he’s done here, in fact I kinda like it. Original Sin with Rob Thomas This ain’t 1999 and this ain’t “Smooth” with Santana. They took all the edge out of “Original Sin” - there oughta be a law….. OMG - now there’s a rap too? Wow, just …. Wow.
