The beat is relentless in Black and White, and those weird synth noises in the middle place this squarely in the ‘80s. Nevertheless it’s a fun song which I like; another example of a good INXS album cut.
Black and White. 4/5. Another good song, but not great. It carries the album with a good flow. After this song, the album picks up for me again with all being 5/5. As Al Gator mentioned above, the synth noises bring it down a bit. If it were not for those, perhaps I would rate it 5/5. Still, I do not skip it when listening to the album. Not many albums I listen to and don't skip songs anymore with the luxury of technology. This album is one of them.
Black And White I never would have guessed this was one of the singles from the album. The rhythm is relentless, and maybe a bit too “busy”, but that”s the appeal too. The track takes off for me when it gets to the lines “(One day)/My life is out the door/(Next day)/You show me what it's for” and it proves to be a solid song. Listening to it now I am really hearing the extremely sped up reggae licks on guitar in certain spots. Not at all a typical song here - this is another very idiosyncratic INXS tune that I’d have a hard time imagining anyone else composing.
Black And White is a perfect example of how excellent a drummer Jon is - his overall playing & fills here are so 'in-the-pocket.' This track is so amazingly rhythmic, that it's literally impossible for me not to groove to it. And despite Andrew's semi-annoying synth sounds in the short instrumental section, this song delivers. Not only did INXS re-introduce a bit of their earlier ska rhythms/beats without over-doing it, but even the guitar fills & Garry's angular bass lines excite me. I think B&W is about an on again/off again bi-polar relationship. And btw, Black And White apparently peaked at #24 in the Australian charts. So, at least in their homeland, it was a single. Excellent track!
Golden Playpen We start with the nice rock and roll sticks intro, and a rolling rhythm guitar, and we move into the vocal section with a more typical Inxs styling. I'm drunk can't see my glass Not worried--chair dancing man Tossed out of the Golden Playpen Beating the drum of pain and pleasure You see the street ahead Just keep walking down it Look straight ahead Night club ice cubes crackin' The money's gone Don't have a cent Tossed out of the Golden Playpen Beating the drum of pain and pleasure Sex talks eats you alive We go making friends Till we're satisfied I'm drunk can't see my glass Not worried, chair dancing man Tossed out of the Golden Playpen Beating the drum of pain and pleasure Source: LyricFind Songwriters: Kirk Pengilly / Michael Hutchence Golden Playpen lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group Interestingly this is a Pengilly - Hutchence cowrite. As the title suggests this is all about being on the party path, and the insinuation is that the partying was a little too hard and we got thrown out of the "golden playpen".... I can't speak for anyone else, but this is a scenario I know. The other thing hinted at here is what seems to be a heartbreak of some sort that led to the overindulging. Again Beers lays down a really nice bass, and the guitar in the verse is working like an accent guitar adding some colour at the end of each vocal phrase. The chorus has a bright kind of sounding melody and is supported by a nice subtle wall that is essentially a backing vocal that is a held chord. We get a nice somewhat extended sax lead break from Kirk and it leads nicely into another verse. I reckon this is a very good album track and it keeps things moving nicely.
Golden Playpen -- 5/5. Love the energy this song exudes. Inspiring, and mysterious track that gives the feel of exoticness. Kirk is a fantastic sax player. When I saw them live, he really stood out. The man hardly gets any praise -- probably due to his dodgy haircuts around this time.
Golden Playpen is a great song. The rhythm is fantastically tight, the guitar is perfect for the song, the sax solos are wonderful, and the vocals are ideal for the world-weary lyrics. Again I think this one looks forward to the massive popularity they would find later in their career.
Golden Playpen...what a scorcher! It's got swagger and the sense of urgency we'd hear later on Don't Change and revisited on albums like The Swing and Listen Like Thieves. The guys are really really playing their rumps off here. The song not only maintains the energy levels thoughout, but it takes them to even higher levels during the outro. Fantastic track!
Golden Playpen Hooks abound in this song. The energy level is high. The bass does some nice turns, and the guitar strums repeat after certain lyrics to emphasize the lines. The sax gets gets off some nice runs. I like the way the synth blends into the sax during the final section. Listening to this album as a teenager I would lose track of the songs, but the whole thing was such a blast of speed and energy. Golden Playpen was one of those songs that really kept the momentum going. A secret ingredient is that some tracks seem to have virtually no dead space between them: one song ends and the next on starts- immediately.
Golden Playpen - Excellent song. I really like the bass and the sax. I had never really paid attention to the lyrics but they are spot on for that era. I'd like to hear the backstory on that.
The thoroughly rhythmic guitars parts & Kirk's sax lines are what makes Golden Playpen work wonders. I don't know if the lyrics are metaphorically referring to something other than the otherwise self-explanatory meaning? But either way, they're interesting. One of the best album tracks from this era.
Where are you finding this info? There was never a 45 of it. Wikipedia claims it was a single in June 1983 but they've been wrong before.
The INXS Wikipedia chart listings from the discography section that you're referring to. Maybe it's wrong? Or maybe they're referring to the Dance EP (which of course, was essentially a B&W single, but with the extended mix instead for the A side)?
It's just odd because usually when a record is a single there's a 45 that goes along with it. I will ask an INXS group and see if anyone knows.
Perhaps Black and White being the b-side of One Thing, it got some chart movement? I know it got a lot of radio airplay in Perth....
Looking at half a dozen singles discographies on the web, I can only assume that the Dance EP, which had Black and White and two obvious b-sides, released in Oz in 83, is where the chart number comes from for Black and White. That is the only single type release I can find of it. It seems odd it wasn't released under it's own name.... it would also explain why that is still likely the version I am subconsciously more familiar with, as it was probably the one from the radio. Sorry, that's my best guess.
Been revisiting Underneath the Colours and Shabooh Shoobah tonight. If anyone needs an Australian Deluxe copy of Underneath the Colours I have a spare I'd sell.
Jan's Song I am a big fan of this song. We get another slight deviation, again it borrows ever so slightly from the ska thing, but it is much more connected to a band with its own distinct identity. The opening is kind of lush sounding, with a really nice drum pattern with a smooth keyboard pattern floating above, accented by some nice sax. It rolls into to the vocal section via what sounds like a nice delayed string slide from the guitar... I like it, it is very effective. There's Jan calling from the rooftops She says she wants to world to hear Her peoples needs their basic rights She shouts I'll make you understand What it is we're striving for A better deal across this land She puts her hat on Looks in the mirror Says to herself You've nothing to fear Her friends won't argue Her friends don't care Now is the moment to get out of here Jan's friends they're marching in the streets The anger in their hearts Provides a steady beat On an on an on an on Generosity Noble word to me Our democracy Noble words to me Source: LyricFind Songwriters: Andrew Charles Farriss / Michael Hutchence Jan's Song lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group I am not sure if this is related directly to a person, but I really like these lyrics. It seems to relate to someone who has something to say. It isn't specific about who "her peoples" are, but it doesn't really need to be. I like the picture of her looking in the mirror speaking confidence to herself. I also like the way we close out with the idea that this is all made possible by living in a free society where one can express their feelings about something. In current times that seems quite poignant. I really like these lyrics, because they attack a very serious matter from an observational perspective and manage to address a scenario without directly hitting on contentions. With so few words, and no real political statement it manages to say quite a lot in very few words. Again the rhythmic structure of the verses, and the pre-chorus are simply excellent. The band has really gotten very good at structuring themselves instrumentally, and the tracks are arranged beautifully. I am not sure the song really goes into a traditional chorus, but we do get a nice melodic alternative with "Her friends don't argue....". We get another sax track from Kirk Pengilly, who really plays an important part of the band.... in fact it is only on this journey so far that I have noticed the importance of his part in the band. It really does go to show how important all these guys were to the band. To some degree, with the future tragedy, and the larger than life personality we have been delivered by the media and such, it is easy to focus too closely on Hutchence as the front man, but close inspection of the way the band function musically, live and in the studio, the full picture of what a balanced band this is becomes very clear. Again, in some ways I could see this as a single also. This is an excellent song, beautifully written, arranged and executed.
Jan's Song. 5/5. Little change of tempo with this one. The sax and rhythm puts me in the middle of a cool city where one feels twilight. Reflecting on this album, I truly wish this album was the one that broke them like Kick did. The resulting albums would have been more fun, adventurous, and expanding. The Swing has that, but it dwindled. This song shows confidence, swagger, and a bit of lust.
Jan’s Song I really like this one. Kind of bouncy, but also thoughtful. I enjoy the burbling keyboards, and all the saxophone lines. The “friends don’t argue” refrain is catchy, as is just about everything on this album. Every song has so many hooks in them! After looking at the lyrics Mark posted, I thought about them a bit and I think that Jan’s “people” might be the indigenous Australians. INXS mostly stayed out of political statements, and they don’t say it directly, but it would be a natural fit here. However, as Mark pointed out, by avoiding specificity in the lyrics they end up being more universal and relatable. I found this nice interview with SongFacts and Andrew Farris: Andrew Farriss of INXS : Songwriter Interviews “Songfacts: Who is Jan in "Jan's Song"? Farriss: I wrote that lyric. We were still in the Cold War era, and there was a girl in Eastern Europe I'd seen on a news clip, or it could have been a newspaper - a clipping of a woman wanting freedom from the Eastern Bloc communist countries. I looked at that and felt some empathy for her wanting to be heard and seen and having an opinion about things, and that's where I got the idea. I suppose she's a fictitious character - I don't know her personally” I enjoy Midnight Oil’s early albums a lot, and they are MUCH more politically specific in their lyrics. Sometimes it’s as if each song is a history lesson or a summary of a news story. That works for them, but INXS stayed away from specifics and thus managed to keep the ideas more universal. I’ve enjoyed “Jan’s Song” since the first time I heard it, in 1983, but never took a close look at the lyrics until this morning while still getting the positive vibe from the song. In America, we always seemed to get treated to “Australian vocabulary lessons” every time an Oz act would get big here and it can get a bit silly. That MTV interview at the Zoo that was linked here over the weekend was a great example of the kind of crap Australian artists had to put up with in American media - it seemed they were broadcasting from the Zoo just in order to have some cutaway shots to some kangaroos! What a cliche. The guys in the band must have been rolling their eyes at that one.
LOL it's novel, and kind of sweet in many ways, but after being here for nine years, it can be a little tiresome sometimes I would imagine that at that point in time, the guys would have been pretty amused by it all. Perhaps not so much later on in their career. One thing I have found intriguing, is the sort of insular thing going on in much of the US, where folks seem completely removed from much outside mainland USA (or even their own street in some instances). It often still surprises me rocking up to some store or roadhouse or whatever, and there is this weird sort of "you ain't from round here, boy" kind of thing going on. It is really weird having the way you talk scrutinised so often lol
