The Harbour (Dancing On the Jetty b-side). We open here with a somewhat Koto sounding instrument over some atmospheric ocean sounds. The we get a slow beat come in. Again the guys are giving us something a little experimental, for them, here. I assume The Harbour is working as a play on the fact that the Jetty we are Dancing on is in the harbour. This is a melancholy feeling track, that is mainly, but not totally instrumental.
Mechanical -- 3/5. Good B-Side Dancing on the Jetty 5/5. One of my favorite songs on the album. First song on the album that sounds like the old INXS, though Nick does put his spin on it. Always gets my foot tapping this one. Sadly, the videos during this time were just so ****e though. They grabbed an interest from the USA, and these were clearly a step in the wrong direction for the MTV crowd. That would be fixed with Listen Like Thieves though. Wonder if they had doubt about fame in the USA at this point, The Harbor 3/5. Another good B-side. Find this relaxing. Andrew should have experimented more like this. These early albums should really be redone and have these songs added. I'm sure most fans do not know of these b-sides.
Reference guide The band's origins May 1980 Simple Simon / We Are The Vegetables Aug 1980 Live Paris Theatre, Sydney Oct 1980 Inxs (debut album) On A Bus Doctor Just Keep Walking - On TV Learn To Smile Jumping In Vain - live - interview Roller Skating - live Body Language Newsreel Babies Wishy Washy - live Just Keep Walking b-side Scratch Mar 1981 The Loved One/The Unloved One Sept 1981 Stay Young/Lacavocal Oct 1981 Underneath The Colours Stay Young Horizons Big Go Go Underneath The Colours Fair Weather Ahead Night Of Rebellion Follow Barbarian What Would You Do? Just To Learn Again Prehistoria - bside 1982 INXSive Live 8/12/1982 -Sydney Four Corners - Flavour Of The Month After Dark Interview Oct 1982 Shabooh Shoobah - Ad The One Thing - 12" - live - countdown To Look At You - 12" - live 84 Spy Of Love - live Soul Mistake - live Here Comes - live Black And White - live Golden Playpen - live Jan's Song - live Old World New World - live Don't Change - Countdown b-sides Space Shuttle Phantim Of The Opera Sax Thing You Never Used To Cry Here Comes II Go West Long In Tooth 1982 Freedom Soundtrack - with Don Walker Speed Kills Forest Theme Stop The Drop - live Feb 83 Inxs at LA Zoo Mar 1983 Live At Perkins Palace May 1983 US Festival Sept 1983 Dekadance US Black And White 12" To Look At You 12" The One Thing 12" Here Come II new version Apr 1984 The Swing Original Sin - single - video Melting In The Sun - video I Send A Message - single - live - live - live Dancing On The Jetty - video Jans Song/To Look At You (live) Mechanical The Harbour
I love this track. This is is some crazy spaced out dub reggae going on here. It’s a cousin to some of what we heard in the extended remix of “To Look At You” from the previous album.
Dancing On the Jetty This album has lots of random phrases that get stuck in my head: “watch the world argue, argue with itself” is one of them. Because that’s not the title, I used to have trouble remembering which song this was. I have the same issue with Johnson’s Aeroplane, trying recall if that one’s the “heart-shaped hedges, Japanese gardens” song. Great track, and I’d argue that this or The Swing should be 2nd in the running order after the opener “Original Sin”. This is uptempo with great sounds and really does get the album to take off from this point forward.
The Harbour Love the sitar. (Is that a sitar in the opening?) Despite the ambient bird, water and ocean sounds, I also get a very Movement-era New Order feel here. The Swing might be able to accommodate Mechanical into the running order somewhere, but I don’t know if it could take in this song too, unless it was as a come-down after All The Voices.
Dancing On The Jetty doesn’t leave much of an impression on me. It’s got a nice guitar solo, but overall it’s one of the album’s weakest tracks to my ears. I'm obviously the outlier here.
“I’m Jeff Craig, and this is Sixty Second LP” 1983-84-85, My jr. and sr. years in high school, I would listen to WLUP FM in Chicago while eating breakfast and reading the newspaper most mornings before school. There was a syndicated segment they’d play regularly known as “Sixty Second LP”, in which this guy Jeff Craig (who later branched into blurbing Sixty Second Previews for movies) would quickly talk about an album, play snippets of tracks, and then give it a rating. I mention this today because he did INXS’ The Swing one week, and gave it a B-/C+ review, or maybe 2.5/4 stars or so. He mentioned how great Original Sin was, and then described how the rest of the album was kinda “meh”. But what was funny was that 2-3 weeks later he came back and did ANOTHER REVIEW of the same album. This time he was all glowing and apologetic, like “this album has hidden treasures that grow on you with repeated listens” etc. and upgraded his rating considerably. After this new review, the morning show hosts reacted along the lines of “Wow! Who paid that guy off?” This was the only time he did anything like this, and I remember it because I think it actually captures how The Swing was a bit left-field for a lot of people. Just thought I’d share.
What I love about Dancing On The Jetty, is that it encompasses many, if not all of the elements that made INXS a great band in all its stylistic diversity. They were branching out here more than they ever had before. An unexpected intro, that's haphazardly orchestrated, excellent bass/drum rhythms, pop, rock, hard rock, funk & exotic stylings & thought-provoking lyrics. I love the distorted / clear tone & jagged / angular guitar riffs / fills, even more so than in MITS, because of how they're embellished. And the stark contrast between that and the guitar arpeggio sequence in the chorus is very cool. Andrew's pentatonic keyboard melody in the bridge suddenly presents a whole new feel, albeit a short one. The short distorted guitar solo is fantastic. And the music video couldn't capture the vibe of the song more perfectly if it tried. I probably like DOTJ just as much as OS. Yes, really. In fact, it might be THE most original song in INXS' entire catalogue. What an excellent track! Mechanical & The Harbour are relatively interesting & experimental B-sides, mainly because of their semi-electronic nature, but don't really go anywhere as actual songs.
Hadn’t thought about that. Good point. I also think Elegantly Wasted deserved a far better commercial fate here in the states.
Great thread with some great info. Thanks to Moggio, Mark and all of those participating. The two singles, "The One Thing" and "Don't Change" from SS was my entry to the band during my sophomore year in HS. Both made a huge impression and I bought the album on cassette soon after. Like most here, I found it to be an all killer-no filler LP. "To Look At You", "Jan's Song", "Golden Playpen", "Black and White", etc are all tracks that I can play in my head at any time due to the amount that I listened to that album. There were a few of us really into the band at the time and none of us had heard anything about The Swing being released at the time. It was just kind of under the radar, so it was a bit of a surprise when I-we found it. I grew up in the DFW area and don't recall ever hearing "Original Sin" on the radio at the time so maybe that had something to do with it. Anyway, it has a different sound and vibe than Shabooh Shoobah, but is just as strong an album. It was in heavy rotation for several years and is still an album that I listen to a few times every year. Though tough to pick a favorite, if forced, it would come down to either this one or Elegantly Wasted (a criminally underrated album, but more on that later)
Love hearing all of these B-sides. I had no idea that there were so many tracks from them that I hadn't heard. As others have stated, I'd like to have all of these b-sides in one comp. The Stay Young comp, which contains the earlier b-sides costs north of $100.
The Swing As I stated earlier, I really like the first four songs on the album, but this is where the album takes off for me, and really moves into some territory that puts this album so highly in my estimation. This track starts a run of tracks that I absolutely love. There is nothing particularly special about the technical aspect of the drums here, but they work so well, and for me I like the aggressive sound of the drums here. That relentless pounding that says "hey we know how to rock". We get the punch of the drums and that nice aggressive fill that leads us into the song proper. We get some reverb and some random guitar noise, that gives it this relaxed rock feel, and then that jagged chordal riff comes in, and I love it. It's the swing It's the swing like a pendulum It marks the moments as the years go by on an innocent face The swing, into never never land There was a darkness like an old friend That scratched and crawled up the wall Into my life Into my destiny Into my desire It's the swing It's the swing like a pendulum So look behind you when the race has run And the winner is made The swing into never never land There was a darkness like an old friend That scratched and crawled up the wall Into my life Well it's the swing The swing like a pendulum Between the kisses and between the lines There is nothing to hide The swing into never never land There was a darkness like an old friend That scratched and crawled up the wall Into my life Into my destiny Into my desire Yeah, the swing It's the swing like a pendulum It's the swing It's the swing like a pendulum It's the swing Songwriters: Andrew Charles Farriss / Michael Hutchence The Swing lyrics © Music Corp. Of America, Inc. The vocal arrangement works really well for me. I guess the swing is the motion of life and its ever changing circumstances, moving from good to bad, from loser to winner etc etc. As per normal though, for me it is the feel and delivery of the lyrics that mean more to me than the individual meaning of the words. The punch and the accents here just keep this track on top of the pile for me, and at this stage of the album it was so nice from my perspective to hear something with a bit of aggression and power that wasn't really too bothered about being a single. It wasn't too bothered about being a melodic pop tune that the masses could enjoy. It was something that gave a sharp relief to the tracks before it that hinted at some rock and had some great hooks and groove, but here we just punch into a smash it up piece of rock. When the instrumental section comes in with the key modulation, it may well be the first time the band had referenced a sort of twisted modern blues, and it really works for me. I love this track, and for me the album never looks back from this point on.
Live in Hamburg 8th of May 1984 It is interesting to see Tim playing the bass here. Does anyone know how often that happened?
The first side ends with the title track, and I’m not sure what to make of it. It feels like a bit of a kitchen-sink song. Maybe I need to give it some more listens to try to absorb it.
The Swing 3.5/5. I used to love this song, not unlike Mark above, but I have gone off of it. The intro drums are cool and all, but the song never really goes anywhere. The live versions are better. More and more I think of it Nick was the wrong person to chose at this time as a producer. The songs are good but they needed work.
